Broadband Internet questions

[Cinna]

Hey all,


Yes, After minutes of difficult and onerous thinking, I'm ready to jump into the broadband wagon (ADSL). I don't have much knowledge concerning this and have a few questions. (My area has service availability). The service isn't on cable, btw.

1) I don't have an ethernet card installed. Before I buy one, is there any difference among them, and how do I know if the one I want to buy is compatible with my computer?

2) I have 2 computers that I might want to network VIA WiFi, do I need to buy a seperate card to install into my PC (in addition to the ethernet card?) In other words, do I need both an ethernet port and a WiFi adapter? I know that I need a router btw.

3) What wire is used to connect to the DSL modem to the phone jack? (i'm guessing a standard telephone line?)

4) One of my computers is pretty good. The second that I want the connection to share with...is very bad:

-Win 95
-233 Mhz
-IBM, Aptiva 97'
-2 USB, 1.0 ports I believe...or whatever they had back then

Is this computer recent enough to successfully install a WiFi adapter?


5) For the future, can a Macintosh and a PC share a broadband internet connection?

6) Is the connection "always-on" or do you double-click on an icon to connect like with dial-up? Once connected, do you disconnect by turning off the modem, or via the connection icon in the system tray (again, like dial-up).

7) Are there any anti-virus software available that once you purchase the software, the company allows for free new definitions?

8) How good are firewalls that are installed in the routers?


Many thanks to anyone who can help!

[Citizen Bleys]

Okay, let's begin:

1) I don't have an ethernet card installed. Before I buy one, is there any difference among them, and how do I know if the one I want to buy is compatible with my computer?

D-Link cards are pretty good for most normal users. Pretty much any broadband connection should work with any ethernet adapter, but you'll probably want a good 10/100 ethernet adapter, and D-Link makes a pretty good card for the price they sell them at.

The BEST cards on the market, IMO, are made by 3Com, however; 3Com cards support BootPXE. You'll probably never use BootPXE, though...Basically, what it means is that you can plug a BootPXE card into a computer with a blank hard drive, and then send a signal from a remote computer, have it boot up, and automatically go out to the network and start installing Windows for you. BootPXE is primarily useful for deploying Windows 2000 Professional...meaning you'd want it if you were installing hundreds of machines at once and didn't want to have to manually go to each one and set it up to access the network so that it could contact the distribution server, and...*shuts up*

2) I have 2 computers that I might want to network VIA WiFi, do I need to buy a seperate card to install into my PC (in addition to the ethernet card?) In other words, do I need both an ethernet port and a WiFi adapter? I know that I need a router btw.

Well, I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think that if you get a WiFi router, you won't need NICs in the machines--just WiFi cards. Bear in mind, though, that WiFi is *extremely* insecure, and your neigbors will probably be reading your mail and getting free internet off of you.

3) What wire is used to connect to the DSL modem to the phone jack? (i'm guessing a standard telephone line?)

You got it bang on. If you want the technical term so you can go out and buy some, it's "Category 3 UTP" (UTP is short for Unshielded Twisted Pair); It's almost identical to network cabling, which is Category 5 or Category 5e UTP, except that Cat5/5e has four wire pairs, and Cat3 has two.

4) One of my computers is pretty good. The second that I want the connection to share with...is very bad:

-Win 95
-233 Mhz
-IBM, Aptiva 97'
-2 USB, 1.0 ports I believe...or whatever they had back then

Well, Win95 won't even support USB at all unless you have OSR2.0 or later...However, as long as you can find a driver for your WiFi card, you should be all right, since it'll be the router that talks to the internet for you.

Is this computer recent enough to successfully install a WiFi adapter?

Theoretically, yes. But before you buy the card, check the manufacturer's website and make sure that Win95 drivers exist. Windows 98 drivers *should* work, too. Even if they don't, you can use your other computer to download Windows 98 and install that. I don't recall the exact system requirements for Windows 98 (I've only studied Windows 2000 Pro to the certification level), but I'm sure that you can install it on a Pentium 75 with 32 megs of RAM.



5) For the future, can a Macintosh and a PC share a broadband internet connection?

Absolutely! Although you do have to make sure the specific router that you buy supports it; I think that you can teach a router any protocol you like, so it can speak IPX/SPX or TCP/IP to your Windows machine, and crAppleTalk to your Mac. Even if not, I *know* that you can teach Windows to speak crAppleTalk, so you can get a router that speaks crAppleTalk and just run that protocol internally, and let the router talk to the Internet. It's good security practice, even.

6) Is the connection "always-on" or do you double-click on an icon to connect like with dial-up? Once connected, do you disconnect by turning off the modem, or via the connection icon in the system tray (again, like dial-up).

Well, I think it's something that you have dial-up authenticaton for, but you can just connect once and leave it on for the rest of your life if you want to. The only aDSL setup I've seen was my uncle's, and he routinely disconnected so that he could control his childrens' internet access.

