Questions about Routers

[bbwannabe]

N00b here when it comes to routers.

Planning on using a router to split my broadband connection up but I have a few questions which I aint to sure on so any help is welcome and grateful for

1) I assume a router splits a connection up?
2) The plan is to use a router to split it up for 4 computers... Is that a realistic value or is to high?.
3) We plan on getting rid of our dialup connections - is our service just discontinued without any physical involvements (ie phones lines cut? - stupid question most likely).
4) Do routers allow you to control the % of broadband speeds to be allocated? Say I want to use 50% and allow 15%, 15% and 20% to the other computers could I do that?.
5) How hard is it to configure one?
6) Anything else I might need to know?.

Thanks!

[Hom3r]

Fitting a router is easy
How close together are the PC if the are close go for a wired system, If they are in diferent rooms go for Wireless. (wireles router have wired prots)
You can buy kits that would be cheaper than buying separately.
With Wireless go for 808.11G or for future proofing you could try PRE-N.
cancelling dialup if you pay don't forget to cancel.
more to follow
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Configuring if fairly straight forward just plug in and follow the instuction that come.
There might be software that controls bandwidth i don't know anyway yet.

1. yup
2. 4 port routers are pretty normal - but 4 computers is against NTL T&C's - dunno about other ISPs.
3. Do you want to keep the phone line? (btw you don't really get a choice if you have NTL Cable TV - you still, effectively, get charged for line rental, whether or not you use the phone)
4. I'm not sure if some can do this, but I know you can't with mine
5. I stuck in the cd, followed the instructions & it worked straight away with the default settings. Getting the more advanced stuff like port forwarding sussed is a bit more complicated - but you shouldn't need that to begin with (if at all).
6. Whether you want ADSL or Cable internet, whether you want a wireless setup, whether you have a network card in the pcs you want to connect

[bbwannabe]

The computers are all in different rooms. Thinking about it now, it might have to be 5 computers in total. A wired system prob won't be a problem as we already have quite a lot of dialup wires trailing from my room and my bro's room to my lil bro and lil sis's room. Would be nice to go wireless though but would it cost considerably more than the wired version? and wouldn't I need new wireless network cards? Might not be possible for my laptop computer.
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Originally Posted by homealone

1. yup
2. 4 port routers are pretty normal - but 4 computers is against NTL T&C's - dunno about other ISPs.
3. Do you want to keep the phone line? (btw you don't really get a choice if you have NTL Cable TV - you still, effectively, get charged for line rental, whether or not you use the phone)
4. I'm not sure if some can do this, but I know you can't with mine
5. I stuck in the cd, followed the instructions & it worked straight away with the default settings. Getting the more advanced stuff like port forwarding sussed is a bit more complicated - but you shouldn't need that to begin with (if at all).
6. Whether you want ADSL or Cable internet, whether you want a wireless setup, whether you have a network card in the pcs you want to connect

Why are 4 computers against T and C? I can understand if they used the same speeds that NTL provided on a single comp but if its split I can't see what the problem is. What the most allowed?.

For 3) we just don't want to use dialup anymore. We dont have tv, or use the line for phoning, just for net really. Want to keep all our costs down, and getting rid of the slower dialup (x2) seems to be the better solution and get the broadband shared out.

Port forwarding seems to be an issue that might be difficult - don't really know what is ... Routing might be hard for me to do, cos I spent quite a few days on getting standard windows networking working.

We already have ntl cable broadband. And all the computers have standard network cards as they've all been able to use my connection on their computer at some point.

[Cilonen]

Linksys WRT54G has option to set high or low priority to either individual applications or to individual ports - the latter would suit your needs.

It would basically mean that - once correctly set up - if you were surfing, your machine would have bandwidth priority over the others. If your machine were off it wouldn't make any difference to the other machines.

Linksys can be had for £40-50. Wireless cards for the PC's for £20-30, poss cheaper (been a while since I looked), and a PCMCIA card / USB wireless for the laptop won't be much more.

Originally Posted by bbwannabe

Why are 4 computers against T and C? I can understand if they used the same speeds that NTL provided on a single comp but if its split I can't see what the problem is. What the most allowed?.

For 3) we just don't want to use dialup anymore. We dont have tv, or use the line for phoning, just for net really. Want to keep all our costs down, and getting rid of the slower dialup (x2) seems to be the better solution and get the broadband shared out.

Port forwarding seems to be an issue that might be difficult - don't really know what is ... Routing might be hard for me to do, cos I spent quite a few days on getting standard windows networking working.

We already have ntl cable broadband. And all the computers have standard network cards as they've all been able to use my connection on their computer at some point.

lol - I don't know why the T&Cs say max 3 computers per connection, - I do know it is difficult to check - and you can get 8 port routers.

sounds like you can lose the phoneline with no problem.

port forwarding is only an issue with stuff like webcams and some P2P apps, as far as I know ( don't use port forwarding, myself)

neither do i use my router to share over a network, but as far as I know it is fairly simple to set up.

