A great deed

[Darlica]

I installed the new modem/router yesterday evening.

It's a Scientific Atlanta, EPC2434 modem/WiFi router.
Now, the modem was nice and easy to deal with, the only problem was that:
1) the internet provider needs to register the modem before it can be used and that wasn't done.
2) I got no information about that what so ever when I ordered the modem and the instructions said nothing about it either.
3) When I called the support they automatically assumed that I had done something wrong like not connected the modem with the computer and started to talk to me like I was a two year old.
 
When I finally got them to listen to what I said about having a connection but only getting a page asking for login information I didn't have and they figured out that the problem actually was on their side and a reboot of both modem and computer everything went smooth.

So now we have wireless internet, which is a good thing as we have two laptops and L just bought an Lenovo IdeaPad (like an Eeee but a little bigger and a lot meaner).

Also I can use internet from my own laptop again instead of hijacking L's big and slow desktop computer. 

Next step would be to create a network so all computers (Desktop old and slow, L laptop, my laptop and perhaps even L's little Lenovo) can use the printer as well as communicate with each other, however I have tried to do this several times before and never succeeded, so I'm not looking forward to it neither do I prioritize it.   It feels like it is at least two levels above my current computer Fu.


So far having a modem and router in one has been a good thing, less cables to trip over, less energy consumption and a one ugly grey plastic box less that take up space and collect dust and a huge bonus is that the internet provider can't blame eventual trouble on my not by them approved router (I didn't buy it from them that was the only trouble) any more as whole thing is theirs... 

[Griffin NoName]

3) When I called the support they automatically assumed that I had done something wrong like not connected the modem with the computer and started to talk to me like I was a two year old.

At least it doesn't sound as if they talked like two year olds - something that bugs me when I hit the farmed out to India support lines.

Enjoy your wirefree life. It is amazing !!

[Darlica]

There are some benefits with speaking a small language... they can't outsource the call- centres as much as they would probably like!

A few companies tried to relocate their support to the Baltic countries but they gave up after 6 months or so, the benefit from being located in a low salary country was eaten up by costs for Swedish education for the staff and the staff having to redirect the calls back to Sweden because they couldn't understand what the customers said...

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Congrats on your wireless network.

If you want a walkthrough to share the printer (and/or files) let me know. It isn't too hard.

[Darlica]

That would be great!

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I installed the new modem/router yesterday evening.

It's a Scientific Atlanta, EPC2434 modem/WiFi router.

If you have not already, please do the following:  change your WIFI part to SECURED, which requires a password and login to gain access to your router.

Until you do this?  Any Tom, Dick or Harry within range of it's signal, can get into YOUR NETWORK.  They can use YOUR ISP to download kiddie porn.  If they are clever, they can get into YOUR COMPUTERS, TOO.  They can spy on your internet surfing,  any number of nefarious things....

And if they get "caught" downloading the secret anti-matter bomb plans from the CIA's computers?  The CIA will come looking for YOU, not them....

So.

Please change your WiFi mode to SECURE if you haven't done so already.

Since your ISP "owns" the router, if you cannot figure it out, call them-- it really is the responsible thing for them to do, to assist you in this.

If you've already secured it?

Please disregard this warning....

[Bluenose]

Ditto on Bob's warning, and when setting the WiFi to secure make sure you choose WPA/PSK rather than WEP.  The WEP encryption can be cracked in about 15 mins gien the right tools - freely available on the warez sites (scumbags).

If you do not know how to do this, please let me know and I can give you a blow by blow description on what settings to look for and what to set them to.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Instructions to share a printer on windows.

I'm using XP, if you're using vista (I'm very sorry) it shouldn't be too different.
1. Have the printer installed and working on one of the computers on the network. From your description the desktop sounds like the most convenient alternative.
2. Have the computer on which the printer is installed and connected ON while you do the process. BTW, it should be obvious but that computer will have to be on for you to print.
3. For simplicity have all your computers on the same Workroup. Usually the default is 'Workgroup', to tell do a right click on 'My Computer' to get to the System Properties (you can get there through the Control Panel too), Click on the 'Computer Name' tab and click on the button that says "To rename this computer or join a domain, click 'Change'". There you will be able to see and/or change the computer name. Take note of the name because you'll have to find it later while installing the printer on the laptops. I prefer changing the name of the workgroup to something more meaningful also because it's slightly more secure than leaving the default, whatever your choice you'll have to make sure that all computers have the same workgroup, ie, doing the same process on all of them. If you don't it will be harder for the others to find the printer. At the end you'll likely have to reboot if you changed the workgroup or the computer name.
4. Go to Start|Settings|Printer and Faxes and do a right click on the icon of your printer, then choose 'Sharing'. On the Sharing tab click on the radio button 'Share this printer' and take note of the share name. You can change it too, whatever take note of it in case the laptops aren't able to see it automatically. Finally click OK.
5. Now you'll have to look for the printer on the other computers. Remember that the computer with the printer must be ON and also the printer. To make sure that it will work repeat step 3 on each of the other computers and reboot.
6. On each computer go to Start|Settings|Printer and Faxes, and click on 'Add Printer', then choose 'A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer' and click 'Next'.
7. Your options are a) 'Browse for a printer' which should work within the same workgroup. Click on 'Next' and on the shared printers list it should show your workgroup, under it the computer under which the printer is shared, and under it the printer. You may have to click on the plus signs to see whats under. Or b) select 'Connect to this printer' and type \\computername\printername. That should work if you can't see the printer under 'browse' and the printer is properly shared.
8. Hit next and let the computer install the driver.

