Network Newbie ...needs help

[Westat1]

I am in the process of setting up a home network (at least trying to) and have a few questions that I need your expertise on. Please excuse the naivety of the questions.

* I had my house wired with CAT5 but now found out the "heads" are RJ11 and not RJ45. Is there an adapter/connector or do I have to replace the heads?

* I am thinking about wireless but have an older laptop and not sure if it is wifi ready. Will the card make it so?

* Do you hard wire the wireless router to the PC and use the wireless for the laptop only?

Appreciate your help

[Mardi_Gras]

1) As far as I know, there are no adapters, but a quick search of any electronics site should give you the answer

2) Your laptop probably is not Wi-Fi ready, but as long as it will handle the card that should be all you need

3)If it is convenient to hardwire the router to the desktop, that would be the way to go; if not, you will need to add a wireless card to your desktop, if it does not already have one.

<<added>>how far will your laptop be from the wireless source? In a big house, you can run out of signal strength pretty quickly; for example, going to a different floor on the opposite side of the house. The most recent issue of PC Magazine has a pretty comprehensive article on boosting signal strength.<</added>>

[txbakers]

Who did the CAT5 wiring? As long as I can remember the heads have been RJ-45 and not 11. Back in the Apple Talk Days the heads were RJ-11 but that was when ethernet was is its infancy.

You'll have to replace the heads for sure. It's not a difficult job.

[rogerd]

At this point, Westat1, wireless sounds like the way to go. If your Cat5 was wired with incorrect jacks, the rest of the job is probably fairly dubious, too.

One fairly common configuration for a wireless router is a port for your cable or dsl connection, a wired hub (so you can plug one or several computers directly into it if they are close), and a wireless access point (so you can connect with wireless computers). I'd tend to locate the router next to your main workstation and plug in directly, and let wireless do the rest. It will give you plenty of mobility.

[Westat1]

Great, thanks for your help. Looks like wireless is the way to go. The laptop has network card slots so that should work.

How important is WEP?
Would 128 encryption be good enough?

Any recomendations on for a decent router/adapter within a resonable budget?

Thanks again