Seeking a solution for my home, is a Coax network the best bet?

[Shaftatplanetquake]

The 10 Mb/sec of coax is really fast enough. I feel more comfortable with coax than cat5.

I am going to get cable access through my local company, and I need a good modem recomendation, something cheap/reliable/fast. I have the 2 network cards I plan to use picked out- coax cards, I would like to know what you guys think of those cards.

I have 2 computers and I may end up with 3. I use win98 on my secondary and win2k on my primary. I really don't want to have to depend on my primary system for my secondary system's connection. Should I get a hub? Can one be recomended for me please?

I'm not very well versed in networking, so bear with me.

Thanks

 

[JackMDS]

Coax staff is hardly manufactured any more; you will get into difficulties of connections between components of the network.

It is like you are trying to build a new train system with steam engines, it is romantic but not highly functional.

Why are you comfortable with Coax more then CAT5 ?

 

[Norssak]

Not going to happen. Use the cable modem offered by your provider. That modem (as well as any third party product) will output your ethernet on cat5/rj45.

So there, now you have to go cat5. Technically you could get an old hub that still has a BNC port to get you back to your beloved coax, but then you are being both silly and stubborn

Cat 5 is much easier to install in a house, much easier to find supported hardware for, easier to terminate, and easier to expand.

Die coax die!!!!

 

[cavingjan]

Coax will be much easier in the long run. Especially if you decide to add computers after you do the initial wiring. Most new networking equipment (broadband modems and routers) is designed for cat5.

 

[Eug]

Even 10 Mbps home phoneline networking (HomePNA) beats coax any day for simplicity and support.

However, if you are able to install CAT-5e, DO IT!!! The cable modem outputs to CAT-5, so you'd need extra hardware anyway for HomePNA.

I have both HomePNA (mostly) and Ethernet (a bit) in my house. I wouldn't touch coax with a 10 foot pole.

 

[anandfan]

I recently took out my 2 year old coax and replaced it with cat5. Seems like 2 years ago, hubs were expensive and I avoided that cost by going coax. Plus, I thought how could those wanna-be phone cables (cat 5) be nearly as good as manly coax. Well, they work just fine, even though running 10 times faster. (I gots lots of unused coax now!)

Anyway, I think cat5 NICs are probably cheaper than coax nics (at least new ones, used are probably cheap) and hubs are cheap ($30 for mine after rebate last fall). So don't worry. Get Cat-5. Heck, even pink cat-5 will work as well as black coax. ( Or maybe I should go wireless... )

Oh, and for 2 machines, don't need a hub, just a crossover cable.

Edit:
If you don't want your secondary machine to be dependent on your primary machine's connection, you need a router. The SMC-Barricade (about $70-80) is a good router/hub/print server. I got one.

 

[Slowlearner]

Check out practicallynetworked.com for various options, including reviews of different routers. I have been using a Linksys 4 port router for one year without any problems.

While coax is a viable option: similar costs and performance (accessing the internet) but slow network transfers, Cat 5 products are easier to find, faster and easier to use.