Setting up a combination cable LAN/ WIFI network to share a broadband connection.

I had a small peer to peer network already setup in the office, just two computers connected with a CAT5 crossover cable. Following a period of using a Satellite broadband connection which gave me great speed downloading but still uses my ISDN line to connect and upload, we eventually got broadband here out in the STIX as they say (A major bone of contention here as Eircom haven't yet updated the exchange and don't plan to in the near future) . A local provider has set up a Wireless broadband network with the local group water scheme so I could dump my Satellite broadband connection and save myself a ridiculous amount of money in phone charges.

Once I got the Broadband I wanted to set up a combination LAN/WIFI wireless network to allow any computer or laptop to connect to the Broadband connection and also allow working from anywhere in the house as well as the office.


Materials:
Patch lead or CAT5 Cable & Connectors.
1 Wireless access point.
1 hub or switch.
1 Broadband connection.

This is the order of things as I did it.

The wireless broadband company, MaintsBB supplied and fitted me with an aerial with a panel that had a DHCP router built in to it but the Wireless Access point that I had (DWL - 900AP+ from D-Link, I've had it a while now waiting for broadband from Eircom which hasn't materialised) actually has a DHCP router built in as well so either would have done the job. Their cable terminates in a little black box which is connected to a power supply and also has a CAT5 cable coming out to connect to a computer. This is the broadband connection. The guys from MAINTS had connected the broadband to one computer and they made sure that everything was working perfectly before they left. If you're in the area that served by this system please contact them for broadband, they're great and give you all the assistance you could possibly ask for. (one of them spent half an hour in a ridiculously tight space under the office bringing across the cables to keep them tidy).



THE HARDWARE SETUP:

I plugged the cheap hub I had bought from PCWORLD. (Linksys 5 point ethernet hub) into the mains and fired it up.

The CAT5 cable from the little black box from MAINTS (the broadband connection) went into one of the LAN connector ports on the hub.

I made up a CAT5 patch lead from two CAT5 Lan connectors and a piece of CAT5 cable and linked the main desktop on the office to another port on the hub. These cables are cheap in PCWORLD or anywhere similar but I had the stuff lying around to make it up anyway.
This particular computer does not have wireless built in but has a LAN connection port in the back.

Wireless access point was then plugged into the mains and connected to the hub using the CAT5 cable in the box.
That was all the hardware dealt with, it was time to move on to the setup.

THE SOFTWARE SETUP:

I accessed the WAP by typing in the default IP address given in the setup instructions into Firefox and the setup routine came up on screen in my browser.

NOTE: (Before I could access the WAP I had to temporarily change the IP address of the computer connected to it through the hub from "DHCP" manually to one in the same range as the WAP . If you have to do this then please remember to return the IP settings of this computer to use DHCP settings after setup of the WAP completes).

Run through the setup/installation routine and change the default IP address of the WAP to one in the same range as those from the DHCP router on the Panel. Different WAP's probably have different ways of doing this, look at the instructions for help.
Make sure to turn the DHCP router of the wireless access point OFF to prevent conflicts with the DHCP server on the panel from MaintsBB.

The DHCP on the aerial panel gives out IP addresses ending in the range XXX.XXX.XXX.100-XXX.XXX.XXX.200 so Paul from Maints advised me to manually set the WAP to an IP in the same range ending with anything from XXX.XXX.XXX.0-XXX.XXX.XXX.99 to prevent any conflicts afterwards.

You could set the WAP to use DHCP and download its IP address automatically but If you don't set the IP address of the WAP manually, it makes it harder to find it later to change any of the settings if you have to.

Set up encryption and encryption keys in the WAP by following instructions in the setup wizard.
After setup completes, The WAP reboots to the new IP address so return the IP of the computer used to set it up to DHCP and click on "repair connection" otherwise you won't be able to connect to anything with that computer.

VOILA, The wifi access was up and running and I could access the WAP from the computer connected to the Hub by cable.


Everything else, (Laptops and Pocket PC) is connecting to the WAP without any hassle apart from giving them security encryption keys. Ensure that the IP settings of each of the computers connecting to the network either by cable or WIFI are set to use DHCP, and they will automatically receive IP addresses from the DHCP server. If they don't have a wifi connection built in they could be connected to the hub with a LAN cable (Providing they have a LAN port of course) but set them again to DHCP.

