Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Steve R]

Please could anyone help me?

I've moved into a caravan in a park. Every unit has "internet" but it's only WiFi. My computer has no wireless and I do not want wireless.

The caravan has an incoming ADSL line which is connected to a small black box (powered), with an ADSL cable coming out and going into a wireless transmitter. The wireless transmitter is drilled into the wall and can't be moved, however, I know that it's possible for me to plug the black box into my own router and use wired internet. I know this as I was in a different caravan last week which had a router and it worked.

The only router I have on me rigtht now is my old Plusnet one (gagemcom 2704N).

Can this work?

[mofa2020]

There is a RJ45 port called ETH that is where you can connect the a cable from repeater to the Plusnet one router, but you may need additional IP config so no IPs conflict happens so wait for other Kitzens to provide advice about that.

[burakkucat]

Welcome to the kitz forum. 

Can this work?

It depends upon the existing hardware in the caravan.

Does the "small black box (powered)" have any Ethernet ports (sockets)? If yes, then check to see if connecting your computer directly to it allows you to access the Internet. (Small black box <--- Ethernet patch cable ---> your computer's NIC.)

[petef]

Have you a strong aversion to wifi? Dongles are available on eBay for a couple of quid.

[Steve R]

Thanks for the replies, guys! :-)

Welcome to the kitz forum. 

Thanks! :-)

Does the "small black box (powered)" have any Ethernet ports (sockets)? If yes, then check to see if connecting your computer directly to it allows you to access the Internet.

IT WORKED! 

The other caravan had a big router plugged in so I assumed I would need a router, but this worked.

Thanks for your help, fellows!

Have you a strong aversion to wifi? Dongles are available on eBay for a couple of quid.

Well actually yes, I do have an aversion to WiFi. If other people want to install a radio transmitter in their home that's their choice, but I have no use for it. I'd be sacrificing a solid, secure, completely private connection just for the neatness of having 1 less cable on the floor? I already have about 10 cables coming out of my computer and quite happy to have that ethernet cable there. But each to his own I guess.

But there's also the health risks. Close proximity to the pulsed radiation produced by mobiles and WiFi has never been declared 'safe', and the public have always been advised to use mobiles with caution, to keep calls short, and keep children from exposure. There is now a large amount of scientific data linking this technology with serious health problems, for example we know now that mobile phone radiation does cause cancer in rats. Studies declaring the technology 'safe' can usually be linked to the huge, powerful industries who produce the technology and have billions invested in it. At very best, the technology is an unknown, so as a health-conscious man I see absolutely no point taking the risk. I bloody hate making phone calls so a mobile phone is the last thing I would want to buy! LOL

[Ronski]

Hope you don't have a microwave then 

[Alex Atkin UK]

I'm all for not using radio waves when not absolutely necessary, but when it comes to risk the many artificial sweeteners put in foods these days are a far bigger risk IMO.  If you read the background on how some of them got to market its extremely dodgy.

Vehicle exhausts and UV from the sun is an order of magnitude more dangerous than radio waves. 

I think a lot of people who are blaming radio waves for causing them health issues are just latching on to pre-existing conditions that naturally get worse as you age and wanting to blame it on something else.

A lot of my health complaints match some of the wild claims of what radio waves can do, except we have a family history of issues and I can trace the progression of my conditions back to long before WiFi was a thing.  Some perfectly match my mums progression although I started younger.

Contaminants  in our food and water are far more likely to be the reason for the many health complaints that have exploded since modern technology, not to mention the fact we can actually identify them whereas before it would be classed as something more generic or natural causes.  We already are discovering how harmful many pesticides are to us and the bees themselves as it stays in the soil and produce.

[Ronski]

The world has always been bathed in radio waves, long before we added to them.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2012/sep/27/wi-fi-health-risks

The longer answer is that the intensity of a Wi-Fi signal is around is 100,000 times less than a microwave oven. The oven is a targeted device that operates at very high voltages and short distances. Wi-Fi routers operate at very low voltages, broadcast in all directions, and are used at relatively long distances.

