Why I did it?I was chatting up my favorite resident PC tech (OK, OK...you're all my favorites), he asked why on earth I was keeping my AOL subscription and dial-up service since I had Time-Warner Roadrunner cable internet. I explained that I wanted to be able to let the kids use the old downstairs computer and wanted them to be able to get online if they needed to. He said..."yeah...so, why are you keeping Dial-up? All you need is a router...c'mere, I'll show you." So..off we go to the giant scary computer room (you know that room every big office has that has it's own cooling system, a fake floor, lots of blinking lights and more wires than Penelec?). He said...see this black thing here...it's a router, you plug that in between your Internet connection and your PC and...you're wireless...then you just need a wireless card or USB for the other PCs in your house...nobody buys a subscription for every PC in their house...nobody."

What you need: A high-speed internet connection, a wireless router, and a wireless USB adapter for each computer you want to make wireless.

What I bought: I ended up choosing a RangePlus linksys router and linksys USB adapter because it was on sale at Target (and I got free gift cards with the purchase of each...woohoo!).

Cost? Less than you might think. When people talked about going wireless, I thought..."that's for the rich folk." I was surprised to find it was only about a $100 investment on my part (about $60 for the router, $30 for the USB).

Hooking it up: I was anticipating this being a gigantic, frustrating event so I put off doing it for about two weeks. I finally opened the box, inserted the CD (it's UBER important you run the CD first...it walks you through the WHOLE thing) and voila! it was successful...or so I thought...until I clicked on my Firefox icon on my desktop and...got nothing but error messages. Damn. I unistalled & installed it three times and finally put the damn thing back in the box on the shelf. I just wasn't going to deal with it.

What was wrong: I suspected what was wrong...I had a bunch of security software and firewalls "fighting" -- so the linksys router had a security system, so does Vista and I have Norton. So...I knew that was my problem, but I had no idea how to fix it. Sulking wasn't working. I did that for a few days until I ran into another PC tech in the halls and asked him about it. His advice...simple...call the 1-800 tech-support number on the linksys router box. "They'll walk you through the whole thing," he said.

Dialing for help: I waited until early Saturday morning to call tech support and locked myself in the office. When I finally got through (took about 10 minutes of holding), the very nice (though somewhat hard to understand) tech guy did indeed walk me through a series of steps that eventually solved my problem. The whole thing took about 10 minutes or so of clicking, going here...going there..doing this...doing that...doing whatever the nice man on the phone told me and....voila! I was wireless and ONLINE!

The USB thing: Encouraged, I decided to go right ahead and try out the USB thing on the downstairs PC. I expected it to give me grief, but I was wrong. I put in the CD (always put in the CD first!) and it did all the work for me. And..now, my old, old, WindowsME computer zooms through internet pages just like my new, fancy PC upstairs (OK...not quite as fast, but still...it's fantastic compared to the modem). AND...now, my kids can BOTH play webkinz at the same time -- one of the third floor, one in the basement. AND...now my husband and I aren't fighting over the PC after the kids go to bed -- we each have our own.

Would I recommend it to a friend? Yes...it's fantastic if you have more than one computer that you want to access the internet on. Now I want to go buy a new laptop so I can sit on the couch and work (see...that's the problem with buying the new PC, it's been this giant snowball effect).

Words of wisdom: Take advantage of the free technical support -- it will save you hours of frustration and anger and you're paying for it anyway. When you call...chose a quiet place and prepare to listen up ...most of the tech's I've ever talked to have an Indian accent and can be hard to understand at times, but....they are good...really good (though not as good as OUR resident PC techs...no way...you're the best ever...yes...I'm sucking up!).