Cable Vs All

[twborbely]

I have a very slow phone modem connection(28800 bps) at best. I've seen what Cable can do and I want to get it, but I have some questions that I need help with. My wife and I have separate computers and I need all the hardware to install the cable and connect both computers. I don't need a shared connection. I think I need a cable modem (which one is best?), NIC cards (32 bit?),HUB (again, Which one?), catagory 5 line and connectors. Can all this stuff be bought in a kit, or do I spend close to $500.00 at COMPUSA?

[Floppyman]

Hello,

You will not necessarily need to purchase a cable modem, your cable providers may provide you with one that you can "rent". Other than that you need 2 NIC's, which only cost about $20 a piece for 10/100 cards. Also if you want to share your cable connection looks into purchasing a cable/dsl router. I heard linksys makes a good one (www.linksys.com). You will also need some CAT 5 patch cables, but those shouldn't be too expensive either. Hope this helps.

[morriswindgate]

As Floppyman wrote.
You need two 10/100 NIC for abot 20 bucks each, Suggest LinkSys DSL/Cable at Compusa.
You then need a Router (linkSys or D-link) with at least two ports (Four Port Linksys is 129)
Next you will need som Cat5 cables or if the PCs are far apart you might look into wireless or even Intel's home networking stuff.

When buying the cables go to Walmart, for instance a Belkin cable at Compusa is 7 buck more than the same one at Walmart.

If you want to share a printer between both computers get a router with a printer port.

Setting up the router is basically as follows, (The manuals for them make it sound impossible)
1. Unplugg the cable modem
2. Plug the cable from the computers and the Cable modem into the router
3. plug in the router and hit the reset switch, you may have to push it in and hold it for up to 30 seconds (See Manual)
4. Plug in the cable modem
5. boot up one of the computers
6. Type in the routers local internet address (See Router Manual)
7. Type in the Password for the router (See Manual)
8. Check all the features to see if they meet your needs or just close the router's page.
9 Your all set

[glc]

Sharing the connection with a Linksys router is the best way to go. Otherwise you could just plug the modem into a hub, but you would have to pay the cable company extra each month for the second IP address. The Linksys also acts as a firewall - another advantage of sharing.

[Planenuts]

Great advice but he could just get the 2 nic’s set up a network IP scheme, connect the cable modem to the primary machine and use the primary machine as a router. He would of coarse need to set IP address, Subnet mask and default gateway for the second machine. All for the cost of 2 nic’s and cable. Little more work, much less money.

[glc]

Little more work, less money, less secure, requires that the "server" computer always be on when the other machine wants to access the Internet, and it's a software solution instead of a hardware solution - and hardware is always best.

[Artaudd]

check this out.. 4 port linksys router $99

http://www.compuplus.com/insidepage....17k4do06&id=13

[twborbely]

Cool, Jim Morrison is my hero. If I buy the SB4100 Cable modem for $144, and the router for $100, that should be all the hardware I need to get two computers networked, firewall protected, and ready for the cable company to connect, correct?

[Artaudd]

Jim morrison is the man. and yea you definitely want to buy that cable modem. I got cable about two years ago and chose to rent and im still renting. it was a bad decision ive paid like 360$ in renting fees for it so far. so yea you definitely want to get that

[glc]

Don't let the cable company know you have the router - get it set up on one machine standalone and when they leave THEN put the router in. Why are you buying the modem......how much is rental?

[Artaudd]

mine is 15$ /month

[archie]

Before you go out and purchase the modem, make sure your cable company doesn't provide it for free. If you are not planning on sharing the Internet connection, the router will not even be necessary.

[surfmaster2000]

I have a cable modem, linksys router, etc. Cable companies have become very aware of the need to share this connection with other computers. For instance, My cable provider originally would only give a maximum of 3 ip addresses for each individual service. Now they offer a maximum of 10. Also, they have been made aware several times that I have a router connected on my end. They are less willing to provide tech support once they hear this, and almost always blame the router for any trouble. To the original post...Here is my suggestion. If you are only using two computers, a second ip is the way to go. A couple of nic's, a cheap 10 baseT hub, and some cat 5 cableing and you are in business. Like was mentioned before...Have the provider rent you a modem, and install the connection on one computer. Watch him closely, ask questions, and more importantly ask how to obtain an additional IP address. If by chance you live in atlanta, I would be more than happy to assist you with this $

[HAL9000]

The drawback to not going with a router though is you have now thrown away your hardware firewall. You can still use ZoneAlarm for a software solution, but a hardware solution is always better than a software solution. The combination of a router and ZoneAlarm will make you about as bulletproof as you're going to get without leaving your machine off 24/7. Many cable companies also charge for extra IP addresses. With more and more computers going on the internet, that means fewer available IP addresses. My cable company used to provide up to 4 IP addresses with no additional charge with the basic package. They have now cut this down to 2 with additional IP addresses costing $9.95 per month. If one takes the time to understand their internet setup, installing a router shouldn't give any problems that you really need to be concerned with ISP support. Last one that I spoke to that didn't support connections with a router, I lied to them and gave them the configuration as if it were installed on the machine itself, after all, it's the same thing. After some checking around, they found the problem on their end.