Total setup took about half an hour, 5 minutes crimping cables and the rest mostly typing in the encryption keys and settings.

If you're setting a network up from scratch (I had a small network up and running before the sharing had to be setup so there was less work involved) you will have to set up the computers using the network setup wizard (Providing one of them has Windows XP) . This is different depending on whether it's cable or WIFI connected but it's very easy to do in Win XP. You don't need to do this if you only want to share the broadband connection but if you want to share files or printers from computer to computer across the network or do multiplayer gaming across the network then you will.

The Magic of Plumbing, another dark art.

I hafta let ya know that I'm one of those people who has to try to fix everything themselves, I know a bit about a lot of stuff but probably not enough about anything.

But

I hate plumbing,

Plumbing and me just don't get on.

I had the misfortune to have a leak spring in the shower unit over one weekend recently. Being of rather large dimensions, I slipped in the shower and nearly pulled the thing off the wall, gravity being what it is. (I read once that it's a myth, that the earth sucks)

Looking at this thing with pure dread I took off the cover of the Triton power shower (AS 1000 to be exact) and had a look. The thing, to be fair, was ten years old and had seen a lot of use.

There was water flying in all directions, but the problem was a little piece of plastic that had broken off that held on the two inlet valves for the hot and cold supplies (This unit doesn't heat the water merely pump it through very fast, an absolute dream of a machine designed to flay one with water, a massage for the back after a hard days Munster favourite pastime, kicking the daylights of one another on the rugby pitch).

I shut off the water leaving the Boss screaming in the shower upstairs, turned it on again to allow for the rinse of the hair and shut it off again. I called Mike the plumber as I had to get myself to Dublin for the night and to be honest I didn't want to chance the thing myself, dreading having to mess about with brass compression fittings and the like. I got myself off into town to get the replacement shower, having an hour or so before I had to leave.

Now due to a unfortunate (or fortunate depending on point of view) happenstance the replacement had a cover that couldn't be removed due to a rather innocuous screw which just wouldn't come out and the replacement had to be replaced which leads me to the crux of the matter. I had organised Mike the plumber to have the water shut off and the pipes removed by the time I had got there with the first replacement, but it being the weekend he couldn't stay after we discovered the cover problem but left uttering those famous last words
"Sure you can do that yourself, What are you worried about?".

I replied with a tirade about brass fittings and ptfe and the like. He stopped me mid stream with the words "What are you talking about? All the fittings are push-fit now for god's sake, a dog with a mallet could plumb now, it's putting us all out of business". He then gave me a list of pieces to get and said "Now have a cut at it yourself and give me a ring if you have any problems".

I got the second replacement, moved up model the second time around with fancy thermostatic controls, the works. Having left with the usual statement of "that's knackered, It'll hafta come out, Might as well get the second one" but herself said "have a look at the website to see if you can get the part". When I finished cursing myself for not thinking of it first, I clicked on the Triton website and managed to get a replacement part for a ten year old shower (To my great surprise, God bless em, I'm a fan for life after that). It arrived after a week, I had the part replaced in ten seconds, two screws and "WOLLAH" (Pardon my French).

I ended up buying two push fit elbows, some Qual-pex piping and had the Shower put back in, all complete in less an hour while the Boss had version 1 at a school concert. Time to sit back and have two mugs of coffee and still look sweaty when they returned. That includes the reconnection of the wiring and all.

This is just not right... My fragile psyche cannot cope with the simplicity of it all.

I kind of miss having skinned knuckles, being allowed to scream abuse while the boss explains to the kids that "Daddy's working dear, come out of there it's dangerous" and that drip that no amount of PTFE tape or Boss white jointing compound will stop. That one turn too many of the half inch nut that crushes a brass olive to render it useless. Those horrible things known as Poly-adapters for use with brass fittings and Hydrodare pipe (They always, always, always leaked whenever I used them but have finally been replaced with plastic connections that I can get to work).

Theres no mystery left to plumbing any more, no more black arts. It's all just too simple now.

SOB......

I have to bring back my thermostatically controlled beauty of a replacement...

I'm disgusted...