that was very informative! i would just like to clarify something though. is there a switch or hub that can connect 3 computers with a wired and 2 wireless LANs? thanks

Very detailed. I had a similar problem with my wireless range. I originally placed the router in my rumpus room (which was an extension) and had weak signals. The problem was that the exterior of the extension was clad in metal. Once I moved the router closer to the centre of the house, I had a much stronger connection.

Absolutely informative! Is it possible if you can tell me what I should do with my new company I am about to set up on one level floor, which is situated on level 7. I will be having 30 Centrino laptops as my workstations for my staff and I need wired as well as wireless networking for my company. I also need to tranfer huge data across to other offices situated in US and Austrlia during night time. However, the problem is that my boss wants 4 runs of cat 5 to each workstation with one as having 1 access point per workstation. What sort of equipment I should use in order to implement our office. Hopefully you can help me out in planning this floor plan. Thank you

Very good article. I currently have two computers networked together and using DSL. These two computers are in the same room connected with an ethernet cable. I am thinking about adding another computer for my other sons' in their room which is next to the room with the other two computers divided by a bathroom. All three computers has Intel Gigabit Ethernet connectors on the motherboards. Is it worth getting a Gigabit Switch for the faster speed. My kids like to play games against each other, plus they access my two hard drives on the server.

Thank you

I really appreciate you sharing your experience with us. I have four PCs including a lap-top networked using a switched Ethernet LAN. My new housemate also has a PC (not added yet) and together the fact that we have two lap-tops could make wireless a good option for me, while the workstations (3) will stay fixed. I was, however, most intregued by your pass-time, the car project. I have a disign for a voice control/response system for car performance and general on-board detail like outside and inside temp. Is your system gui-free.. (ie: voice)? Does it collect data into a dat-base (access etc)? I'm keen to swap ideas, as I am in the development stages with mine. Regards, Julian (Melbourne, Australia)

what?! in enlgish please!

I have a laptop connected to a wire to a netgear wireless transmittor. My brothers computer is connected to the same cable modem through this netgear piece. In other words my cable modem connects to the netgear deal and then a wire connects my cpu to it and my brother is connected wirelessly. He can access my files on his computer but I cant on his. How do I set it up to do this.

Extremely informative. Is it possible to link 2 seperate wired networks by plugging a wirless bridge into the switch on each network? I have a wired network throughout my house but would like to put a 4 port switch in the garage wirlessly linked to the house network for building and working on PC's. I have a wireless router in the house already.

I've got a combined wired/wireless LAN in my home. The wireless computers can pick up the wireless signal, but I can't access the internet (DSL) or my home netword for file sharing; I can do both with the wired pc's on the network. Any ideas what the problem is?

i am connected through my roomates wireless router, i use solely for internet access, i have two pc's my self that i want to network for printing, communication perposes , i bought a printserver, with 4 port switch, hooked everything up, enabled ethernet connection, and it says i have limited or no connectivity, how dom i fix this prob, i cant even install the printserver drivers from the disc, i thing my configs are wrong

I have a wireless network set up in my home that works very well. My son's computer has a wireless card installed and he plays games without problems. He sometimes has friends over and we would like to have some sort of a hub that can receive a wireless signal and then distrubute it to computers connected to the hub via wires. Is there any such product?

Your article implies that a common LAN is the byproduct of a mixed wire/wireless system but such has not been my experience. My wired system is managed by a Netgear switch so to ensure compatibility, I purchased a Netgear WGR614 and two Netgear PC cards.

All PCs can access the Internet, but netbui sees two different LANs i.e. w/Network Neighborhood, wireless PCs can only see wireless PCs and wired PCs can only see wired PCs.

Netgear Tech Support rejected my question on whether there are any settings in the router which need to be configured for bridging, with 'your problem is not our problem, it is Windows'.

The cable modem connects to the switch input, and an output port on the switch connects to the router input. I find it hard to believe this is a Windows problem because replacing a wire card with a wireless card in the same PC causes it to see different machines under Network Neighborhood.

The PCs are mostly W98SE, but some are W2K, and one is XP. It's hard to believe that all of them are 'wrong' and Netgear is blamefree.

Your article is very useful, it confirms my installation is valid.

If you have any suggestions that might solve my problem, they would be much appreciated.

My thanks in advance.

