How do you set up a household computer network using a cable connection.?

Question

How do you set up a household computer network using a cable connection.?

Answer 1

If you have more than two computers, you will need a router.  If you want to have access to the internet from all your PCs you will need to connect your router to a cable modem or get a modem combined with a router, commonly called an ADSL gateway.

These devices come as standard with (usually) four ethernet ports to which you can connect your network devices (PCs, Print Servers, Network hard drives etc) and another port that connects to your Broadband.

I won't tell you which brand or model to buy, as they are nearly all pretty good, but I'd try to pick one from the following manufacturers.

Linksys (my favourite)

Netgear (also very good)

Belkin (simple to use)

Buffalo (Tend to be expensive)

If you do not require wireless networking, as your question seems to imply, you need an ethernet cable long enough to cover the distance between the PC and the router without stretching for each PC you intend to connect.  

You will not need to worry about securing your network if you are not using wireless, so you should be able to leave all the settings on your router as the defaults.

One word of warning.

Some ISPs require that the MAC address of the PC that first connects when you register with them stays the same.  So if you have already got an internet connection, you need to find out the MAC address of the PC you currently have connected to Broadband and change the MAC address of the router to be the same.  There are instructions on how to do this in the router's instructions.

As you have internet access now, I am assuming that you are using either a cable modem or a single socket ADSL modem with your PC plugged directly into that.

If that's the case, you just need a good old fashioned bog-standard router.

My favourites are the Linksys BEFSR41 (see first link below) and the Netgear RP614 (second link).

Both are good products, there is excellent support both from the manufacturer and the online community, and they are often to be found discounted as so many customers now go wireless.

If you email me I can send you diagrams and more details after you have decided on which hardware you want to use.

Answer 2

information technology tutorial

http://ittutorial.info/

Answer 3

What you need is a router. What a router does is takes the single IP connection from your cable modem and routes different sub IP addresses to it. In layman's terms, it is like a river of data branching off into a bunch of smaller tributaries.  I recommend a linksys router due to good personal experiences and excellent product reviews.  Included in the box are diagrams on how to properly set up a home network as well.  The router that I use at home is: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/...

Hope that helps,

Andy

Answer 4

Get yourself a router. Plug your cable modem into the router. Plug any computers you have ethernet cables into the router. Turn on cable modem. Turn on router and start up computers. You should be set to go.