Networking Broadband Questions

We are soon hoping to get broadband in the house and wish to connect both computers at the same time to the net.

There are at the moment two computers in the house ( both running Win98SE, not that I think it matters ) they are not connected in anyway at all nor hold network cards.

If i was to purchase this router I would also need to buy a modem as well. Would the setup be...

Broadband
|
|
Modem
|
|
Router
|
/ \
/ \
Comp1 \
Comp2


If I was to purchase the router above I would then need to purchase two network cards and some network cable.

Is it possible to get routers with modems built in ( I guess it is ).. If so are there any that you would recommend.


Broadband
|
|
Router
|
/ \
/ \
Comp1 \
Comp2

I don't seem to ask many questions, but if (hoping you have) read through my post are there any mistakes.

Thanks in advance.

Mark

never heared of a router and modem in 1. but your first chart is correct.

both computers need nic(network0 cards in them.

There's an article in Personal Computer World at the moment about networking, and it was saying that you can just use the Windows Internet Connection Sharing if you are using ADSL (apparently it's harder with cable broadband), and you won't need a hardware router.

Yes you are correct.

If you were to do it without a router then you would need 2 NIC's in the first computer and then 1 NIC in the second computer. The broadband connection will go into the first NIC in the first computer, while the second NIC in the first computer is connected to the second computer. With only slight setup and using ICS or a proxy then its quite simple to do.

However if you don't have much of a clue about computer networking (or are just lazy like me ;)) then buying a router is the easiest way.

Two networks cards in one system can be very hard to set-up.

Especially on Win98. If you had 2k it'd be a breeze.

My friend has cable and his NIC card that goes to his second computer takes random priority over the first, and his internet cuts-out.

yeah ICS is crap. Better to spend the little extra cash on the router. ICS is not reliable and the computer that acts as the base computer needs 2 cards and MUST be turned on for the other system to use the connection.

Never mind that if using ICS is cheaper...it isnt by very much as you need 3 network cards and a hub.. versus a router and 2 network cards. the extra network card and hub, is probably very close in price just for the router.

Thank you everyone. I think I will go for the router option, there maybe two other computers to connect a little later.

Thanks.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Cander
Never mind that if using ICS is cheaper...it isnt by very much as you need 3 network cards and a hub

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You do not need a hub.

Anyone have links to detalied instructions on this (especialy with a dynamic ip type cable)?
Michael

The dynamic IP really shouldn't matter. The router will take care of that. I have a 4-port router (NetGear I think) and we have cable access. The router took care of all the details ... we just plugged it in, ran the cable, and started downloading porn.

Ya,

It's surprisingly easy.

I have the linksys router that it being debated...

just follow the directions, and from then on, it's porn at the speed of light.

But I don't want to spend the dough on a router :) I do have a hub and the computers are somewhat networked I just have to 'reboot' the cable modem and refresh the computers ip if I want to access the internet (can only get one computer online at a time).
Michael

Quote:

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Originally posted by Celest
You do not need a hub.

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Well not if you want to use Coaxial ...but who wants to use that?

Quote:

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Originally posted by msimmons
Anyone have links to detalied instructions on this (especialy with a dynamic ip type cable)?

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Quote:

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Originally posted by msimmons
But I don't want to spend the dough on a router :) I do have a hub and the computers are somewhat networked I just have to 'reboot' the cable modem and refresh the computers ip if I want to access the internet (can only get one computer online at a time).
Michael

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Maybe I didn't understand the question correctly. What did you want to have detailed instructions for?

Quote:

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Originally posted by mepaco
Maybe I didn't understand the question correctly. What did you want to have detailed instructions for?

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I was referring to this post

Quote:

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Originally posted by Celest
Yes you are correct.

If you were to do it without a router then you would need 2 NIC's in the first computer and then 1 NIC in the second computer. The broadband connection will go into the first NIC in the first computer, while the second NIC in the first computer is connected to the second computer. With only slight setup and using ICS or a proxy then its quite simple to do.

However if you don't have much of a clue about computer networking (or are just lazy like me ;)) then buying a router is the easiest way.

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but judging by the 2 posts that followed I guess it's not that good of an idea.
Michael

Oh, gotcha. Yeah, we did the whole Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) thing for a while and it sucked. It went down at different times for both of us. Also, if the person who is connected to the broadband has to shut down/restart his computer for some reason the other guy is out of luck.

I tried building a 'router' with an old computer I had laying around but I coulden't get it to work. I forget the name of the software it used but I think the dynamic ip is what made it hard and I gave up. :)

It isn't that practical to use ICS and you usually experience problems setting it up :/

Quote:

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Originally posted by Cander
Well not if you want to use Coaxial ...but who wants to use that?

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Well i'm not sure about you but 100mbit RJ45 does what i need just fine.