OK, here's the situation:

My father runs a parts machining business on his home property. He runs his business (paperwork, billing, etc) from his home office via a desktop PC located in his house, while his machine shop is located in a permanent, yet separate building. He is frequently on the road doing quotes for new business and would like to be able to access his business software (Peachtree) via a laptop while out and then synch from his shop office when he returns.

His internet situation is rudimentary at best due to his rural location, so I don't consider that to be part of the solution. Also, I don't want to go to the trouble to install networking cables from his house to the shop, so the solution needs to be remote. I can spec out a laptop for him, but I need to know what I need to get for his laptop and desktop to create this wireless home network.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Just some wireless cables and you're good to go!

Sorry. I guess a wireless router and antenna would do the trick?

Quote from banshee56 :

OK, here's the situation:

My father runs a parts machining business on his home property. He runs his business (paperwork, billing, etc) from his home office via a desktop PC located in his house, while his machine shop is located in a permanent, yet separate building. He is frequently on the road doing quotes for new business and would like to be able to access his business software (Peachtree) via a laptop while out and then synch from his shop office when he returns.

His internet situation is rudimentary at best due to his rural location, so I don't consider that to be part of the solution. Also, I don't want to go to the trouble to install networking cables from his house to the shop, so the solution needs to be remote. I can spec out a laptop for him, but I need to know what I need to get for his laptop and desktop to create this wireless home network.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Wireless router/switch for the desktop pc, and just a laptop with in-built wlan? shouldnt be so hard i think

But seriously, http://www.google.com/search?q ... o+set+up+wireless+network

Depending on how far the other building is you might need a powerfull and/or directional antenna.

...yeah, so whats the problem?

TBH all you need is to get the three(workshop, office & laptop)on the same network

I assume the internet connection is fed to the house or home office?, is it via wireless router situated in the house, or is it direct lan ethernet connection to the desktop?

Getting the office and shop networked is a piece of cake, you have three options, 1. you hard wire, 2. you situate the wireless router in such a place in the house as to bring the signal in range of the shop either by physically moving it closer, or by purchasing add-on antenna. 3. get a cheap usb network card and one or two long usb extension cables to bring the network card as close to the shop as possible, preferably line of sight.(ad-hoc connection, [internets>desktop]-----[desktop>shop](two seperate networks)

For on the road a mobile broadband subscription for the laptop?...remote desktop to office and shop now possible and depending on your ability it may be possible(someone please clarify???)to map the drive peechtree uses over the mobile broadband network, having one single working folder for peachtree serving all pc's.

Quote from banshee56 :

Also, I don't want to go to the trouble to install networking cables from his house to the shop

i'd just skip wireless anyways, and buy a roll of network cable and some pipe to put it into, and then bury the whole thing.

Quote from AndroidXP :

But seriously, http://www.google.com/search?q ... o+set+up+wireless+network

I prefer this method, http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+set+up+wireless+network

Quote from bunder9999 :

i'd just skip wireless anyways, and buy a roll of network cable and some pipe to put it into, and then bury the whole thing.

+1 on that suggestion. If the source Internet connection is of low quality anyway wireless isn't going to help the situation. If you have to cover any sort of length you're going to be spending quite a bit of money to try and provide the range on the connection. Getting a hundred feet or so of network cable (Cat5/5e/6) and some piping will cost you less than the wireless setup, give you better performance in a wider range of weather conditions and be easier to setup than wireless.

Quote from amp88 :

+1 on that suggestion. If the source Internet connection is of low quality anyway wireless isn't going to help the situation. If you have to cover any sort of length you're going to be spending quite a bit of money to try and provide the range on the connection. Getting a hundred feet or so of network cable (Cat5/5e/6) and some piping will cost you less than the wireless setup, give you better performance in a wider range of weather conditions and be easier to setup than wireless.

And don't buy just any old CAT5 cable, get the stuff designed for outdoor, underground use.

http://j.b5z.net/i/u/2060977/i/TRT-CAT5Edirectbcmxt.pdf

Just to clarify, the whole point of this is not to extend the internet connection (which is crappy dial-up, btw) to his remote location. He basically wants to have access to his business files from both locations.

I assume you can still do that with a Wifi connection that has nothing to do with the Internet.

Yes, if you can't tell, I am networking illiterate.

Quote from banshee56 :

Just to clarify, the whole point of this is not to extend the internet connection (which is crappy dial-up, btw) to his remote location. He basically wants to have access to his business files from both locations.

I assume you can still do that with a Wifi connection that has nothing to do with the Internet.

Yes, if you can't tell, I am networking illiterate.

I'd still go with wired even if you're not looking to share the Internet connection. Do you know what kind of NIC the laptop has (e.g. 100Mbit, 1000Mbit)? If you're not sure either Google for the model name/number and look through the specs or post the model name/number here and we can take a look for you. If the laptop has a 1000Mbit (gigabit) NIC in it you you can set up a wired gigabit LAN between the PC and laptop using the gigabit NIC in the laptop, a gigabit NIC in the main PC (either by using one that's currently in it or by adding one), a gigabit switch (handy if you want to connect more machines onto the network) and some Cat5e/Cat6 cable. Post more details and we can give you more specific help.

The laptop has whatever I deem necessary, as he hasn't bought it yet.

Quote from banshee56 :

The laptop has whatever I deem necessary, as he hasn't bought it yet.

Ah, yes. I'd forgotten about that. Well, tell us a bit more about the sort of files he'll be sharing, as gigabit might actually be a bit overkill. Will he be sharing a lot of large files or just things like docs, excel files etc? If he's going to be sharing large files or doing backups from the laptop to the main PC then gigabit would probably be best. If it's just going to be light usage then 100 megabit would be sufficient.

Quote from banshee56 :

Yes, if you can't tell, I am networking illiterate.

Without knowing the distances / terrain involved, it's impossible to recommend a networking solution between two premises. If his house is 100 miles from his home with a ****ing volcano inbetween then a wireless connection might suffer a bit.

Honestly if he's got any chance of receiving decent-speed internet at home and at his business, it would make more sense to just sign up for two internet services and send the traffic through Shithouse, Arkansas or wherever the nearest city is.

If you're talking about a wireless connection between two sites that are reasonably close (across a yard) then run a cable. If you're too lazy to run a cable then go with the ISP solution above and buy two internet services, one for each of your premises - they've conveniently already run the cables for you.

Really, wifi connections are the last-choice option for people who end up in motels with laptops, or bought iphones and found out how much the data transfer costs are on their network.

The phrase 'wi-fi connection' is semantically equivalent to the phrase '****ing shit connection'.