How to share a T1 connection? (newbie help)

[Quickfingerz]

I'm newbie as far as networking is concerned, and this is my problem.
I live in an apartment where they have T1 lines. Our complex has two T1 lines but we can pay $60 to use all of it's available bandwith. We pay for one IP address.
There are 5 of us and we want to just pay for one internet connection but and share it between us 5. What equipment do we need? We all have NIC's in our computer. Do I need a hub? switch? router?
Please give me details...

 

[Tonec]

You'll need a router and a hub/switch for 5 people.
There are routers with builtin 4port switch but for five you may want to buy a 1 port and a separate switch.
router comparison
Netgear RT31xx
or Linksys BEFSRxx

 

[Quickfingerz]

How much would this cost me? Would we save money in the long run? Thanks.

 

[kgmz]

Anywhere from $150 to $500, depending on the router. In the long run you would save money, if you all had to pay $60 each a month, it would pay for itself in a couple of months.

 

[Xanathar]

If this is between apartments, i guarantee it is against the companies policy, if not immoral. a T1 runs between 600-1200$ a month. by sharing the bandwith between apartments you are effecctivly stealing from the company. Inter apartment is okay thou unless they expressly forbid it.

 

[Quickfingerz]

yes, this is inter-apartment. Hmmm... how would I go about doing this? What exactly should I buy?

 

[obeseotron]

You could also use a soft NAT router to share the net connection.

 

[Coolie]

I'd get a Linksys BEFSR11 router (you can find them for around $100), and a 5-port switch ($40). Run your T-1 line to the WAN port on the router, CAT5 cable from the LAN port on the router to the switch, and then CAT5 cables from the switch to each computer. You should be able to do it for < $200 including the cables. With a setup like this, you don't have to leave one computer on to act as a server to the others. 😉