Setting up wireless broadband for the first time

biohaiid

Hi,
I'm hoping someone might be able to help me with this issue ASAP!

The other day I phoned up Eircom at the request of my grandmother and got her old dial-up internet upgraded to a wireless broadband connection, as part of a package with her monthly phone bill.

The modem came today, and although I followed to instructions given, there's something not quite right. As instructed, we connected the power cable to the modem and plugged it into the wall, we connected the 'splitter' into the wall and connected one lead to the main phone and the other also to the modem. 
An ethernet cable was also included, and this is where we started to get confused.
I understand that one end of the ethernet cable is meant to connect to the modem, and the other to the back of the computer. However, this isn't possible for her, given the distance between her computer and the telephone.
I tried to set everything up simply ignoring the ethernet cable, but this didn't work. I thought it might as since we requested wireless broadband, why would  a cable need to be connected between the modem and the computer?
For our broadband at home I am able to access the internet from my laptop, without any cables connecting it to the modem.
Can someone clarify this for me, and maybe point out where we are going wrong?

It's also a very old DELL PC that she has, so even once the modem is set up correctly, we are not sure how to establish the connection on the computer. I did what the instructions said and searched for available wireless networks, but nothing.

Any help much appreciated!

eircom: Tony

biohaiid wrote: »

Hi,
I'm hoping someone might be able to help me with this issue ASAP!

The other day I phoned up Eircom at the request of my grandmother and got her old dial-up internet upgraded to a wireless broadband connection, as part of a package with her monthly phone bill.

The modem came today, and although I followed to instructions given, there's something not quite right. As instructed, we connected the power cable to the modem and plugged it into the wall, we connected the 'splitter' into the wall and connected one lead to the main phone and the other also to the modem. 
An ethernet cable was also included, and this is where we started to get confused.
I understand that one end of the ethernet cable is meant to connect to the modem, and the other to the back of the computer. However, this isn't possible for her, given the distance between her computer and the telephone.
I tried to set everything up simply ignoring the ethernet cable, but this didn't work. I thought it might as since we requested wireless broadband, why would  a cable need to be connected between the modem and the computer?
For our broadband at home I am able to access the internet from my laptop, without any cables connecting it to the modem.
Can someone clarify this for me, and maybe point out where we are going wrong?

It's also a very old DELL PC that she has, so even once the modem is set up correctly, we are not sure how to establish the connection on the computer. I did what the instructions said and searched for available wireless networks, but nothing.

Any help much appreciated!

Hi biohaiid
you are correct in that the ethernet cable is not necessary as you should have wifi. Have a look at this link here which outlines tips and FAQs on setting up broadband and wireless. If this does not help you should give our broadband tech support team a call on 1890260260. They should be able to guide you through this and trouble shoot any issue there.
I hope the helps.
Tony