can i set up a wireless network with my modem?

Buy a wireless router to connect to the modem that you refer to. Wireless comes in 3 flavours, B, G (as well as super G) and N. B is virtually out, G is the most common but N is the up and coming. The N (pre N as it's still called) provides the greatest range, so if distance from the router is an issue, certainly go for the N. (Belkin and Linksys are the best ones here). Probably by next year, the G will start to disappear from shelves in favour of the N variety. N costs more but the range is significantly better than B. Super G won't help increase the range of the G router but only increase the speed of transferring files from one of your LAN computers to the other. No increase in Internet download speeds at all.

Connect one of the computers by Ethernet cable (ignore the USB connection on the modem) to the router and configure the router according to the manual. Be sure you set it to "have a permanent connection" or whatever similar language is used. You won't then need to "dial up" as the connection will be constant through the router. As you're using DSL, it will likely include setting up PPPoE and entering your username and password. Be sure to enable DHCP on the router which hands out internal LAN IP's to each computer on your network. Otherwise you would have to do that manually on each computer including adding the DNS servers - for a beginner that's a bit geeky. You could have one/both computers hard wired to the router or either/both connected by wireless. Commonly, the desktop is wired in and the laptop connects wirelessly. Newer laptops all come with built in wireless capabilities but you mention you have a wireless card. (don't understand the term antenna and hope you aren't referring to a card with an antenna that's used to connect to wifi) The router should be enabled with security, preferably WPA. If you don't secure it, anyone can access your network. Neither computer need be turned on for the other to access the Internet.

What happened to poor old 802.11a?

802.11n has still not been ratified, next meeting is in January There is no guarantee that pre-N and N will be compatible

If you buy pre-N it is best to buy one manufacturers equipment as there is no guarantee of interoperability between manufacturers.

Rob

Cheapest way:

Got an older spare computer sitting around and two NIC's to throw into it?

If so, just put it between the modem and your router. ICS the NIC's.

Using ICS is a pain in the butt. Flaky. An older computer for back up or storage is a great use for the old machine, but connect it through the router as the others are

nO

Barry ===== Home page

Hey

Thanks for all of your answers. I decided to go with a G router.

I decided to get a modem/router from the store, because I am currently renting my other modem from my ISP so now I an give it back and use my own.

The only problem is that the new modem seems to go out of sync often, and needs to reconnect to ADSL. This is what shows up on the logs:

Mon, 2005-12-19 21:18:38 - LCP down. Mon, 2005-12-19 21:19:13 - Initialize LCP. Mon, 2005-12-19 21:20:13 - Initialize LCP. Mon, 2005-12-19 21:20:13 - LCP is allowed to come up. Mon, 2005-12-19 21:20:20 - CHAP authentication success

I think that the problem is with the 'modulation', because when I changed this on my old modem everything worked. But I cant find this in the admin panel of my new modem (NetGear) modem. I do see "miltiplexing method", but when I change this from LLC-BASED to VC-BASED, it just wont connect at all.

What setting do I change in this panel to stop the connection from dropping?

Thanks

Zach

Try talking to Netgear and your ISP, this is an ADSL/connection issue, nothing to do with wireless at all.