Wireless
Your broadband connection comes into your house via your telephone line.
You can run a cable from the telephone plug to your computer so that you can use the internet.
Or you can plug a wireless adapter (router) into the telephone socket and this broadcasts the internet service throughout the house.
A wireless adapter on your computer transmits the information between the computer and the wireless adapter.
Wireless routers generally have internet connection sharing, wireless capabiliy, cable connections and networking abilities and a firewall. This allows several computers to use the broadband connection simultaneously.
A relatively new option is to use your electricity wires as a cable connection. There are special plugs that you can purchase to plug into your electricity sockets. Do not attempt any other method of using your electricity supply as your network!!!
click here for available wireless routers
If your computer is located in another room to the incoming telephone line, then you can use the wireless feature to connect your computer to the internet. (Note that you may have to purchase a wireless adapter for your computer if it does not have one installed.) The wireless option means that you do not need to run cables from the computer to the telephone socket.
The advantages are great. You can take your laptop into the garden on a sunny day and still be on the internet! Another advantage is that other computers in the house can also be on the internet at the same time.
You are still able to connect your computer to the router using a cable if you so require. Most routers handle both wirless and cable connections.
There are security issues but these can be easily managed by using wireless routers with inbuilt encryption and passwords on the router and the linked computers. You must have a proper password on your wireless router. Then only those people with the password on their computers can access your internet connection.