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Gary Byrum

Overstable By Design
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Never seen this topic posted before, but I've been looking into investing in an internet radio, and apparently, they are all wireless. My understanding is, this device will require the use of a router to acquire the signal. My whole plan, is to get online radio stations, even if the computer is not on. And I don't want to invest in a router. I do have one of these special splitters that allowed me to share my internet cable service with my TV, without interfering with my cable signal, and I was hoping I could have the internet radio wired from it. I'm certain I'll need a special coaxial wire to--(whatever plug) if it's even possible. FWIW, I can no longer use said splitter for my TV since they started putting blockers in the outside lines.\

Bottom line, is using a router the only way to do it?
 
They use radios over WIFI. You must use a wireless router. I have one. It is ok, but it is no sirius.
 
A question I can actually answer!

Chuck is correct, you will need at least a router.

The Internet radio is, as far as your Internet connection is concerned, a second computer. In order for both devices (the radio and the computer) to have access to your Internet connection, you will need a router. A router is essentially a network connection sharing device. If the radio is wireless, you will also need a Wireless Access Point, which bridges between a wired network (which you have now) and a wireless one (which your radio will use). Luckily, both devices are available in a single product, a Wireless Router.

Wireless Routers are readily available, but setting one up is not quite trivial. I would recommend you find a tech-fluent friend to help you select and setup the purchase. I (and others) can help you online with reasonable chances of success, but without actually seeing your network setup, its impossible to be 100% sure.
 
I've had a router hooked up before, but I no longer needed it. So I know how to do that much. It wasn't mine so I don't have one. 2) my comp is not networked. It's the basic desktop tower job with printer/fax keys & speakers. I guess what I was hoping to hear was these radios came with a wired input.
 
I think the unit your looking for is

"Grace Internet radio"

I know it'll work on wifi,,
but I think it has an ethernet connection as well..

You can find it and it's specs on Amazon..

Teddy
 
Gary, while I don't know all the specifics of your current setup, I will say that having a router between your computer and the cable modem (which I presume is what you use) is very important these days. It adds another layer of firewall to repel hack attempts from the internet. I've heard it said that setting up (installing windows on) an unprotected computer connected to a direct internet connection without a router firewall would likely be infected with malware before Windows would even complete installing and setting up its own firewall and AV software.

Bottom line: a router is a must these days, and for basic usage like yours, they are not expensive. Check Craigslist... you can probably get one super cheap. If you were near me, I'd let you have your pick of three or four extra ones I've got hanging around, that I've discontinued using for reasons significant to me but inconsequential to anyone else.

I just checked Amazon, and several reasonable choices are available on Amazon for $25 or less (shipped, if you have Prime).

These days a wifi router just makes so many things easier... go for it!

Marc
 
There's at least one on Amazon that can use wired Ethernet or WiFi.

A link would be nice. I did look into wiring from coaxial to Ethernet connection, and I think I found some. I just want to avoid the use of a router with recent reports of wifi getting hacked. Convenience is becoming very risky anymore.
 
Sounds to me, after what you all have said, I'd be better off working it like I have been. Use internet radio when I am online, and using my Sirius when I go to bed. I don't like the idea of building a fortress around an internet radio, and I don't like the idea of using a router. Maybe I already have it as simple as I can deal with it. I was just looking for an excuse to 86 my Sirius subscription.
 
A link would be nice. I did look into wiring from coaxial to Ethernet connection, and I think I found some. I just want to avoid the use of a router with recent reports of wifi getting hacked. Convenience is becoming very risky anymore.

If you get something like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FWYGJS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

or

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UI4RTG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

You will be much more secure than you currently are. I currently have a Netgear router and it's working well (my model is a bit more upscale, due to some needs I have).

Simply enable WPA2 encryption on the wifi and choose a long passcode string. If you are very paranoid, enable MAC address filtering on the router... this allows only specific devices with MAC addresses you program into the router to be able to use the wifi. MAC addresses are unique device IDs. It's possible to spoof them but nobody is going to bother just to hack a home wifi account. I did this for a while after some (unsuccessful) attempts at hacking mine, presumably by neighbor kids. Mine is something like 15 characters (it's a sentence, easily remembered). Nobody is going to bother hacking it. Computer hooked directly to the internet sans router is asking for trouble. And paying for a Sirius subscription when there is so much free or very low cost content available is no longer necessary, if you've got a reliable internet connection.

Marc
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Gary, if you just want to listen to internet radio, have you tried Iheart?
I've got an old speaker system prolly 20 years old. Altec Lansing ADA305, Base, w towers w/tweet and mid range that simulated surround sound.
I can shake the drywall screws loose if I turn it up. But not often since I now live in an appartment building.
But it sounds great at any volumn. And it's never slowed my old lap top down here. But I have ATT Uverse viber optic.
At the house just had standard ATT.
Just a thought.
 
