Ask A Geek

Q: If I move from my current ISP to AT&T DSL service will I be able to use my existing Linksys wireless G Access point WAP54G? I don’t want to pay extra for a wireless router when I already have one.

A: In my experience with AT&T I have always gotten a modem with a built in wireless router at no extra cost. I normally don’t use the wireless on their router because, like you, I have my own and I like to use it since I have it. When ordering just make sure to express to them you want a stand alone modem, ie one that does not have to connect to your computer via USB. I am pretty sure no DSL companies use USB only modems anymore but it never hurts to make sure and if they say anything just say you have no free USB ports on your computer. Read the rest of this entry »

Q: I have a linksys WAP54G router and am wanting to switch to AT&T Internet but do not want to pay for an extra router that they have. Are they compatible?

Q: We have 2 computers in the house with one Internet modem and a Cisco wireless router. Only one computer can get online at a time though. When we turn the 2nd computer on, it will connect to the Internet, but it disconnects the first computer. Is there a way to get both computers online at the same time?

Q: What WiFi booster would work the best for my Wii?

A: The Wii uses the same wireless technology found in computers and other electronic devices. This means you don’t need anything special that works specifically with the Wii you can get any booster that will work with the wireless router that you have. Now the key here is that the WiFi booster or extender that you use will have to be compatible with your wireless router/access point.

So you will have to look at this list of wireless extenders and figure out which one will work best with the wireless router/access point you have. So you don’t require anything special to work with the Nintendo Wii. Since the price on the wireless extenders can get pretty high you might want to see if you can improve your WiFi reception first since this might be a free fix.

Q: We have had a wireless router for awhile and we just decided to make the wireless network secure. Once we made the wireless network secure our wireless printer cannot be found anymore unless we plug the computer into it with the USB.

What do we have to do for the wireless printer to be recognized again? I am sure we made this happen after we secured the wireless. I printed out the HP Network Configuration page it says that the printer is offline and the status is disconnected. I have a laptop with Vista, HP C4380 wireless all in one printer, and a Linksys wireless router.

A: You need to setup the wireless network on your printer again and give it the password for your network. Since these steps are different for every printer we suggest you read the user manual for your HP C4380 printer.

Keep in mind that your printer only supports WEP and WPA wireless encryption. If you’ve setup the network for WPA2 then you will need to change it to WEP or WPA for the printer to connect to the wireless network.

Q: I have a wireless router on one of my computers. I want to put my other computer into a different room and I don’t want to use cables. I have heard of something called a USB dongle which one should I use? I have an older computer with windows 2000.

Q: I have an HP computer running Microsoft Windows XP. I have dial up Internet. I was wondering if it is possible to use the usb wireless cards in my computer for Internet access without a phone line? Is there any other equipment I would need to this? What type of equipment?

Q: Is it possible to setup wireless internet for playstation 3, psp, and a laptop with a router and cable modem, but without a desktop computer?

Q: I have two computers on a wireless network. The desktop is running Windows Vista and is wired to the wireless router. The laptop is connected wireless and is running Windows XP. The router is a D-Link DIR-655 802.11N (draft) and the laptop has a D-Link DWA-652 cardbus adapter that is also 802.11N (draft). The laptop is only 60′ away from the router yet it only gets a “low” signal and loses connection several times a day. What can I do to improve the signal?

Q: We have had a wireless router for awhile. We just decided to make the wireless secure and we go that all set up. Now all of a sudden our wireless printer cannot be found anymore unless we plug the computer into it with the USB. What do we have to do for the wireless printer to be recognized again?

I am sure we made this happen after we secured the wireless. I printed out the HP Network Configuration page it says that the printer is offline and the status is disconnected. I have a laptop with Vista, and HP C4380 wireless all in one printer and a Linksys router.