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ICS with Direcway


beckpal

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Can anyone give me detailed instructions on how to setup a wireless network to work with Direcway. I need to know what equipment I need to purchase and how to set it up. My host computer is an HP Pavilion 774Y running Windows XP Professional. The client computer is a Compaq Presario 7470 running Windows XP home edition; I will also have TiVo connected. Both computers have ethernet cards installed. I know absolutely nothing about networking (as is pretty obvious from my question) and am floundering.

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Hi!Not meaning to pass the buck, but there is a lot of extremely good information at http://www.dslreports.com/forum/satHope that will help - I am a Direcway user and have my laptop wirelessly connected to the network, but with all the variables, it would probably be better if you went to the experts than have me try to explain! :D d|:^)Dick

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DSLReports is a past Link of the Week.But so is this place, specifically for the DirecPC/Way products:http://www.copperhead.cc/One thing I would tell you. Trying to do wireless with ICS on DirecWay is like a batter handicapping himself with three strikes in baseball.You're asking for trouble. I'm not saying it isn't possible. But, ugly.I can tell you that ICS very definitely does work with DirecWay. Most of my comments in these stories about Pegasus Express apply to DirecWay. DirecWay is better than Pegasus was:http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/best_of/satellite.htm-- Scot

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Hold on just a sec… I’m going to have to chime in here because I have Direcway 2-way, and have a Wireless network setup at home…Man-o-Man I have to tell you XP does all the work for you basically. Right now I have the host pc (HP desktop connected to the Satellite modem) then a Wireless Access Point Router w/4 port switch from Linksys, then two laptops and one desktop connecting to the wireless network.Its awesome!Give me a few mins to type up a detailed setup… I will reply shortly.

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My Wireless (Direcway 2-way) Home Network…Basically before I set up the wireless network I set up two XP machines on a simple XP home network (Ethernet connected) to make sure I would be able to share the satellite connection. From my experience you need to make sure that each PC that will be connected via cables will need to have the same network name (XP from my understanding doesn’t automatically do this).1) Satellite Modem connected to an HP desktop running Windows XP Home edition.a. Using XP’s ICS I have the “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection†checked.2) Linksys Wireless Access Point Router w/ 4-port Switch ( BEFW11S4) connected to the HP via Ethernet cable.a. The 4-port Switch is nice if you want to connect another PC to the network via a cable.3) Linksys PC Card (for laptops) (WPC11 ver.3) in each Laptop.There really isn’t anything that needs to be done once you have the drivers installed (for wireless cards) and have the access point setup. XP will automatically detect the wireless network (as long as its shared) and configure your connection for you.I know that isn’t really specific, but I wasn’t hard at all. XP can set up a basic network for you if you think about it…I love my DirecWay 2 way system and once I had my wireless network set up, I was so pleased that I went out the next day and bought the Linksys Wireless Signal Booster (WSB24) so I could further out in my backyard or even to my parents guest house (right next door).Linksys makes the entire setup painless with their detailed setup instructions and well documented PDF manuals.

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I'd have to agree Arena2045. I've seen quite a few threads on forums from people having problems, but it usually gets resolved... Well maybe usually is a strong term... :D Most times anyway.My laptop is set up through the Linksys WAP with a NetGear PCMCIA Wireless card. Both the laptop and the "host" computer for the WAP are XP Home, and I'd agree - everything went VERY smoothly.I think what helped me was the fact that I had the wired network already working solidly and just added the WAP as another connection to it - with a manually entered address (the whole wired network is manual - no DHCP for the wired stuff - had too much trouble with DHCP). Then I set the laptop to receive it's address through DHCP from the WAP, and it was up-and-running!Like you, it was so easy, I went out and got a Netgear MA701 Compact Flash Wireless card for my iPaq PDA - it was running in 5 minutes!beckpal I wouldn't discourage you from finding out which hardware you want to use (research would be of utmost importance there, IMHO), and then trying to follow the instructions - THEN if you have trouble, go back to dslreports or copperhead and look for answers - you might be pleasantly surprised!Good luck - let us know how it turns out!d|:^)Dick

