few more cable networking questions

[jca08]

Hey everybody, the computer I built with all of your help is running great still and we´re gonna set up with either DSL or cable. Before we choose though, I wanted to ask you guys some questions, thanks again for all the help...
Josh

Question 1 - Cable vs. DSL, any suggestions here? They're both about the same price, however, we're in an older house (but with cable) and I was wondering which is faster, more reliable, and easier to have setup. Oh yeah, by the way, the two companies are Earthlink and AT&T.

Question 2 - The previous question brings up another one...AT&T says if we pay USD $199 dollars for the cable modem up front it will be ten bucks cheaper per month. I've seen a lot of various "cable" modems and other networking devices from LinkSys and 3Com for a lot cheaper and was wondering if these would suffice.

Question 3 - I want to set up a network between two computers preferably with a router and with as little wall wiring as possible (old house). I saw the LinkSys networking system (PCI cards or USBs) that runs off of the basic phone lines. Would this setup work with a router?

[c-learner]

I got cable right now, and it's pretty fast... and i also set up a LAN at home, I use LinkSys dsl/cable modem 4ports router... my two systems can share internet and printer and dirs...etc...
AT&T has good techsupport, you dont wait for so long,.. and yet they are on 24/7

[freezinbutt]

Hi Josh,

I have had both cable and DSL service and I like cable better. If you live in an old house, with old phone lines (especially if the neighborhood has an old phone exchange), I would go with cable.

I live in an old house with an old phone exchange and I found that the DSL signal was not very strong. This affected my service -- speed was not consistant and I got bumped off all the time. Since I upgraded to cable the only problem is when the cable goes out (and that just happens some times).

Now before you take this to the bank, please understand that I live in North Pole, Alaska which is a small town just outside of Fairbanks. We do not have DSL service from AT&T or cable service from a large national company. Your service there might be much better. Maybe you sould talk to some of your neighbors to see what there broadband service is (if they have it).

As far as a home network is concerned, I use a router and 5 port hub (you can get a router and hub in one unit, mine is seperate). My desktop computers are wired into the hub and my laptops use a wireless system. My wireless base station plugs into the hub and the laptops have wireless network cards in them. You can get wireless network cards for your desktop machines as well. This might be a great way to go to avoid all the wires, but it is not the cheapest. I have never noticed a difference in speed between the wired computers and the wireless ones. Just pay attention to where you locate the base station so that all your comupters get a good signal. Mine is in the basement and when I use the computer in the upstairs bedroom (oposite end of the house) the signal strength is low.

Hope this helps,
freezinbutt

[Confused]

Tough call. I have cable and the reason is it was much cheaper, and mine is working fine. The big problem with cable is sharing. If you get a lot of people in your node on at same time service can slow down. Like I say, I don't have a problem but I have a buddy about 10 miles away that experiences slowdowns, expecially in the afternoon and evening after kids get home from school. You won't experience that with DSL as it's a dedicated line. Ask your cable provider how many will be in your node. They probably won't tell, but ask anyway.

I use a SMC7004R 4 port router. If pulling cable is a problem in your house, check into wireless. I believe I would prefer that over systems that uses home wiring.
Chas

[jca08]

hey, as always, thank you everybody for the speedy responses. i think i'm leaning towards cable right now do mainly to the reliability factor, however i am going to ask some friends of mine that have broadband and live nearby too. in the meantime though, i was wondering how difficult it would be to add a Macintosh iBook to our home network. my school just recently gave them back to us, after they decided to add security features (MacPrefect) to them in an attempt to stop the inevitable abuse of such a powerful tool (about the iBooks ). seeing as it's kinda a hassle to get the administrators to reconfig anything on em' for me, i would prefer not to have to mess with a lot of settings on the machine itself.
oh yeah, before i forget, is there some sort of combo router/cable modem device available? is that what you said you used c-learner? thanks in advance...

josh

[LawyerRon]

So far cable is working fine for me.

[obyteme]

This gives you a comparison of wire bound and wireless. I use wireless for my network but it is expensive.
http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.html?i=1551&p=1

[DragonBreath]

I have been very lucky with my cable connection. I have never experienced any slow downs even in peak hours. I get awesome pings while gaming even in some euro servers. From using friends computers in my area that have DSL I would choose cable. I'm in Connecticut U.S. However like freezinbutt said I would check with friends and neighbors about theres. DB

[Confused]

Your question about combination cable modem/router. I haven't seen any, but I haven't looked lately. I would prefer seperate boxes anyway. If the router goes on the blink, you would still have the capability for access with one PC, or if modem fails your network would still work, but if a combination box fails, you loose everything. I'm not a fan of putting all my eggs in one basket.
Chas

[jca08]

good point Confused, i think i'm going to get the $15 URL=http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=27&manufactory=1413&DEPA=1]LinkSys EtherFast[/URL] . Anybody know about the quality of this thing? it looks kinda cheap but i've like LinkSys so far and 3Com is at least twice the price. thanks for all your help...

josh

[RayCom]

I use d-link cable router and 3 d-link nic cards. These cards rock and are only $11.95. They are bus-mastering and use very little cpu resources.http://www.techdepot.com/Product.asp?productid=94827