[Darlica]

If you have not already, please do the following:  change your WIFI part to SECURED, which requires a password and login to gain access to your router.

Until you do this?  Any Tom, Dick or Harry within range of it's signal, can get into YOUR NETWORK.  They can use YOUR ISP to download kiddie porn.  If they are clever, they can get into YOUR COMPUTERS, TOO.  They can spy on your internet surfing,  any number of nefarious things....

And if they get "caught" downloading the secret anti-matter bomb plans from the CIA's computers?  The CIA will come looking for YOU, not them....

So.

Please change your WiFi mode to SECURE if you haven't done so already.

Since your ISP "owns" the router, if you cannot figure it out, call them-- it really is the responsible thing for them to do, to assist you in this.

If you've already secured it?

Please disregard this warning....

Thank you Bob and Blue 
It's done, I did it within five minutes from activating the wireless network, I consider that a part of setting it up. I also renamed the network (after a vessel in an Ian M Banks Novel, it's a tradition L and I have  ).

When in need I shamelessly sponge on others unprotected networks but I don't willingly share mine... Hypocritical? -Yes, but self preserving.

[Darlica]

Zono; thanks!
I wonder, is it possible to connect the printer directly to the network through the router?
The desktop is noisy and slow and will be replaced any day now but we usually don't leave the computers on if no one is using it for some time. It feels a bit stupid to start up and log on to L's computer when I'm working in mine energy consumption and all that...

Also our machines are a motley crew:
Desktop: runs on windows 2000, the new one originally runs on vista but will hopefully be refitted with Ubunto
L's laptop: XP (bought in 2004 or 05 I think)
My laptop: XP (bought in 2005)

Printer: HP 2410 photosmart all in one (scanner/printer) Has both a USB port and a CAT5 port, we currently use the USB one.

Router: Scientific Atlanta, EPC2434 modem/WiFi router, has 3 free CAT5 ports.

[Griffin NoName]

You can get wireless printers

sorry, that's really not very helpful.....

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I wonder, is it possible to connect the printer directly to the network through the router?

You can buy a USB to Ethernet network adapter for printers but the ones I've dealt with were twitchy and may or not work (some supposedly support All-in-ones but frequently don't).

Is the printer USB? If you want to save power you can install the driver on both laptops and just plug the printer when you want to print.

[Bluenose]

Given that your printer has a cat5 port and you have a spare one on your router, then you can (and IMHO should) connect it to the network using it.  This will give you the best performance and makes it available regardless of whether any particular computer is on o not.

To do this, you first need to do a little bit of investigation, but it is not too hard.

First you need to find out what your subnet is.

1. Click on the Start button
2. Click on Run
3. type ipconfig at the command prompt
4. You will see three lines of information, note your IP address, subnet mask and default gateway
5. Assuming your subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 then your subnet is the first three numbers of both the IP address and default gateway.

Typical IP addresses are something like 192.168.0.39 or 10.5.10.51, just note what your IP address is

Now you need to find out what the DHCP range is, to do this log on to your router.

1. Open a web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, whatever)
2. Type the default gateway you noted before in the address box and press [Enter]
3. Log on using the username and password you used when you configured it
4. You need to find the DHCP server on your router, on most, it should be accessible from the home page, but if not it may be under "Network" "Local Network" "LAN" or similar.
5. What you are looking for is the starting address and ending address of the DHCP range.  Typically the router will give itself an IP address of nnn.nnn.nnn.1 and may assign a DHCP range of nnn.nnn.nnn.50 to nnn.nnn.nnn.100 or something like that, if it assigns a range of nnn.nnn.nnn.2 to nnn.nnn.nnn.254, change the upper number to 50, that should be plenty.

Choose an IP address for your printer, outside of the DHCP range and not the address of the router (default gateway), so if your range is nnn.nnn.nnn.50 to nnn.nnn.nnn.100 then choose something like nnn.nnn.nnn.150 (the exact number does not matter, just dont choose a number higher than 254.  This is where you use the subnet you recorded before - keep the numbers from the subnet (eg 192.168.5.) and add a number for the last group (eg 192.168.5.150) which is the address you are assigning (in this case 150).

Using the menus on your printer, set the IP address to the one you chose, set the subnet mask to the same as the one you noted before and set the default gateway to the one you noted before.  Apply the changes.

Connect your printer to the router using a Cat5 fly lead, disconnect the USB cable to the printer.

Configure your PC

1. On your PC, go to Printers and Faxes and right click on the printer
2. Select Properties
3. Click on the Ports tab
4. Click on Add Port
5. Select Standard TCP/IP Port
6. Click on New Port
7. Click on Next
8. Enter the IP address you chose for your printer in the Printer Name or IP Address field, you can ignore tha Name field, just accept what the system puts there
9. Click Next
10. Clcik Finish
11. Click Close
12. Note that the newly created port has been selected in the Ports tab of the printer's Properties window
13. Click the Apply button if it is not greyed out
14. Click on the General tab
15. Click on the Print Test Page button, to check everything is OK, if your printer prints out a Windows test page you're done, close the printers Properties window.

Hope this helps.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Gee! I overlooked that the printer had cat5. Bluenose's advice applies.

[Darlica]

Thank you guys!

I have bookmarked the thread for later use, when I feel more disposed for technical matters, at the moment pollen allergy and following medication has slowed most of my brain functions.

I'll let you know when I've tried it.