Anyone good at setting up wireless networks?

[ForHerDeadEyes]

So I've never used a smartphone or a tablet before.
I feel like a caveman discovering fire when using my tablet I bought/ordered on the Black Friday sale.
Even though it's a handheld PC with a regular Windows 8 OS, it's still fascinating, and for $47 it's awesome.

My plan, that failed, was to keep it in the bedroom. So I bought a USB hub, USB speakers, and an external HDD. But, the tablet only have one USB connection that it uses for charging as well. I thought I could connect the charger and everything to the hub. But now I've read that it doesn't work that way.
And the USB speakers drain the battery, so I'll have to use powered speakers.

But the biggest problem is not having the external HDD connected when I go to sleep, etc. So I would like a way to smoothly transfer files between my PC and the tablet (it is a Win 8.1 tablet), I bought a MicroSD 64Gb as well.

The tablet does have WiFi and bluetooth, but even though I've built my, and several, computers, I have no good grasp on those things. I have a fiber, so I just plug the cable in the PC and in the wall outlet, and I magically have internet without having to anything else/settings.
I can see some networks popping up when I check now, with the tablet, but I haven't tried mooching off of any of them.
The cheapest alternative is getting a USB Ethernet adapter for 10€, and drag the cable along.
Then I at least have internet on it.

But it would be really nice if I could access internet on it wirelessly, maybe even stream video/audio/etc., from my desktop.

How complicated is that to set up?
I looked at Virtual Router Plus which seems on the surface to be idiot proof, but..you never know..


Do I need a 30€ router? (Never used one before): https://www.inet.se/produkt/5404495/asus-rt-n12-d1-n300#/specs
Or can I get this USB one for 13€: https://www.inet.se/produkt/5402012/tp-link-usb-tl-wn823n-mini-n300#/specs
Or a 17€ PCI Express card: https://www.inet.se/produkt/5401872/tp-link-tl-wn781nd-n150#/specs
Or this little usb bluetooth thing for 15€: https://www.inet.se/produkt/5404542/asus-bluetooth-4-0-adapter#/specs

I've connected to my PC and charging but I can't even seem to enable some sort of way to transfer files.
I guess I need a special cable to transfer files directly. Now it's via a USB stick.
If I got it working with wireless I could even install Steam and play some games *gasp*.
Buuut, I've been told elsewhere that I need to buy $100 box to do streaming, but that's over twice of what the tablet cost.

Hoping there's an cheaper way. Is there?
At least so I can access files or at the very minimum use internet.

 

[bryan_kilco]

I dont use a tablet but I just use Dropbox to swap files from one machine to the other.

 

[sprack]

You should get the ASUS wireless router, that would be the simplest.

 

[azistenostora]

Are you sure you're just plugging straight into the wall? It's hard to believe that you have fibre just "coming out of the wall". Normally you would receive a t least a fibre modem and a router from you provider but that might be different Sweden, I don't know. Anyhow, if you don't have one then yes, to be able to wirelessly connect or even share the internet between devices, you need a wireless router (doesn't have to be ASUS though). I can't read any of the links you sent cause they're in Swedish lol but the second one looks like it's just an adapter and won't do what you want (that would just pick up the wireless signal if you had one. If you can see other peoples wifi networks, you already have one built in to your tablet).
The third link also looks like an adapter which you don't need.
The last one is also just an adapter. So yeah, get a router

Here in the UK most internet providers give you wireless routers free of charge, I used to have my own one (D-Link something) and ended up throwing it away cause I had at least 3 sitting around. Such a shame, I coul have sent you one for free.

 

[ForHerDeadEyes]

Are you sure you're just plugging straight into the wall? It's hard to believe that you have fibre just "coming out of the wall". Normally you would receive a t least a fibre modem and a router from you provider but that might be different Sweden, I don't know. Anyhow, if you don't have one then yes, to be able to wirelessly connect or even share the internet between devices, you need a wireless router (doesn't have to be ASUS though). I can't read any of the links you sent cause they're in Swedish lol but the second one looks like it's just an adapter and won't do what you want (that would just pick up the wireless signal if you had one. If you can see other peoples wifi networks, you already have one built in to your tablet).
The third link also looks like an adapter which you don't need.
The last one is also just an adapter. So yeah, get a router

Yep, just a cable, no modem. It's 100Mbit download and 10Mbit upload. $34 each month.
The router seems to be the recommendation.
It's the cheapest I can find (brand new), might be cheaper ones on eBay (Swedish version of it).

You should get the ASUS wireless router, that would be the simplest.

Then I connect to the wall by cable, and from the router goes another cable to my desktop, and.. then?
Jag försöker inte vara otrevlig, folk har sagt router, men jag har inte en aning om vilka steg jag ska ta.
= I'm not trying to be rude, people have mentioned router, but I have no idea what steps to take.

I haven't used a router before and I guess I'm worried that I'll fuck things up.
I do take precautions with Peerblock, firewalls, and anti-virus, and VPN (though not this month).

But let's say I get the router: Cable from wall, to router, to desktop.
I guess it sends information so can set it up and password protect it? I mean, I'm used to USB being plug and play, but not over ethernet stuff.

 

[azistenostora]

Don't worry, routers use strong encryption (which isn't unbreakable but not really feasable to do so you're probably ok). So cable from wall to router wich then in theory your wireless devices can connect to. If you pc has a wireless adapter, you don't even need to run a cable to your pc anymore.
Consumer level wireless routers are made for average people and come with pretty good setup instructions so you should be ok. You don't really need to get your hands dirty anymore with the more advanced networking stuff.
Once your router is configured, your tablet will be able to pick up your network (like it currently picks up your neighbouts signals) and connect to it, browse the internet etc.

 

[LeSedna]

Personally, using mac products, I simply do one thing : I have a Plex server set up on my computer, and Plex clients where I need, including my ipad. As long as I am on the same wifi.

If I want to go to sleep and watch something from the iPad, I simply do not turn off the computer. It is set up to turn itself off after a comfortable time anyway.

For alI other uses I do not recommend using the PC wirelessly if you can connect it with an ethernet cable. I am paying a 200mb/s connection, I have checked many times : by wifi I get 70/75 (about 10mB/s max), by ethernet I get 200 exactly and a lower ping (down to 3ms if the source is from my own city). Recent wifi specifications improved it but really, just plug your PC with an ethernet connection for general purposes !

 

[ForHerDeadEyes]

I got a D-Link USB DWA-140 N300 and plugged it in.
It messed up my connection and I had to restart..
I installed Virtual Router Manager which is free. Was originally going for Virtual Router Plus that's also free, but meh..
It's plugged in but disabled. And then I managed to share my broadband connection with the tablets WIFI through "Local Area Connection".

Even though I set a password for the created hot spot, I'm still paranoid people are going to be able to gain access..

Bought a special sync USB cable that's needed if you want to transfer files between ex. tablet and PC. But I can't get that to work..