Help me build a home network

tetzel1517tetzel1517
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
My house right now has an Earthlink Home Networking set up that uses the existing phone lines to provide the DSL connections. The primary computer, mine, hooks up through the Ethernet port, but the other two computers in the house, both PCs, connect via USB network adapters.



The results are not that impressive. The speeds pale in comparison to my friend's cable modem, and the two PCs constantly see their connections stall while Internet Explorer gives them a cryptic "detecting proxy settings" message. Meanwhile, it sounds like Earthlink doesn't even support this setup anymore (we've had it nearly 2 years now).



So we're looking for something new (and cheaper, if possible. We pay $60/month right now.) Here are the stipulations:



* We need to support two PCs and one Mac.

* The house is a rental, so we can't run wires through walls

* One of the computers is on a totally different floor, so wires won't work for that either.

* As for going wireless... it's an old house. (Pre-WWII, I would guess). Will this present any transmission problems if we went wireless?

* As far as I know our only options are Earthlink and Verizon, since we live in Washington DC. If anyone knows any other providers, please let me know.

* If we went wireless, what would our equipment costs be?



So, that's it. Any insights beyond what I said above would also be useful. Thanks for any help!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    You could hook THIS (I have one) up to your Mac using ethernet and get THESE for your PC's. That's about $100 in equiptment. As for cheaper internet, you will probably have a had time finding it. I am paying $70 a month for my cable modem. Yea, it is faster than DSL but nothing is cheap anymore.
  • Reply 2 of 17
    regreg Posts: 832member
    My parents live in Northern Va and they have Cox cable. The speed is a very good 3M. They also have an older house. Cox has a list of supported cable modems on their site. I set them up with a linksys wireless with 4 ports. There is one pc connected directly and 3 wireless pc's. Wireless is the way to go. Most of the DC area has good cable coverage. If you already have a cable provider check to make sure that it is 2 way internet connection.



    reg
  • Reply 3 of 17
    tetzel1517tetzel1517 Posts: 204member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by reg

    My parents live in Northern Va and they have Cox cable. The speed is a very good 3M. They also have an older house. Cox has a list of supported cable modems on their site. I set them up with a linksys wireless with 4 ports. There is one pc connected directly and 3 wireless pc's. Wireless is the way to go. Most of the DC area has good cable coverage. If you already have a cable provider check to make sure that it is 2 way internet connection.



    reg



    We live in an area of DC that is, for lack of better wording, "kinda ghetto," so Comcast doesn't have internet service available where we live yet. Starpower doesn't, either. So DSL is our only way to go, and I'm pretty sure there aren't any providers other than Earthlink and Verizon.
  • Reply 4 of 17
    regreg Posts: 832member
    https://www.ibuybroadband.com/ibb2/default.asp



    This site will tell you what is availible in your area.



    reg
  • Reply 5 of 17
    tetzel1517tetzel1517 Posts: 204member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by reg

    https://www.ibuybroadband.com/ibb2/default.asp



    This site will tell you what is availible in your area.



    reg



    That site appears to have significant coding errors. I've tried using it on IE, Mozilla and Safari and it always messes up. If there's another site that does the same thing and actually works, please let me know. Thanks!
  • Reply 6 of 17
    tetzel1517tetzel1517 Posts: 204member
    Alright, so after looking things over, I think this is what I have to do:



    ? Get basic DSL service from whoever (probably Verizon).

    ? Connect wireless router to DSL modem.

    ? Connect router to all three computers by cable or wireless.



    If I've got this wrong, please tell me.



    Two of the computers are close enough to eachother to use regular ethernet cables connected to the router. The third one, downstairs, would need a wireless card put in. My room is right above where this third computer is, so I assume transmission wouldn't be an issue.



    Does anyone have any brand recommendations for wireless routers/PCI cards?



