Here is Verizon w/fla area if they know you have more than one computer and one is a laptop they freely send you the proper wifi modem/router that would handle 50 computers.

Would be up to you to make sure each computer you want to connect to that router is either equipted with an Ethernet adapter or wifi card of some sort.

The only service I have available is Charter cable and they said I could have up to 8 computers. They simply told me to have them ready for them to come so they could make sure it is working before they leave. I don't really know how to have them ready. Would the ethernet adapter be the USB device I saw in the store?

Look in device manager on each computer for an Ethernet Adapter or Wireless ethernet adapter.

Almost all computers unless anchient will have an ethernet adapter. Very few desktops will have wireless, of newer course laptops should have wifi adapters.

Laptops from a couple of years ago marked wireless ready usually are not. Unless of course you take it to the manufacturers service center and give them a hundred plus bucks to install a wifi card, and possibly more for an antenna too.

Laptops all have pc_card slots, and those slots accept wifi cards just fine.

Desktops all have differnt kinds of slots on the mother board that take network or wifi cards too.

You can also buy usb wifi adapters, but that should be an connection of last resort - in most peoples opinion anyhow.

Thanks for the info. I'm still not real clear what I have and what I need, however. I looked up my device manager in my new computer and found Marvell Yukon 88E8039 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller. Is this the ethernet connection on the back of the computer or something else? If I do not have WIFI capability and it would take returning my computer to the geek squad to have a card installed, would USB adapter not work instead? Is it your opinion that this is not reliable or exceptable? The laptop is WIFI ready so it is not a problem for that computer. Is there anything else other than the router that I would need for the laptop?
On a related note, would it make more sense for me to hard wire all of the stationary computers(hence running ethernet wires all over) and just setting the laptop up for wireless?
I appreciate the time you have taken to educate me! Its been a while since I have taken time to read up on technology and now I'm in a time crunch.

Wired computers are faster, no weak signal worries, no interferance from 2.4 cordless phone or the neighbors baby monitor or neighbors wifi equiptment.

Too many wifi connections on one network or in one neighborhood will slow down the wifi users. The computers all share that one two way radio signal. When one talks others that hear it wait. Those time slices are quick but still a wired user will quickly notice the wifi blinks and pauses.

Generally speaking USB 'wifi' works, sometimes the usb part becomes flaky and needs a reboot.
USB wifi and network processing is done by the computers cpu.
- A pc or pci or other plug in card will have its own chipset that does most off the processing so the pc's cpu doesnt have to do it.

Thanks again for taking the time to share. I am more comfortable with proceeding now!

Since wireless may be iffy and you don't want network cables running all over you may want to consider these: Powerline ethernet bridge. My daughter and my granddaughter have both installed them and are very happy with them. You need one at the router and one at each computer (except the laptop) which you want to connect to the internet. My granddaughter's laptop wifi varies so much from room to room she got another for the laptop.

This sounds good. I looked at the specs and there was no mention of Vista. Does your family use XP or Vista? I'm concerned about compatibility issues.

My granddaughter uses xp and my daughter uses one computer with windows 2000, one with windows xp and one with vista. No problems. Actually I just realized my daughter uses the trendnet adapters instead of the linksys. You may want to check out the customer reviews and price at Amazon.com.

I was worrying too much. When the cable company came they included everything. I didn't have to set up any of the equipment before the tech came---contrary to what I was told when I ordered the service! I didn't have to buy a router or a USB adapter. All of the equipment was included and everything was set up by the tech. The modem has the router included and a USB adapter was included free.
Thanks for all the help, however! At least now I feel somewhat educated on the subject!