Wireless networking NTL Broadband

[aghastpumpkin]

Getting 1Mb initially, likely to increase to 2mb.
It needs to be wireless networked in a three story, three bedroom house.
I say three storeys as I'm including the attic, where my bedroom resides.

The broadband will come in through a NTL box in the second storey. I know what I need is a router, (Not a modem, as the box has a modem).

This box exactly fits my bill.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=172378
Note it says: intended for use with Cable Broadband via connection to a Set-Top Box

This I think should work well with this, or the equivalent PCI card.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...Thumbnails=yes


Maximum or 4/5 computers connected, likely to be no more than 2 at one time.

Will this be suitable for gaming? And will it work?
Or are there better products you can reccomend.
Please help, I've never done it before!

[danrok]

It is impossible to say if your WLAN will work in every part of your house. All you can do is try.

I would get a PCI card with detachable antena. That way you will have the option of attaching a better antena if you find that you have to.

If possible get a router with two antena, I think this is known as MIMO (Multiple Input/Multiple Output) and gives a far more reliable signal.

[fantomfreq]

I would try to stay away from D-Link as a company for routers. I have an older D-Link router at my house and it will do just fine for a while and then for a week or two just randomly D/C all the computers on it for no real reason. The Linksys I've got here has never ever given me a problem ever. Linksys is the company name that Cisco uses to put out consumer products, so you're pretty much guaranteed something good if you go with them.

I've got the perennial favorite WRT54G, which is the best-selling wireless router ever to my recollection. Interestingly enough, it runs on an imbedded version of linux and can potentially be flashed to a fully-functional linux box if you so desire. I got mine for $40 US after a couple $10 mail-in rebates.

That link you post points to a router with 'Super G,' supposedly giving twice as much bandwidth as an 102.11g router. Don't believe this; it's all marketing hype and D-Link lost a class-action lawsuit over these claims in the past year or so.

Also, Danrock is right in saying that MIMO will give you a better signal and a longer range. If you've got a huge house you might need this, but I've found that a regular router works fine in my house. Keep in mind that MIMO will cost you a good chunk of extra money.

In the end, it's all up to personal preference. You can get routers that will enable the whole household to share one computer or ones that will allow you to attach a USB hard drive to create network-attached storage. As far as wireless cards for your computer go, stick with something PCI and stay away from the USB stuff. The USB junk might be more convenient but it will limit range and is generally just not as reliable.

[aghastpumpkin]

But will other routers work with the set top box?

[fantomfreq]

Originally Posted by aghastpumpkin

But will other routers work with the set top box?

I'm not sure that I understand your question. Any 802.11b/g products are all intercompatible with each other. As long as the router you get will output over ethernet you can get pretty much any router you please.

[danrok]

By "set top box" he means a cable TV box, that kind of thing.

I have never had cable TV, but surely with NTL you just plug the router in to your phone socket?

[Áedán]

Basically, the set top box spits out Ethernet. As long as the device works with Ethernet, you should be fine. NTL/Telewest used to register MAC addresses, and if they didn't have a note of the MAC address, they wouldn't allow you to communicate. A number of the ethernet 'NAT' boxes (aka routers) supported a feature called "MAC cloaning", where they'd take the MAC address of your PC, and present that to NTL/Telewest, thus bypassing the restriction.

Danrok: some digital cable boxes have an ethernet port on the back.

[danrok]

I see, so you would use PPPoE on a digi box with ethernet?

In that situation would you simply use one of the ethernet ports which you might otherwise hook-up to a PC?

[aghastpumpkin]

The broadband comes with a cable that just plugs straight into your PC. It comes with a USB adapter.
I just wondered because of DLink say their box is for this, either it's a marketing ploy or it's because not all will work with set-top boxes.

However, there always 14-day money back guarantees, so what I'll do is look into Linksys routers.
Then, if it doesn't work, just return the product within the period.
This won't happen until a brothers laptop arrives, which should be saturday.

[aghastpumpkin]

Well, we did it. We didn't need to run the US Robotics Wizard, NTL works straight off. If only we'd known that earlier.
All you have to do is switch everything off, then switch on the set-top box, then the router, then each PC.