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My family wants to construct a wireless network that will allow us to share our internet access which, at the moment is only through a telephone line, but in the near future should be satelite. We have 4 computers that all have USB ports, and 2 of them have Ethernet compatibility built into them. I went to Linksys.com and did the thingy where they tell you what you need for your computers. They said I needed 1 wireless access point/router with 4 ethernet ports and 4 wireless USB adapters. at first I thought this seamed like it would work fine, but then, I started reading a little and always saw either a Cable modem or DSL modem when I looked at what I had to connect the router to. Is it possible to hook my 56K telephone line internet to the router and network that? Also, when I get the satelite connection will I be able to hook that to the router.
Another thing that I noticed when reading about the router is that it seamed like it had to be hooked up to an exsisting ethernet network. Since my family has no networking at all, would we be S.O.L. or do you not need to have an exsisting network if you are going to hook up to the internet.
One more thing, would we be able to hook the router directly to the internet source, or would we first have to go through a computer?
I really don’t know much about wi-fi networking so any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks a lot 😀
-Zlink123
Dog mans best friend??? I think
not…Computer, mans best friend.Thank you Noyce and Kilby
Satellite internet?
What the heck?!
Am I behind?!I thought fiber optic connections was first in line to be released….
I know so many HW companies are working on developing satellite connections (about 5MB/second ….I believe
).But as I know – so far no projects have been completely sucessfull (there’s always that lil’ greedy bug that ruins the whole 3 year project
ouch heh heh.) and no actual connection oppurtunities have been released to the public .Someone please correct me if I’m wrong……….
BodhranBob
Ah you’re drunk you’re drunk you silly ol’ fool. That’s a lovely tin whistle that me mother sent to me……..direct TV has one that is called Direct PC and there are a few other ones to. I think that they run at around 14MPS (or 10MPS?) but I am really not sure. i have to many numbers in my mind right now so that is prolly wrong.
Still need help on the wireless stuff
thanks-Zlink123
Dog mans best friend??? I think
not…Computer, mans best friend.Thank you Noyce and Kilby
Direct TV has a satelite service called DIRECT PC. In fact i just saw an add for it today. There are also a few other satelite services ( their names on the tip of my tongue of course). satelite sounds real good except for the ping which is bad because of the time required to travel from the dish to the satelite to the server. I think the satelite systems run at about 10 MPS but this could be wrong because at the moment i have a million numbers in my head that i need to remember.
the only thing that i am not lookign for is the long lag time in gameing rooms
, but o well. anything is better than 7 seconds of lag in almost all online games.-Zlink123
Dog mans best friend??? I think
not…Computer, mans best friend.Thank you Noyce and Kilby
The Linksys hardware you’re talking about is a combination router and mult-port hub. They have 2- and 4-port models (I have the more popular 4-port model). Yes, it is designed specifically to be used with a cable or DSL modem (something that uses an ethernet connection from the modem to the router).
However, because it is also a hub, it provides you with your ethernet network. You can plug in up to 4 computers directly with standard ethernet cables (at up to 100 Mbps) and still connect up to 50+ wireless devices using the 802.b standard (the most popular, and supporting speeds up to 11 Mbps).
To share your dial-up connection, and possibly your satellite, you’ll need to set up Microsoft ICS (Internet Connection Sharing). This is available with Windows 98, ME or XP. It requires that you use one computer as the “host” to establish and maintain your Internet connection with your ISP. The other computers can then access the Internet by traveling through your local network to the host PC, then out to the Internet. It can be a bit of work to get everything configured right, but once you do, it works pretty well. I know, I ran like this for over a year. Bear in mind that sharing a dial-up connection between multiple PCs will be painfully slow at times, but you’ve got satellite on the way… so hang in there.
Speaking of satellite, there are two flavors, one-way and two-way. One way uses the satellite to download only (loading this web page, for example), and a modem to send the request (i.e. “go get https://bigblueball.com”). For most people, this will speed things up considerably, since most of your outgoing traffic is limited to requests for a URL (relatively small and transmits fairly quickly even via dialup), while downloads can take much longer (especially if you are downloading software, for example). The trouble with this is that it still requires that you tie up a phone line while you’re online.
There is a newer technology that is bi-directional, or two-way. This doesn’t require a phone line, and should provide somewhat faster upload speeds as well. I don’t know if it’s available yet. Last time I checked was almost a year ago and it wasn’t quite ready, but things change pretty quickly. If this is available, this is a much better way to go and it MIGHT even allow you to use the router portion of the Linksys router/hub (much like a cable or DSL modem). I can’t confirm this… so check with DirecPC.
That’s about it. The wireless thing is cool… it can be used in lieu of cabling your house or to give your laptop freedom to roam around. I find that with wireless, my computing habits have changed dramatically. I think that’s a good thing.
