View Full Version : Cheap internet sharing
Skiing Squirrel
10-05-02, 09:23 AM
Heres the deal: I revived my sister's old labtop and want to use it. Its a pretty nice mac thats pretty fast and has an ethernet card in it. My main rig has an ethernet card also hooked up to the router through the wires in the walls. The people came out and wired the whole house in the walls. The question is, can I have a direct link from the labtop to my computer, then the computer to the router for internet? Would I have to get another modem? I really dont want to get another router or hub, becuase they are a tad expensive.
the mac will plug right into your router, what kind is it?
Huckleberry
10-05-02, 10:31 AM
I'd suggest just getting a cheap hub. They aren't very expensive anymore (which shows my age...) even new. eBay has tons of them going for a song.
Cable the hub to your router, and both of your machines to the hub. This is how I'm setup with 3 computers.
If you're going to buy a hub, try to get one with either an "uplink" port, or a port that can be switched between uplink and normal. This way you can connect to the router without worrying about if your Ethernet cable is a crossover or straight-through.
Skiing Squirrel
10-05-02, 01:34 PM
well, the router is kinda 3 rooms away from my main rig. Im going to have the mac next to my rig. and the mac is some Ibook. The blue one. lmao.
Kinerry
10-06-02, 12:26 AM
you gotta string some cable or go wireless my friend...
why not just get a catV cable long enough to reach the router from whatever room you're in? you'd probably save $50+ instead of buying another router... :)
Skiing Squirrel
10-06-02, 01:44 PM
Well, I don't mind the wire, but my mom does. So, I cant have a router, then like a sub router?
how about this, a cheap hub with uplink?
http://www.84design.com/network.jpg
err my fault the modem should go into the WAN and the other one is for UPLINK that can go in any port on the router
fixed the picture
Skiing Squirrel
10-06-02, 06:29 PM
Yea, thats what I was wondering. So I can do that right? Now Im going to have to figure out how to go thru my comp for internet, but thats a whole nother thing...
yes i actually have the same setup just more computers, i have a netgear rp114 router and ibm 8224 16port hub, and it works fine.
Skiing Squirrel
10-06-02, 07:13 PM
Alright-how about this: What about directly hooking up a phone line from the my computer to the mac? Would that work? I wouldnt need a hub, becuase it would go:router-computer-ethernet-phoneline-phoneline mac. Would this work? Any links on how to do this?
SteenkyBastage
10-06-02, 07:31 PM
I dont think I've ever found a way to direct connect 2 computers via phone line and modems.
Does the router only have one port? or is it a 4-port/8-port router/switch?
If it already has more than 1 port, just plug the cable modem into the wall, and plug the router/switch into your room, then each computer into the router/switch.
If it is a 1 port router (no switch built in), by far the quickest, easiest, fastest (and most likely cheapest in the long run) way would be to get a hub or switch.
Alternately, I have seen USB network packages (they'd be slow, tho).
Or you could buy a second NIC (network card) for your computer, and then hook up directly to hers via cat5 (ethernet). However, this is much more of a headache, and probably end up costing just as much in the long run.
My suggestion is: www.newegg.com
for $25 (and up, depending on brand) you can get into a 5 port switch.
Skiing Squirrel
10-06-02, 09:21 PM
Well, see the router is in a closet which is far from my room. Our house is wired throughout for it, so I cant just put it in my room, unless I want 80 foot cables running all over the place(actually, I dont mind, but my mom does). I'll look into the usb thing. I dont really care about the speed, I just want to connect through my main rig, becuase if I dont I have to pay roadrunnner 5 bucks a month extra.
Master Mitch
10-07-02, 10:12 AM
Assuming the Mac has an ethernet port already-- and Apple certainly *should* have given it one if they didn't-- then I'm definitely with the people telling you to get a 25$ 4-port switch, put it in your room, and be done with it.
The fortress of computing that I'm in just added a Linksys 4+1 port switch to go with our Linksys cable router, and it handles six machines (plus visitors) just fine.
Sure, you *could* toss an additional 10$ network card in your main box and use software network address translation (NAT)... and it might even work. Getting the cheapest hub/switch you can lay your mitts on is a notably better idea.
Oh yes-- this also presumes that you do, in fact, have a router between your computer and your cable modem. If your machine is actually connected directly to the cable modem, then you should probably use software NAT/routing.
Skiing Squirrel
10-07-02, 04:13 PM
Ok, So i would get a router between my comp and the labtop. I want to know if I can go thru my computer for internet, cuz if i were to go thru the main router, which would go thru the modem, i would have to pay 5 bucks a month for an ip. I think i can go thru my comp which goes thru the router/router then modem.
no you both would have the same i.p.
Skiing Squirrel
10-07-02, 07:28 PM
good. Now i just got to find the cheapest hub i can find...
Avatar28
10-08-02, 06:43 PM
Can you find out the model number of the router that you've got? Maybe that will tell us if it's really a router or just a switch or what. Again, if it's a firewall/router type device, then just hook a hub into the ethernet port by your computer and plug both your computer and the mac into that.
SteenkyBastage
10-09-02, 09:17 PM
just to clarify...
a ROUTER would let you use one IP from your cable company. But a HUB (or switch) would require you purchase additional IP addresses.
Of course, if you use a hub AND a router (or a router w/ built in hub/switch) you're ok as long as the router comes before the hub.
From a post and your response, I'm not sure if you understood that or not...
Good luck!
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