getting broadband to the laptop

[the staring frogs of Southern Iberia]

After years of dial up and kids in my ears, cable access has arrived at this
house. It is presently hooked up to the desktop through the cable modem
provided and a ethernet cord to the back of the tower. My laptop is used
primarily at work but it travels with me back and forth and I use it at
night in a room about 30 feet away from the desktop.
Any suggestions on getting the new broadband speed to the laptop
either through a wireless hookup or wired. I assume if it's wireless I'll
need a router after the modem and a network card for the laptop?
Will I need a network card for the desktop also or can that be left
on the ethernet cable?Have googled a lot lately on this but it's worse than
trying to figure out car insurance!

 

[jimbo]

After years of dial up and kids in my ears, cable access has arrived at this
house. It is presently hooked up to the desktop through the cable modem
provided and a ethernet cord to the back of the tower. My laptop is used
primarily at work but it travels with me back and forth and I use it at
night in a room about 30 feet away from the desktop.
Any suggestions on getting the new broadband speed to the laptop
either through a wireless hookup or wired. I assume if it's wireless I'll
need a router after the modem and a network card for the laptop?
Will I need a network card for the desktop also or can that be left
on the ethernet cable?Have googled a lot lately on this but it's worse than
trying to figure out car insurance!

A simple solution is to get a wireless router and a wireless PC card
for the laptop. Wireless routers always have ports for wired
connections as well as the wireless function. So your desktop plugs
into one of the router's wired LAN ports and the laptop receives
signals from the wireless function.

You plug the cable from the cable modem to the WAN port of the router.

The best practice is to power down all PCs, the cable modem and the
router. Then connect everything. Then power up the cable modem, wait
about 45 seconds, then power up the router, wait about 45 seconds,
then power up your desktop. The desktop should now have access to the
Internet as before.

When you power up your laptop, you will have to use the network wizard
to set it up for Internet access.

Good luck, jimbo

 

[the staring frogs of Southern Iberia]

You made it sound so simple which was just what I was looking for. Thanks.
Netgear, Linksys, Belkin or D-link? Any preferences?
802.11g, 802.11a What's the difference other than newer technology and
speed.?
All are compatible with XP I assume?