Totally confused! Do i need a wifi adapter or card for my desktop or can i just plug it in?

Okay im planning on getting a Belkin N1 Vision along with my Dell XPS m1530. Please bare my noobiness for wifi since this is my first time setting up or having one. Okay this is what i intend on doing. Our family desktop is located downstairs in the study room (no wireless card or adapter) and when i get my laptop i will probably place it my room or use it in the kitchen and around the house. So if i get the N1 vision, can i just plug it into my desktop and make it work for both computers without my desktop having a wifi card or adapter? Also the wifi signals do go through walls and doors right? lol.

 

I'm assuming you mean you'll have the desktop near where you'll be placing the router (and hooking it up to your high speed modem), and wondering if you can hook your desktop into your router (by way of Ethernet/CAT6 cable) without having to get a wireless for your desktop.

If that's what you mean, then yes, you can, as long as you have that extra Ethernet cable.

And yes, the wireless will work, albeit slightly lowered signal, through your walls and doors.

 

thankyou for the quick reply. So all i have to do is just get an Ethernet cord running from the router into the desktop just like my ADSL +2 thing now? Or do i have to do it so its like,
(My ADSL +2 thing) <---> (N1 wireless modem) <---> My desktop where the <----> means the ethernet cord?

btw wats the difference between modem and router?

 

The N1 wireless router is not the same as a modem. A router take a signal (10/100/1000BaseT, cat5e cable) from the modem and allows you to use multiple pc (wired or wireless) with 1 connection (from modem). This is the NAT function of the router.

A modem converts the digital signal this is coming from the phone line/cable/fiber to network signal that the PC's can use. This is a very simple description with out getting into the inter workings.

Some ISP require you do a direct connect to the modem, while other allow a router in between. If a direct connect you may need to clone your MAC address of the PC (desktop) used to setup the account into the router. This will make the router appear to your ISP that you only have 1 pc connected, while you may actually have many.

 

wooaahh, can i use my hardwire adsl +2 modem that i use right now to put it in the middle?

 

See the drawings in the other thread you started (which is against the forum rules BTW). But one good counsel, Belkin is far from being a good router, you should stay away from it.