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I connect to the Internet with Cricket Wireless Broadband on my desktop. How can I connect a second computer, my laptop, to maximize my Internet experience?

Cricket Wireless

Cricket Wireless Broadband is a little bit different than some of the other wireless broadband services that I’ve encountered. Rather than having a broadband modem that you connect to your home’s network or to the computer itself, Cricket Wireless uses a small USB device that installs directly to your computer or laptop. The tag line for Cricket says “Plug in. Click. Connect.” After viewing the Cricket Wireless demo, it looks like it really is that simple: plug in, click a few installation buttons, and connect wirelessly to the Internet.

However, this doesn’t lend itself to Internet connection sharing as well as some of the more traditional broadband services such as cable modems. In a cable modem situation, you’d connect the modem to a wired or wireless router and then you could connect multiple computers to the router, all of which can then access the Internet via the shared modem.

Options for Sharing Cricket Wireless

It looks as though you must activate your computer for use with the Cricket device which makes sense. What’s not clear is whether the Cricket device can be used on several computers. For example, I have a “Rhapsody to Go” MP3 player that I can use with three different computers. Each computer must be registered on my account. Once registered, I can connect the device to any of the three computers and download unlimited music to the device. I imagine that a similar feature is offered with the Cricket Wireless modem.

Here’s what I would try. Since your PC is already established, try removing the Cricket modem and installing it on your laptop. When prompted to activate the laptop, does a message appear? What does it say? It might say something like, “You must first deactivate your desktop computer” which would mean that the modem only allows one computer on the account. On the other hand, if the message says something like, “Activating second computer, one license remaining” then you could go ahead with the installation and then swap out the modem depending on which computer you want to use at any given time. Since Cricket advertises that you can take your Cricket wherever you go, I would assume that you’d be able to install it on both devices. In fact, one of the site’s FAQs says that “you can take your Internet with you from your home desktop to your laptop at the park.”

Hopefully, swapping the modem back and forth will work for you. If you want both the desktop and the laptop to connect at the same time, you may be able to share the modem over your home network or use a USB hub.

We have 4 computers, all within 16 feet of each other. We would like to connect them together. We are on dialup. Two are XP and two are Vista.

My knee-jerk reaction was to tell you no, that there was no easy way to configure a network using a dial up connection, but then I dug a little deeper and came up with a couple of possibilities that might work for you. While your computers are fairly close, hubs and Ethernet cables are a pain. Despite the proximity, you may be better off with a wireless rather than wired network.

Dial Up Router

Most manufacturers (in fact all, I think these days) don’t make a dial up router, and those that did, made them primarily as a back-up in case their primary connection went down temporarily. I did find one wireless access point for dialup called the WiFlyer. In its day (about five years ago), it was the most expensive, but the most reliable, option. The manufacturer isn’t making new models anymore, but you can pick them up from other sources. As I write this, there was one on sale through eBay for $110.

Ad Hoc Networking

You can also use something called ad hoc networking in which one main computer is connected to the Internet through a modem, and the other computers basically “feed” off of that computer, much like walkie-talkies communicate. There is a Microsoft article from 2006 that details how to do this. In this setup, the computer that is connected directly to the Internet must always be on in order for the other computers to connect. If that machine goes down, none of the other users can access the Internet.

Wireless Setup

The down side of either method is that a dial-up connection is slow as molasses on a good day - having more than one computer sharing a dial up connection will slow that speed down to molasses in the Antarctic. If at all possible, I’d recommend that you get either a DSL or cable Internet connection so that you can set up a true wireless network. In this day and age, the best way to go is to use a wireless network to connect all four computers to one router which will then connect to the Internet. While it sounds daunting, it is actually one of the simpler things to set up once you have all of the right equipment. Let’s do a little Networking 101 so you can better understand the process.

The Internet connection comes into the house over the telephone line or cable. In a wireless setup, it will then run to a modem which converts the digital signal back and forth from the cable or phone line to the computer. The wireless router will then plug into the modem and send signals to the desktops and/or laptops (most routers come with a maximum of four - if you need more than four, you can get a network hub which will let you add more machines rather than get a second router) so they can work wirelessly. Most newer machines come with wireless capabilities built-in - older models can use a wireless adapter.

In short, yes it is possible to share Internet connections over a dial-up network, but it won’t be easy or convenient to use. I realize that in some locations there is no choice, and you must use dial up, but if you do have a choice, using DSL or cable and a wireless network will make your Internet life much easier.

Our home computer is Windows XP, with Telstra(bigpond) ADSL 2 for the Internet connection. Our son has an Asus Eee PC 701SD. We need to know if he can use his laptop for the Internet without any leads, ariels etc., or do we need something else to be able to do this? Telstra told us it’s not possible and would cost us $150 for them to send someone around.

Wireless Networking

It sounds like you are talking about setting up a wireless network for your house. It’s actually pretty simple to set up and is not as daunting as it sounds. A network will simply allow more than one computer to share an Internet connection, a printer and even share files if you wish to set it up that way.

ADSL stands for Asymetric Digital Subscriber Line (don’t worry, there’s no test later) and it is data technology that transmits information over copper telephone lines so that it is faster than a dial-up connection. In order to use this connection wirelessly with more than one computer, you will need a wireless router. If you want to use a computer over a wireless network, your computer will need a wireless adapter - the laptop probably already has one, but you can put one on a desktop PC if you want to put it in another room. Most of them you simply plug into a USB port on the unit.

Wireless Internet Set Up

Your Internet connection runs into your home over a telephone line. It will then run into a modem (which you probably already have hooked up). The modem converts the computer’s digital signals into a frequency that can travel over phone or cable lines. You will then plug the wireless router into the modem. The wireless router will send signals to the laptop and desktop computers (most home networks have a maximum of four computers that can be used with it), a lot like the signal for a cordless phone.

I’ve edited your question, but you say that you don’t know anything about the Internet and computers. While this isn’t a very difficult thing to do, you may want to pay a professional to come and set it up for you. Or, if your son is old enough and has the interest, he can read up on the Internet about the exact steps he will need to take and the equipment he will need and tackle the job himself. Don’t tell him how much the company would charge to set it up, but you might want to give him a tip for his efforts. We can also answer specific questions about the set up as long as we have all of the information at hand.