What do I need to buy to make my home a wifi hotspot?

[Nobody]

This past Christmas, my wife's father bought her a Nook Color. The problem is, everything she wants to do with it requires wifi, and there is absolutely no wifi network available from our house, so she usually has to take it to McDonald's, Barnes & Noble or wherever to use theirs.

Her father was visiting for Easter and said that if she found out what she needed to get to make wifi available in our home, he would get it for her. She doesn't need anything over the top, just something that she can use to do her downloads and such.

We do not own a laptop, and our desktop is relatively new (roughly 18 months old) but it does not have a wifi card or whatever in it. After asking around, some people told me I need a wifi adapter card for the computer, others said I just need a wireless router, and a few others said I need both.

All I need to know, is which items do we actually need to do this? I'm not computer retarded by any means, I have just never had to use wifi for anything, so I know absolutely nothing about it.

Do I need both products, or just one? Which brands do you recommend? Linksys isn't an option, because in the past when we had a laptop and used their products they were quite useless, so we'd prefer a different brand.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

****edit: We can't just use our neighbors networks, because they are all password protected, as we found out when my father in law used his Droid to search for wireless networks, and Linksys had a network, but the signal was extremely weak.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

You need a high-speed internet connection (Cable, DSL, etc.) and a wireless router.

 

[Nobody]

if you have an older PC most likely you will need to buy a wireless card for a wireless router to work. if you dont have a laptop and just a PC you can get a regular ol router and just plug it directly in to your computer and save yourself the configuration.

If 18 months old is considered older nowadays, I'm in more trouble than I thought

It's a decent setup, it's an 8GB RAM Asus with a 750GB HD and Athlon II X2 processor. I'm running Windows 7 64 bit. It has everything I need it for, other than wifi.

You need a high-speed internet connection (Cable, DSL, etc.) and a wireless router.

I have Cox top-tier high speed, so I should be good to go.

I'm just trying to get a definitive answer on whether I need the card too, as Mike stated. I have absolutely no wireless capabilities on here.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

You don't need a wireless card on your PC to make a separate wireless device work, as far as I know.

 

[Sarge]

And don't forget to set the security/password

 

[Chris]

The Nook would have built-in wireless capabilities, wouldn't it?

All you would need is a wireless router. DSL in to router, ethernet cable to PC, configure and go.

 

[Nobody]

youll need to get a wireless card and install it in order to pick up a wireless connection.

I'm actually not trying to get wireless on my desktop, it's for my wife's Nook. I don't know if that makes a difference or not? I'm just trying to create a hotpot so she can pick it up on her Nook and use it in the house instead of having to leave the house to download new books and stuff.

to do that do the following: start, control panel, network and sharing center. it could also be an icon on the lower right by the time IF you have wireless built in.

This was actually the first thing I did before I posted, that's how I found out I don't have wireless.

The thing youll need to ask yourself is if you need wireless. do you have more than one PC in the house that needs connection? is this a laptop you want to roam around with? a lot of people want to get wireless when they have one stationary PC and its a waste.

I have one PC, no laptop, don't want it for any of that, just need to make a hotspot for my wife's Nook. I just don't know how to do it, and get different answers from everyone.

 

[Nobody]

The Nook would have built-in wireless capabilities, wouldn't it?

All you would need is a wireless router. DSL in to router, ethernet cable to PC, configure and go.

Yes, the Nook does have the wifi, it just doesn't detect any wireless networks within range of our house, other than a weak Linksys network that never stays connected, and pass protected ones our neighbors have.

The setup you and Lanky are explaining is kind of what I was thinking we would need, I just didn't want to tell my father in law that we just needed a router if we actually need more.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

The Nook would have built-in wireless capabilities, wouldn't it?

All you would need is a wireless router. DSL in to router, ethernet cable to PC, configure and go.

This was my impression also...no need for a wireless card on the PC, just a waste of money (unless you want to get rid of the ethernet cable).

 

[Nobody]

This was my impression also...no need for a wireless card on the PC, just a waste of money (unless you want to get rid of the ethernet cable).

Thanks for the help fellas. I will have him order the router and get to work when it gets here.

If I have any problems, I will expect you all to kick yourself in the nuts, of course Or just call me a retard, whichever works best for you.

 

[fansince62]

- nook website states it has built in Wi-Fi.

- you will need:

. modem/router that connects to broadband (sounds like you have that)
. air port
. Wi-Fi on end nodes (sounds like Nook has that, others?)

- air port
. ensure AP and Nook support compatible wireless protocols
. rec you consider APs with some additonal built in security (e.g., firewalls)

- do you plan on running anti-virus checkers, etc., on the Nook or are you pretty much just going to tunnel in anything the Internet offers?

 

[Nobody]

- air port

What is this exactly? Never heard of one.

- do you plan on running anti-virus checkers, etc., on the Nook or are you pretty much just going to tunnel in anything the Internet offers?

The only time my wife will ever get on the internet with the Nook is to download a new ebook off of the Barnes & Noble site. She has no desire to use the web on it for anything else.

 

[fansince62]

What is this exactly? Never heard of one.


The only time my wife will ever get on the internet with the Nook is to download a new ebook off of the Barnes & Noble site. She has no desire to use the web on it for anything else.

airport is an Apple product term: it's a translator that converts your wired signal into a wireless signal...also sometimes called a gateway depending upon who you are talking to. many are built with additional functionality..like routing that Mike alluded to.....