Need sugguestions on my school project.

[Mltsao]

Cisco Class Project:

These are the preameters,

"I have four computers at home, one Mac - my son is in school and three PCs - all pentium. My wife brings her laptop home from work and would like to use it transferring files anywhere.
I need to have a faster and more secure connection to the Internet.
I have two AOL accounts now and two extra phone lines for dialing out.

Tell me what do I need?
Computers in sun parlor on 1st floor - one has a network card and one doesn't. Both have modems.
Two computers on Second floor, One is my son's Mac. It has a network car. My daughter's room has a Pentium 733 with no network card. My wife's laptop has a RF45.
One connection for her laptop on network in 1st floor.
Cable vs. DSL vs Satellite?
The house is 28x50 feet the first floor. Stairway is in the middle on left. Sun parlor is in very front. Children's bedroom's are in the back of the house. It is all wood frame with plaster. It was build in 1926."

I have to write one page of the equipment and prices and other explaing why i chose these components. I know there are a lot more details that could have been given but I have to work with this information.

 

[martind1]

what do you want from us?



shoudln't you do your own school work?

 

[Mltsao]

I have my own design. I just need more suggestions to fill in gaps that i may have missed.

 

[Garion]

Then tell us your design and we'll comment. You'll find that people here don't like to DO other people's homework for them, but don't mind adding their comments to help them learn.

- G

 

[Mltsao]

Design Plan

From the information given on what you currently have and what yours needs are I have come up with a basic design on how to set up a simple and efficient home network in your house. One of the things you will no longer need is the two extra phone lines regardless of whether you decide to get DSL, Cable or Satellite.

My recommendations on what type of internet access you should choose is based on what you have and what you need. Because you current have two AOL accounts they can be upgraded to AOL broadband which uses a DSL line. DSL provides more security than Cable. Satellite availability is very limited and will probably cost you more. DSL may require you to upgrade to a digital phone line. If you currently have cable TV you may want to cancel your AOL accounts and switch to cable internet access. Cable may be cheaper, however it provides less security compared to DSL. DSL will probably be your best choice because it provides the most security and AOL is very user friendly.

The network design is pretty basic. The equipment and prices are listed on the other page. The wireless G specification router with a 4 port switch will go in your sun parlor with the two computers. The router has a built in firewall which provides increased security from hackers or those trying to access your files outside of the network. From there the internet connection can be wired to the router. Both computers will be connected to the switch through category 5 cables at 100mbps. The modems on each computer will be taken out and a network card will be added to the computer without one. You can conceal the wires either through the walls or under the carpet if it is possible.

The network card on your son?s Mac will be replaced by a Mac compatible wireless G specification network card. If the Mac is not wireless G ready then I will have to use a card adapter and a slower wireless network card. I will add another wireless G specification network card to your daughter?s computer.
If your wife?s laptop has a PCMIA card slot then a Wireless PC card can be used to connect to the Internet. This will provide your wife with more freedom to move her laptop anywhere in the 1st or 2nd floor. If not, the laptop can be wired to the router.

I chose the wireless path as this eliminates the need for putting wires through or on the walls to access the computers on the second floor. I use D-link network products myself because they are reliable and have gotten very good reviews.

The wireless cards will run on 2.4 GHz radio waves which are similar to the ones used in cordless phones and will work fine between walls and floor levels. If interference occurs between 2.4 GHz cordless phones the channel can be easily changed in the router configuration.
One of the reasons why I choose the 54mbps G spec is because it is the fastest mainstream wireless connection which is available. There is a slower specification but I not to use the slower connection because it may be the bottleneck when you transfer files from computer to computer. The 54mbps G spec and the wired 100mbps cat5 cable connection is more than sufficient as no IDE 7,200 RPM (I assume that you are using this speed or slower) hard drive can sustain a transfer rate of over 40mbps. The wireless connection will also be more than sufficient for your internet access. The Macs will run on PC networks as long as the connection type is the same standard.

Possible future upgrades/expansion

Wired Switches/Hubs can be added to the router to allow more wired users to connect to the network.

Wireless access points and wireless bridges extend the range and the amount of wireless users that can access the network.

Equipment

Other than the Mac network card and card adapter, which I will purchase from the Apple website, I plan to buy all the equipment from an online store called Newegg. Newegg is one of the most popular and reputable computer hardware stores on the internet.

On resellerratings, a website dedicated to allow customers to rate online computer hardware/software resellers, Newegg has a lifetime record of 9.70 out of 10 with over 5000 user reviews. This makes them one the top 50 online resellers.

Reference
www.Newegg.com
www.reselleratings.com
www.store.apple.com

 

[mcveigh]

2 phonelines plus aol??? that would easily cover cable/dsl where I live(FL) go wired for the mac wireless for ones not cle to it.

 

[HJB417]

here's some tips
cable's security is no different than the school connection I had @ college. Ya, the school had a firewall, but they didn't block much. If u want fast downloads, cable is the way to go. You should get a firewall of some sort, and you'll need a routing device to share the internet. If you're gonna get wireless equipment, try to get an access point that can bridge (connect to another wireless access point to extend the range of the wireless network).

 

[martind1]

just goign to point out some phrases i dont like in this 'propsal'

Originally posted by: Mltsao
DSL provides more security than Cable

Not sure what you are basing this on

The Macs will run on PC networks as long as the connection type is the same standard.[\q]

no real explanation in this sentence. which standard is the same, etc.