Metropol

Here's one for the networking gurus out there.

I share my desktop PC's internet connection with my laptop over a cabled LAN. The main drawback with this is that my desktop PC has to be on for me to access the internet with my laptop.

If I were to go down the wireless route, would my destop PC still have to be on or would the wireless modem store the log-in details and operate independently?

And whilst we're on modem questions, what's the difference between a modem and a router?

Many thanks in advance.

your router will store all the configuration details for you, so you don't need to turn on any pc.

in terms of wireless jargon, the terms broadband router and broadband modem are a bit confusing since a broadband modem will act as a router (at least internally).

however, a "broadband modem" is usually a cheap usb product whilst a "broadband router" will often have a ethernet connection and plug directly into a switch or hub. it may also have other features such a port forwarding, web filtering and a dhcp server.

from your original post, i'm guessing you're looking for something like this:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/ ... oid=-24986

the web price isn't too bad, either.

Dr Lobster* wrote:your router will store all the configuration details for you, so you don't need to turn on any pc.

in terms of wireless jaron, the terms broadband router and broadband modem are a bit confusing since a broadband modem will act as a router (at least internally).

however, a "broadband modem" is usually a cheap usb product whilst a "broadband router" will often have a ethernet connection and plug directly into a switch or hub. it may also have other features such a port forwarding, web filtering and a dhcp server.

from your original post, i'm guessing you're looking for something like this:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/ ... oid=-24986

the web price isn't too bad, either.

Many thanks for that Doc. It was the independent operation that I was mainly interested in. One router here I come.

My god how the prices of those things have plummeted!