Wireless Broadband Install Info

[LowFellion]

Getting broadband next week (already have TV + phone with TWest)

The box + phone line are at the other side of the living room from the PC and was told by the salesperson all I needed was a router + USB stick to avoid messy cable around the room. (i dont have a newtork adaptor card , told i just need to use the USB stick)

I now have in my possession a Belkin 802.11g Wireless Cable/DSL Router and 802.11g 54Mbps USB Stick.


Question is .... are there any idiot proof installation instructions e.g what I should install first ?
wait till I have the modem and then install the USB Stick followed by the router etc

I have found this but it refers to connecting the router to the set top box , I assume I will connecting to a modem
http://www.blueyonder.co.uk/blueyon...wirelessdesktop

Any help appreciated

Thanks

The instructions in the Belkin box should tell you what order to do things in ... but in general, you should start by getting the modem working directly with the PC and then introduce the router afterwards. Have you read through the instructions yet?

[LowFellion]

The router instructions dont really cover anything to do with the USB adaptor

Not sure what you mean by getting the modem working with the PC first when it is not located near the PC . I will have thre T\West Modem which i connect the router to and the PC will communicate to this via the USB Stick

Excuse any ignorance on my part but thats what T\West told me , just i am not sure what i need to do first , i assume it is the USB stick as i wont be able to locate the router when i install that without the USB set up

Ta

[Cobbydaler]

I'd suggest you get an ethernet cable such as this of sufficient length to reach the modem.

You can then use this to test your connection with the modem before introducing the router into the equation.

Once you've got broadband working, you can set up the router by connecting to it wired. After this plug in your USB adaptor & try to connect wirelessly. Once OK, set up your wireless security & put the cable away for a rainy day...

[MovedGoalPosts]

If your PC doesn't have a network card, things might be a bit more challenging to set up your network. The problem will be entering settings on your router during the initial setup. Normally you would do this wired, and then go wireless, if you have to go stright to wireless, you will have to take pot luck as to whether you can get that connection first time. You'll have to try everything on default settings and see what happens.

The usual rule of thumb for getting a network setup is:

1) Ensure your basic cable broadband is working - connect the PC to the modem and see what happens. You may need to run some setup routines to register that new modem with ntl. You may be able to use a supplied modem to USB lead to do this.
2) Once you are satisfied the cable broadband works, power it all off!
3) Now unplug any cable you had connected. Connect with ethernet a cable between the modem and router. Attach your wirless USB adaptor to the PC.
4) Boot up and hope you can detect the wireless network. I fyou can't you are going to have to get a wired connection somehow between your router and PC, even temporarily, to allow you to setup the wireless.
5) If you can get a wireless connection going, make sure you enable security.

Originally Posted by Cobbydaler

I'd suggest you get an ethernet cable such as this of sufficient length to reach the modem.

You can then use this to test your connection with the modem before introducing the router into the equation.

Once you've got broadband working, you can set up the router by connecting to it wired. After this plug in your USB adaptor & try to connect wirelessly. Once OK, set up your wireless security & put the cable away for a rainy day...

Only if he has ethernet on his PC, which according to his OP he may not have.

Originally Posted by LowFellion

The router instructions dont really cover anything to do with the USB adaptor

Not sure what you mean by getting the modem working with the PC first when it is not located near the PC . I will have thre T\West Modem which i connect the router to and the PC will communicate to this via the USB Stick

Excuse any ignorance on my part but thats what T\West told me , just i am not sure what i need to do first , i assume it is the USB stick as i wont be able to locate the router when i install that without the USB set up

Ta

I'm not so familiar with TW sign-up procedures but if it's like NTL you need to visit a website to activate your broadband before you can do anything else. It may be tricky to do that unless you have the PC connected directly to the modem.

This is the only drawback of using a wireless router to save you having the modem anywhere near the desk where your PC is - even if you can set up your broadband by introducing the router first of all, sooner or later your broadband'd going to break down and I promise you the first thing tech support will blame will be your router, so you'll end up lugging your PC over to where the modem is to plug it straight in without the router. That would be enough of a reason by itself to get your PC working directly with the modem before you try to play about with routers.

Once you have your broadband live and active and working when cabled directly to the PC, you can then connect to the router and configure it according to the instructions in the box. I am not very familiar with wireless USB adaptors but I would be mildly surprised if you can use one to configure the router. I would have thought you would have to plug a wire straight from the PC to the router to do this. What do the instructions say about setting it up?

[janipewter]

MAC addresses are now automatically registered with Telewest, you don't have to do anything. Just unplug the modem from the power, connect it to the router (make sure the router is on) and power the modem back up. It will automatically register the router's MAC and then all you need to do is reboot the router and everything will work.