How to use a enternet switch to share internet?

esuhl

By the way, I think ICS is "Internet Connection Sharing".

With a router, you would connect it to your Internet connection, then plug all your PCs into the router (or connect to it wirelessly).

With ICS, you connect one network card in your PC to the Internet via a cable modem. You have another network card that you plug in to the switch, then you plug all the other PCs into the switch too.

With the above ICS setup, the PC connected to the Internet would need to be turned on in order for any of the other PCs to connect to the Internet.

It would be a lot easier and more secure to use a router (which would also have a built in firewall).

Hope this helps...

toasterman

totalsolutions wrote: »

You take a switch, ethernet to the "input" port, the one away from the others, not in the group of 4. Then each "output" port goes to each pc. That how, don't use ICS. Works with the routers I use, I dont support cable modems never used them.

That won't work, as the op doesn't have a router. He has nothing doing dhcp or nat between computers and cable modem.

And an addition to my earlier comments.. if you have 4 pcs, whoever said earlier MIGHT be correct that a 4-port router won't be enough.
This is because one of the ports is sometimes used to connect your router to your cable modem.
This is where they vary - I have a cable router which has 4 ports - one connects to cable modem, the other 3 are for pcs.
There's one in front of me in my office though also described as a 4-port router, which has a separate WAN port for the internet, leaving 4 that could be used for pcs.

I'd keep the switch til you know either way...I doubt you can return it now anyway as you've opened it and used it.
If your router does use one of the 4 ports to connect to the cable modem, you just plug your switch into one of the other ports and connect your computers to that...either way you can resolve it by buying a cable router.