DSL Connection and WIFI...Quick Question

[Guest]

I have AT&T DSL and have gone to a wireless internet connection. AT&T sent
me an e-mail offer to upgrade my account from a BASIC pack to PRO. Faster
connections! OF course the cost is more.

My question, since I am using wireless, do I need to upgrade or am I getting
the fastest speeds already by using wireless?

Thanks!

 

[kenkcj]

Wireless is just a technology to spread your internet access throughout your
home with a general speed of up to 54 mb/s The general DSL line currently
has a maximum of I believe 6 mb/s. The only time that you'll notice the full
potential of your wireless connection would be if you were transferring
files locally in your network. If you believe that your internet has been
running slower than you would like, or just want to test out the faster
connection for a period, I'd say go for it. Just make sure that your DSL
provider doesn't try to lock you into that higher speed tier.

 

[Malke]

I have AT&T DSL and have gone to a wireless internet connection. AT&T sent
me an e-mail offer to upgrade my account from a BASIC pack to PRO. Faster
connections! OF course the cost is more.

My question, since I am using wireless, do I need to upgrade or am I getting
the fastest speeds already by using wireless?

Just because you have a wireless connection doesn't magically give you
more speed. In fact, the speed over the wireless connection may be a tad
less than what you get when using ethernet (wired). You are paying $x
for a connection of x speed. It doesn't matter whether you are using a
wireless router or not - the connection is the same.

If you want to go faster, upgrade your connection.


Malke

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the explanation.

Since you're around...I have another.

I had a phone connection problem recently, AT&T set up a temporary DSL
account for me that i have to log-in to. DSL is supposed to be connected at
all times, correct? My internet now works slower. Is there an easy way to
reconfigure my router settings, secure obviously? I have some knowledge
about computers but can you give detailed explanations?

Once again, thanks!

 

[kenkcj]

From what it sounds like AT&T is having you log into some generic DSL
account that only has a limited connection speed or the reason for the phone
problems and DSL speed may be related to a line issue that may not be fixed
until they replace it. Once you have a full blown DSL, yes it will be always
connected without having to worry about logging on everytime you want to
browse. As far as an easy way to set up your router, there are a few third
party software titles out there for securing your wireless connection and
router, but personally I find it more secure to do it yourself. The first
thing to find out is the "gateway" ip address of the router. Generally this
will be 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 If neither of these work, check your
users manual. Once you figure out the ip, enter it into internet explorer
and it should prompt you for a username/password. Unless you have changed
this, the username and/or password will be admin ie. it could be
admin/admin, <blank>/admin, or admin/<blank>. Depending on what kind of
router you have, the configuration can be really simple. Depending on how
much security you want, I recommend changing the password on the router, and
the ip address, the one you entered to get to the router settings. The basic
secure setup though is under wireless, then security. Set up an encryption
method, WEP/WPA. The higher the number-bit security, the more encrypted your
connection will be and the harder it will be for hackers to get in. Best of
luck to you!

 

[kenkcj]

Realized I forgot one important part. When you try to connect via wireless
if you set up the encryption, you will have to enter the same encryption
style and code that was entered in the router. Otherwise it will not
authorize your computer to connect to the router.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all your help. I'm finally up and running after 1 1/2 hrs on the
phone with AT&T Linksys. They walked me thru just about everything you said.
Thanks again!