[elvencia]

Firstly, I should probably say I know nothing about computers and all that.

So, here's the problem. I've got a laptop, and want the internet on it. My parents computer has broadband, as it's a little too ancient for wireless. So this means its plugged into the phone line. The other phone lines in the house have little box filter things plugged into them, which I'm guessing is something to do with their internet.

If I got wireless internet, I'd have to plug a box into the phone line, right? But I don't want to affect my parents internet connection. And all the phone lines are full of them filter things. So how do I do it? I really don't want to alter anything to do with their computer connections, because no doubt I'd get shouted at rather a lot.

Also, I've seen those mobile USB modems - would one of those be a better bet? Although I'm guessing you couldn't, say, connect more than one laptop to one of those if you wanted? And finally, all the wireless internet provider things I've looked at seem to include a load of other rubbish I don't want, like phone packages (except for the Pipex one)

Any advice would be much appreciated (although lets try and avoid too many big words... I'm stoopid )

[4D(Fordy(Ford) Ollie]

Ok, no matter if their computer is too old for wireless whether its a direct ADSL line or a broadband connection makes no odds, so if you switched over to a broadband package (Orange, AOL, TalkTalk etc.) your parents can still plug directly in to the ADSL Router (the box you mention) which would plug into the ADSL Filter (those little box thingys in all the phone sockets) and run as normal, your laptop and any others would connect via a Wireless adapter, sometimes coming with the router.

[Carbon]

To sum it up: basically, it doesn't matter. Wireless routers have both regular Ethernet slots for wired stuff and support wireless capabilities. All you'd need to do is buy an ethernet cord, plug the existing cable from the computer into the router, then plug one of the cords in from the router to the computer, then configure the router and boom you have both wireless for the laptop and wired on the desktop.

Also, you can just stick a PCI wireless card into the desktop if it's that big of a deal :p