I tried searching the forum for an answer to my problem but couldn't find one, I hope i am not reposting this.

OK, I'm having trouble staying connected to the internet with my laptop wirelessly....usually when my boyfriend brings his laptop and connects.

We have 3 computers using the internet, my sister's pc(which is connected directly to the router via ethernet cable), my laptop, and my bf's laptop.

My sister's connection does not mess up. Just my laptop and my bf's laptop. Usually we will both have connection and then a few min. later they both shut off. Sometimes my computer says there is an ip conflict. After this happens we ask my sister to unplug the router and plug it back in to reset it. Usually when this happens my boyfriend's laptop will connect before mine, and my internet will not work (it says connected with limited connectivity and has the lil shield/caution sign on it in the taskbar....but the connection will have full bars...but i cannot use the internet). So because of that, my bf turns off his internet switch everytime she resets the router to let my laptop connect to the internet first(before his)..then he will connect and it works fine for both of us...for a limited time(sometimes longer than other..seems random)...then it happens all over again.

We have a Blitzz Netwave Base G4 (Model BWA611) router connected to a cable modem. I tried to do my own research on this on portforward.com but i am a newbie to all this wireless stuff and it went completly over my head. (i think the router is assigning us both the same ip addy? says to put it to dynamic...no clue how to do that but i never changed it before and im assuming dynamic is the default so wouldn't be on dynamic still?...like i said most went completely over my head)

I have windows Vista on my laptop and my boyfriend's laptop is windows XP (also my sister's pc is XP if it matters).

We are really getting fed up with it (and i know my sister is getting tired of resetting it when her connection is completly fine...interrupting what she is doing) and my boyfriend is threatening to buy a new router....which I don't think is the problem....or do we need to buy a new router???

Every now and then when my bf is not here sharing connection with me.. the net will be really slow....and if my sis resets it, it'll go fast again....i heard this is normal sometimes so i assuming it has nothing to do with it???

Also, I would like to know how to password protect our wireless so other people in our neighborhood cannot connect to our wireless. (I heard the more people on a connection the slower the speed...is this true?) Would password protecting it stop most people from using our internet, or is it easy to bypass for people who aren't newb's like me?

sorry to make this so long

i guess nobody can help me?

i guess i should by a new router?????????