Dial up Networking

I'm looking for some help / info on the following:

I'm stuck with dial-up connection as Broadband isn't available in my area
(UK) and doesn't look likely in the very near future.

I want to network my Desktop PC with my daughters Desktop PC so we can both
access the internet at the same time. I realise it will be slow but am
prepared to put up with it until Broadband arrives.

I thought it was just a case of getting 2 network cards and a switch and
obviously wires and that would be me sorted but after reading several web
pages I'm not sure what I need.

The dial-up connection is via an internal modem.
Will this internal modem be able to plug into the switch? Or will I need to
purchase something else?

Does a hub and switch basically do the same thing?

The more I search "informed" websites the more confused I'm becoming.

Thanks in advance for any help / links / info.

cheers

Steven

"Steven Campbell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bmjnod$ngb$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm looking for some help / info on the following:
>
> I'm stuck with dial-up connection as Broadband isn't available in my area
> (UK) and doesn't look likely in the very near future.
>
> I want to network my Desktop PC with my daughters Desktop PC so we can
both
> access the internet at the same time. I realise it will be slow but am
> prepared to put up with it until Broadband arrives.
>
> I thought it was just a case of getting 2 network cards and a switch and
> obviously wires and that would be me sorted but after reading several web
> pages I'm not sure what I need.
>
> The dial-up connection is via an internal modem.
> Will this internal modem be able to plug into the switch? Or will I need
to
> purchase something else?
>
> Does a hub and switch basically do the same thing?
>
> The more I search "informed" websites the more confused I'm becoming.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help / links / info.

Steven,
You need an ethernet card in each PC and one cross-over
ethernet cable. Then run the ICS (Internet Connection Sharing)
wizard on both PCs which will allow the PC which doesn't have
a dial-up modem to access the internet via the PC that does.
If you let us know which version(s) of Windows you are using,
then we could give you more specific advice.
HTH
--
Rob

> > I thought it was just a case of getting 2 network cards and a switch and
> > obviously wires and that would be me sorted but after reading several
web
> > pages I'm not sure what I need.
> >
> > The dial-up connection is via an internal modem.
> > Will this internal modem be able to plug into the switch? Or will I need
> to
> > purchase something else?
> >
> > Does a hub and switch basically do the same thing?

> Steven,
> You need an ethernet card in each PC and one cross-over
> ethernet cable. Then run the ICS (Internet Connection Sharing)
> wizard on both PCs which will allow the PC which doesn't have
> a dial-up modem to access the internet via the PC that does.
> If you let us know which version(s) of Windows you are using,
> then we could give you more specific advice.

Hi Rob,
Both PC's are running WinXP pro. Would your suggestion above allow file
sharing also?

cheers Steven.

"Steven Campbell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bmjr2k$2o9$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> > > I thought it was just a case of getting 2 network cards and a switch
and
> > > obviously wires and that would be me sorted but after reading several
> web
> > > pages I'm not sure what I need.
> > >
> > > The dial-up connection is via an internal modem.
> > > Will this internal modem be able to plug into the switch? Or will I
need
> > to
> > > purchase something else?
> > >
> > > Does a hub and switch basically do the same thing?
>
> > Steven,
> > You need an ethernet card in each PC and one cross-over
> > ethernet cable. Then run the ICS (Internet Connection Sharing)
> > wizard on both PCs which will allow the PC which doesn't have
> > a dial-up modem to access the internet via the PC that does.
> > If you let us know which version(s) of Windows you are using,
> > then we could give you more specific advice.
>
> Hi Rob,
> Both PC's are running WinXP pro. Would your suggestion above allow file
> sharing also?
>
> cheers Steven.

I should maybe have mentioned my daughters motherboard has LAN and I was
toying with changing my MB to the same one. Would that have any bearing on
it?

Steven.

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 16:05:47 +0100, "Steven Campbell"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I'm looking for some help / info on the following:
>
>I'm stuck with dial-up connection as Broadband isn't available in my area
>(UK) and doesn't look likely in the very near future.
>
>I want to network my Desktop PC with my daughters Desktop PC so we can both
>access the internet at the same time. I realise it will be slow but am
>prepared to put up with it until Broadband arrives.

Seeing your later post saying both machines had XP pro, I assume both
machines are up to date - most new machines have their own on board or
built in Network cards.

It's not that slow uless one is downloading music and the other is
trying something else.

For normal web browsing DUN is not too bad.

