Cable sharing

[SolidSnake]

Were finally getting a cable connection at home and I'm a little confused how we're going to share it between 3 computers. As far as I know we have to get either a cable router, or a different version of win98 for internet sharing. Which is the best way to go? Also, we currently have a network hub set-up on the 3 comps. Does a router work as a network hub, or does it just split the cable connection? Any help would be appreciated...

 

[bluntman]

<< Does a router work as a network hub, or does it just split the cable connection? >>



It depends, I have a Linksys BEFSR11 router, it only has a port to connect to a cable modem and another port to connect to a hub/switch. You can also buy a Linksys BEFSR41 or the new BEFSR81 that has a port to connect to the cable modem and either 4 or 8 ports respectively to connect to the other computers in your network. Since you already have a hub, stick with a single port router like the Linksys BEFSR11 or the Netgear RT-11 and connect it in between your existing hub and new cable modem.



<< Which is the best way to go? >>



Personally, I went with the router since I did not want to have a computer on all of the time (server). My cousin, however, went with a server setup and is running Home PNA to connect all of his computers! Of course, running a dedicated server means that you must also find and configure either Windows98SE's Internet Connection Sharing or some other proxy server software. Also, if the server ever does go down then all of your other computers loose their gateway to the internet.

 

[emjem]

You can get your 3 computers to share the isp thru the hub if your cable company provides you with at least 3 IP addresses. Otherwise you do it with a router as bluntman pointed out.

However, I advise to stay away from Linksys. See other posts. I have gone through 2 BEFSR41 routers now in a week.

 

[BCYL]

Depends on your budget... if you have the $$ then go the router route cuz it's very very easy to setup and you get the advantage of a hardware firewall...

However if you want to share the connection with for as little money are possible you can use one of the PCs as server... You will need some kind of Internet Connection software installed...

Another way is you can dig up one of your old 486 or something and run Linux on it... This way you can have an old unused PC as your server so it's doesn't tie up one of your other PC...