I'm throwing in the towel on this whole idea. Like I said before, I don't trust using routers anymore, and I really don't want to buy two MORE pieces of hardware just to do this. I already got so much stuff plugged in that I'm overwhelmed with friggin wires, J boxes and power adapters.

I have a pretty nice set of comp speakers with a woofer that suites me just fine. I haven't been to Iheart, but I'll check it out. My neighbor found a site called SongsTube and they have a plethora of radio stations and genre's, as well as a bunch of dedicated stations for certain groups that date back to the 50's to 2000's. I'm sure there are a bunch more I just haven't discovered.
 
Fair enough. Check back with me if you are ever interested in getting a router, though. It's VERY dangerous not to have one. I've had computers infected just by plugging them into an un-firewalled internet connection.

You've got a point about wires and such... I've got it all cable-tied and such, but there's still lots of connections. Wall to cable modem, cable modem to phone line, cable modem to router, router to downstairs switch, plus the actual computers, printers, network TV OTA receivers, a TV with apps....

Marc
 
I have a Turtle Beach Audiotron that I'm not using and planning to part with. In addition to internet radio it scans your home network for shared music libraries and can play everything. This particular device hooks up to a Cat-5 network (need a port on your router or cable modem or ...).
 
Comcast was trying to get me to upgrade to a "wireless gateway" at no cost. Supposedly better performance, although it also creates a public "Xfinity Wifi Hotspot" ( see https://money.cnn.com/2014/06/16/technology/security/comcast-wifi-hotspot/ ), which I see as partially an attempt to suppress the propagation of actual, non-Comcast subscriber, public wifi. Anyway, if you wait a bit you might not need buy a router. You could even use your neighbor's if they get one of these and you have the subscription.

I like internet radio... real internet radio, I hear people listening to commercial radio stations on their computers, which is a waste. Some progressive rock stations:
https://auralmoon.com/
https://deliciousagony.com/
https://www.morow.com/
and I also like death.fm when that's getting too mellow
 
I'm throwing in the towel on this whole idea. Like I said before, I don't trust using routers anymore, and I really don't want to buy two MORE pieces of hardware just to do this. I already got so much stuff plugged in that I'm overwhelmed with friggin wires, J boxes and power adapters.

I have a pretty nice set of comp speakers with a woofer that suites me just fine. I haven't been to Iheart, but I'll check it out. My neighbor found a site called SongsTube and they have a plethora of radio stations and genre's, as well as a bunch of dedicated stations for certain groups that date back to the 50's to 2000's. I'm sure there are a bunch more I just haven't discovered.

you don't trust routers but you connect your computer directly to your cable modem.

that is a very misguided way of thinking.

decent routers provide a significant level of protection for your computer from outside threats. windows by itself is not very secure.

it is pretty difficult to find a non-wireless router but they do exist. however all wireless routers allow you to disable the wireless interface and will eliminate that potential path. plus, with a router you can now share your internet connection with an internet radio. just buy one that has an ethernet port.

please, please, please do not plug your computer directly into your cable modem! the world does not need any more spam/ddos/whatever bots!
 
I'm throwing in the towel on this whole idea. Like I said before, I don't trust using routers anymore, and I really don't want to buy two MORE pieces of hardware just to do this. I already got so much stuff plugged in that I'm overwhelmed with friggin wires, J boxes and power adapters.

I have a pretty nice set of comp speakers with a woofer that suites me just fine. I haven't been to Iheart, but I'll check it out. My neighbor found a site called SongsTube and they have a plethora of radio stations and genre's, as well as a bunch of dedicated stations for certain groups that date back to the 50's to 2000's. I'm sure there are a bunch more I just haven't discovered.

I work in IT, specifically LAN and WAN. I can tell you from looking through log file of devices connected to the Internet, you're not doing yourself any favors by not using a router. Most likely you are already using one without knowing it though. If you are getting internet through a cable company, the "modem" they normally supply is a Internet gateway device that has both a modem and a router combined.

If you have an IP address on your computer that is 192.168.x.x you have a router between you and the Internet. If you have Comcast, I think they use a 10.x.x.x private range. The reason I believe you do is that if you didn't, you computer would be a zombie and completely useless.

I am curious as to why you don't trust a router.
 
I am curious as to why you don't trust a router.

Because I pay attention to news regarding internet threats. Wasn't long ago, it was stated that if you you use a router for wireless purposes, that a drive by hacker could tune in to your computer. Thus accessing anything you have stored and, (if I remember correctly) had the advantage of knowing the keystrokes you use. That alone could get them into your bank account(s).

You have to forgive me, but this older but wiser guy, pays attention to how our society is getting so sucked into the technology, that it may as well be wearing blinders. I'm not going to get back on my soap box and do another sermon on how all this new tech is affecting everyone. But this pic is a simple example.

