Wifi connection to computer

[paulallard]

Just had fibre broadband installed and the engineer connected the router to my desktop computer with an ethernet cable. I noticed that, when I switch the computer off, the wi-fi goes to sleep. Is the cable necessary?

[licquorice]

Not sure what you mean by 'the wifi goes to sleep' but if your PC has wifi capability, then no, you don't need to connect via an Ethernet cable.

[paulallard]

Disconnected the ethernet cable and lost wi-fi on the computer! So I've reconnected it.

[imjolly]

you computer cannot be connect to internet using ethernet and wifi at same time

[licquorice]

Do you actually mean you lose 'wifi' or do you mean you lose internet connection. There seems to be a tendency these days to refer to internet connectivity as WiFi.

[paulallard]

I've just checked - my computer isn't connecting through wifi but through the cable, possibly too old a model! When I switched it off last night, the wifi router went to orange (if I remember rightly) i.e. working but not connecting to the internet. I'll end up ringing BT perhaps at some point or not switching off the computer!

[licquorice]

The router shouldn't change colour when turning off the computer. The colour changes are indications of the connectivity of the router to your broadband service, not towards your computer. 

[Carlusha]

@paulallard 

Disconnect the ethernet, on your computer, open Network & Internet and ensure that wifi is turned on!

[paulallard]

Wifi does not appear in my Network and internet

[licquorice]

Then your computer doesn't have a wifi adapter and will need to be connected via Ethernet. Or you could buy a USB wifi dongle, they are very cheap.