Be Excellent To Each Other

Before you all jump in, I have a very specific set of requirements.

Basically, it needs to have the following spec.

Four ports, so I can plug various wireless devices into it.
And it must be able to connect to the internet and act as a router, via a USB modem. It will not have a normal ADSL connection through the phone - I need it to go through the USB broandband modem I have here.

why does it have to use the modem?

Through USB but without the attendant PC switched on? I doubt that such a router exists. What's the reason for not just replacing the modem as well?

presumably the usb modem will be attached to a pc.

It should be fairly easy to be honest.

The PC's will have the routing info not the "wireless router". All you need is a wireless access point. The wireless devices will use the wireless access point to talk to the pc which will have ICS on the usbmodem

Malc

Malc

Because I don't have a phone line.

The apartment I have is part of a hotel that closed when the developer went bust. The phone lines are all wired to the now turned off central switchboard. There is no way that there will be a phone line put into the apartment.

So I've got a mobile broadband USB modem. But I want to get an XBox 360 as well as my new laptop and a wireless enabled printer. Hence the need to feed the net connection through the USB modem.

Currently I am using an ancient IBM Thinkpad - probably too underpowered to even think of using as a sort of hub type thing. (And knowing mobile companies, impossible to use their modem on something like Linux.)

Ah right well then as malc says If you are going to leave the PC on and share the internet connection through that then it just needs to act as a sort of switch and wireless access point which I think most will do. I have a linksys downstairs which is doing that I just plugged it in and it worked.

It's a WAG354G if that's any help.

The Thinkpad is a P4 - 512Mb. It doesn't have USB 2.0 and it connects to a wireless LAN via PCMCIA.

I assume it will be totally unsuitable for acting as a hub.

The new laptop is a 4Gb, Core 2 Duo WIndows 7 machine. Would that be able to do it? I am not that chuffed about having to have the laptop on and not using it...

IIRC you can use a wireless router and disable DHCP which then makes it a wireless access point.

I could be wrong, but I'm sure I did that many years ago with a Dlink wireless router.. I had a wired network and wanted to add more ports and wireless.

Edit. Maybe Doc can shed more light on the matter?

Edit again. Yes, I'm 99% certain I did that before.. Basically a router has a MAC address and a wireless access point doesn't. So when you disable DHCP it basically turns a router into a wireless access point..

I guess just give it a go with the older machine first. I reckon it will probably be ok.

Hmm... so... USB modem into laptop. Laptop uses Internet COnnection Sharing across its wireless LAN connection to the wireless router/access point. XBox talks to router/access point. Or is plugged directly into the router.

Sounds... complicated.

I'd connect the gateway laptop to the access point using rj45, after that it *should just work* ha.

I ran the cable modem into a wired router via NIC. Then the wired router into port 1 of the wireless router. Disabled DHCP and off I went. Was a long long time ago now though (probably around 2002) so it's all a bit hazy... I just remembered why I did it actually.. My wired router was a really nice Dlink model with a print server built in so the printer connected to it and everyone on the network could use my Hp laserjet. I couldn't find an affordable wireless one with the same feature set and someone gave me a Dlink wireless one to play with. Once you disable DHCP you cannot enter the config any more because it doesn't have an address (IE- 192.168.1.1) like a router does.

Hang on a cotton picking minute!

Edit: Netgear MBR624GU. Though it doesn't mention Ireland, but the modem is a Huawei E180, which is mentioned in the supported devices.

Oh cool, as long as your modem/operator is on the list.

OK it's slowly coming back to me now !!

Here's how it worked..

Cable modem - Wired router. Out of the NIC on the back of the modem, into the WAN port on the wired router with the print server.

Out of an open port (1-4 not WAN) from the wired router into the WAN port on the wireless router.

Then I could access both from my network. Wired was 192.168.1.1, wireless one was 192.168.1.2

Once logged into the wireless router I simply looked for the DHCP and disabled it. Reboot and you can no longer access it using 192.168.1.2

If you want to use it as a hardware firewalled router again you simply reset it using the little pinswitch (well, the one you stick a pin/needle into).

It did work though, and rather well.

haha, job done !

Just... Boot the damn switchboard dude!

or one of those 3g wifi hotspots they sell.

3G wifi hotspots.... right... you haven't seen the state of mobile phone networks in Ireland have you?


The HTC Hero is coming out on a network that only offers coverage in two cities, in about four weeks time. It will become the first Android phone people can buy in Ireland.

My two Draytek ADSL routers (2820's) have USB ports that apparently support standard USB modems or 3G dongles. The idea is that if the routers main connection fails it can fall back to the USB.