Techno Zombies.jpg
 
Comcast was trying to get me to upgrade to a "wireless gateway" at no cost. Supposedly better performance, although it also creates a public "Xfinity Wifi Hotspot" ( see https://money.cnn.com/2014/06/16/technology/security/comcast-wifi-hotspot/ ), which I see as partially an attempt to suppress the propagation of actual, non-Comcast subscriber, public wifi. Anyway, if you wait a bit you might not need buy a router. You could even use your neighbor's if they get one of these and you have the subscription.

I know a little bit about how this works... Cable modems can support multiple SSIDs and the cable operator can configure them as they wish (not going to discuss ethics here, read the small print, or don't rent). If they use your CM to support their mobile hotspot, they actually do it on a separate vlan so anyone attaching to that hot spot does not have access to your local lan. Also, they are able to separate the billing of the traffic on the two different vlans so you don't pay for the bandwidth consumed by those on the public side. Of course, if the CM does not have two radios in it (some do not) then the radio for your private (and guest if configured) wifi will collide with those on the public wifi. This would reduce the bandwidth of your wifi devices when your neighbor is downloading a torrent over wifi.

Now, all things aside, if the cable operator provides a free or somewhat cheap mobile wifi solutions to their subscribers with this kind of deployment, it could really be a benefit to a lot of people. After all, it's probably cheaper to use this wifi than pay your cell provider for 4g.

Kevin
 
Because I pay attention to news regarding internet threats. Wasn't long ago, it was stated that if you you use a router for wireless purposes, that a drive by hacker could tune in to your computer. Thus accessing anything you have stored and, (if I remember correctly) had the advantage of knowing the keystrokes you use. That alone could get them into your bank account(s).

Love the picture! Thanks.

As for the drive by hacker stuff... that CAN happen, but only if you leave your wifi unencrypted (as in without a password to access it), or use outdated encryption like WEP. If you use WPA2, a strong (long) encryption key, and avoid the common SSIDs, you become, if not invulnerable, at least not worth the effort it takes to crack.

Here's a short article that describes simple things to do, to provide security that will keep you safe. All of this is doable with the $25 WIFI router I recommended.

Not described in the article is MAC address filtering, which adds one more layer of safety.

Keep in mind the rule of the jungle, too: How fast do you need to run, to get away from the lion? Answer: Just a little bit faster than the slowest guy in the group.

Marc
 
Because I pay attention to news regarding internet threats. Wasn't long ago, it was stated that if you you use a router for wireless purposes, that a drive by hacker could tune in to your computer. Thus accessing anything you have stored and, (if I remember correctly) had the advantage of knowing the keystrokes you use. That alone could get them into your bank account(s).

You have to forgive me, but this older but wiser guy, pays attention to how our society is getting so sucked into the technology, that it may as well be wearing blinders. I'm not going to get back on my soap box and do another sermon on how all this new tech is affecting everyone. But this pic is a simple example.

View attachment 246960

Depends on how you setup your wireless. With the right encryption level, you are not going to get in without knowing the key...at least in a reasonable amount of time. Using an old style WEP key would be stupid and ultra easy to hack. I can get into a WEP system in about 2 minutes or less. Using WPA2 and the right key and you will not have anyone one your network.

BTW, you stand a much better chance of someone getting into your computer through the Internet than your wireless. They can sit in (pick your foreign country) and work they way into your system if you don't have a decent router with a firewall. Also, Windows firewall doesn't count either. Getting in using you wireless requires a physical presence.

What you are really saying is you don't trust WiFi. You can have a router that does not have a wireless access point.
 
That could be true if you had the wireless router set up as a public network that anyone could use without needing a password or encryption, but few folks do that today, because your basic wireless router/modem today can be setup to prevent unauthorized drive-by users from gaining access to your wireless network and encrypts your data that anyone tuning in can't decode the encrypted transmissions.......

Your internet browser has various security levels, and routers typically have a firewall and windows also has one IIRC. If you have an up to date antivirus program installed and operating on your computer, and run routine AV scans, the chances of getting hacked are very low unless you download a lot of stuff from questionable sites, or open attachment from unknown e-mail sources which allows bad thing to by-pass many of the built in protections that your internet browser, firewalls and AV programs provide.

Bob
 
Oh, one last thing, before the horse is totally beaten dead.

One extra security precaution I use is that if I have a guest come over and I let them use my wireless, I DON'T GIVE THEM MY MAIN WIFI PASSWORD. My wifi router allows me to set up a "guest account" on a totally separate SSID, unrelated to my main one, and the computers on that guest SSID don't have access to any information on the rest of my network. That way if my neighbor's kid, whose iPod Touch knows my guest system wifi password, gets hacked by someone, and they try to use that information to compromise my network, the worst they can do is poach my bandwidth. They won't be getting any of my files. It's important to keep guest accounts and your main network separated!

Marc
 
I do internet radio through my phone ..using the tune in radio app.

Mostly old time radio.. Roswell ufo radio and Audio Noir. No router needed to see how much you like or find your favorites.

Kenny
 
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