Hi. I just moved to a new apartment (sharing a separate part of the house with the landlord's family), and will be sharing their cable Internet access. However, I don't know how to connect the cable to my computer and am at a complete loss as to what to do. There is a cable wire for the internet sticking out from my wall, but I have nowhere to connect it. Do I need a separate external modem?

I purchased a wireless router today that connects to my PC, but it still doesn't help with connecting the cable. I'm writing this from K Mart and don't have regular Internet access, which I very badly need. Do I even need the router??

Please help! Email me at <email snipped> if you know what to do.

well you don't really need a router, but it would be the easiest thing now. Connect the cable to the WAN port on the wireless router and install the software that came with it. it's not very difficult

what type of cable is it? ethernet rj-45, bnc video, or is it for a cable tv box i.e coaxal cable?

not sure what type of cable. it's not a phone wire. the slot is like a pin point, so i think it's coaxal.

then you have cable internet. use the software your router came with to make your network.

now for cable internet services here in the u.k, the coaxial cable would go straight to the modem (a/s dsl) then a usb or ethernet cable from the modem to a router or computer depending on connection. so you may need a cable modem, providing the wireless router you brought is just a router not a modem, you may be able to use it will a cable modem.

hope this helps

darren

Second quote first, how do you know that this is a 'cable wire for the internet' and not just a Cable TV connection?

A picture would be worth a thousand words. In each room of the house I have hardwired ethernet connections (will add WiFi later, right now everything is hardwired) they look like a phone type of plug if you don't look too closely at it, but is actually bigger. Each room also has a Cable TV Coaxal connection, so the cable you are looking at might not even be for internet access, but just cable.

Our Hi-Speed internet does come into the house via coaxial cable, but is split immediately, physically in the attic, before any of the Cable TV 'room connections. Most cable companies do this to prevent signal degregation (so i was told). The internet cable 'is always' the first split with other splits going physically to the rooms...but these 'room' connections are only good for Cable TV, not Hi speed internet.

Now the split off splitter #1 is for Hi Speed internet only (not Cable TV) and is physically a coaxial cable. This cable plugs directly into the cablemodem. From the Cablemodem you plug in a 'phone plug like' cable that runs either to your computer or a firewall / router. From the Firewall / router, you can connect to a hub (if you need more then the 4 connections on the back of most home Firewall / Routers) which lets you put on even more computers. The ethernet cables in each room come off this hub or Firewall / Router.

My guess is the cable in your bedroom (if not the main room of the house) is only a Cable TV connector and is coaxial in nature.

The owner of the house should know.

Another way you can determine this is to go to the Cable Modem and verify that it has a coaxial cable plugged into it. Then follow the other cable to the Firewall / Router that it is hooked up to...this is the device that you must connect to in order to access the internet.

If the house is not hardwired as mine is, then you could put a WiFi Firewall / Router on the 'phone like' cable coming from the Cable Modem and surf the internet this way.

Hope this helps. C.B.