robertcw Posted June 18, 2003 Share Posted June 18, 2003 i have:- one wired pc- win98S, one notebook-winXP( and maybe another PC) to network to the internet myISP is a cable modem with a fixed IP number (not guaranteed but it looks fixed)i want to choose between a wired or wireless network and hear of problems with wireless connections, rebooting etc.Qu1. I thought i needed a router but my 'expert' says a hub. which do i need?Qu2 If a router what is the best wired product. Linksys BEFSR41 seems to take first prize for wireless.Qu3 if wireless do i get a a 54G PCMCIA card (or PCInetwork card) for my laptop or stay with a 802.11b card?Qu4 does wireless work efficiently from an upstairs room-one floor up and no heavy steel construction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siebkens Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 I hesitate to jump in here when I am sure there are more experienced folks out there. I have a 3 pc network. 1 XP pro & 2 ME machines. My network is ethernet hard-wired, using a switch (not much more expensive than a hub & faster data transfer). 2 NIC cards in my XP machine - 1 connected to my internet connection & the other for my LAN. Using XP ICS to share internet connection (dynamically assigned by my ISP). Using static IP addresses for my LAN. I didn't go wireless because of security & my computers are kind of far apart - floors & walls in the way.I think a lot depends on your budget, where your computers are and available access points for internet.But what I hear is that people are going to routers for simplicity. My 5-port switch was around $35. Are routers expensive compared to hubs or switches? How do cable modems & routers get along? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eksimba Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 The easiest setup is to get a "broadband router", which is actually (usually) a router and a hub in one unit. Sometimes a router and a switch. Using one of these, wired or wireless, will enable any computer to access the Internet independently of any other computer (thus no need to run ICS or another connection sharing utility).If the main reason for networking is to share an internet connection, then speed won't be an issue even with the slowest type of wireless connection. 802.11b runs at a max of 11Mbs (in the real world it can range from 5-8Mbs normally), and a cable modem connection will max out at 3Mbs. If you're going to do more than internet connection sharing, you should consider a faster wireless option (802.11g) or wired.I have a wireless broadband router at home (the Linksys you mentioned) and it works great. I have no issues that would require rebooting. I have a desktop connected by wire, and two laptops and a TiVo connected wirelessly. Works great. It is located at one end of the house, and I can get a good connection at the other end of the house (about 80 feet away and through 4 walls). Just remember that a wireless connection is inherently less secure than wired, and you will have to go the extra step of enabling WEP security and disabling SSID broadcasting to keep your network away from the general public. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 And you can even limit the router to the specific MAC addresses on your network in the router's control panel. Which is a very nice feature.You will get none of the benefits of NAT/firewall either with a simple hub. A NAT is not perfect, but in conjunction with a software firewall on each PC, you will have a pretty decent level of protection for both incoming and outgoing traffic.No computer is totally safe on the Internet ... nothing is totally fool proof, but each positive security step you take makes your online experience that much safer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 And you can even limit the router to the specific MAC addresses on your network in the router's control panel. Which is a very nice feature.You will get none of the benefits of NAT/firewall either with a simple hub. A NAT is not perfect, but in conjunction with a software firewall on each PC, you will have a pretty decent level of protection for both incoming and outgoing traffic.No computer is totally safe on the Internet ... nothing is totally fool proof, but each positive security step you take makes your online experience that much safer. Actually, if you use a simple hub and ICS with Windows 98SE/Windows XP this is technically a NAT setup. Since ICS requires two NICs the ICS gateway acts as a NAT router. The benefits of a wired broadband router like the Linksys BEFRS41 is that you don't have to worry about having one computer act as a your gateway and thus making it the single point of failure for sharing your broadband connection. The Linksys WiFi broadband router provides 4 wired ports and acts as a wireless access point, too. If you go with the WiFi, choose a dual-band i.e., 802.11a+802.11g. 802.11b is slower than the other two. However, 802.11g won't be ratified at least until the end of June so you might want to wait for shipping products to support the final 54G standard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 You are right Peachy and good to point that out.However, for simplicity and to prevent everyone from being dependent upon one computer always being up ... I generally recommend a hardware solution.And with the great pricing of NAT Routers today ... using ICS very quickly becomes more of a nuisance.At least to me ... just my two centavos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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