Since radio waves follow the inverse square law – like light, sound and gravity – then each time you double the distance, you get only a quarter of the energy. In other words, the signal strength falls off very rapidly. At normal operating distances, Wi-Fi's intensity is generally so low that it's not worth worrying about: it's just part of the "smog" that is generated by radio and TV signals, AC mains wiring, the motors in home appliances, and the universe in general. (As my colleague Charles Arthur once pointed out here, the wavelength of Wi-Fi signals is the same as the cosmic background radiation: 12cm. If you're worried, don't go outside.)

I'm more concerned as Alex says about what's going into what we eat.

[tickmike]

I'm more concerned about Covid 19 

[jelv]

As connecting your PC direct to the small black box works, if you would like multiple wired connections a cheap Ethernet switch would probably work (e.g. TP-Link TL-SF1005D 5-Port 10/100 Mbps Desktop Ethernet Switch - there are cheaper but not brand names I recognise!)

[sevenlayermuddle]

Welcome to the kitz forum. 

It depends upon the existing hardware in the caravan.

Does the "small black box (powered)" have any Ethernet ports (sockets)? If yes, then check to see if connecting your computer directly to it allows you to access the Internet. (Small black box <--- Ethernet patch cable ---> your computer's NIC.)

This suggestion seems to have done the trick, well done that man!

But just to clarify, what are we suggesting is the small black box?   Specifically, does the OP still benefit from NAT intrusion protection?

[burakkucat]

But just to clarify, what are we suggesting is the small black box?

With what we now know, I suspect it is a basic CPE without WiFi capabilities. I.e. Modem, ATM or PTM end-point, PPP client, firewall, NATtery, DCHP server and basic switch. The average person's, average, computer (using BGW/M$-DOS/'doze) would have the NIC automagically configure via an implementation of a DHCP client. Hence a connection has been achieved with just an Ethernet patch cable.

But unless I can "put a paw" on the equipment (or otherwise see what's what) it is nothing but a guess.

[Alex Atkin UK]

Just finding out what IP address it gave out should give us a good idea though.

[burakkucat]

Just finding out what IP address it gave out should give us a good idea though.

<Nods> Yes or, more precisely, seeing which IPv4 address has been assigned to the NIC in the computer.

[Steve R]

Thank you for all the replies, but just to clarify, my problem was solved. I plugged it straight into the 'black box' and to my amazement it worked, so I've had internet access this last week. Now the caravan park is closing and I'm getting booted out so it doesn't matter anyway.

On the matter of WiFi and health...

Contaminants  in our food and water are far more likely to be the reason for the many health complaints that have exploded since modern technology

I agree that toxins in food are a very serious health threat in modern times, perhaps the biggest. I am very fussy about food and only eat unprocessed, organic food and natural ingredients. This is the result of having been very ill and wanting to do the best for my body.

But I like to cover all bases. Food and air go directly into our body, with the obvious potential for harm, but radio waves pass directly through every cell in our body.

I don't necessarily believe all radio wave radiation is inherently harmful. Exposure time is a factor, and proximity is obviously a most critical factor. Exposure from a WiFi router in a nearby room yields vastly lower exposure than a mobile phone pressed against one's head. Nevertheless, I am happy to do without either, especially given my sensitivity to electrical devices. (I can feel electrical fields, and prolonged exposure gives me terrible pain.)

You mentioned air pollution and that's another important issue for me. I'm intolerant to just about all unnatural chemicals such as perfume, deodorant, soaps, etc. The absolute worst for me are plug-in air fresheners and cigarettes. Before the smoking ban, I lived a life of isolation and couldn't go to restaurants etc. I still can't go anywhere near the detergent aisle of a supermarket. Most people don't have my sensitivity, but I do think my body is telling me it's harmful.

Hope you don't have a microwave then 

Never!

The world has always been bathed in radio waves, long before we added to them.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2012/sep/27/wi-fi-health-risks

I'm sorry but the 'science' presented in that article is ill-informed. If you read the comments under the article, the user "rosesandrue88" has put it better than I could put it:

"This is another example of biased, uninformed and one-sided journalism that is rampant with regards to this issue."

His/her post sums up flaws with the article perfectly.

The earth, of course, is bathed in naturally-occurring radiation and EMFs, but our bodies were specifically designed to function in this environment. In contrast, the radiation and EMFs being introduced by modern technology are of a fundamentally different kind.

Sorry, I'm not trying to scare anyone here, just offering my own perspective and explaining my own reasons.