Confused about Wireless...? Help please

[kezza1973]

I have a laptop which is wireless enabled. I want to get online at home pref wireless so I can work from home and move around the house. If I join with wanadoo or bt etc they provide the wireless kit. Is this all I need? What are these routers and things I keep seeing in electrical shops in boxes for wireless connection? I just want to get online at home! Please help.

[LazyGun]

You would need a modem and a wireless router. If either of these companies are anything like the service provider I am with (Utilities Warehouse), then these would be provided free of charge. Modem plugs into phone socket, then a line from modem into wireless router, and then if required a line from wireless router into a desktop PC or similar.

[bobjim1705]

In simple terms, what a router does, is take your internet connection, and distribute it wirelessly throughout the house.

If BT/Wanadoo are supplying you with a modem (which interprets the internet signal going in/coming out of your house) and a wireless router, that should be all you need, since you already have a wirelessly enabled laptop.

Obviously, not everyone gets their internet from suppliers that will give you a wireless kit, so you can buy routers and wireless adapters (for non-wireless enabled computers/laptops) to do it yourself.

[WoWo]

Just to confuse you even more, you can purchase a combined modem and wireless router.

http://www.broadbandstuff.co.uk/index.php?cPath=26_33_95 &osCsid=08b80ee4e101dbf3b7b9b62893856e7f