Wireless home networking update:
Lots of people assume that you need
broadband (cable or DSL modem) to have wireless networking. Not
so. You can still use your single dialup connection and share it
with all users on your home or office network. But there are a few
complications, including slower surfing and downloading.
In order to share dial up internet, you
need to have a modem doing the dialing. There are a number of ways
to get dialup internet into your network, but none are all that common,
or even very easy:
- A dedicated server, such a
Linux computer with a modem and a
network card. This machine will act as a gateway between the
Internet and your local network. Whenever someone tries to get
on the net, the server will make a dialup connection. You can
also use it as a file and print server. The advantages here
are that can be very cheap to set up and use and it is extremely
feature-packed -- but the downside is that it's very complicated to
setup and maintain. - A Windows computer that is
turned on and available to dial up the ISP whenever someone on the
network wants to get on the Internet. More expensive, but
easier to set up. - A gateway device that has a
built-in modem, designed specifically to provide dialup access to
the Internet in this way, such as the base station one below.
Here's what I suggest for most home/small
office users on a shoestring budget:
The base station is a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=ZoomAir+Wireless+IG-4150+Wireless+Gateway"
target="_blank">ZoomAir Wireless IG-4150 Wireless Gateway for under
$70, connected to either your phone line (56K dialup) or your Cable/DSL
modem (usually 256Kbps to 1,500 Kbps). What makes this unit unique
is that it has a built-in 56K modem where most all Gateways/Routers do
not. Those gateways and routers that do facilitate 56K dialup
connections to the Internet only do so through a serial port which you
must connect an additional external modem. The ZoomAir Gateway is
configured to dial and logon to your ISP using a web browser. I
assume this is a dial on demand situation, so that whenever a computer
needs an Internet connection, the modem will make that connection, and
hang up after a period of in-activity.
The downside of using this
particular gateway is that computers and the software running think
they're always connected to the net, so may make frequent connections
to update software such as weather bugs, chat clients, anti-virus
software definition updates and automatic Windows updates, and
therefore may never be inactive. This can increase your ISP
service charges if you are billed on an hourly basis. It would
be beneficial if you could configure the modem to ONLY dial up during
specific hours of the day, so that you could 'throttle' usage to stay
below a certain number of hours a month. I have no idea if this
feature is built into this gateway.
802.11b Wireless network adaptors
for all computers on your network.
- A laptop should use a href="http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=279434&pfp=BROWSE"
target="_blank">wireless PC Card, ( href="http://www.zoom.com/graphics/prod_shots/4150photo.JPG"
target="_blank">Photo.) which is a PCMCIA card that slides into
a PC Card (PCMCIA) slot on almost all laptop/notebook
computers. Any brand will do, but it must be 802.11b
compliant. - Desktops use an internal href="http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=292350&pfp=BROWSE"
target="_blank">wireless PCI card. Again, any brand will
do the job, but make sure it's 802.11b compliant.
How it works:
The base station connects to the internet
through either the phone line or your cable or DSL modem. It then
sets up a private local area network, isolated from the outside.
It assigns local IP addresses to each computer that connects to it in
ranges that are not accessible from outside your LAN and Internet
connection.