JP

Hello,

I found your topic to be very infortative, however i have an issue i haven't been able to resolve. I was hoping maybe you could shed some light for me.

I have a similar problem as John Porter. I am running Wireless Network with a Netgear WGR614 Router. It includes a 4port switch for the computers that still use wires. I have tried setting up the network to share files between my wireless computer and the wired computers. i can only see other wireless, and vice versa. is there a way to share between the 2 medias? the internet is working fine, but the file sharing isn't.

Please get back to me if you can help me at all. thank you in advance.

Very informative. I am planning to connect a wireless router to the company's LAN. The LAN has a static IP address, and a wired router (I believe). I am planning to connect the wireless router to one of the computer's that has connection to the company's network. But my concern is given the wireless router's unique IP address, can I still access the company's network via wireless connection to the company's network (same as before, but on a wireless connection). Please advise immediatley. Thank you.

yes i have a problem in which it states there is a conflict with your ip address and a nother computer i have a 16 port switch and 4 cpu's along with 3 broadband viop lines in my home. how do i change the ip adrress on the computers and do i have to enter all other info as well (gateway etc...) thank you jc

I've seen my problem described here, but not the solution. I have a perfectly running home system with multiple hard wired computers and a laptop. When the laptop is hard wired, all computers can see each other and file share, all can access the internet thru the desktop that is connected to the modem which then connects to a switch and the wireless router. Problem is, when I switch the laptop from wired to wireless, I can still access the internet, but I cannot share files or printers anymore. Any ideas how to fix this? Thanks.

My house was wired during construction. I currently have a wireless router in my home office. I have my main home computer hard wired to the router and a couple of wireless laptops. I would like to push wired connectivity throughout my home. In my home office, I appear to have an input jack that would feed connectivity throughout the house. What would the recommended setup be?

In my home internet connection the promised internet speed is 6 mbps. With Apple macbook (1.83 Ghz) I get the same speed around 6 mbps wired or wireless. With all Windows (windows xp professional or windows home xp sp 2)laptops I get half the speed for wireless (3 mbps) compared to wired? Why? All the speeds were measured with computer being very near to the wireless access point. I use linksys WRT54G router.

very informative! I want to disable wireless NIC card while connected to LAN. I want to do this for all laptop users in my office. Is there a way to do this through Group policy or any script?

Thanks!

Great article i hope u can tell me what im doin wrong see i have a WGR614 wireless netgear router and i have 3 pcs and one laptop the 3 pcs have wires and the laptop is wireless and i cant figure out how to share files from my pcs to my laptop but all of my pcs fileshare perfectly and all have internet access...Hope to hear from you soon...Later

I am having the same problems connecting wireless to wired. I just found this on Netgears site:

Encryption is now enabled. Because of encryption, if the wired network is invisible to the wireless nodes and or the wireless nodes are invisible to the wired Ethernet network, it is because by enabling WEP encryption your files are made "private".

It seems to say that if you use WEP wireless computers cannot see wired computers. This seems stupid, and even though this is not about my Netgear is particular maybe it applys to mine. I will try disabling WEP to see if this solves the problem (I know this is not an option for everyone)

I had same problem as described above. My laptop connected by ethernet cable could share files with my desktop but when switched to wireless I would have internet but filesharing in any direction didn't work. I have SMC baricade g, and simple hard reset of the router fixed the problem. I had to set router again, including WEP (so that is not problem) but it works with router firewall turned on and zone alarm as well.

I have a problem similar to one described here. I have 3 PCs all Windows XP SP2. Two are wired and 1 is wireless. Router and wireless gear is all linksys. All PCs have good internet access and the two wired PCs can share files and printers. The wireless PC can access files and printers on the wired PCs but the wired PCs can not access shared files or the printer on the wireless PC. Can you help?

Very detailed description of the installation, but I want to know the setup part of the two kinds of network. Do wired and wireless network have to use the same network(workgroup)name? or have to be different? Can SSID and network name be the same for the wireless network? Thanks.

I have a PC w/XP Media Center wired to a Linksys g. I have a printer wired to the PC. Also, a laptop w/XP Home running wireless off the Linksys. I have used every wizard available and linksys phone tech/online support software, and been all over the net looking for answers. As the previous posters, I too use wep. I can not get the pc & laptop to see each other. The printer does not show up either. On the My Network tree, I can only get down to the computer name on the wired. The laptop does see the pc name in the tree, but will not open it up. The printer is nowhere to be found. Any help would be much appreciated.