Geoff Lane

"Steven Campbell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bmjrbe$ffn$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Steven Campbell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:bmjr2k$2o9$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > > > I thought it was just a case of getting 2 network cards and a switch
> and
> > > > obviously wires and that would be me sorted but after reading
several
> > web
> > > > pages I'm not sure what I need.
> > > >
> > > > The dial-up connection is via an internal modem.
> > > > Will this internal modem be able to plug into the switch? Or will I
> need
> > > to
> > > > purchase something else?
> > > >
> > > > Does a hub and switch basically do the same thing?
> >
> > > Steven,
> > > You need an ethernet card in each PC and one cross-over
> > > ethernet cable. Then run the ICS (Internet Connection Sharing)
> > > wizard on both PCs which will allow the PC which doesn't have
> > > a dial-up modem to access the internet via the PC that does.
> > > If you let us know which version(s) of Windows you are using,
> > > then we could give you more specific advice.
> >
> > Hi Rob,
> > Both PC's are running WinXP pro. Would your suggestion above allow file
> > sharing also?
> >
> > cheers Steven.
>
> I should maybe have mentioned my daughters motherboard has LAN and I was
> toying with changing my MB to the same one. Would that have any bearing on
> it?

No - onboard LAN will work fine, and filesharing can be done too -
it's all pretty easy in XP Pro.
--
Rob

Sorry to be a pain Rob but can I just summarise that i can get an Ethernet
card for my PC and connect it via cross-over Ethernet cable to my daughters
PC which has built in LAN
or
change my MB (which I'm hoping to do soon) with LAN on it and connect both
via cross-over ethernet cable?

cheers for your help

Steven.

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 18:40:55 +0100, "Steven Campbell"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Sorry to be a pain Rob but can I just summarise that i can get an Ethernet
>card for my PC and connect it via cross-over Ethernet cable to my daughters
>PC which has built in LAN
>or
>change my MB (which I'm hoping to do soon) with LAN on it and connect both
>via cross-over ethernet cable?

There are so many options with networking that the more you think
about it the more complicated it can become :-)))

It is however fascinating.

Your option above is probably the easiest but the most flexible is a
cheap switched hub (only about 20ukp), then no worry about cross-over
cables (Not quite so easily available).

Geoff Lane

In message <bmjnod$ngb$(E-Mail Removed)>, Steven Campbell
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>I'm looking for some help / info on the following:
>
>I'm stuck with dial-up connection as Broadband isn't available in my area
>(UK) and doesn't look likely in the very near future.
>
>I want to network my Desktop PC with my daughters Desktop PC so we can both
>access the internet at the same time. I realise it will be slow but am
>prepared to put up with it until Broadband arrives.
>
>I thought it was just a case of getting 2 network cards and a switch and
>obviously wires and that would be me sorted but after reading several web
>pages I'm not sure what I need.
>
>The dial-up connection is via an internal modem.
>Will this internal modem be able to plug into the switch? Or will I need to
>purchase something else?
>
>Does a hub and switch basically do the same thing?
>
>The more I search "informed" websites the more confused I'm becoming.
>
>Thanks in advance for any help / links / info.

There are two basic options.

The first is to network both machines together using Ethernet. One
machine will have the internal network card in it and that machine will
have to be switched on whenever anyone wants to use the Internet. It
will have "Internet Connection Sharing" set up. I think this is the way
you should go. The Ethernet connection can either be a hub, a switch or
the machines can be connected using a crossover cable. If you only have
two machines then a crossover cable is probably the best option. For a
two machine network you probably won't be able to detect any performance
difference between a hub, a switch and a crossover cable.

The second option is to use a separate box to handle the Internet
connection. This is a router. It routes traffic to and from the
Internet. You probably want to switch to this configuration when you get
broadband. You can get a combined router/switch that you can plug
several machines into. There are routers that work using analogue
dial-up lines, this is usually used as a backup to some form of
broadband connection. When you have a separate standalone router you
only need to switch on the machine that needs to talk to the Internet,
each machine can connect completely independently of the other.

There are other reasons why you might want to keep one machine switched
on all of the time. You can set up shared disk space so that another
machine can copy files across as a backup. Don't rely on that as your
only backup system but it's a quick-and-dirty protection against
accidentally deleting a file.



--
Bernard Peek
London, UK. DBA, Manager, Trainer & Author. Will work for money.

"Geoff Lane" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 18:40:55 +0100, "Steven Campbell"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >Sorry to be a pain Rob but can I just summarise that i can get an
Ethernet
> >card for my PC and connect it via cross-over Ethernet cable to my
daughters
> >PC which has built in LAN
> >or
> >change my MB (which I'm hoping to do soon) with LAN on it and connect
both
> >via cross-over ethernet cable?
>
> There are so many options with networking that the more you think
> about it the more complicated it can become :-)))
>
> It is however fascinating.
>
> Your option above is probably the easiest but the most flexible is a
> cheap switched hub (only about 20ukp), then no worry about cross-over
> cables (Not quite so easily available).

Geoff has a good point. I gave you the cheapest option for that
scenario, but as you'll probably want to connect more things to
your setup in the future (eg broadband, another PC) then the above
is the way to go. With a switched hub, you can use standard (and
cheap) ethernet cables.
HTH
--
Rob