    Also, should I go with the B or G standard? We'd just be using it for e-mail, web browsing, IM, and other normal stuff, so I think B would be good enough. Finally, since my iMac would connect to the router by ethernet cable, I assume in that case it wouldn't matter which standard I use. Is that correct?
  • Reply 7 of 17
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    B is probably good enough for what you're doing. And yes, the wireless protocol (B or G) you choose makes no difference, the wired portion of your network still works the same
  • Reply 8 of 17
    kwondokwondo Posts: 217member
    Sorry to hijack this thread but I'm in the process of getting a wireless router (have Cube and a Pismo) and was contemplating whether to get a "b" or a "g" system. By going "b" I can save a lot of money, yet if I connect my Epson printer to the router, will I be waiting longer for data transfer than "g" system? My image files are usually 50 to 80 meg tiff files...
  • Reply 9 of 17
    regreg Posts: 832member
    tetzel1517 Circuit City has a good locator.



    http://www.circuitcity.com/bb_search...ome+Networking



    They also have them in all their stores. One should be local for you.



    kwondo unless you have a usb 2 or firewire printer going to the g will do you no good. USB 1 is limited to 11Mbps. In my limited experience it is more the printer that causes the delay and not the transfer speed. I have been using Epson photo 2000p and photo 2200 printers.



    reg
  • Reply 10 of 17
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by kwondo

    Sorry to hijack this thread but I'm in the process of getting a wireless router (have Cube and a Pismo) and was contemplating whether to get a "b" or a "g" system. By going "b" I can save a lot of money, yet if I connect my Epson printer to the router, will I be waiting longer for data transfer than "g" system? My image files are usually 50 to 80 meg tiff files...



    I also have a Pismo and 802.11G cards would be really expensive for it. I would go with "B". Your inkjet printer takes information little bits at a time like 512K or smaller so wireless speed is not a factor. If you were using a networked laser printer wireless speed may be a factor because laser printers load the entire page before printing. Spooling a 80MB tiff file will be the slowest thing. If you were using a networked laser printer wireless speed may be a factor because laser printers load the entire page before printing.
  • Reply 11 of 17
    reynardreynard Posts: 160member
    I have earthlink cable and faced the prospect of their networking solution, which was to use the phone lines to connect the other computers to their router. I was given advice to find another option, and to save the extra $10 a month charge.



    I am a complete novice yet I found the courage to make my own ethernet cables and string them through the house. I had the lathe and plaster walls (with the chicken wire) and was worried about wireless. Also, I was told that wired is more reliable, consistent, and often faster.



    I realize that youre in a rental but if you make your own cables, the hole for the wire itself is not much bigger than a phone line. A little spackle and paint would clear it up if you had to move.



    Ive no regrets. Fast, reliable, and cheap. Just a thought for your consideration.
  • Reply 12 of 17
    tetzel1517tetzel1517 Posts: 204member
    Wow, reynard, that's pretty awesome. I'd consider it, but I doubt I could get the permission of all four roommates for such a thing, and while I know my share about computers, I know jack about home repair and maintenance. Still, very interesting.



    We already bought the wireless equipment... should be here soon. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions when it comes time to set this thing up.
  • Reply 13 of 17
    tetzel1517tetzel1517 Posts: 204member
    Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I thought this would be the best place.



    I've gotten my Netgear equipment and in the router's manual, it says that I should disable the software in my computer that makes it automatically connect to the network upon startup. Anyone know how I do this?
  • Reply 14 of 17
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    I have no clue why the manual would say that... are you trying to configure anything specific? Whether it's wired or wireless, computers should automatically detect the router.
  • Reply 15 of 17
    tetzel1517tetzel1517 Posts: 204member
    Yeah, I'm not sure either... but they say to make it so that my computer doesn't connect and then go into a web browser and enter the IP address for the router to connect to it that way (just for the first time only).



    I'm using a Netgear MR814 802.11b wireless router, if anyone has any experience setting one up and knows what to do.
  • Reply 16 of 17
    formerlurkerformerlurker Posts: 2,686member
    just go ahead and enter the IP address and follow the setup instructions. Your Network sys pref should be set for DHCP.



    FIRST think you want to do is change the default "admin" password for the router!
  • Reply 17 of 17
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by FormerLurker

    FIRST think you want to do is change the default "admin" password for the router!



    Yea, that is very important. My neighbors didn't.
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