I built this computer and we had to buy Windows XP on it's own. I don't recall how long ago it was but Vista had already been out for quite sometime and 7 was not quite in beta yet. We just never saw the need to upgrade beyond what we have right now since it fits all of our needs (minus the internet of course).
We don't have any kind of wireless router as of this time. There was no point buying a router before we know if the trees will be a problem for the satellite or not. We only have the motherboard with the built in network card, which is where I was confused. It took me forever to track down even what was built in because the booklet never told us what exactly it was, just that there was a LAN port and the OS never did detect the port and install drivers so I had to hunt it all down myself. What little info I did find about the built in network card didn't mention WiFi and not having any updated network info I wasn't really sure about it.
I really don't know the details of the hardware that will be provided. The provider, if it works out, will be Exede. Their site isn't all that dialup friendly and the person we tried to call asking questions didn't know anything about the hardware, they only would schedule an appointment for a tech guy to come out. We are waiting on that until after the holidays and the bad weather. I do know that they do not setup a wireless network for you and that we have to do it ourselves. The only way we will be paying for satellite though is if we can get a wireless network setup from it as well for the eReaders and the future laptop.
Thanks for the info on the wireless router. I tried to look at one last month at Walmart but it didn't say how many ports it had, or if it did it was covered by the giant sensor they have to stick over the entire box and hide the info from possible customers. I'm going in again tomorrow and will look for a port count but I'm pretty sure they didn't list it.
I have a question on the splitting an ethernet wire before I submit this post. After I posted I did go and look on Amazon and saw there are LAN splitters, similar to ones you can buy for a phone line. What is the point of them if you can't split the cable then?
Thanks again for the info. It has helped. If anybody here has used or uses the Exede service, perhaps they might have an idea about the hardware?
We don't have any kind of wireless router as of this time. There was no point buying a router before we know if the trees will be a problem for the satellite or not. We only have the motherboard with the built in network card, which is where I was confused. It took me forever to track down even what was built in because the booklet never told us what exactly it was, just that there was a LAN port and the OS never did detect the port and install drivers so I had to hunt it all down myself. What little info I did find about the built in network card didn't mention WiFi and not having any updated network info I wasn't really sure about it.
I really don't know the details of the hardware that will be provided. The provider, if it works out, will be Exede. Their site isn't all that dialup friendly and the person we tried to call asking questions didn't know anything about the hardware, they only would schedule an appointment for a tech guy to come out. We are waiting on that until after the holidays and the bad weather. I do know that they do not setup a wireless network for you and that we have to do it ourselves. The only way we will be paying for satellite though is if we can get a wireless network setup from it as well for the eReaders and the future laptop.
Thanks for the info on the wireless router. I tried to look at one last month at Walmart but it didn't say how many ports it had, or if it did it was covered by the giant sensor they have to stick over the entire box and hide the info from possible customers. I'm going in again tomorrow and will look for a port count but I'm pretty sure they didn't list it.
I have a question on the splitting an ethernet wire before I submit this post. After I posted I did go and look on Amazon and saw there are LAN splitters, similar to ones you can buy for a phone line. What is the point of them if you can't split the cable then?
Thanks again for the info. It has helped. If anybody here has used or uses the Exede service, perhaps they might have an idea about the hardware?