UK Broadband → [Cable] Creating a Wireless Flat

Hi,

I am a student and wireless newbie but have been put in charge of providing broadband for 3 students. I am in a flat with no telephone line - 3 students in three rooms with three Windows based machines.

- a Dell Dimension 8400 running XP with Ethernet Cable Access.

- a Windows XP based laptop with an Intel ProWireless 2200 802.11b/g Mini PCI Wireless LAN Card

- a laptop with Windows 98 with just a USB 1.0.

I am getting NTL Cable broadband with a cable modem. The question is: Do i get the modem directly to my room and PC and let the two others connect from their rooms? Ot in case I have ro leave the flat, is it better to install it in the hallway? Is a LAN better than Wireless?

What hardware do I need. I know my friend with the USB only will require a USB Wireless Connector but is the only thing I need a Wireless Cable Router?

Any hardware hints on getting/ sending NTL broadband to 3 computers would be very helpful!!

Any help
Thanks
Michael

Go from the NTL cable modem to a wireless broadband router. Then go via wired or wireless connections from the routers to the individual PCs. Wired or wireless will be as fast as the internet connection and wireless is good for anyone with a laptop computer who may want to use wireless elsewhere.

The cable modem and broadband router are unlikely to have problems so I wouldn't put them in a hall. If you're concerned about providing a way to reset them you could plug them into a power socket in the hall via an extension cable, if that would fit under your door.

You'll need the router, use the cable supplied with the modem to go from modem to router, then either a cable or a wireless card for each computer you're connecting.

This setup gives everyone the protection of the firewall in the broadband router but each person is likely to want to have some programs connecting through ports not normally open. Easiest way to do that is to give each person a chunk of 100 ports in say the 11000-12000 range which are open for both TCP and UDP and give each PC a single fixed IP address in the 192.168.1.150 to 200 range. Any program which needs to get through the firewall can be told to use one of those open ports. The fixed IP will prevent the IP from changing if people restart their computers in different orders, so the open ports will also stay consistent.

Thanks for the advice. Most welcome. Will post next week after installation to let people know how we got on.

Mike