Wireless setup for the Newbie

[Torquay-Pete]

Hi all once again,
I have had a PC now for about 4 years and have reached a stage where I am confident enough to upgrade Hardware and Software etc.....However....My wife was always wanting to go online just as I was about to spend the next 5 hours wasting time on the PC!! So I have just took the plunge and Bought her a Refurbished Laptop on E-Bay!! Now I need to Set up a wireless connection between the PC and Laptop (So we can share the same internet connection) It is now I realise that I know NOTHING about this at all . I am using Blueyonder Broadband from Telewest (This is a cable connection). Can Someone Please tell me what extra equipment I need to get the laptop onto the same connection, The laptop has a WiFi card installed (I believe) I Know I need a Wireless router , But what kind?? And will I still use the same Motorola USB Modem?
Thanks in advance as always Pete

[Gecko]

First of all you will need to know what type of wireless card is in the laptop:
Wireless-B (802.11b)
Wireless-G (draft 802.11g)
Wireless-A (802.11a)

Once you have that information you will know what type of wireless router you need.
Most wireless routes come with hard wired-Ethernet ports as well
Just make sure the one you get has the wired ports otherwise you’ll have to buy a wireless card for the desktop.

Your current modem will work just fine and will connect to the router usually to the uplink port.

As far as what kind of router just stay with a name brand like Linksys or Dlink
I have two Linksys routers and have never had any trouble with them.

You could also contact Blueyonder they might offer a modem router combo.
One less cat 5 cable and one less power cord do deal with plus there are read to go out of the box.

[Torquay-Pete]

Thanks for the Help Gecko Once my laptop arrives I should be able to sus out which Card it has!! Thanx again Pete

[freelobotomy]

Netgear's Rangemax is a great product but I think LinkSys is probably cheaper. I've run both and keep going back to Netgear.

[Torquay-Pete]

Hi Guys, Thanks for all your help with the router. I think I have this sorted now. I just wondered If I could upgrade the processor in My Thinkpad Laptop?? It currently has a P2 400mhz chip which I find incredibly slooooow!!!!. Is it possible to put in a faster one??.
Thanks again Pete

[Gecko]

Chances are you won't be able to replace the cpu with anything much better.
The motherboard will limit you to a Pentium II most likely.

You can increase the ram though and that will help quite a lot to speed things up.
We have a Pentium III Compaq laptop that was so slow you could not watch a dvd on it.
I added a 128mb ram stick to it and now my girls use it as a portable dvd player.

Just make sure that you have an extra ram slot and that you get the right type of ram for it.