Home Wireless Network

[jstout2507]

I have 3 computers at home, all of which had their own access to the internet via Road Runner which is a high-speed cable modem access at $50 a pop. Expensive. So I decided to go wireless. I purchased the Linksys Etherfast Wireless AP+Cable/DSL Router w/4-port switch and 2 wireless USB network adapters. I left my computer (on the third floor of my townhouse) as the access point linking the cable modem and my computer to the router. My computer has 98. The other computer on the same floor also has 98, and the third computer on the 1st floor has XP. They of course got the wireless network adapters. Everyone is able to connect to the internet at continued high speeds with two problems. My son (computer on 1st floor with XP) does a lot of internet gaming. He says that he gets bounced off if someone walks by with the portable phone. On my computer on the 3rd floor, I use a VPN for remote access to work, and once that connection is established, I use pcAnywhere to connect directly to my computer on the network at work. My VPN is running extremely slow. I eventually make the VPN connection, but once I access my computer via pcAnywhere, it immediately freezes and I lose connection. Also, I wasn't sure whether to select infracture or ad hoc when setting up the wireless network adapters on the other two computers (even though the XP machine was basically automatic in that I really wasn't given a choice). For the phone problem, someone suggested I try and chance the frequency on the phone. Also, the default channel is 6. Would it make a difference to change the channel on all computers. Did I purhase the right hardware? Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks

[daemon2525]

The Wireless network runs at 2.4 ghz . What freq does your phone work with. Also Microwave ovens can cause problems.

You should select infrastructure on the Nics. Ad-hoc is used for communication between Pc's with no access point.

[Tuttle]

Changing the channel on the PCs would definitely be a good troubleshooting step - it slightly alters the frequency being used to try and avoid interference from cordless phones etc.

[DrMDJ]

By all means change the channel being used. And in answer to you adhoc/infastructure question: infastructure is what you want. Adhoc is suited to direct pc to pc wireless communication (no access point in the loop).

[jstout2507]

Thanks everyone for responding. I have 4 cordless phones, one of which is 2.47. I downloaded an upgrade for the router, and changed the channel from 6 to 11. The two computers not on the router are running very fast on the internet, but the one phone still knocks you off the internet when you use it. I guess I will have to get another phone. My VPN connection is now running as fast as it did initially, however, when I acces my computer at work via pca, it still locks up almost immediately. Can anyone offer anymore suggestions or should i go to a pca newsgroup. Thanks

[jstout2507]

One other thing, when I said the two computers not on the router have very fast internet connection, I also wanted to mention that my computer, the one with the router, has slow internet conncection in addition to the pca problem. Thanks