USB Broadband Card > PC > Router?

[btraviswright]

Hello, all!

I have an odd configuration problem and wanted to run it by everyone before I spent a whole lot of money.

I currently have a Broadband Wireless card which is a USB device. Is it possible to plug the USB device into my computer, connect that computer to a wireless router which would create a wireless network in my home for other laptops to connect to?

I've networked before, but this is the first time that I'm using the USB device/laptop as a "replacement" for a cable modem. Obviously the computer must be on and connected to the USB device for the router to transmit data.

By the way, the computer with the USB modem would be running Windows Vista Home Premium.

Is this possible?

Thanks!

 

[Dwarf]

Hi btraviswright,

In theory, this should be possible. However, the use of USB in this context raises some important issues. Firstly, driver issues. Are there any Vista drivers available for this device? Secondly, speed. The maximum speed for such a system will be limited to the slowest in the network, which in this case will be the USB connection speed (most, if not all, USB modems only work at the old 1.1 standard). Thirdly, you will be relying on an additional computer, in this case a laptop, to provide your connection - if this fails either through overheating or some other hardware/software glitch/fault then you lose connectivity.
My advice is not to go down this route, but instead get a router that has a suitable modem already built-in and connect via that instead. That way, you will get a more reliable connection AND you will free the laptop up for other jobs.

 

[btraviswright]

Wow, Fast reply! Thank you!

I've been using the USB device for a while now -- it is a 2.0 device and the drivers work great. I just needed the sharing capability. Good point about resting the entire home network on a single computer that may fail. :-)