If you don't mind the wires, an all ethernet setup will do the job, it sounds like you just need to get the router.

[bbwannabe]

Originally Posted by Cilonen

Linksys WRT54G has option to set high or low priority to either individual applications or to individual ports - the latter would suit your needs.

It would basically mean that - once correctly set up - if you were surfing, your machine would have bandwidth priority over the others. If your machine were off it wouldn't make any difference to the other machines.

Linksys can be had for £40-50. Wireless cards for the PC's for £20-30, poss cheaper (been a while since I looked), and a PCMCIA card / USB wireless for the laptop won't be much more.

i think i may have a PCMCIA wireless card for the laptop, prob scout about in the drawers later on.

Is the settings on that router through software or is it on the router itself?.

I would really like to be able to alter it throughout the day automatically, like when i'm away during the mornings/afternoon, it'll have higher speeds for me, but later on it'll automatically switch to equal speeds for the others.

I need the ability to control the connection time somewhat with my lil bro and sister as they spent too much time on the net, has a "time limit" feature present in routers? or the choice of cutting off a connection during a time of day?.
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Originally Posted by homealone

lol - I don't know why the T&Cs say max 3 computers per connection, - I do know it is difficult to check - and you can get 8 port routers.

sounds like you can lose the phoneline with no problem.

port forwarding is only an issue with stuff like webcams and some P2P apps, as far as I know ( don't use port forwarding, myself)

neither do i use my router to share over a network, but as far as I know it is fairly simple to set up.

If you don't mind the wires, an all ethernet setup will do the job, it sounds like you just need to get the router.

Thinking about it now, 5 set of ethernet cabling seems like a pain in the backside, so I'll prob opt for wireless..

[Cilonen]

Originally Posted by bbwannabe

i think i may have a PCMCIA wireless card for the laptop, prob scout about in the drawers later on.

Is the settings on that router through software or is it on the router itself?.

I would really like to be able to alter it throughout the day automatically, like when i'm away during the mornings/afternoon, it'll have higher speeds for me, but later on it'll automatically switch to equal speeds for the others.

I need the ability to control the connection time somewhat with my lil bro and sister as they spent too much time on the net, has a "time limit" feature present in routers? or the choice of cutting off a connection during a time of day?.

Settings are within the routers software - it's accessed like a web page. Very simple to use.
There are further settings which allow you to set access restrictions per PC based on time of day, day of week, hours of use, etc so you should find settings that work for your situation. I have a linux PC which I use solely for P2P; the router allows that to work freely until my or my g/f's Xp PC's come online, then the Xp machines take priority for e-mail, surfing, games, etc.

No problems in over 12months use.

Have you considered homeplug as an alternative to wireless.This technology uses the mains of the house to carry a network ,1 plug off the router then how ever many at pc points http://www.homeplug.org/en/index.asp

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by bbwannabe

I need the ability to control the connection time somewhat with my lil bro and sister as they spent too much time on the net, has a "time limit" feature present in routers? or the choice of cutting off a connection during a time of day?.

You can restrict like this very easily on something like the linksys. Other routers have something called QoS Quality of Service and that can prioritise one machine / port / application (say VOIP) over others within the routing.
For wired the BEFSR81 does this well.

[bbwannabe]

Thanks for the replies so far, just a few more:

Is wireless safe when it comes to data integrity?, no data corruption from the net or when file sharing between computers?.

zinglebarb: Do you currently use this? Any pro's or con's specific with using this system?

Would one of my computers need to act as the server? If it does, do i need to put a wireless card in it if i choose to go wireless to access the router, or could I use a normal ethernet cable as it's most likely located right next to the computer and it'll be one less wireless card that needs spending on.

Cheers

just buy a cheap router use this as start point. I do not know fully how this works but I believe ntl use this in places. Im setting it up for a guy this week 4 points so ill let you know how it goes

[Matth]

The router is the far better alternative to using Windows internet connection sharing - which would requre one PC to act as the server - with a router, the router is the connection server, so you don't have to leave a particular PC on.

Depending on the router configuration, it may be that certain dervices are dedicated to one PC, such as videoconferencing, though with most setups, it would be possible to enable any PC to call out, but only one to answer.

Wireless is generally robust (actually, if there are errors, simpler protocols will have to be able to tolerate them, while higher level protocols have their own checking and retry), though care needs to be taken in securing it, or you may end up with other people joining your network!

Streaming audio/video normally used the "unreliable" UDP protocol, and is expected to glitch momentarily on lost/damaged packets.
File transfer, web browsing etc. uses "reliable" TCP, where all packets are accounted for, and resent if their loss is reported (NAK) or if their arrival (ACK) is not reported.

[bbwannabe]

interesting Matth, didn't know about the server thing (don't have to leave PC on).

Would securing it require a lot of work?

Thanks to everyone so far. Brother wants to sort out some payments to ntl first with the parents, and decide whether it's worthwhile going ahead with the routers.

[Graham M]

Today, I am running 6 computers off of my Broadband, NTL cant tell how many PCs are running of it so i cant see how it's policable as it all goes through one IP