7) Are there any anti-virus software available that once you purchase the software, the company allows for free new definitions?

I think that *all* major antivirus programs provide free updates for a year...but if not, try AVG, which is free.

8) How good are firewalls that are installed in the routers?

You mean a packet-filtering router? I'd have to say that's the *best* kind of firewall, since it allows you full control of which ports are open and when, and it doesn't consume system resources on your client computers--which is DEFINITELY a good thing on that 233 MHz 95 box.

[Doomgaze]

Norton AV has a free year, of course, and each additional year is... $3. I'm sure that won't break the bank.

[Citizen Bleys]

You don't work at Wendy's.

[eestlinc]

you can (and really should) put win98 on your old computer. 233MHz is plenty to run win98.
also, what's the point of a wireless home network when you can get a 10 Base T hub for cheap and quite a bit of network cable also for cheap?

[Citizen Bleys]

100BaseTX, eest. 100BaseTX. Anything else is not worth doing. Of course, I have essentially the same opinion about WiFi in the first place.

[eestlinc]

well, if you only use your network to share the same internet connection and maybe play net games, maybe you only need el cheapo. Then again, I've had this little 10BaseT hub for five years now, so maybe I just don't notice it's crappiness.

[Dr Unne]

What the heck is 100BaseTX? A cheap Linksys router worked fine for me for a year with four people sharing the connection.

[Citizen Bleys]

100 = 100 Mbit/s (as opposed to a 10 megabit hub, which eest suggested; 10 MBit/s is pretty much obsolete now, unless you have a 10 Mbit/s ethernet card, which would pretty much have to be manufactured in the 80s

Base = Baseband--That is, it's a non-multiplexed, digital medium

T = Twisted Pair cabling (As opposed to coax, which was used in the older 10Base2 and 10Base5 technologies)

X refers to the full-duplexing nature of the technology; There is such thing as 100BaseT which achieves the 100 MBit's data transfer rate, but 100BaseT is a half-duplex technology, whereas 100BaseTX is a full-duplexing technology; Basically, it means that with 100BaseT, while you upload, you can't download--transmission can go either way. 100BaseTX can effectively double the throughput by uploading and downloading at the same time.

Mind you, with conventional broadband internet, 10BaseT will do just fine, since you're only transmitting over the wide area connection (read: the internet) at a maximum throughput of 1.544 MBits/s (assuming aDSL), but 10 vs 100 makes a *huge* difference on the local area network. With 100BaseTX, working over the LAN is almost as fast as doing everything on the local machine.

Of course, with all twisted-pair networks, there's the maximum cable segment to be wary of--You can't go more than 185 m of cable without a repeater--such as a hub--but who the devil needs THAT much network cable inside of their house?

Also, 100BaseTX, unlike 100BaseT, actually *requires* Cat5 patch cable, but you'll probably be using Cat5 or even Cat5e anyways. Cat5 is what you get if you just go into your local Gaydio Shack or FutileShop and ask for network cable.

[Cinna]

Well, I was thinkin' WiFi, because the two computers aren't in the same room and I HATE wires.

About WiFi's security, couldn't you limit the range or "radius" of the signal? Also, about my question #3, so I can the use the connection like dial-up and turn it on everytime I want to and disconnect whenever I want to (for safety concerns)?

Network cable...what kind is it? Or is it just ethernet cables? Also, I plan to install it (broadband installation) myself without some technitian. Is the installation easy to do? I hear you have to do some kind of filtering with the phone jack?

Thanks for your much needed help, everyone!!

[eestlinc]

you might or might not need a filter for the phone line, but a simple filter should be provided by your provider. My DSL stays connected permanently, so when I want to be off the network I just unplug the router.

[Cinna]

Y'know, I never thought of that!

Anyhoo, this "Category 3 UTP" , is it or is it not the stuff I have now to connect to a phone? Okay, ignore my network cable question. Can these cables be bought anywhere?

[crono_logical]

I don't think Cat 3 UTP is the stuff you want, but I'm not sure. Sounds too similar to the CAT 5/6 cable stuff you need for decent 100 Mbps / 1 Gbps networks.

[Citizen Bleys]

Cat3 UTP is the kind you connect to a phone. Cat5/5e UTP is standard network cable.

Don't worry about the technical names for things unless you're planning on buying stuff at a specialty computer store. Most places, if you walk in and ask for network cable, will give you Cat5.

[Cinna]

Thanks.

I have another unrelated question. I didn't want to open a new thread, because I think the problem can be resolved quickly by you guys , but:


I currently have Windows Me, and whenever I try to enter suspend mode, the monitor turns off fine, but the tower doesn't seem to enter a low-power state and the fans and all lights are still on. The worst part is that I have to hit the power button off, because the screen is shut off and won't display anything even if I move the mouse or type on the key board. Thus, entering suspend is bugged up.


I went on Microsoft's site to find a patch or update, but nothing that seems to address this issue. Could it be a software conflict or something?