Wireless network with only one PC?

Newbie hoping for a solution...

[Alligator Dream]

I recently moved into a new apartment, and there are only two cable outlets: bedroom and living room. I've got my TV in the living room and currently my cable modem is plugged into the bedroom outlet, but I really want to put my PC in the third room (my office), where there's no cable outlet. When the cable guy came to hook me up with service this week, I asked if there was anything I could do, and he suggested "maybe do a wireless."

So I've searched here (and Google) and seen several topics about wireless networking, but haven't seen one where someone's trying to set up a wireless network when they have only one PC. Can this be done? I'd like to just leave the cable modem and wireless router in the bedroom and have my PC in the office with a wireless adapter receiving the signal.

I've been looking at the US Robotics Wireless Starter Kit, but the documentation isn't completely clear (to me, anyway) on whether it'd work with only one PC.

Here at work, we have a wireless network set up between my PC, my boss's PC, and my other boss's laptop. I wasn't here to watch when they set it up, unfortunately. As near as I can tell, the wireless router is plugged into the cable modem and is not directly wired to any of the computers. This makes me hopeful that a one-PC network would work. But all the diagrams I've seen on setting up a home network seem to indicate that at least one PC has to be connected to the router.

Both of our work PCs and the laptop have wireless adapters. (My boss, whom I've mentioned to a lot of people's amusement in this thread [webmasterworld.com], had an outside agent set up the network so I don't expect to get any coherent answers out of her on how this was done.)

I realize this is probably a dumb question, hence my digging through my boss's copy of "Networking for Dummies," but I'm stumped and I don't want to jump the gun by buying that Starter Kit only to find that I can't do what I'm hoping to do. My bedroom's too cramped to keep the PC in there, and it's not feasible to run cables through to the office. Little help?

[Craig_F]

I don't know much about networking, but I do know that with my wireless Linksys system could do one PC. As far as I know most systems should do this too.

[john316]

So I've searched here (and Google) and seen several topics about wireless networking, but haven't seen one where someone's trying to set up a wireless network when they have only one PC. Can this be done? I'd like to just leave the cable modem and wireless router in the bedroom and have my PC in the office with a wireless adapter receiving the signal.

It will will work with only one PC. No problem.

Your wireless router is just sending a signal, it doesn't care how many are receiving it.

[Alligator Dream]

So it doesn't need to be physically connected to at least one PC? If that's the case, awesome, and thanks!

[Philosopher]

Correct.

The cable modem would run into the wireless base station. That would send the signal to your PC whereever it is. You can have 1 PC or 100 PC's doesn't matter.

[Nutter]

You may have to be physically connected (wired) when you first set up your router. But once it's set up, you should be able to unhook the wire and move the computer anywhere.

- Ryan