On 7 November 2010 09:31, Sean Gibbins <s...@funkygibbins.me.uk> wrote: > Hi everyone, > > My son is currently residing in halls of residence where is 'net access > is piped to his laptop via an ethernet cable on his desk. Obviously that > somewhat restricts the flexibility of the laptop and longer cables are > not really an option as he has mobility problems and would struggle if > there were cables trailing around the room. > > It occurred to me that this might be solved with a wireless access point > that hooks up to the ethernet cable, but upon looking for a modern > incarnation of such a device it appears they have been largely ousted by > the combination wireless routers many of us use. You can buy them, but > they seem to be the same price as a good quality wireless router, i.e. £45. > > My brain's a bit fuzzier than usual this morning, but am I right in > thinking I could buy a cheaper wireless modem and configure it solely as > an access point, i.e. leaving the modem component unconfigured? > > The range isn't important, but it will need to be secured, ideally with > WPA and MAC address filtering. > > Sean >
You should look at the university policy and see how many hosts you are allow to connect to the ethernet point in the room. E.g. Are you allowed to attach a HUB and run more than one PC from it. If you can, then a simple Wireless AP will work. If, you are only allowed to connect one PC/host to the ethernet cable, then you will need to go for something like a cable modem or cable access point. A cable access point does the wireless AP function, and also has an ethernet port for connecting to the external network. An ADSL wireless access point would instead have an phone port for connecting to the external network. The cable access point would then do Network address translation and therefore work correctly with the ethernet cable on the wall. One point of caution. If you son is able to attach a Wireless AP, other students will also be able to, and thus the wireless might become very congested and cause problems that way. Kind Regards James -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --------------------------------------------------------------
