Hi,
I have just got a BT hub to connect my laptop to the internet (broadband)I do not have another PC just this one laptop. I was having to plug the laptop into the hub to get an internet connection and thought that if I bought a wireless card this would no longer be necessary. I have bought the card, followed the instructions and although it says the card is working fine, when I unplugged the laptop from the hub, there is no internet connection, saying cannot find server...

Sure this is very basic but I don't know enough, thought maybe I need a wireless router to allow this to happen??

Please help, many thanks, Rachael

Welcome to LQ!!

For wireless, you need an "access point". This is a transmitter and receiver similar to what is in your wireless card. There are routers which include wireless, but I'm sure you can buy a wireless AP by itself. For starters try browsing NewEgg, ZipZoomFly, etc.

2 things...

1. yes you will need a wireless router. Personally i buy linksys because they are made my Cisco (a brand name in networking) and they are very reliable. usually you can get one off of amazon for $40-$50 I used the WRT54G model
That being said when you install it...
A. turn on WEP (wireless security)
B. change the default password!
by default linksys is admin admin. people can connect to it and screw with your computer(s)

2. Please do not use a hub to connect to the internet. Routers provide a basic firewall between you and the rest of the world. Keeping most of the world wide evil from attacking your computer.
Granted you may have a software firewall but Im not sure if you distro has a built in firewall or even if it is enabled.

Hope this helps....

if your hub from BT looks somthing like this
http://www.broadband-finder.co.uk/bl...ubandphine.jpg

then it is allready a router,

all you need to do is set up the wireless part

How did you configure the router for wireless?

You need to set up:
ESSID
encryption (preferably WPA-PSK; 'WEP' is a very bad joke and offers absolutely no security)
any other bits that the configuration wants you to set up

On your computer, aside from the wireless driver for your card, you will need the wireless tools (iwconfig) and if you use WPA-PSK then you will also need a WPA supplicant. What packages to install depends on your distro.

Before posting do some Google search, when asking for help explain clearly what equipment you have, etc.

From Google, took about 15 s to find:
http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/homehub.html

To get better help in future please read http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Edit: You are running Linux?

Just a note:
don't use WEP if WPA is available on your systems. WEP can be hacked in a few hours.

Hi,

WEP can be cracked in minutes with the proper setup. Just google 'WEP FBI'.