Laptop

[Dusty Bin]

My daughter received a laptop computer for Christmas, but doesn't know how to get on to the internet. It has an built-in modem and she has a cable to plug into the phone line, but what should she do next, please?

I use a PC with a broadband connection using what I think is called an ADSL splitter on my telephone line. Can she use my broadband connection on her laptop? She also wants to know if she can get a wireless connection. I don't know where to start and just can't help her.

[Ethel]

You need a wireless router. You can connect via cable - as you do now, and also wirelessly around the home.


�30 upwards. The laptop will already be wifi enabled, so a router will be the only thing to buy.

[Dave G]

All she needs is the disc from a supplier Ie AOL or BT etc
load it in and away you go following the on screen instructions
she can also use your disc that you used to get on line good luck Dave G

[cazzzz1975]

make sure the laptop does have wifi, quite a lot of them dont come with wifi built in

[Dusty Bin]

Thanks.

Ethel - as my PC is over 4 years old will I be able to use this wireless router or will I still have to use my cable? The laptop is indeed wifi enabled as you say, but if my daughter simultaneously uses the same connection, will it slow down my PC...or worse?

Dave G - I no longer have the disc I used.

cazzzz - as above, yes, it is wifi enabled.

Cheers

[Ethel]

My desktop is over 4 years old too and so is not wifi enabled.

I prefer to keep mine like that and connect the desktop to the router by ethernet (I had to buy an ethernet card as my pc didn't have the right connection. �4 and easy to fit), and the laptop connects wirelessly.

They both run fine, and are not slowed down at all when both are used at the same time. This is precisely what a router is designed to do, after all.

If I wanted to, I could buy a wireless adapter for my desktop and use it wirelessly, but as it is sat next to the router it is pointless.

[Dusty Bin]

Forgive my ignorance, but what's "ethernet"?

[Ethel]

It's the cable.

[Dusty Bin]

I have a cable that runs from a wee black box (don't know it's correct name) (which plugs into a USB port on the back of my computer unit) to an ADSL filter (wee white box) that in turn plugs into the house's telephone socket. Is this cable the ethernet cable?

[bigmamma]

Bless Dusty Bin , that's so cute :-D xx

[Dusty Bin]

I did say I was ignorant!

Is that a "yes", then?