Home Networking Query

[Guest]

Hi Friends,

I am a newbee in home networking ( ).....so hopefully you will bear with me and answer my questions.

What I have
1. AT&T Digital Broadband Cable Internet

What I want
1. Browse the internet from my laptop without getting tied up in one place.
2. In case I build a desktop, share the internet connection between the laptop and the desktop and also share the data between the two pcs. I would like the desktop also to be mobile (what i mean is that I do not want to tieup the desktop to one place in the house, just in case)

My Queries
1. How do i proceed with the above ?
2. Would wireless be an option ?
3. Any special equipment ?
4. Any brand names ?

thanks in advance,

Sincere Regards

 

[Guest]

Wireless is always an option, and it's a good option (easy to install, configure, etc.) but it's expensive. You're looking at about $300 USD for the access point and about $150-$200 for each PCI card (a little bit less for PCMCIA cards).

The hardwired route will work just as well (or even faster) but you'll have to run cat 5 (or better) cable between PCs. Cable is pretty cheap (about $100 for 1000' of the stuff) and the NICs themselves are about $30-$150.

If you'd like to share the connection easily between PCs/laptops, you can use an external cable/dsl router like Linksys' BEFSR41 (http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?prid=20&grid=5). You can get them for about $100-$150. You can also use the ICS software (Internet connection sharing) built into most Windows (98SE, ME, W2K). It does pretty much the same thing, but you have to have the PC with ICS on at all times for the other machines to use the internet.

You'd have to run cable to each room though (running it through the wall is quite the chore, but doable). I ran Cat 6 to each room in my house and it all goes through one of those Linksys routers. Each PC has access to the net and they can all access each other to share files, etc. Works very well and I can hook up any device to any room in the house (more devices require hubs/switches in the room to 'split' the one connection coming out of the wall).

Wireless is definitely the route you'd want to go if you're using a laptop throughout the house...

 

[FatBurger]

I agree. Linksys has proven to be pretty good for both routers and wireless networking.

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