Aspies For Freedom

Hey guys, Longtime no see, I could use a little advice on setting up/buying a wifi router, (on a windoze 9x/XP system)

Just to get started (theres a nice offer on orange broadband on at PCworld at the moment I want to take advantage of quickly, without having to wait for a ADSL line  to be installed, as they are giving away 300 quid laptops (UK resident here, for those wondering, don't know if it applies overseas) with all new orange broadband accounts and bugger me, if I'm not sick to the eye teeth of paying 50p/half hour for restricted access at the local library

So, Wifi Routers, just buy one to the desired spec, and plug in/install the nescessary drivers (I'm alright on the security side of things, I need advice more on the actual use and installation, as a phone line, as I said, isn't practical at the moment for me and I really want to avoid using a mobile phone to connect if at all possible (think several year old nokia 3210 thats currntly held together with liberal amounts of duct tape)

I'm looking at these router/combined ethernet hub/switches etc. atthe moment, so, ay general advice for setting one of these little suckers up?

L8rz guys,

Lestat Rett.

I have to say I'm a little confused, and looking at the Orange website has done nothing to alleviate my cofusion.

You seem to be saying that a landline isn't practical, but Orange Broadband appears to be DSL.  The "Unlimited" package includes a wireless router/modem (which you're obliged to use, AFAIK), and the "Starter" package comes with one of those wretched USB things, which isn't compatible with a router anyway (that isn't to say you can't use one, it just becomes significantly more difficult), though you can, apparently, use your own modem.

While they do offer a "mobile" deal, that just looks like the same DSL service, only tied to your mobile billing (and you have to have a 30-quid-a-month or higher mobile package to take advantage of that).

All in all, the Orange site left a bad taste in my mouth.  Perhaps not deceptive marketing, but awfully damn close in spots.  Searching around for Orange Broadband and France Telecom turned up few positive opinions.

So, perhaps I could offer some technical advice, but I'd need a better idea of what you're signing up for and how you intend to connect.