Setting up a home network?

I might be getting an ASDL connection soon, and since it is really expensive here in Italy i wanted to make sure i could what i wanted to do with it before investing a huge amount of money in it. I want to share the internet between two computers. If I call the phone company they want to sell me all these special cable modems, more expensive subscribtion, a 800 dollar router.

I was wondering if it was possible to out smart the phone company and set up a network, LAN or whatever so that two computer can share an internet connection, share files, with just a regular cable modem and whatever else i need, or is going for the phone company's solution the only solution? I don't need some super fast connection to my other computer but something like 1Megabyte per second i guess.... or is that real bad? I guess I could say I know quite a lot about computer but not really expert, and I never set up a LAN or had cable or ASDL. Could some one help me or give me some advice?

thanks

You should get a NIC(network interface card) with the DSL installation, unless the modem they give you is internal. In that case you'll need two NICs. One for each computer. I'd suggest using CAT5 cable, so you'd need the NICs to have an RJ45 connector(looks like an oversized phone jack). Now, you can either use a crossover cable to connect the two computers or you can get a hub and use two normal patch cables. The crossover cable would be the cheapest route, but you can't add any other computers to the LAN. The hub would be more expensive, but it's also a lot more flexible. You'll need either Win98SE, ME, 2K, or a 3rd party application to share the connection. As far as speed, 10Mb NICs are really cheap, and 100Mb NICs start at around $20 US here. I don't know the prices where you are though. That's pretty basic, but it should give you an idea of what you need. Don't buy any special equipment from the phone company, just let them hook up one computer and you can handle the rest. Once the comps are physically connected, it's just a matter of configuring software. If all else fails, there is always a help file to tell you what to do.

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-BR
The Slaughter House - Files & Links & Stuff

I would recommend that you buy a Linksys etherfast Dsl/cable router hub combo, it runs about 150 dollars US and will work as both a hub for your home Lan and a router for your internet connection, it also acts as a DHCP server so you only need to purchase one IP address and then the hub will create Dynamic IP's to assign to your computer, it is very simple to set up, your ADSL modem will run into the Hub in the uplink port and then your 2 PC's into the LAN Jacks, then all you have to do is tell it all the DSL info, IP address, subnet, and all that. The hub was specifically designed to share a DSL or cable modem connection so it comes with all the instructions on how to do it, I think you can order them online from outpost.com for about $140 last time I checked, best price I've seen on them.

Quote:

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Originally posted by lsoddu:
I don't need some super fast connection to my other computer but something like 1Megabyte per second i guess.... or is that real bad?

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1 megabyte per second!?! That's one fast connection you want there. A typical modem only does 56 kilobit, not kilobyte, kilobit. Good luck finding a 1 megabyte connection. If you do, let me know where you got it. I'll be downloading all kinds of programs in mere seconds. https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif

-Ryan

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[email protected] <---Send me a client so I can collect nkeezer's 5% finders fee.

An inexpensive way to go would be to get a second nic card for your primary computer. One nic card would connect to the dsl modem/router (whatever your provider calls it). The other nic card could connect to your second computer - through either a hub and "straight through" cables, or directly to computer #2 with a crossover cable. The computer with the two nic cards (your "gateway") would have to run something like Win98se - or maybe Win-me - and be set up to pass the second computer through (this is nicely documented in the Win98se Getting Started handbook).

This setup would allow you to connect both computers to the internet with only the ip address that is on the dsl-connected nic of the gateway box, which would save you from shelling out extra bucks for additional ip addresses. Another issue in this setup is email addresses. If you want an additional one for the second box, you may have to pay extra for that (unless you use yahoo or hotmail or one of the other free email services).

IBJimmy

Quote:

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Originally posted by SumDumGai:
1 megabyte per second!?! That's one fast connection you want there. A typical modem only does 56 kilobit, not kilobyte, kilobit. Good luck finding a 1 megabyte connection. If you do, let me know where you got it. I'll be downloading all kinds of programs in mere seconds. https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif

-Ryan

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If you read the post correctly, he is asking for a 1 megabyte LAN solution, not WAN. Even if he didn't mean it, a 1 megabyte LAN connection is essentially 8bits * 1meg = 8 megabits / sec, which is standard ethernet. Most NICs today are 100 megabit.

Now, if the poster was talking about the internet connection, obviously his terminology is wrong. 1 MEGABIT/sec is easily available via DSL or cable modem. You can get 1 MEGABYTE, but that is more along the lines of a T3 connection and you will pay up the wazoo for it.

So, why dont you help the guy out instead of being a smart ***?

Quote:

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Originally posted by SumDumGai:
1 megabyte per second!?! That's one fast connection you want there. A typical modem only does 56 kilobit, not kilobyte, kilobit. Good luck finding a 1 megabyte connection. If you do, let me know where you got it. I'll be downloading all kinds of programs in mere seconds. https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif

-Ryan

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If you read the post correctly, he is asking for a 1 megabyte LAN solution, not WAN. Even if he didn't mean it, a 1 megabyte LAN connection is essentially 8bits * 1meg = 8 megabits / sec, which is standard ethernet. Most NICs today are 100 megabit.

Now, if the poster was talking about the internet connection, obviously his terminology is wrong. 1 MEGABIT/sec is easily available via DSL or cable modem. You can get 1 MEGABYTE, but that is more along the lines of a T3 connection and you will pay up the wazoo for it.

So, why dont you help the guy out instead of being a smart ***?

The original poster might want to try www.practicallynetworked.com as a reference for networking/internet setup.