recommendations for online gaming??

[tdean]

i am looking to share an internet connection (roadrunner) with small 5 computer lan. could someone recommend hardware to get this done?

 

[TheAntipop]

well, there are a number of 4 computer router/switches made for sharing a broadband connection. other than that, i use a d-link 8 port 10/100 switch to share my dsl. any hub/ switch should work, unless they only give a limited number of ip addresses. (its usually 4)

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[scarecrow]

I use a Netgear router with a 6 port Netgear hub. That is with one ip. When I first got the service I just used there service and a hub and just bought more ip's.
So you could get more ip's but in the long run it is cheaper to buy a router. You could either get one that has a built in switch or buy a switch/hub yourself(like antipop said).

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[dhlucke]

Question:

With a hub you'll need more IP's, but with a router you can split it? I'm missing something here I think...the only experience I have is with my 4 port hub for lan parties....

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[tdean]

im with dhluck.... a little confused.

 

[TheAntipop]

a router "routes" all the traffic going through it (from the home network) and sends it out as one masked ip address. then incoming traffic is sent to correct computer on the internal ip network.

this is part of the reason i got dsl, my service came with a FREE cisco router (300+ bucks new )

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[scarecrow]

The router acts like a dhcp server. Instead of it being a software dhcp server it is a hardware dhcp server. Depending on the model the also have other features.

A hub just gives you some extra ports to use but you will have to pay for extra ip's.
Hope thats what you were looking for.


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[tdean]

aaahhh.... i think im catchin on.... so all id need is a router with a single uplink port to connect to my hub and all my systems would be able to connect? where does the cable modem fit into this?

 

[stonerboy]

You run the CAT 5 cable from your cable modem to the router. You will give the router the name that your cable modem service gave your computer. From there the router will assign IP addresses to all the computers on your network as they logon, and so all computer hooked into your router will have cable modem access(without buying more IP addresses from you cable modem company). But be careful if you are using this for gaming as the router will have a built in firewall. In which case you will have a hard time playing games over the internet unless you enable DMZ hosting and bypass the firewall.

 

[stonerboy]

One more note, there are specific types of routers for sharing broadband internet access. Some of these have been mentioned in previous posts. D-Link makes some, Netgear, and Linksys. I am sure there are more than this, but these are the more popular ones. I personally have the Linksys model that also has a 4 port switch in it. It works good, but you can only have DMZ hosting on one computer so for playing games over the internet it does not work that well.

 

[Pettytheft]

Okay here is how it goes.

1. Your cable modem give you 1 IP address. You plug this directly into your network card, give your computer a special name (Assigned by your cable company) and set TCP/IP to DHCP. Your cable modem companies DHCP server will assign you a IP address automatically.

2. To share your assigned IP address with the rest of your lan you have two methods. One is a dedicated hardware router. Your hardware router takes the place of your network card here. The cable modem is plugged directly into your router. Now you assign the router the name that the cable company assigned you. Next is to plug the router into your hub.(Or there are 4 port routers out there).

3.Now plug the rest of your systems into the hub. Set them to DHCP (If your router supports it) and your router will assign them thier own IP's now. That's it, you now have net access for all of your machines (if everything went okay). Some routers dont support DHCP so you'll have to assign your IP's manually on those.

There are other solutions for sharing IP's. This way is the easiest by far. But if buying a dedicated hardware router is not for you, try the software route. I have not tried Sygate or Winproxy but I hear they are the best. Dont try MS ICS software, I've never gotten it to work, I'm sure someone out there has but I have yet to meet that person.

There are tons of websights out there that gives charts on how to set up Lans so do some searching.

Good Luck



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[peteb]

Unless you are hosting the game there should be no problem, you do not need to use the DMZ host option.

When you online game, you usually initiate the connection to the server, at which point the Linksys will happily rebuild the reverse connection to the appropriate pc.

It is running this using NAT overloading, and as long as the server does not try to build a connection to you that was not solicited, you are okay.

Also, if you know the service port that a game runs on, you can set up static forwarding to a specific PC on your network based on the incoming port number. Thus you can run Napster etc. without problems.

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[stonerboy]

peteb....have you tried this with the Linksys? it doesn't work.........at least for Unreal Tournament. There tech support has tried to address some of the issues associated with online gaming and the router, but none are that successful. If you do use port forwarding, you can only use it on one computer at a time that is connected to the router.

 

[peteb]

port forwarding works fine in general, but yes, only to a single PC. Are you using more than 1 PC at once for UT?

I guess if you cannot set different port numbers then it isn't going to work. I know that I can run Homeworld and RA2 online from behind the Linksys fine.

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[Guest]

Sorry to jump in Stoner, but I have a Lynksis router also. I would have to say that the problems arise when I wish to <b>host</b> games only. When I connect to a game, it is possible for anyone on the lan to connect to it also(at least here at my house). DMZ is needed for hosting, but I am not exactly sure how this works. I hope this helps.

And I, I took the path less traveled by,....well, at least I am getting there.

 

[Guest]

I just set up my D-link 4 port hub/router on my DSL connection last night. I play Everquest and although the manual said I could only have one computer using the port forwarding options, I am able to use 2. I was lucky to find some info on-line about the ports and servers that EQ uses.