So in theory it should serve your requirements. However Drayteks aren't really consumer grade items and are accordingly pricey. Bloody fantastic routers though (I have one for home and one for the office).

Hang on, I'm confused. You said "mobile broadband USB modem" - what's that using if not mobile phone networks?
edit: and you also linked to a 3g wifi hotspot yourself

Anyway yes, I have. Your better alternative is probably one of the dish networks, which is widely available in the south as the ADSL rollout was so slow and patchy.

I'm on Meteor for 3G broadband, which offers mobile coverage in Dublin and Cork. My wife had to send over my Nokia N81, so I could unlock it and use a Voda PAYG sim to phone home for a reasonable rate.

What I mean is, the market over here is shite. At least 12 months behind the UK in terms of equipment - so when you talk to mobile shops about femtocells or Google Android, you might as well be talking about dragons and other mythical creatures. The main Voda shop on Grafton St hadn't even heard of Android. I was there waving my HTC Magic at the guy - see this logo, it means your company in the UK is selling it... God, it was like showing a dog a card trick.

It is kind of funny - I pick up the Metro and Herald as a free read on my way into work, and there is always a covering page from Voda or O2 shouting about the latest handsets (Nokia N97 launched here last week, I think) - but that is all you get, handsets, handsets, handsets. No wonder iPhone has pretty much cleaned up.

Fair enough. You might find that a wireless ISP gives better value for money though. 3G data has a fairly low cap, doesn't it?

http://www.broadband.gov.ie/List+all++Services/Home.htm

Presumably that means your modem has a SIM card in it then? Is it a dongly type thingy? There are routers that will take your SIM card and connect to a 3G network as if it was a wired broadband connection.

You mean like a 3G wifi hotspot Craster?

Not really. What's a hotspot not?

A 3G wireless router, certainly. I'd never call my router a hotspot.

Need a new cable router, as mine is apparently, utter cack. Budget of around £50.

Any suggestions?

Up your budget and buy a Draytek...

MUST RESIST

Gigabit lan...

NO STOP IT!

You don't have a gigabit LAN?

/sneers

Oh.... sounds interesting... how much are those beasts?

Remember to check your Ian is up to spec before investing in Gigabyte gear. For example, this Ian may look compatible but actually it's a early 90's model and uses 10 meg on BNC connectors. If this Ian isn't terminated properly it will get temperamental.



This Ian is even older and is only compatable with Acorn machines equipped with Econet:

My ex-stepdad (also an Ian) used to know him.

My Tomcat used to be one of the Range Rovers Lovejoy's missus drove.

This website may be interested in your car:

http://imcdb.org/vehicle_46027-Land-Rover-Range-Rover-1990.html

Does it appear on that page?

Or in fact on this page:

http://imcdb.org/movie.php?id=90477

They appear to have spotted every car ever in the series!

Good god. That website is... baffling.

I now need to know if the Grim.. mobile is in there. He could then sell bits off to Lovejoy fans as most of it has been ripped out anyway.

I now need to know if the Grim.. mobile is in there. He could then sell bits off to Lovejoy fans as most of it has been ripped out anyway.

I could be any of the Range Rovers - they shared fake plates, and the colour is right. I'd need to see the chassis number to know for sure. It was first bought by the BBC, though (BBC Essex, IIRC).

Are you sure it wasn't a radio car at one stage? Ie one of these except a Land Rover:



I'm trained to drive and operate one of those. About a month after I did the training I left so never did it in anger. Ho hum.

No, it's got no aerial.

Well obviously it would have been removed. Those rigs aren't cheap and are reused. OB vehicles aren't cheap. I sat in one TV truck which had been done at low cost where the van had cost 20 grand and the kit inside it 80 grand.

Just trying to work out why BBC Essex would have owned it. It would have been radio related.

Also, Lovejoy wasn't made by the BBC. It was made by an independent company for the BBC hence why it is now shown on ITV4.

Sounds like it wasn't in Lovejoy, then

Maybe it was just someone's company car.

Lovejoy was made by Witzend, which is Dick Clement's and Ian Le Frenais company. That has been bugging me all morning.

Unlikely it was a company car. If BBC Essex owned it then it was either a radio car or a pool car. In less financially tight times it wouldn't have been unusual for a BBC local covering a rural area to have a Land Rover as a pool car in case of bad weather.

I can ask on an industry forum if you like. Although if you could check the reg documents first to confirm it was owned by BBC Essex it'll save me from looking a tit.

Does it date from the time where the BBC owned transmitters and that? Could have been an engineering vehicle?

Would have been owned by the Engineering department, highly unlikely it would be owned by BBC Essex.

1990.

Do they have wireless routers?