I am a total beginner and I want to connect 2 computers so both can use intenet.

[Boogienight]

Please help......My friend live in an apartment right above me. We want to share internet. How can we do That? What do we need?
We were thinking about wireless Ap stuff...but we still don't know anything about it....please anyone tell me how we can share internet. What are the things needed for wireless network so we can share the internet?

 

[Delbert]

good info here

http://www.practicallynetworked.com

 

[gaidin123]

For sharing your net connection with your friend over wireless, all you will need is this:
1 wireless 802.11b (or A if you choose) NIC for each computer
1 Wireless cable/dsl router (I own the Dlink DI-713P 4 port w/print server and it's easy and works great)
1 internet connection with a 10BaseT RJ-45 ethernet port (ie most cable modems and DSL modems)

You connect your internet connection to the WAN port on the router, configure the wireless router and turn on WEP encryption to prevent any passerby from easily connecting to you, turn on MAC address control and basically any other wireless security feature the router has.

That's it. It's really easy to do and pretty inexpensive. The signal loss through 1 floor of an apartment building should be small enough that your friend will still have reasonably fast access. Wireless ethernet does have a high latency (ie higher ping times) than wired ethernet so if you're planning on doing a lot of heavy gaming it might be best if you just drilled a hole in your closets and ran a cable through the floor up to a switch or his/her computer. But the wireless would be easier and probably good enough for almost everything.

Gaidin

 

[Boogienight]

Thanks a lot for a detail explanation~ It helped a lot. Both me and my friend do play heavy games(CS) and we care about latency. So I guess wireless is a bad choice. Can you please tell me what are the things needed if I was to drill the hole and get the cable across? I did a lot of studying on my own...but networking is harder than I thought.

 

[gaidin123]

Well is your friend physically directly above you? You DON'T want to run the cable outside since it's rather dangerous electrically and I'm sure your building doesn't allow that sort of thing. If he's physically directly above you and the apartments are identical then it will be pretty easy. Just get yourself a power drill and a drill bit large enough to shove the end of an ethernet cable through, drill in a convenient place, and there you go.

If you decide to drill just make sure to avoid areas close to electrical sockets, phone jacks, etc.

If you want to share your internet connection over wired ethernet you'll need:
any standard cable/DSL 2+ port router (most come with 4 ports)
NICs in both of your computers
possibly a small switch at your friend's place

Drill your hole and run a cable to your friend's place. Plug that cable into a small switch OR get one that's long enough to run straight to his computer. I'd recommend getting a cheap 5 port switch for the convenience of it. You'll have a long cable going through the floor that you can leave alone in a closet somewhere where it won't get tripped on or pulled ever, and he'll have the option of putting his computer wherever he wants and connecting up any length cable to the switch in his closet or wherever you drill the hole. That'll also leave him the option of adding more computers up there later without the need of running another cable (or buying the switch later). Plug your net connection into the WAN port on the router, plug your computer and his computer's NIC cables into the LAN ports on the router. After that, just configure the router though it will likely work for both of you after you plug it in with no need to reconfigure.

I'm not recommending you drill simply because it's probably against some lease agreement and you don't necessarily know what is in the ceiling between you and your friend. If there's a decent amount of space between the floors drilling will be a good bit harder. Wireless is a safer bet if you're inexperienced with this stuff. Wired ethernet will be cheaper, and it will be faster though. If you think it would be "safe" you might want to ask the building management about the possibility of having their maintenance people do the drilling for you but I doubt that they'd do it.

Gaidin

 

[Murphyrulez]

Also, some apartments MAY have some sort of fire-break in between floors, to diminish the chance of fires spreading. Could be concrete or something. Keep that in mind!

 

[Boogienight]

Thanks~~ Thats was brilliant...Now I understand all I needed to know. I read a lot about it but was still confused but Now I am clear. Thanks again. Actually I am New in United States, and I am quiet scared about getting in trouble with the management, so I don't know if I want to drill a hole by my self.....I looked through a couple ads on the yellow book and found few electrician who deals with computer cabling. Do you think it's a good ideas to call those people to do the wiring for me? Do you know approximately how much that might cost me? How does other people do this kind of stuff? Most people just drill a hole?
Thanks a lot a lot for your kind help~

 

[powerMarkymark]

Why dosen't your friend just get his own internet connection?

Seems to me alot more convienient and legal?!?!