hi all,

I am looking at setting up a small home network comprising of 3 desktop PCs and a laptop PC. I am confused as to what i am going to need in order to get this network up and running properly. I have a 4 port cable/dsl gateway router already but i want all the PCs to share the same internet connection. i believe that in order to be able to do this successfully i am going to need a modem router and possibly an ethernet modem. the one i have at the moment is a usb adsl modem. please tell me what i will need and how to set up my small network.

thanks
jan

The 4 ports on the back of your cable/dsl router are switch ports, which means that they will all share the same connection to the internet. If the router is talking to the internet everything else will as well.

Because you are currently using a USB adsl modem you will need to replace that with and ethernet adsl modem. The ethernet port on the new ethernet modem will connect to the WAN port on the 4 port gateway router. All of your computers will connect to the ethernet ports on the gateway router. As long as your PC's are set to use DHCP and your gateway router is a DHCP server (most are) then you are done.

thanks. do you know of anywhere either in the uk mainland or online where i might be able to buy one.

also how do i ensure that the pc's and the router are set to DHCP, and how can i ensure it'll work with my ISP which is virgin.net

cheers

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/sto...d&tm=undefined

Sry bout the long link.

Get one of these packages, I have one, its very sexy, and you can have four wired PCs and extra wireless PCs like your laptop, (if it has wireless G / B, or you want to get a card).

Also good if the PCs arn't in te same room, as you can get a wireless adapter, save cables around the house.

Note if you do get one, it comes with one RJ45 Cat5e network cable, you will need an extra one for each wired PC. Also me thinks you have BT Broadband?

Cool, I'll check the thread over the weekend in case you have any queries, but its much the same as most Wireless Router / ADSL Modems, whichever you may choose to get (if you decide to do so) they are great as a one box solution to a Broadband Heaven around the home.