being un-wired

I am unwired at home now...
a long time wish to have a wireless connection for my laptop at home finally bore fruit today.

while the technology was available, it was not challenging enough to just take a solution out of the box - or as provided by bsnl - and use it.

i wanted to do it at zero or minimal cost - which was the catch.

a router received as a gift helped achieve that goal.

getting the settings right on the ADSL router connected to BSNL, this wireless router and also on the laptop - seemed to defy logic, as the most reasonable combinations did not work.

having misplaced the CD [documentation], i decided to use the online documents and started following the instructions step-by-step.
after four attempts and a couple of hours - which required multiple reboots of the system, i could just not get anything to work.

as i was about to give up, my son found the CD and the installation program gave me a different set of instructions - which took just about 10 minutes and the router was all set to work in the wired mode.

wireless was still a challenge.

after generous guidance from a friend - and some trial and error - mail started working a short while ago.

net access was still a problem.

then decided to use the old-fashioned approach of mimicking other settings that worked.

manual configuration and overrides on the router + laptop finally got me connected..

now i am free to move around home and also relocate the base stations .. while being connected.

i am sure that this will evoke some [strong] comments and responses from others at home.
will keep you posted of any interesting developments..