NTL Cable modem 2 computers 2 rooms need internet to both... Any help?

Lady_K

I don't want to be a niusance but I just started moving some of the furniture in my bedroom to prepare for moving the pc into my room. I found, in my room is an ntl tv box, only there coz it was free with the phone line. At the back of the ntl tv box is where the thick white cable for the cable modem is plugged into, I didn't know this was done this way. It then goes to a splitter one side through to my daughters room (thick white cable) the other side (thinner brown cable) leads to the outside of the house.

My question is, to save me ripping down the wire and having to repaint walls ect can I dissconnect the cable wire going into my daughters room at the splitter which is presently attached to the cable modem itself in her room, cut it, leaving enough white cable wire in my room to then put the end connection back on the now cut shorter wire then go fetch the modem out of my daughters room and plug it in in my room?

I just don't want to get any electric shocks or anything or wreck it and leave the thing not working at all. I wondered if it was like aerial wire and safe to cut without electrocution? So before I start doing that I thought it best to check and ntls got long waiting on the phone lines to ask them. Would I need any special tools to do it?

I though this way is neater and easier and if I ever did have to move the modem back into my daughters room for any reason I could just re-attach the end to the original cable wire that leads to her room and put that back in the splitter.

Pity I can't put another splitter on to the splitter to share the cable modem that way like I have my ntl tv it would have made things much easier but I dont think thats possible is it?

webhamster

you would still have to have the main pc on to use the net on the other one with a CROSSOVER , defeats simplicity having to go and switch on another pc in another room to use the net.

You can do as you reckon cut the cable and put the cable modem in your room , but how would the other pc access it , crossover cable or unplug the modem and take to the other room?

The best bet is to buy a wireless or any kind of router as I mentioned earlier , that is the simplest way.If you go cutting cables and adding on splitters you will degrade the service supplied which will no doubt give more headache and callouts from ntl , THAT YOUR CHARGED for.

I am never done on call outs to the SIMPLE method of cat5e crossover or ics networks , they are fine if you have a pc on 24/7 and the user is the installer and stays current.The are simple to set up but not maintain if anything goes wrong which is often.I find if the user wants simplicity in the form of cheapness they will over the long term end up paying more.All too often they followed the leader of folk that only marginally knew more than they.

If you buy a wrt54g you can set it up VERY easilly for the most part , and once you get it right EXPORT the settings as a file just incase you need it in the future.

Since you only have two pcs though its probably more economical for the crossover job IF you learn it all and maintain it .If the modem is usb thats only one n.i.c in the HOST pc , and one in the laptop if its not built in.If the modem isnt usb its two nics in the host machine , one of the laptop , and hope that network setup wizard is configured correctly as is the firewall.

IF its ICS as the way to go then its use a software firewall at 20 quid or more , forget FREE zonealarm if you p2p it will crash the pc , norton will slow down your connection and speed and is pretty buggy.Service pack 2 for xp has a built in firewall , but its a simple one , and if you run bad code behind it it will override it very easy if you use outlook or download dodgy scripts from websites.

Keep us up to date with your decision , it could serve as a how to for others in the same boat , or soon to be boat.

ta

andyinlondon

where the white cable is split and then goes on to your daughters room.
can it be disconected from there. It should have a hexagonal collar you can unscrew to do this.
then all you need is a shorter piece of this cable with its connectors / ends to connect it direct to the modem in your room.
as for routers and wireless networking i have seen so many people get well and truely stuck trying to set them up.
the encryption and security settings seem to cause the most grief.
i get loads of call outs to resolve these.
and even more fun and games when they go wrong.
not that i am complaining, have to earn a living
never seem to earn anything from simple cat5 networks, if set up correctly they just dont go wrong very often.
so by all means put in a nice wireless router and have a wire free net connection, just make sure it is secure and encrypted.
just keep a copy of the yellow pages handy in case you get stuck or for when it goes wrong,
i am sure your local engineer could do with the extra income

seriously though i always try to keep things as simple as possible
(less to go wrong)
and the simple connection share network with a crossover cable is the simplest solution to do what you want to do.
it is also the cheapest too, keeping in line with the ethos of this whole website and forum

Lady_K

Well, it's too expensive for a wireless at the moment after christmas ect but this will be fine for a while. I'm going to use a temp connection wire for now for the laptop and see how we go on with that. Wireless is nice but too much at the moment plus I'll need help I think with that adding to the cost

As for the cable splitter thing yes thats what I'm trying to do make a shorter cable. I've got metres and metres of extra cable so I was just going to cut as much as I need off the end of the wire that goes into the daughters room and then put the old end off the bit in her room to put on the cut end. Thing is I thought it would be easy but I cant get it off. I thought it would be like tv aerial wire but its not and I darent tug and pull too much as I don't know what it will do. I've never seen what the inside of the wire looks like just that spike in the middle. Would it be better to get a new connection end from the computer shop and just cut the wire and put it on the end is that easy enough?

andyinlondon

the ends of these cables are normally crimped on with a crimping tool so will probably not come off to easily and will not then go back on again easily.

it would be best if you got a short piece with the ends already on it.
should be available from a tv / satalite shop if not at computer shop.

this will also leave the original cable intact so you can plug that in again later if you want to.

it is similar to the old tv ariel wire but of much higher quality and a slightly different structure.

Lady_K

Well I'm pleased to say that the computer is now moved into my room. I got a shorter 2 mtr coaxial cable from the local electric appliance shop. The end connections are not as strong as NTL's but everythings working ok. I've yet to get the cat5wire but to be honest all we are going to do for the time being is just keep them both on ethernet and just use the cat5 as a loose wire that we will get out of a drawer when its needed and we will just unplug mine and put hers in. This will do for now as shes away at uni most of the time so wireless will come later

Thankyou so much everyone for putting up with me and thankyou everyone for your advice, help and patience. I hope anyone else needing to know this kind of thing will maybe learn something by it too

Thanx all

Lady_K

korma_kid

I HAVE NTL BROADBAND ON ETHERNET and have laptop and desktop linked wireless to it. no probs....also have a wireless router that is for sale used about 2 times ( well its my brotherinlaws) netgear i think.

modem to router - router to desktop

laptop wireless.....

works a treat - think he was after £40 ,.,,,,,,paid £60.00

korma kid

andyinlondon

good to hear you are sorted out lady k

kingpuck

Hey,

I had a skim over the posts and I think that you have all overlooked a major point. Windows 98 first edition does not have ICS, that's what was integrated into second edition, so you are going to have to use a 3rd party software such as winproxy.

I know that this might sound a bit silly but if you have no technical knowledge then I would suggest that a router is the easier option to take. It will be pretty much plug and play whereas you are going to have a bit of messing about to get the likes of winproxy working and your computer is going to have to be on every time your daughter wants to use the internet.

There are deals all over the internet and a lot of them are now offering a pci or usb wireless adapter for a computer and a wireless router for less than £50.

Sorry of the ICS point has already been made, I didn't see it but it it's a bit early for reading.