It might be cheaper or more convenient to replace the router with one already wireless capable? Or could there be range problems with that.

Incidentally, did you mean you are daisy-chaining some PCs using ICS? Or are they all off the router? Have you got a separate LAN switch as well?

(You'll gather I'm quite confused by your opening post. The WAP issue is easy, as has been said by the others).

Thanks for all the replies.

Okay, the router works fine and is stable so no issues there. The ICS is something I set up years ago when I decided to give internet access to all the computers (dial up connection then later ISDN at that time). At that stage the whole thing worked via an 8 port switch. Since broadband/adsl all I've had to do is change the incoming equipment ie. the router. Everything else works just fine and as they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it

To fill in any other points (wish i could see all the replies right now!) there are 2 spare ports on the router but both used on an at-hoc basis. I have spare capacity on the switch's to add a WAP unit which I want on the LAN side so I can assign it a private address to fit in with the rest of the PC's/printers etc. on the LAN.

Hoping I've covered most replies there from memory. Thanks again to all

Ron

Why are you using ICS, when you have a router? ICS is used when you only have a modem connection on 1 PC and it simulates the function of a router.

Just replace wired router by any decent wireless router and stop using ICS.

As everyone keeps saying, given you already have a physical router using the PC as an additional router is a bit silly and inefficient. Now I don't know how much power your PC uses but it's almost always better to use the router as a router and your PC as a terminal, not the other way round. However in any case it's your decision.

As for the wireless part - it's been mentioned that standalone access points are fairly rare these days, and often cost more than their router counterparts. An AP is just a router with less ports and the routing software switched off, so it's inconsequential whichever you get; just about any wireless router can be used as an access point simply by switching off the routing functions. My personal recommendation goes to the DIR-615 if you're on a budget, as it provides 300mbps wireless N for less than £10 off eBay.

In reply to a post by rt2000:

I'm thinking the former but has anyone here done it?

That's how my set up works
I'm using a Speedtouch 585v6 with the wireless turned off (this helps it run cooler), then when wireless is required I have a Netgear WG602 (plugged into the router) which can be turned on.

As others are saying it's probably cheaper to buy a wireless router and have everything combined - which is what most people do. But I like being able to simply power off my WAP to control my wireless signal (don't want young kids up all night) and it's also nice to be able to locate the wireless signal in a different location to the router.

So the answer to your question - both your options will work fine

And would Internet Connection Sharing not require two LAN ports of the PC running it as well as the PC always having to be switched on if anyone of the other devices want internet access?

I dont think the "if it isnt broke dont fix it" approach really applies here - while, techically, it isnt broke, there are lots of things that you cant do with this configuration. While this may not be an issue at the moment it is bound to be in the future.

Plug a wireless AP into your router, ditch ICS for anything that doesnt need it and "regularise" your configuration.

This may be of interest to you. I recently had to install a WAP on my home network as the router was a fairly old Draytek without wireless. I didn't want to replace the Draytek as it is a very good and reliable router. It's a fairly simple task to plug a WAP into a router port (I used a TP - LINK WAP) but you need to ensure it has a fixed IP address on your network. These are usually in the 192.168.1.*** range if you are using DHCP (automatically distributed IP addresses from the router). The WAP initially came out of the box set for DHCP so upon first plugging it in I had to find out what address is had received (either by pinging or using something like IPSCAN) then going into it's webpage and giving it a fixed IP address, e.g. 192.168.1.100. If you have only one computer on at the time, the WAP's initial DHCP address will probably be the next IP address up from the computer. The DHCP service from the router I have restricted to a range of 12.168.1.50 to cover all the household computers, 1.100 is well outside this.
Once this was set and I'd put on the WAP security I was able to connect fine.

Just for my own education, why does a WAP need a fixed IP address on the LAN? That's two of you have said it, and one that said just plug it in, which is what I would expect.

The only reason would be to allow remote management via the AP's GUI or command line. It doesn't get involved in the traffic flow to and from clients.

Thanks.

I suppose that is a good idea for ongoing configuration/maintenance of the wireless security, rather than (I assume) messing about with a direct ethernet connection to it from the PC? Though it should be possible to pick up the current IP address from the router if it wasn't fixed?