Sharing Broadband Cable Modem (Windows XP/Win98)

Self Vanity

[TC Rider]

You've gotten a lot of good advice. If you have trouble finding the LinkSys, the NetGear stuff is just as good. The trick is to find one with NAT capability.

I'm on Time-Warner Cable and I currently don't have the linksys box, I'm just using 1 system and ZoneAlarm for a firewall. I bring various laptops home from work and noticed the MAC issue.

I've found that if I just turn off the modem for about 5 minutes it 'forgets' the MAC address and will happily work with the next laptop (or router) I plug in.

[SamAdams76]

Yes, I did that a bunch of times this afternoon. And my Win98 machine is configured for internet on the LAN (it was working fine when I had a shared dial-up connection).

I think I'll bite the bullet and go with the router. I like the idea of "cloning" the MAC address to the router. That should do it and provide a nice firewall in the process.

[tacticalogic]

I don't know 98/or XP, but can't you use TCP/IP for broadband and NetBEUI for local? It's been a while since I've done any networks.

I think the best solution is to run both protocols. Use TCP/IP for the internet connection on both machines, and netbeui for the local networking (file and printer sharing). This keeps the SMB protocols isolated from the internet traffic. Just watch your protocol bindings, and don't let it enable NetBT.

[michaelt]

There are a few routers out there that would work fine, but I got my Linksys running in about two minutes.

It is also a 4 port switch, which is better than a hub - with a switch, each computer has full LAN bandwidth (100 Mbps), while with a hub, all the computers in the network have to share the 100 Mbps among them. (In practice, it doesn't matter much, especially in sharing a broadband connection, but switches now are so cheap its a no brainer.)

What took me longer to get working was getting our computers to see each other. I had to fiddle with the firewalls (ZoneAlarm and Norton Internet Security, which have different methods of allowing local network access - ZoneAlarm is easier to configure), and got things running, but then as I looked into it more, I found out that the Linksys router gives each computer IP addresses that are basically invisible to the rest of the Internet. (Check out ShieldsUp at grc.com after setting things up and you'll see what I mean.)

Broadband and a router are the way to go. I'll never go back to dialup.

[lelio]

I've found that if I just turn off the modem for about 5 minutes it 'forgets' the MAC address and will happily work with the next laptop (or router) I plug in.
That's cuz the modem arps out for the mapping between IP address and MAC every so often. It shouldn't be 5 minutes, more like every 30 seconds though. That's a configurable option and they might of bumped it up to that high for some strange reason.

[Cultural Jihad]

An important point: XP's built-in software firewall would prevent your 98 from seeing XP. It's made for just a standalone system.

[SamAdams76]

An important point: XP's built-in software firewall would prevent your 98 from seeing XP. It's made for just a standalone system.

Thanks, I was not aware of that. However, I don't think it was the problem today as the main problem was that AT&T reconfigured my NIC for their network, making Win98 unable to communicate with it. Would this have ramifications when I install the router. Should I uninstall the XP firewall before installing the router?

[PISANO]

Does the one ip address work for a Linksys "WIRELESS" set up? I was planning on buying a Linksys wireless system tomorrow for my two pcs and a laptop.

[Cultural Jihad]

Should I uninstall the XP firewall before installing the router?

Well, it's part of the OS as I understand it. By 'uninstall' if you mean 'turn it off' then I'd say yes.

[lelio]

Got a page for the Linksys wireless product? In all likelyhood it is just a bridge that allows you go to from a wireless computer to a LAN. I don't think it is a router, which is what you want.

[Cultural Jihad]

How are you enjoying XP?

[Leroy S. Mort]

Yeah, the wireless version works just like the one I described except...ummm...it's wireless (and rather pricey).

[Boomer]

To add to what many have already said; get the linksys router with 4 ports, you can then add up to 253 computers to your network by using hubs, which is exactly what you are trying to do; build a home network. The built in firewall is big plus as long as you use a good anti-virus program and keep it updated. (Do I get extra credit for using long sentences and lots of comma’s?)

The ISP doesn’t care how many computers are on your home network all they care about is how many IP addresses you have.

Of course the more people using your network the slower things can get if more than one person is downloading files, graphics, etc.

Plus, it isn’t as easy as it sounds; you will need to configure all of the computers on your network to what you want. This in itself can be a bit perplexing to the uninitiated, at least at first. You can run twisted pair cable (RJ-45) up to 385 feet to serve your needs within your network. Home Depot sells everything you need at a reasonable cost or you can hire someone to run the cable and attach the RJ-45 connectors for you. Will you want full file sharing? Printer sharing? Well, you get the idea.

Then of course you need to configure your hardware, ie: the router and each PC. Do you want to let the router do its thing or do you want to set it manually? For your situation I’d let the router handle the MAC and IP addresses and set your NIC’s to 10Mb rather than 10/100.

I guess that’s about it except that you may want to take a look at http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/Contact.htm and read the Linksys manual for a whole lot of info before you dive in. In short, it really is easy after you’ve done it once. When I did it a couple of months ago I didn’t think that it would be so involved but I’m very glad that I did it.

Best of luck,

Boomer

[research99]

Regarding the Linksys:

You can simply tell your cable company that you had to replace your existing network card with the Linksys Etherfast's "Mac" number (as if it were the new card) if you want to avoid additional IP fees. (The morality of this, I'll leave up to you).

Just use DHCP and it's a plug-in installation to your PC's network card.

It "splits" the modem bandwidth by 4, to serve each port. So although you may not be aware of it, the max download speed drops from about 1mbps to about 250mbps.

The Linksys box does occasionally have to be re-set, which is easy (just press the reset button on the front).

[lelio]

It "splits" the modem bandwidth by 4, to serve each port. So although you may not be aware of it, the max download speed drops from about 1mbps to about 250mbps.
I'm 99% sure that isn't true. If it acts as a router you pull down as fast as usual and there is no dividing up the bandwidth by 4. If 3 of your computers are idle then the fourth one will still get 1mbps download speeds.
And you shouldn't even notice a drop anyway with 4 computers all running at the same time as people look at web pages and then go on to another. They're doing this at different times resulting in burst traffic. Unless they happen to both go to a graphics heavy web page at the same time they'll never know they are sharing bandwidth.

[Swordmaker]

Actually that is not the normal case... the bandwidth CAN be reduced but only if the other computers on your network are attempting a download at the same moment. If the other three (on a four computer network) are idle, then the active one will see a full speed download.

[clamboat]

Bring back the 5 port hub and get a Linksys Cable/DSL router.

I second this. Not only does it allow you to do sharing, it also will add a modicum of security to your network as well. I have one at home. The LINKSYS product is great, but I did not have a good experience with the DLINK version of this product. I eventually returned the one I had purchased.

[TC Rider]

It "splits" the modem bandwidth by 4, to serve each port. So although you may not be aware of it, the max download speed drops from about 1mbps to about 250mbps.

Only 'Hubs' split the bandwidth between ports. If you get a router with a 4 port 'Switch', each port has the capacity for full bandwidth. Of course all ports can't use all the bandwidth simultaneously, but I've found this to be the best solution. Remember that you're also sharing bandwidth with your neighbors on the same cable drop.

[kezekiel]

CompUSA also sells a cable modem for $150. If you own your own modem you pay AT&T $10 a month less. It pays for itself in 15 months.

Get an extended warranty while you're at it; we've gone through two 3Com modems in two years. Since Time/Warner supplied the modems, we swapped them for new ones at no charge.

[Mixer]

That was why in my first reply I said bring back the hub...