Wireless Router??

Can someone explain to me how a wireless router works? I have a dinosour for a computer and I know it does not have a wireless card to go wireless. I just bought a laptop and I want to hook it up to the internet wireless and leave my computer hooked up as is. How does that exactly work? Do I run my external modem through the router and still be able to run my dinosour computer?

Public Comments

1. Assuming you have highspeed Internet (Cable or DSL - will not work on dial-up) you need a wireless router. Check your current one to see if it has that ability. (Look in the documentation). If not, you will need to purchase a new router that has wireless capability. If the router has wireless capability, it will be sending out a radio signal which is the "wireless" signal. You simple run the "Wireless Wizard" in the control panel of the laptop to connect to that signal. Connecting the laptop wirelessly will not affect your "dinosaur" in it any way. The wireless signal and the sired signal to the dinosaur are independent of each other.
2. yep spot on just install the software for the router on the dinosaur
3. I'm looking at a wireless router, and it has not only wireless capability, but also cat 5 outlets. You should be able to hook up the external modem to the wan input, and the old pc to the cat 5 output. The new laptop will pick up the wireless signal.
4. Most "wireless routers" these days are actually hybrid routers - that is, they have both antennas (for the wireless connection) and RJ connectors (for the "wired.") Now, assuming you have an "always on" connection (that is, you don't have to dial every time you attach to the internet - usually high-speed, broadband, DSL, cablemodem, whatever they call it), you just have to connect the new router between your computer and your high-speed modem, and turn the router on. If you already have a router (which I doubt you do, having only one computer on your network) you can remove it from the system and put it aside for a rainy day. Once the router is in the mix, you install the router configuration software on your DINOSAUR - because you have to configure the security on your wireless router. Don't forget the SECURITY! I have 2 neighbors who have forgotten the security, and my daughter uses their wireless routers all the time. In her case, all she's doing is "stealing" bandwidth - but someone else could be hacking into NSA servers or downloading "innapropriate" material, and it would look to the internet like it's the neighbors doing it. So the network would look like this: DSL/CABLE MODEM to Wireless router --- (wireless) --> laptop to Dinosaur Computer