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*>* Best Neworking Option *<* UPDATED

Nkcowboy

Senior member
I am gonna need to network 2 compters in about 1 month. I will want to play games using the 2 computers, so I need a faster network. What is the best option and product for me? I would prefer to NOT use phone lines.

Truth is, I will have this network in Tanzania, Africa, and from my previous experience with phonelines in kenya, I would definately prefer a &quot;non-phoneline&quot; one. this Cat5 sounds great, but at buy.com and anvia.com all I can find are cables for it. Anyone point me to the rest of the hardware/software?
 
same room? if so get two 100mbit nics and a crossover cat5 cable..... hoorah instant fast ethernet🙂
 
Ethernet is the fastest and cheapest way to go.
If you'll only be connecting 2 computers together, then buy 2 ethernet adapters and connect the 2 computers using a cross-over cable.

Some cheap but good ethernet cards are made by LinkSYS and NetGear. I believe they can be found under $20 at many on-line stores...
 
Yes i agree, get two 3Com 10/100 Nics, and connect them using a crossover cable, they can very easily be made or purchased, when you go to more that 3 computers, just get a simple 10/100 hub, and then use straight cables to connect them.
 
haha..thanks guys...I am not sure if they will be in the sme room..but maybe 40 feet away? what then? I have cable internet right now, but I wlll not need to share that or anything, just a link between computers.
 
I believe the official limit is 100 feet for CAT5 cable @ 100Mbit/second so you shouldn't have any problems...
 
If you are sharing Cable, in my opinion, the most simple option is use 2 NIC on the Comp with the Modem, and 1 NIC on the comp without.
 
CAT5 is the type of ethernet cable... It's also sometimes called Fast Ethernet Cable. Whatever the official name of the thing is, I don't think you can buy any other type of ethernet cable other than different variants of it... such as CAT5E which can officially run 100 feet @ 200Mbits/second.
 
Just search for CAT5 at Onvia.com, Buy.com or some other on-line vendor...

You need 1 more post to become a Senior Member...
 
Seriously? 1 more post? Nice. I will be a senior member!! Seniority here I come!! woohooo (what does this mean?)
 
I believe the official limit is 100 feet for CAT5 cable @ 100Mbit/second so you shouldn't have any problems...

actually the 'official' limit isn't 100 FEET, it's 100 Metres, which is more like 330 feet I think.

You'll probably want full Duplex NIC's, so be sure you get some that specify that they are Full Duplex and Fast Ethernet (otherwise known as 100BaseT Full Duplex, or 100Mbps Full Duplex), which means you get 100Mbps dedicated bandwidth going both to and from your computer (so you get a total of 200Mbps).

CAT-5 cable is a type of cable (it has 8 wires, made up of 4 pairs of 2 wires). CAT-5e is the same cable, but with higher quality standards, allowing higher signalling rates without going below the quality required by certain standards.

however, in order to actually make use of this type of cabling, you have to move up to the next level in Ethernet speed, Gigabit ethernet, which requires Gigabit ethernet cards. Not only that, but when you do Gigabit ethernet over any Cat 5e cabling, your distance limitations are still alot lower then before (I don't remember how low). This is one reason why Fiber Optics are the more popular choice for Gigabit ethernet.

You won't have to worry about that though, 100Mbps should do good for every home user.
 
I thought

CAT 5 could only go 100Mbps regardless of Full/Half duplex
CAT 5e could go 200Mbps full duplex
CAT 6 could go 600Mbps

I duno what cables are needed for Gigabit 🙂
 
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