How to un-wire my PC

galenblade

I'm moving into a new living situation, and whereas before I always paid for my own wired internet connection, I have the opportunity to share a wireless connection with a few other people, for a much lower outlay.

I have no problem for most of this, as I have a wireless router, and most devices are run off of the wireless (game consoles, phone, etc). However, my PC has always been wired, and I have no idea how to set this up. I'm told I need a wifi dongle which I can plug into a USB port.

So my questions are essentially:

1) How do I hook up my PC to a wireless network?

2) If I need to get a dongle, what are some good brands or what should I look for in one?

Mr Blonde

If your PC does not have a built in wireless card (most likely it doesn't), then you need a dongle. They are connected via USB (unless you get one that fits into a PCI slot), they're cheap (unless you want to shell out top dollar).

I got the Zonet ZEW-2500P. Have had 0 issues with it running on Vista 32 for about 3 years now.

Newegg's selection of wifi adapters

Your choice will also depend on if your router can broadcast in Wireless N or not.

Gihgehls

So, is your router doing the sharing for everyone else, or are you connecting to another router? Either way, if you want wireless access for your PC, you might look into a wireless bridge. A bridge eats wifi signals and craps out internet over ethernet, so you can use it for any wired device later down the road, such as an xbox or laptop.

galenblade

Gihgehls wrote: »

So, is your router doing the sharing for everyone else, or are you connecting to another router? Either way, if you want wireless access for your PC, you might look into a wireless bridge. A bridge eats wifi signals and craps out internet over ethernet, so you can use it for any wired device later down the road, such as an xbox or laptop.

I will be connecting to another router. Bridges, though, look a bit more expensive than I'd like to pay. My PC is the only thing that is not wireless that I'd need to connect.

A friend of mine told me about a way to turn my router into a receiver, and then I could essentially just run it into my PC from there. Is that a possibility?

Six

If your router can run dd-wrt or another custom firmware, just turn it into a bridge.

Gihgehls

Yes, your friend was talking about turning your existing router into a bridge. If you ever transfer files between your devices over the network, having them physically plugged into the same switch will make those transfers much faster.

kaliyama

My house is on wifi, and my computer is downstairs from the router. I was getting an awful latency problem and signal, I think because of chicken wire in the walls or something. I had a headache trying to set up a bridge, when my available tools were a trendnet router, an airport router, and the AT&T wireless modem. DD-WRT didn't want to work right with everything and dropped the bridge every time something rebooted. Very ugly. I could have bought different equipment and gotten it tow ork, but instead I just bought a power over ethernet set up - it runs the ethernet connection over your power lines. I plugged in one unit by the router, and ran an ethernet cable, and the other plug by computer. Works like a charm, totally plug and play. It took like five minutes, and it's like running ethernet cable through the walls with none of the hassle.

Gihgehls

That isn't what "power over ethernet" means. POE is when electricity runs through your network, not when your network runs through your electricity.

Figgy

Gihgehls wrote: »

That isn't what "power over ethernet" means. POE is when electricity runs through your network, not when your network runs through your electricity.

He meant ethernet over power, clearly. Both of those technologies exist.

kaliyama

Figgy wrote: »

Gihgehls wrote: »

That isn't what "power over ethernet" means. POE is when electricity runs through your network, not when your network runs through your electricity.

He meant ethernet over power, clearly. Both of those technologies exist.

100% correct. Misspoke.

galenblade

OK, it looks like a dongle is the way to go, then. I don't have the technical knowhow to turn my router into a bridge, and it seems unnecessary too. $30 for a dongle seems like the best option.

Tofystedeth

galenblade wrote: »

OK, it looks like a dongle is the way to go, then. I don't have the technical knowhow to turn my router into a bridge, and it seems unnecessary too. $30 for a dongle seems like the best option.

For many SOHO Wi-FI capable routers there's usually an option in the config page that you simply check and it puts it into wireless bridge mode. What model do you have?

Arrath

If you ever do decide to setup a router as a bridge, the 2nd post of this thread details how to do so, with DDWRT.