There are a ton of questions in here. Please bear with me.
Today we got the equipment for our first ever high speed internet connection. It’s all free (woo!) because of Ardred’s new job. I’ve looked through some of the threads concerning networking and high speed internet in GQ and I think I’ve got it…
I have many questions about connecting with this setup and hooking both of our computers (PC XP and Mac OS9), as well as protection against the vagaries of internet surfing. According to our cable provider, the only requirement (besides basic software and hardware stuff, so many MB of RAM and suchlike) is a 10baseT ethernet card with and RJ-45 connector. I know I’ll need to get one for the Mac, but I’m relatively sure the PC came with one. The cable modem is provided free. It also says “for more than one computer you will need a hub or switch”.
Here’s what I understand… Wall jack to modem. Modem to hub or switch. Hub or switch to computers 1 and 2. Configure software as needed. Enjoy.
Is that close? Also, will having a splitter on my cable outlet (there’s only one for two bedrooms) cause a problem with either TV or modem reception? Or… should I just get the company to come put another one in?
According to this post by ntucker I should get a firewall/router and bypass the hub nonsense whilst getting myself some protection against the baddies.
So, I have to buy: a router with a hub, an ethernet card for Mr Max and assorted cabling.
We’re planning on getting ZoneAlarm and virus protection software for the PC.
I have my cable modem tee’d off with the TV in my bedroom. It happens quite often that the signal gets weak enough that the modem won’t work at all. I’m not exactly sure where the strength goes but if I take off the tee and plug directly from the coax outlet to the modem…everything works fine again. If I were you, I’d call the cable company and have them install it. When I’ve complained, I’ve been told that it was basically in my hands since ‘I’ was the one that split the cable signal.
-K
It sounds to me like you’re pretty well on the right track, I’ll throw a couple of thoughts into the mix:
You can now get (at least in Aust.) all in one units (modem, firewall, switch/router, wireless point) at a pretty good pricepoint. Definitely worth considering, not least because instead of having several little grey boxes, you only have one (and you only need one power outlet).
I would recommend against a hub. Go for a switch or router. Why? Well, if your ISP does volume based billing and charges for uploads, having a hub directly into your modem means that your internal traffic (between your two computers) goes out through your modem as well. It’s not a huge security issue, as your ISP will likely drop the traffic, but they’ll still count it and make you pay for it.
Routers also give you a degree of security protection, as they NAT your traffic. This means that your home PCs are not externally addressable. Plus the vast majority of routers you’ll get will have enough ports to connect both PCs, and you won’t need a seperate hub or switch. (Although I have seen routers with only a single port - I mean, why bother?)
There is some merit in getting a device firewall - since you have two clients behind the modem, you have to have firewall protection on both. Having a device firewall (i.e. modem -> firewall -> switch/hub - PCs) means that you only have one firewall to maintain. I’m still debating this in my own head at the moment though.
Virus protection is essential. Keep it up to date, and perform regular system scans.
Keep your system fully patched.
You say the connection is because of a job. If you’re going to need to tunnel into a corporate network, you need to make sure that your firewall (hardware or software) and router support it.
I have consulted to Australia’s largest broadband provider for several years and the stuff we see on the network is enough to scare anyone off ever connecting anything - and that’s when there isn’t a virus outbreak. The network is constantly bombarded with virus outbreaks (including really old viruses like Code Red), ping attacks, port scans and more directed attacks. Expect to be attacked and protect yourself. But if you maintain a firewall, virus protection and patch levels, you should be fine. And I couldn’t live without my broadband…
Then again, I could be completely wrong, I always dealt with the server side of things, not the clients or network.
Digital cable and cable modem is not like old analog cable. In particular, you do not just go down to Rat Shack, get a splitter and hang you new cable modem off that. You also are probably using the wrong type of coax! That is a bad, bad thing.
You need a high quality splitter and (on many systems) a special digital cable block. Your cable company will be more than happy to do that for you. They will be considerably less than happy if you DIY. Also, this will degrade your neighbors’ digital cable and cable modem.
Repeat, this is not a DIYer project.
A couple weeks ago, someone in my neighborhood did this. My download speed dropped by a quarter. The cable company still has only got the transmission speed up to 1/2 its previous rate. They aren’t happy, the rest of us aren’t happy, the idiot who did this can’t possibly be happy once they find out who did it.
Did I mention that this is something that you absolutely, positively should not be doing yourself?
ftg could you explain these points? For some reason the ‘wrong type of coax’ part seems a bit like a ‘left handed screwdriver’ to me. I’ll admit that I’m a bit older now, but I’ve never heard of a different kind of coaxial cable.
I just wanted to correct one thing: You should not need to buy an ethernet card for your Mac. Macs have had these standard for years (before PCs, IIRC).
Until recently I had two Macs connected to a cable modem through a combination router/hub. I let the cable company run the cable and supply the modem, and I did the rest. One Mac was running OS 8.6 and the other OS X. I also connected a printer to the hub so either computer could print without having to turn the other on. It all worked beautifully. (I’ve recently moved and gotten rid of the old OS 8.6 machine.) Since the router acts as an NAT (basically hiding your local computers from the rest of the Internet), it’s a relatively safe setup as well.
I got home and looked at the package last night. [brag] It’s all free because Ardred works for the cable company now. Free digital cable with all the channels, free pay-per-view, free local phone service and high speed internet. [/brag]
So, the package comes with an ethernet cable, modem and instructions. I checked the back of both computers and they both have integrated ethernet cards. So all I need is a router with more than one port (!) and a firewall, some good virus protection software (which I think is installed on the pc… we’ve never had it online, so we’ve never used it) and another cable.
Should I get anti virus stuff for the mac? I’ve been on dialup with this thing for years and I’ve never had a problem.
As for the splitter… I was planning to get a special “TV to MODEM” type splitter (I’m pretty sure I had to stock those little suckers when I worked at Best Buy… but I guess I’ll call the cable company and get another one put in when I can. As it is now, the previous tenants put a hole in the wall and ran some coax from the jack in the master bedroom through the hole.
Here’s a page with links to a small sample of different coax cables available.
Most older in-house coax is really crappy RG-59. My cable company uses RG-6 for the drop line and to my cable modem. It should be using RG-6 to the digital cable boxes but they didn’t want to replace the older lines. I use RG-6QS (quad shield) for short runs of analog TV. Note that RG-6 connectors won’t fit on RG-6QS cable, etc. etc. Of course, the worst possible coax cables are RG-59 with push on connectors. People like push-ons, but they’re crap. Oh, and did you know that if you bend a coax line too far, it ruins it-permanently?
In other words: There is a hell of a lot of techno detail that is important to know when dealing with this stuff. If you don’t know the techno detail cold, don’t mess with it.
Again, your cable line is a shared resource. If you mess up your lines, you are messing up other people’s lines as well. I don’t care if you paint your bedroom orange, but leave my cable modem connection alone.
You seem well on the way to a secure setup. How far are these machines going to be from the router because they will need wires to the router unless they run wireless. If one is a laptop you should definately consider getting a wireless router with a few ethernet ports. Laptops and wireless are a great combination. You can also purchase a router with a print server built in and then you can share one printer directly through the router. I have a D-Link 704P which has the print server and it works great. Your going to love cable speeds.
