4 students sharing broadband

Hi,
My daughter has just started uni and is sharing a house with 3 others. They
want to set up a wireless network. Being students they money is tight so
they want to know whats the lowest priced equipment they can get away with.
They are considering going with NTL. Questions I have are.
1) having read the previous post about NTL sharing do NTL allow broadband
link sharing (within the same house)?
2) I notice that Maplin do a wireless router with a PCMCIA card thrown in (I
think they are by Addon). Has anyone any experience of these? My daughter
will need a card for her laptop.
3)How difficult is it to set up a wireless network?

Thanks

Steve

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
steve church <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Hi,
> My daughter has just started uni and is sharing a house with 3
> others. They want to set up a wireless network. Being students they
> money is tight so they want to know whats the lowest priced equipment
> they can get away with. They are considering going with NTL.
> Questions I have are. 1) having read the previous post about NTL
> sharing do NTL allow broadband link sharing (within the same house)?
> 2) I notice that Maplin do a wireless router with a PCMCIA card
> thrown in (I think they are by Addon). Has anyone any experience of
> these? My daughter will need a card for her laptop.
> 3)How difficult is it to set up a wireless network?
>
> Thanks
>
> Steve

I don't know about kit for NTL, so will leave that to others.

With regard to Q3, it is very easy to set up a wireless network - using all
the defaults - which will work and will allow all 4 of them to access the
internet. However, there are a number of issues which need to be addressed
which almost certainly require something different from the default
settings.

First there's security. By default, a wireless network has NO security, and
anyone within range can hack into it.

Then there's Email privacy. They will need to find a way in which they can
each have their own email address *and* password. They could achieve this if
they used web-based email such as Hotmail (ugh!) or Yahoo - but if they want
to share any pop-based email account which comes with the broadband
connection, it gets a bit more complicated.

They will have to think carefully about File & Printer sharing on their PCs.
If they each have a self-contained PC with its own printer, they can just
turn sharing off - but if they are using a shared printer which is
physically connected to one of the PCs, they will need sharing ON - in which
case they will need to control who can see what in terms of files.

There are no insurmountable issues here - just a few that need thinking
about.
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

steve church wrote:

> Hi,
> My daughter has just started uni and is sharing a house with 3 others.
> They want to set up a wireless network. Being students they money is tight
> so they want to know whats the lowest priced equipment they can get away
> with. They are considering going with NTL. Questions I have are.
> 1) having read the previous post about NTL sharing do NTL allow broadband
> link sharing (within the same house)?
> 2) I notice that Maplin do a wireless router with a PCMCIA card thrown in
> (I think they are by Addon). Has anyone any experience of these? My
> daughter will need a card for her laptop.
> 3)How difficult is it to set up a wireless network?
>
> Thanks
>
> Steve


www.ebuyer.com if you want to risk it...
Wireless router D-Link DI-614+ is about 21 quid + vat.
The PCMCIA cards like SWLC-54108 are about 13 quid + vat
or the belkin USB WiFI adapter F5D7050UK is about 15 quid + VAT.

> Hi,
> My daughter has just started uni and is sharing a house with 3 others.
> They want to set up a wireless network. Being students they money is tight
> so they want to know whats the lowest priced equipment they can get away
> with. They are considering going with NTL. Questions I have are.
> 1) having read the previous post about NTL sharing do NTL allow broadband
> link sharing (within the same house)?
> 2) I notice that Maplin do a wireless router with a PCMCIA card thrown in
> (I think they are by Addon). Has anyone any experience of these? My
> daughter will need a card for her laptop.
> 3)How difficult is it to set up a wireless network?


The first thing is to get the finances sortedr out. The account is going to
have to be in an individual's name. Just make sure your daughter does not
get lumbered.


Peter Crosland

"Peter Crosland" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:434adc0b$0$15072$(E-Mail Removed):

> The first thing is to get the finances sortedr out. The account is
> going to have to be in an individual's name. Just make sure your
> daughter does not get lumbered.

It's probably best to sign up for an annually paid account (make sure
it's one with no exit charges after one year!) and get everyone to stump up
the cash in advance. That way you don't have to go around to the others
pleading for the money each month, and if someone leaves mid-year you've
already got the costs covered.

The only thing you need to worry about then is remembering to cancel the
thing one month before you leave.