Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (
More info?)
iamaran wrote:
>>>Before you go running off and spending your money you might want to
>>>consider this: a router is for one thing in a home network and that
>>>is sharing the internet connection. And doing this demands that your
>>>modem be able to connect to it. A "normal" router will have an
>>>ethernet connection for the modem. There are routers that connect to
>>>the modem through USB but these are pretty rare and routers for
>>>dialups are nearly unheard of. So, what sort of a modem are you using
>>>for your internet connection? If it is, (shudder) a dialup or
>>>internal to one of the existing PCs you do not really need a router,
>>>just a simple hub or switch to allow ICS in one of the PCs to provide
>>>the internet connection to the other two as well as allowing file
>>>and printer sharing.
>>
>>A hub would be fine if they were all wired links but he's adding
>>wireless and there isn't a 'wireless hub'. He needs either a wireless
>>access point or a wireless router and the router is more flexible as
>>it has the hub for his other two machines built in.
>>
>>And there is no 'requirement' that the modem connect to 'it' (the
>>wireless router). Mine works just fine using one of the machine's
>>internal modem, and it's internet access, as the wireless access point
>>and hub for the wired LAN.
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> Okay, well the modem is an external USB one for ADSL.
> However, in the existing setup (via crossover) the 2nd PC merely uses
> internet connection sharing - it doesn't access the modem directly or
> through a hub, but via the PC to which it is connected.
It'll work the same way: The PC with ADSL acts as the internet sharing
connection for the other two. That is how mine is setup as well except mine
is a plain old dial-up modem. (I'm on the breakfast nook machine right now
talking through the wired LAN port in the wireless router to the internet
connection sharing computer but I could just as well be on the wireless
notebook. Just depends on where I am
)
If you had a modem with an ethernet connection you could plug it into the
wireless router and each machine would then have independent access to it
as the wireless router is capable of performing the (NAT) internet sharing
function. In that case you wouldn't need to keep a 'sharing' computer
turned on for the others to talk to the internet because there wouldn't be
one: the router would do it.
It'll work either way. In your case you're simply not going to use the
build in NAT, since your ADSL PC will be doing that, and it'll act similar
to a 'hub' but with the additional wireless access functions added (plus
DHCP for the wired LAN if you want to use it).
A wireless connection needs something that's 'smart' on each end because it
doesn't just throw RF into the air and 'poof' talk. It negotiates, and
checks, certain parameters to make sure the remote wireless device is
authorized to access the LAN. In the simple case, which I would recommend
using for a number of reasons, that comprises which frequency it's set to
(obviously both must be on the same one) and the station ID, which you
program into it (and the notebook). Which is why a simple 'hub' isn't
sufficient for wireless.
The more secure means is using "WEP" (Wired Equivalency Protocol), which
sends a unique code with every transmission. Unfortunately, not all
wireless products use precisely the same WEP configuration (although that's
getting better) and the extra code takes up a significant amount of
bandwidth (slows the data rate). Again, a simple hub could not do WEP.
Home wireless products don't have a great range, however, and someone would
have to be not only close by but intentionally trying to break in to figure
out even the simple station ID. User security on your own LAN adds another
layer of security for your own files. If you're really worried about it,
though, you could disable DHCP and use a single, fixed, assigned IP to your
notebook and block the others in the wireless router (again, not something
a hub could do). That way there'd be no IP address for an intruder to use
unless your notebook is off and they guess which '1' you have enabled (plus
which frequency you're using and what your station ID is). If you're super
worried about it you could use WEP.