Jeff Hester aka “Mister BigBlueBall.com”
Does anyone know if any Canadian satellite companys have a Internet connect yet? The two main companys are: Star Choice. andBell ExpressVu
Tkz!
Gummyhead2001ca,
Theoretically, yes – the bigger companies behold the newer technology, and since you know the URLs of the bigger satellite companies in Canada, just go check yourself. If there’s no ‘Satellite Internet’ anywhere on any of the sites…
Guess what…
No Satellite Internet.
Now let’s get back to helping Zlink if there’s anything Jeff hasn’t covered….. (which I doubt there is…
)BodhranBob
Ah you’re drunk you’re drunk you silly ol’ fool. That’s a lovely tin whistle that me mother sent to me……..Jeff covered it all.
My question is……… why wireless?
Its more expensive than hard wired connections n certainly slower.
If the family live in the one house and the computers are in a static location The hard wired ethernet would be (and in fact is) my choice.rustedtight
Quote:quote:
Jeff covered it all.
My question is……… why wireless?
Its more expensive than hard wired connections n certainly slower.
If the family live in the one house and the computers are in a static location The hard wired ethernet would be (and in fact is) my choice.rustedtight
I can take a stab at this, having wireless in my house (and several friends with it also).
First the speed. Most hard-wired NICs today run at 100 Mbps, though some older ones run at 10 Mbps. The 802.b wireless standard support speeds up to 11 Mbps. This is still MUCH faster than my DSL connection (which maxes out just over 1 Mbps and usually runs at around 700 Kbps). So for surfing the Internet, downloading files, etc., it’s still damn fast. Where I’ve noticed the difference is when I’ve transferred large blocks of files (like 100 MB!) from my wireless laptop to another wired computer. It takes longer.
As for the cost, yes, wireless NICs cost more than the wired type, but not much. CAT-5 network cable is fairly inexpensive, but running it can be a real chore. I have five computers in my home, and initially started running the wiring throughout. Pulling off baseboards and drilling holes through walls and floors. What a pain. A friend of mine added a wireless NIC to a PC on another floor of his house and voila!… he’s connected. No muss, no fuss. That’s worth something.
If you have a laptop, DEFINATELY go wireless. I swear to you that once you do, you won’t regret it. It is so nice to travel around the house or even out on the backyard patio while connected (albiet wirelessly) to the net.
The Bottom Line
I recommend getting a wireless router with 4-ports. Hard-wire the PCs that you can easily hard-wire, and get wireless connections for the difficult ones and any laptops. As for hardware, here’s what I’ve got and I highly recommend:Jeff Hester aka “Mister BigBlueBall.com”
Jeff is right about wire-less being faster than hard-wire systems. I’ve seen my friend’s dsl line boost about 300k/sec compared to when he was inside his house (he’s in the upper level of his garage) the only pains were I had to set it up and sometimes the connections is flakey..
Quote:quote: If you have a laptop, DEFINATELY go wireless. I swear to you that once you do, you won’t regret it. It is so nice to travel around the house or even out on the backyard patio while connected (albiet wirelessly) to the net.He’s right on this also… when I go over to my friend’s house I’m always on his laptop when I’m on the internet and it REALLY great that I can move whenever I want, rather than being restircted to the lenght of CAT5 (another thing I had to make for him….)
Wir versteh euch nicht
Thanks a lot jeff, that will definitely help me set up my families wireless network. the reason i decided to go wireless was because we do have 2 laptops and the other two desktops are on oppostie sides of the house (to answer rustedtight’s question). Also, with the layout of my house, putting in wires would take so long that by the time i finished I would have recked my house and the method of using wires would be outdated. actually i think that wireless is already starting to take over.
Also, yes Jeff, there is a two way satelite service. That is what we plan to get as soon as it is available in our area. hopefully, the two way satelite service will be able to hook up to the router. I guess i’ll just have to check it outthanks everyone for all the help
-Zlink123
Dog mans best friend??? I think
not…Computer, mans best friend.Thank you Noyce and Kilby
Thanx guys, that answered my question. You see, this kinda technology is only widely available is the USA, this country (Ozz) is abt the same size as USA but with just 20 million ppl, makes the technology either prohibitively expensive or years behind you guys. Should you live outside of just 8 major cities here your in the boonies……. I’m talking pedal radio
OK I jest, we got steam radio now. Enjoy it, wish I were you.rustedtight.
Quote:quote:
I’m talking pedal radio OK I jest, we got steam radio now. Enjoy it, wish I were you.Wow…. Lucky you… up ‘ere we’re still stuck on the bedrock printers like from the Flinstones. Ya know, the lil’ birdy inside chisels everything out on the stone slab. Right now, I currently have the Epson -440…. newest model.
Windaphoner
“Wha? Well of course I sound out of tune! I’m playing everything in the key of C. I’ll add in all the sharps n’ flats later…… “
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