[thechat] networking fun and a stupid question

.jeff jeff at members.evolt.org
Sun Mar 10 02:48:01 CST 2002


shirley,

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> From: Shirley Kaiser, SKDesigns
>
> > color me silly, but why not remove the pci card for
> > the modem and replace it with a network card?
>
> Hmmm.... well, but I'm still using a dial-up modem to go
> online.
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that's officially icky.  ;p

i figured since you were doing a network that you had a broadband connection
already.  my mistake.

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> People have told me that I can get online with one
> computer and then have them all online.  Is that correct
> even with a modem and dial-up?
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yes, if there were all win2k you could do that using its built-in dial-up
sharing feature.

i've got one better for ya though.  go to the store tomorrow as you planned.
instead of buying a usb 10/100 nic, buy a cable/dsl firewall/router.  choose
carefully though.  with alittle looking you should be able to find one that
has built-in dial-up backup protection.  rather than use the firewall for
cable/dsl with dial-up as a backup, you'll just use the dial-up feature as
your primary means of connecting to the internet (you will need to buy an
external modem if you don't already have one).  let the firewall perform
nat/dhcp for you and you're all set -- every computer connected can surf at
the same time.  additionally, you'll be putting all your machines behind a
protective screen.  if you ever go to some form of broadband connection in
the future you'll be all set and can just plug the cat5 from your broadband
modem into the cable/dsl/wan port on the firewall/router.

here's some info on the firewall/router i have, which supports dial-up
backup.

http://www.dlink.com/products/broadband/di804/

you can get it new off amazon.com right now for about $80:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005ML8V/

there are a couple on ebay too:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2007048164
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2008776385
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2008727137

that last one even has 2 network cards as part of the package

in case you don't have an external modem, i found some 56k external modems
on ebay too, that are pretty reasonably priced:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2007082144
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2007715679
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2007177536
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2007206635

enjoy,

.jeff

http://evolt.org/
jeff at members.evolt.org
http://members.evolt.org/jeff/




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