How do I connect 2 pc's to NTL Broadband

magicmaria

Hi

My son has a PC in his bedroom that is connected to NTL Broadband I have just purchased a Lap Top is there a two was connector that I can purchase to enable me to use the internet too. Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

V1NNY

magicmaria wrote:

Hi

My son has a PC in his bedroom that is connected to NTL Broadband I have just purchased a Lap Top is there a two was connector that I can purchase to enable me to use the internet too. Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

Seeing as you will probably be using your laptop in different locations within your house, your best bet would be to get a wireless router (which would be connected to the PC in your sons room) & a wireless network card for the Laptop.

Once set up, you will then be able to use broadband on both the PC & Laptop at the same time

mk-donald

magicmaria wrote:

Hi

My son has a PC in his bedroom that is connected to NTL Broadband I have just purchased a Lap Top is there a two was connector that I can purchase to enable me to use the internet too. Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

The usual NTL cable modems have TWO ports on them for connecting to a PC - an Ethernet one and a USB one. HOWEVER only one of the sockets can be active at any one time so you CANT just plug both PCs in via the two sockets.

So beyond that what MIGHT you be able to do ?

1) Physically wire the 2 PCs together to the NTL for a few £

2) Go Router/Wireless Access Point - the best solution but c£40 assuming your laptop has wireless networking built in already. More if you have add the capability.

Assuming your son's PC is running Windows XP you can use thats "internet connection sharing" feature. You can connect the PC to NTL via USB, getting the net as far as your son's PC, and then you Internet Connection Share that link out throught the PC's Ethernet port (assuming it has one) through an Ethernet cable to your laptop - might need to be a long 5-10-15metre cable (shop around for this). It is of course very inconvenient having a long cable strung around the house from son's bedroom to somewhere you could use the laptop within 'cable range', and it stops your laptop being untethered, but it's a cheap and relatively simple solution. I implemented this for a friend who had both a PC and Laptop in his bedroom. HIS problem was that the Ethernet socket on the laptop was partially broken so the cable kept falling out.

THUS the improved, far more flexible but more expensive solution. You connect the Ethernet port on the NTL box to a Wireless Router which will have an aerial to link wirelessly to your laptop and 3 or 4 Ethernet ports to plug the PC into. Then your laptop connects WIRELESSLY through to the WAP and 'automatically' to the net as the Wireless Router box does the Internet Connection Sharing for you (rather than your son's PC having to do the work as in the first scenario). This assumes your laptop already has wireless networking built into it.

So you're looking for a Wireless box that:
- does NOT include a modem as your NTL box does that for you
- DOES include a router as you want to add 2+ PCs to it
- DOES include WIRELESS at 802.11g speeds (or get away with slower 802.11b if old laptop though few stores will still have any 802.11b kit left on the shelves)
-
eg a LINKSYS WRT54GSES <£50 at Comet - or if you do need to add wireless to your laptop as well a combo of router/card LINKSYS WKPC54G at £60 (this WAS a bargain £50 when I bought it a few weeks back, thanks to a MSE tip off).

The only complications come when you start to introduce wireless SECURITY so your Wireless Network doesn't get used from the houses around you, and your own traffic doesnt get eavesdropped by them either.

The extra Ethernet ports on the Wireless router may also come in useful for GAMING as you can connect Xbox etc to the net that way!

simsun

magicmaria wrote:

Hi

My son has a PC in his bedroom that is connected to NTL Broadband I have just purchased a Lap Top is there a two was connector that I can purchase to enable me to use the internet too. Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

I have just purchased a laptop for the downstairs so that my pregnant wife doesn't have to climb the stairs to use the internet. We too have NTL broadband in our office upstairs, so the only solution was to go wireless.

Whilst I don't normally like shopping at PC World, when they have a decent laptop at £399, a wireless router for £45 and a matching USB wireless adaptor for £20 I'm not complaining. Both the router and adaptor are made by Belkin and were on special in store.

10 minutes at home setting everything up and the laptop is online and the Mrs is very happy! The cable modem was plugged into the router, the upstairs PC was plugged into the router and he USB adaptor was placed into the laptop, and that was it, apart from installing some software on the upstairs PC.

Installation was so simple that even a technophobe can do it!

I just need to make the wireless connection secure so that people driving or walking past can't use our connection!

Hope this helps you out.

cheers
simsun

gizmoleeds

simsun wrote:

I just need to make the wireless connection secure so that people driving or walking past can't use our connection!

Try going to 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.0.2 in a web browesr (if neither works check your insturctions for the router).

The username and password should both be admin as default (change that!) and look for "wireless" or "security" as one of the options. There should be better instructions on how to do this in the instruction manual.

Hope that helps!

magicmaria

Thank you all for your help and advice

freddylocks

simsun wrote:

I just need to make the wireless connection secure so that people driving or walking past can't use our connection!

Hi there everyone.
This is a little off topic however...

I often wonder about this issue of people wanting to stop others from using the wireless connection. It is possible to restrict the speed that people can connect to your wireless system. It is also possible to restrict the timezones (depending on the system).

If you are on a max download rate (eg 3gb per month) then obviously you don't want people using your connection, however if you are on a unlimited download amount then there should be no issue.

If anyone was to sit outside your house in their car you would know about it anyway, I certainly do when the Mrs jumps up and looks out the window to see what is going on out there! hehehehe.

I am a beleiver in all things free.
Internet access (for viewing webpages) should be free in this country, we should not have to pay the exorbitant charges that are charged.

Rant over.
Freddy.

buglawton

If you omit to set up encryption on your Wireless Router, your neigbours for instance can access your hard drives.

freddylocks

buglawton wrote:

If you omit to set up encryption on your Wireless Router, your neigbours for instance can access your hard drives.

Hi there buglawton,

That depends entirely on the system you are using, for example, WindowsXP and Windows2000 if set with a username and password will deny access unless the correct username and password is entered.

Securing a PC is relatively easy thing to do. At least you know it is more secure than if you set encryption on your router which can be broken into within 30minutes.

Freddy