Wireless home LAN with Speedtouch USB

[vatche]

I have a deskptop PC and laptop (thinkpad T41) at home which has built in a/b/g connectivity. I currently have DSL through a Speedtouch USB connected to my laptop. I would like to now put in a wireless lan to have connection to DSL through both machines and also mobility on the laptop. I currently have no firewall and would like to include this as part of the system. Can anyone recommend suggest an infrastructure.

Regards,
Vatche

[M/Q]

Welcome to the forum. You have two options. The best would be to get a DSL modem that had an Ethernet port on it. Then you could connect it to a wired or wireless router. These two options break down even further as I prefer a wired router and then a WAP placed in the location to give you the best coverage area as you have a notebook and probably want to move around. A wireless router has the WAP built in, but it has to be located near the DSL input. that is not always the best location for wireless coverage. That is your choice though.

Next does the PC have a USB port? If so it could be used as a proxy server. If you have Windows 2K or XP, there will be a service called ICS. It can be used to turn the PC into an Internet access point. It is not a fun service to configure. If you are going this route, you may want to check out a program called WinProxy as it is a much easier setup and there is a free trial version.

[vatche]

Thanks for the feedback. The PC does have a USB port however I would rather keep the set up simple and the two machines indepdendent. In addition the distances are no more than 10 metres on 2 floors with brick walls for the laptop.

In my research I am inclined to go for an all in 1 solution if possible. The prices seem reasonable and hence I would rather have a clean solution. I have been looking at the netgear DG834G and WGT624 solutions. Do you have a thought on these products. I am currently running a 512k DSL with constant throughput throughout the day.

Thanks again.
Vatche