Wireless Broadband internet connection

[Scarlett]

I am going to shortly be living in a shared student house and I need to be able to use my PC in my room. At the moment I pay �20 a month for AOL in my house. How does it work in shared houses- I have heard about wireless broadband but I'm not sure what it means.

[Ethel]

Wireless broadband means the internet is 'broadcast' around the house by a router or combined modem/router and any pc or laptop with a wireless adapter can connect to it wirelessly.

Think of a tv transmitter and tv aerial - same principle, smaller scale.

[ChuckFickens]

All wireless refers to is the way the internet is transfered from the phone line where it comes into the house to the computer.

you would still need a phone line and you would still need to pay an ISP to provide the internet service over that line (good time to ditch AOL and get a proper ISP though!)

if you then got wireless you would have a wireless router near the phone socket and a wireless card/dongle in your computer so you could then use the internet without having to run a cable from the router to your computer.

if it's a shared house make sure you turn the security on for the wireless so nobody else can use it and then charge your house mate a small fee if they want access so you can recoup your costs