Yep, I've seen many many people complaining that the wired and wireless segments of their network cant see each other. I'm having exactly the same problem and despite all the questions I've yet to find anyone with an answer.

I actually had all PCs on my mixed network talking to each other at one point but that's gone away now and I'm back with the same problem... wired PCs can see each other, wireless PCs can see each other, they're all on the same subnet, but they won't play.

Damn, it's annoying!

And my suspicion is that's it's almost certainly Windows that's at fault, althoughI haven't been able to prove that yet.

I have the same issue like Ian. All pcs running win xp pro, on same subnet within same workgroup, etc., etc. The 3 wired pcs see and communicate with each other but not with wireless pc. I am using an AsusWL550ge router and an asus wl167g adapter on the wireless pc. Funny thing is that i manage to ping the wired pcs using the asus adapter utility on the wireless pc and after that i can see the shared folders on the wired pcs. However, i still cannot see the wired pcs on "My Network Places". After some time i lose connection oncew again with the shared folders and i have to ping again to restore it. Any ideas? Thanks in advance. Marco Manara - October 15, 2007

we have 3 computers. and wireless broadband if one computer is connected to lan with wire(cable) as well as wireless; will it make the internet slow on other computers which are only connected to wireless or is there any difference in performance

Good info but the reason i looked at this is i have my modem connected to a wired router & than a powerline adapter system from Corinex connected to this to bring the connection closer to a wieless router for a laptop this gives a much better signal but now i can not print from the laptop ,when i could when the wireless router was the only one used by the main computer Maybe someone can help with this thanks

My problem is a bit different. My family has two wireless laptops and I have a wired PC, and all three go through the same router, a Netgear. I want to use remote access software to troubleshoot problems on either laptop, and I also want some ability to monitor what my teenager is doing online. I need to create a network where all three computers talk to each other but my wired PC is the "big cheese." Can anyone help me figure this out?

My e-mail address is troubador52@comcast.net if anyone has suggestions.

Thanks, DwC

I have a Belkin Wireless G Router that my dsl modem goes into. I have a desktop pc wired from the router's LAN output and a laptop connected wirelessly. I'm trying to network both it doesn't show up. The laptop's OS is Windows Vista and the Desktop is Windows XP SP3....help on networking wired and wireless connection please.

Your article provided some of my questions with answers. I have an odd situation with which I need some assistance. I have a DSL modem with its own internal router. The modem has outputs to: Ethernet, USB, and Wireless. I run the Ethernet output to a small 4 port output router, and then two outputs via cat 5 cable to two different computers. Each computer has internet access and "sees" the other computer. I have a laptop which uses the wireless portion of the Modem, and is upstream of the router. The laptop cannot "see" or be "seen" by the other computers. How can I get the laptop to look downstream at the two other computers and "see" and been seen"? Thank you for any assistance you may be able to provide.

I have router with wireless access and a pc windows xp ethernet wired, I need to have the PC connect to the wireless network for itunes airport music connection.Any ideas how to get the wired pc into the wireless network of the router? Router is a Fonera spot.

Thank you for any ideas or direction. I usually am able to do this with a mac but haven't much experience with pc and this configuration.

I have router with wireless access and a pc windows xp ethernet wired, I need to have the PC connect to the wireless network for itunes airport music connection.Any ideas how to get the wired pc into the wireless network of the router? Router is a Fonera spot.

Thank you for any ideas or direction. I usually am able to do this with a mac but haven't much experience with pc and this configuration.

Hi, a fascinating article. OK here goes my wired network typology starts with a cable modem connected to an Internet server (nothing much more than a fire-walled computer between the modem and the switching hub that two computers are connected to). Now I want to stream music (mp3s) and visualisation from my computer (one of the two connected to the switching hub) and my TV down stairs. 1/ I know I need a wireless media player. 2/ I know I must have some sort of wireless network router. Here's my question: Can I simply cat5 the router into the switching hub to get what I need. As everything I have read here and elsewhere seems to suggest I need to have the wireless router connected to the internet cable 1st. Any help on putting me straight would be real cool.

