How to get a wireless router to work with dialup

June 13, 2006 12:26 PM

Is it possible to get dialup to work with a wireless router?

I gave my brother a linksys wireless b router and some PCI wireless cards so he could set up a network in his house. He lives on a reservation and at present can't afford to get anything other than dialup. Is there a way for him to get the dialup to work with the router so he could have Internet access on his various computers? We're dealing with OSs from Win98 SE and Win XP Pro 32, and I think even OS 8. He's probably most interested in geting his Win98 SE machines on the Net as they run his ham programs.

posted by missed to computers & internet (8 comments total)

An original Apple Airport would do the job. They had built-in modems. It'd probably the easiest and cheapest option.
posted by zsazsa at 12:29 PM on June 13, 2006

One issue: networking

So does the wireless connect all the computers? It should work just fine to network them all.

Another issues: internet

Once they are networked, sharing the internet access shouldn't be a problem. But you'll have to get a router that allows for a connection with a modem or that has a modem connection but ethernet out. The original Apple Airports are a good option, sure, but you can probably find something cheaper on eBay...
posted by k8t at 12:36 PM on June 13, 2006

Windows 98SE has internet connection sharing. Add an ethernet card to the machine, connect a cable to the router's WAN port, then run ICS for your dialup internet. It'll suck, but, it's dialup... it won't be a surprise that it sucks. :-)

Enjoy!

If you want the 98SE computer to show up on the network, BTW, you could try plugging a wireless card into it and disabling it using the gateway information from the router.
posted by shepd at 1:20 PM on June 13, 2006

Windows will do it, and (as per zsazsa's suggestion) Airport/Airport Extreme basestations will too, even the new ones. or you can do the linux-box-with-a-modem-and-a-NIC in it thing. or even find an older router - I had a D-Link DI-704 that has a serial port on it; it's there to hook a modem to. (if you get a seperate router, I'd suggest actually selling the linksys box and using those funds towards getting just a wifi bridge or something - having a router plugged into a router is a recipie for "hey it don't work".)
posted by mrg at 2:06 PM on June 13, 2006

One option is a SMC 7004BR or 7004ABR. It has a serial port so you can hook up an external modem. You should be able to find them and a modem cheap, used, since they are years old and non-wireless routers are unpopular.
posted by smackfu at 2:07 PM on June 13, 2006

shepd has the right solution.

Use one of the machines to serve as a router for your router.

Then connect everything through that

Any chance he can get at least GPRS or EDGE cell phone service? An XP machine sharing an unlimited connection connected with that would be leaps and bounds better than dialup - and probably in between $-wise cable and dialup.
posted by jimmy0x52 at 2:12 PM on June 13, 2006

Not the easiest method, but possibly the cheapest: if he's got an old PC, and a network card, and a modem, lying around, he can probably install something like FreeSCO or Smoothwall.

Oh, wait, that's the linux-box-with-a-modem-and-a-NIC in it that mrg suggests.
posted by box at 2:12 PM on June 13, 2006

My roommate did that at his parents' house. I can see if he can write you a mini how-to if you're interested.
posted by denimflavored at 11:36 AM on June 14, 2006