How to Connect to a Wireless Network Using a Satellite TV Connection

If you live in a rural part of the country where cable or DSL isn't available, satellite Internet service is your best option outside of dial-up. The biggest satellite television providers also offer Internet service. If you have multiple computers in your home, linking them together through a wireless network is a lot better than having to work with multiple cables and hook-ups. Connecting your satellite Internet service to a wireless network is no different from doing the same with any other Internet provider, as long as you have a wireless router and your computers have wireless cards.

Things You'll Need

• Satellite television service
• Ethernet cable
• Modem (optional)
• Coaxial cable (optional)
• Wireless router

Instructions

1. Contact your satellite television provider and ask to add Internet access to your service. Dish Network and DirecTV offer Internet with their satellite TV service. Get two-way service, if possible, because it simplifies your Internet access and won't constantly tie up your phone line.

2. See if your computer has a built-in wireless card. If it doesn't, you need a wireless adapter or ISP card. Connect the device to your computer--it should use a basic USB or a PC MCIA connector. Install the enclosed software with the card that allows your computer to recognize its driver and activate the card.

3. Install the satellite Internet service. This basically involves connecting your satellite receiver box to the computer through an Ethernet cable. You might need an external modem, especially if the receiver box doesn't have an Ethernet port. The modem connects through the receiver's RF coaxial port, and the Ethernet cable links the modem and computer.

4. Call back your satellite provider to confirm that your Internet service has been activated. Bring up your computer's web browser to test the service. Disconnect the Ethernet cable from the computer afterward.

5. Connect the Ethernet to a wireless router. Follow the router's instruction manual for how to set it up. The router will transmit the Internet access through an infrared signal. If the computer has a wireless card and is in the signal's range (150 feet is average), you should have Internet access on the computer.

Tips & Warnings

• If you connect a modem through the receiver box's coaxial port, get a coaxial splitter. You need this to still connect the receiver to your television set.

• The speed of the Internet connection will be split up when more than one computer is using the wireless signal.