Your Comments (required):

You article is excellent as far as the wiring and location of the access points, switches and hubs is concern. I was actually looking for for some info on the configuration of wireless routers is concern. when i go to the set-up page on the web.I have a Linksy wireless router with 4 ethernet ports plus two phone jacks on it. can you give me some general ideas? i just have a laptop, and a pc connected to it. the is laptop wirelessly connected and the is directly connected to it.I'm also having problems connectin remotely to both of them.if it helps i am using hughes net or satelite network. is the only choices that's available in my town. thanks

Is this possible? I'm at work and a guy says that because I have both wireless and the hard-wired connection going at the same time...that it is creating a loop (like a looped hub) that is slowing down the network. Has anyone ever heard of this?

Thanks,

Good Sir,

Am a HNC Networking finalist student,and as part of the program a project contruction is a paramount to PASS,and have choose to build a WAN Network which will consist both wired and wireless topology.

Am trying to go away from using cisco equipment as i believ my fellow student could make use of cisco.well this might sound a bit snick but i really need your advices on what to make uses of and steps to follow,though have map out my strategies and steps but i think i need more.

Thanks.

Ola.

Wll Chuck Liddell retire?

you guys are all noobs you basterd

Very Very Easy ant too good article. i took alot of help from there Becuase its related with my assignment. Assignment This assignment comprises two parts: the first requires you to produce a short (2 page) proposal document, defining the possible alternative approaches to providing a unified communications network for a particular client. You will then develop this initial proposal into a more detailed plan of work. As part of a refurbishment of a former factory building to provide a mixed use (apartments/ small business office space/ retail and leisure), it is planned to provide a building-wide networking facility. This networking facility will be IP-based, and will support all voice, video and data communication for the building. Therefore you should expect to provide for all forms of traffic, including, but not limited to, internet access (for both business and leisure use); video traffic (IPTV) and building monitoring and security. The designers have installed a wired (Cat 5 Ethernet) facility in the first stage of the development, but for a variety of reasons, they are considering wireless (802.11 a/b) connectivity for the remaining parts of the building complex. They have issued a call for proposals to provision and equip this remaining part of the building, and you have been asked to submit a proposal for the contract. This proposal process will be in two stages: an initial outline bid, of no more than 2 pages of A4, which will provide an overview of the main elements of the work you propose to carry out, and identifying (in outline only) at least two different possible technological approaches (one wired, one wireless). You will then be expected to submit a more detailed document describing the advantages and disadvantages of the alternative technologies you proposed in your first document, this should include identification of hardware requirements and any installation and maintenance costs; finally, you must include a section defining the planning and site survey you will need to carry out in order to address the business requirements. Suggested overall word count: approx 6000 words in total (1500 + 4500) Marks will be awarded for: • For the outline proposal: 1. Clarity, conciseness and accuracy of the proposal. • For the final report: 2. Coherence with initial outline proposal (or good reasons for deviation) 3. Clear explanations of the proposed solutions for the alternative technologies proposed 4. Your assessment of the likely quality of service for each solution 5. Your planned site assessment Half of the marks at each stage are awarded for each of the two possible solutions, therefore you must ensure that you deliver two separate potential solutions. Each criterion carries equal weighting (i.e. 20% of the overall mark), items 2 – 5 in the above list relate to the module learning outcomes in order; the outline proposal addresses elements of all these outcomes.

OK sir Take care bye regards inam 07765001348

Thank you for your article. Could you explain? I have 1 modem for internet from my I.S.P and this is supposed to connect and share my existing internet and resources over an existing LAN. Actually, I add 1 wireless access point. How should I connect the equipment physically to join this AP to my existing wired LAN. Thanks a lot for the sharing.

dear team Iam working in company that have both network wired and wireless when the laptop user disconnect from lan and want to connect the wireless then are unable to connect the wireless network.so we did not have any solution except restart .pls tell me the solution on urgent basis

thanks

I have one computer in my house that is wired to my wireless router and then a computer that connects off of that wi-fi and so now i am trying to network the 2 computers and i cant seem to get it right.

READER COMMENTS: We want to hear what you have to say about this article!     Acceptable Use Policy Your Comments (required): Your email is only used if our editors need to contact you. It is not used or stored for any other purpose, nor posted with your comments. Enter the text from the image below Please refresh the page if you have trouble reading this text.