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Dick,I agree with you 100%I think by having a wired network (desktop with satellite and a notebook) already established, adding the WAP was a snap.I also agree with your comment about researching the products. I only went with Linksys setup because, where I work we had a sale on the access point and I get a discount. Plus I already had Linksys PC card (ver. 2.0) for my laptop, because my college has a wireless network.HOWEVER! I quickly found out that my ver.2 card wouldn't work on my network because I had WEP enabled. Since I live in the country and my next neighbor is at least 3500 feet away I don’t have to worry about any one connecting to my setup. Also I've limited the access to the Mac addresses on each card.I went out later and got new PC card when my ver.2 card broke (some how it broke in my laptop case, probably when I was at school). The ver. 3 cards I believe show a bit of performance boost, but have not scientific way to prove that. LOL.beckpal,Good luck with your network and enjoy your satellite connection!

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I thank all of you so much for your quick replies; I think I may be able to do this now! I'll get started on it soon and will let you know how it went.

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I'm glad you guys have had no problems, but I have to tell you that I've got moutains of mail from people with problems in this area. But remember I said ICS + Wireless + DirecWay. To use ICS, you have to have two NICs in one box, and with one of them probably being USB, that's where the problems usually creep in. :unsure: The way you two are set up, Arena and Dicknite, you're much better off. You're not using ICS. You're offloading this sharing thing to a piece of hardware.ALSO, I strongly agree with the idea of using a wireless access point (or more than one) with a traditional wired network. In my experience, that's the best way to go wireless. It's also precisely how my wireless stuff is set up.-- Scot

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Yep! I've seen a lot of questions on a couple of satellite forums regarding ICS too. Seems to vary from user to user just how easy it is to get going...I use ICS on my satellite computer (ICS Gateway) and share the internet with the clients that way. I had been using a program called Proxy from AnalogX, but it was somewhat limited in what you could do - if I remember correctly, there were difficulties getting it to work with client machines doing FTP or something like that. When I got ICS working, it made the whole wired network MUCH easier. (ZoneAlarm Pro works well with ICS also.) Then the wireless was a snap.I really think that a lot of the problems with ICS are from people using DHCP. I mentioned earlier that I had manually set up the addresses for all my wired network. That was after a couple of days trying to get DHCP to work. When I manually entered the addresses - 'voila! No more problems.Another MAIN problem people have with networking a satellite connection (DirecWay at least) is they go out and buy a router - BAD, BAD, BAD! Since the internet gateway box (ICS Gateway, in ZAPro terms) has to do all the ICS work, the DHCP control has to be taken away from the router, making it a switch or a hub.I got a lot of my help on the initial network from http://www.practicallynetworked.com, http://www.copperhead.cc, and http://www.dlsreports.com. Without those 3 resources, I would have been sunk! These places are also where I learned about how to cope with the 2-nic's situation.Of course, all my good luck is quite likely about to change - I am going to a domain type network here in the next couple of weeks (from a peer-to-peer) and that will probably throw a whole new box of wrenches into the works! Wish me luck - I'll be the one asking questions then!d|:^)Dick

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I also share a 2-way DirecWay satellite link thru a windows 2000 server, but thru a hard wired network of XP and 2000 machines.I enabled ICS as a DHCP and all clients are configured to accept automatic address assignments.From what I understood Arena and Dicknite are using wireless access point/routers to enable the wireless portion, but not as routers.I agree with the technique of temporarily establishing the internal network via wired connections, and testing for working connectivity. Then add ICS and the satellite link to confirm internet access on the network.After the network is working thru the fixed switch, then introduce the "wireless" aspect, as any troubles at this point are known to be only introduced in the wireless part.In the past I have run into problems with external USB wireless NIC's on desktops that come equipped with internal NIC's . Often the wireless won't work or won't work right until you uninstall the "fixed" NICGood LuckBruce

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