making a wired lan from wireless

[fireboat786]

Hi all

I am in an office building in which a wireless LAN exists.

I want to join this LAN , the problem is both the computers in the office are Windows NT and
are having some trouble with either Wireless PCI cards or Wireless USB cards.

The question is, can I have some sort of router, or access point, or bridge, (I dont know the term)

that I could connect the computers to.

----- Wireless Network )))))))) (My wireless device) ----------------------> Computer 1
|
|
---------------------> Computer 2

What should I buy?

Thanks

 

[Fiveohhh]

you could put a wireless card in one pc, and bridge it with your wired card, an d connect your other pc to that. depending on what wireless equipment they used in your building, you may be able to get a seperate piece of hardware that can bridge it on its own, but we'd need to know more about the network in the building

 

[fireboat786]

Well it is an 802.11g network.

The impression I have is that that neither of the 2 computers can accept a wireless card. They need a wired connection (I need to confirm this though, because several wireless PCI cards say they work with Win NT)

As a side topic, can anyone explain the difference between a bridge, router, and access point?
thanks

 

[JW310]

A wireless bridge takes a wireless network connection and gives you a wired network port that you can use to attach any wired network device to a wireless network. A wireless access point is essentially the opposite of this; it allows you to add a wireless network connection to any wired network, and basically acts as a wireless "hub." A wireless router is essentially the combination of a wired router and a wireless access point. It lets you share a cable/DSL connection wirelessly with multiple computers. Most wireless routers also come with wired ports, allowing you to attach computers via a wired connection to your network.

It sounds like in your case, you would want a wireless bridge to connect those computers to the wireless network. A setup similar to the following should work in your situation:

--Wireless Network )))) Wireless Bridge ---> Wired Switch --> Computer 1
                                          |
                                          |---> Computer 2

The wireless bridge will give you a wired port from the wireless connection, and then you can attach a normal switch/hub (I recommend using a switch; they're not much more expensive than hubs, and they work more efficiently than hubs) to that, giving you multiple wired ports. Attach each computer to the switch, and they should have a connection to the wireless network, though the wireless bridge.

JW

 

[JackMDS]

Plug a Linksys WET11 into a switch.

Connect the computers to the switch, and make sure that they can get an IP from the main network (or configure with the appropriate static IP).

Link to: Link: Wireless Network - Configuration Modes.

:sun:

 

[loup garou]

I highly recommend the Buffalo Wireless Converter-G. No configuration, just plug it into any ethernet device and go (of course if you have WEP, WPA or MAC Authentication you can configure it for those easily). You can also plug it into a switch and thus connect multiple wired devices to a wireless network.