Please advise on home cable internet setup

  • Thread starter Thread starter Victor Smith
  • Start date Start date
V

Victor Smith

I am basically ignorant about networking, don't want to learn too much
about it, and figure somebody who does know can take a minute to give
me advice. I have googled, but after a couple hours haven't found a
clear answer to my specific needs, or maybe didn't recognize it.
I'll just lay out what I have, and what I want to do as clearly as I
can and ask anybody to provide answers to my questions.

I have Comcast cable TV and plan to order internet service.
I have a Netgear FR114P 4-port router.
All computers are running XP pro.
All computers have a NIC
Main computer in basement, where cable comes in.

I want to have cable internet access to:
Main computer in basement.
Daughter's computer upstairs.
Son's computer upstairs. But his is acting as a file server networked
to a second computer using his NIC and a crossover cable.
He wants to keep that.

I *don't* want Me/Son/Daughter to share anything except internet
access.
I can run cable and install boxes myself.
I can install the Comcast cable modem myself.
But I know I don't know the best way to hook up the pieces.

How do I do it - what connects to what?

What pieces - besides cable and boxes - am I missing to hook this up
how I want?

Can you recommend good quality connectors?

Will download speed suffer from 3 computers downloading at once, and
is there a way to optimize downloads in that situation?

Can I expect beefing from Comcast if I don't configure this correctly?

Thanks,

--Vic
 
Victor Smith said:
I am basically ignorant about networking, don't want to learn too much
about it, and figure somebody who does know can take a minute to give
me advice. I have googled, but after a couple hours haven't found a
clear answer to my specific needs, or maybe didn't recognize it.
I'll just lay out what I have, and what I want to do as clearly as I
can and ask anybody to provide answers to my questions.

I have Comcast cable TV and plan to order internet service.
I have a Netgear FR114P 4-port router.
All computers are running XP pro.
All computers have a NIC
Main computer in basement, where cable comes in.

I want to have cable internet access to:
Main computer in basement.
Daughter's computer upstairs.
Son's computer upstairs. But his is acting as a file server networked
to a second computer using his NIC and a crossover cable.
He wants to keep that.

I *don't* want Me/Son/Daughter to share anything except internet
access.
I can run cable and install boxes myself.
I can install the Comcast cable modem myself.
But I know I don't know the best way to hook up the pieces.

How do I do it - what connects to what?

What pieces - besides cable and boxes - am I missing to hook this up
how I want?

Can you recommend good quality connectors?

Will download speed suffer from 3 computers downloading at once, and
is there a way to optimize downloads in that situation?

Can I expect beefing from Comcast if I don't configure this correctly?

Thanks,

--Vic
Click to expand...

In my system using a D-Link DI-604 router, the Comcast cable connects to the
cable modem. An RJ-45 cable (Cat 5 or Cat 6) connects from the WAN jack of
the router to the RJ-45 jack of the cable modem. The router then connects
to the NIC card in your computer using one of the four ports. The other
computer's NICs connect to the other ports on the router.

When you are ready to see if it all works, disable your firewall. Then,
after you've got things talking to each other, enable the firewall and (in
Zone Alarm, at least) go to the Zones tab and enter the appropriate info.

HTH

Bearman
 
I believe Bearman has the essentials correct. As I see it though you will need a
second NIC card for your sons computer that will connect to the FR114P. That way

his existing file server set up will be isolated from the internet connection.
John
 
In my system using a D-Link DI-604 router, the Comcast cable connects to the
cable modem. An RJ-45 cable (Cat 5 or Cat 6) connects from the WAN jack of
the router to the RJ-45 jack of the cable modem. The router then connects
to the NIC card in your computer using one of the four ports. The other
computer's NICs connect to the other ports on the router.

When you are ready to see if it all works, disable your firewall. Then,
after you've got things talking to each other, enable the firewall and (in
Zone Alarm, at least) go to the Zones tab and enter the appropriate info.

HTH
Click to expand...
Thanks, Bearman. That'll get me started.

--Vic
 
I believe Bearman has the essentials correct. As I see it though you will need a
second NIC card for your sons computer that will connect to the FR114P. That way

his existing file server set up will be isolated from the internet connection.
John
Click to expand...
Thanks, John. Maybe the kid will quit asking me about it now.

--Vic
 
Just call your local Mom&Pop PC store and ask then to set it all up for you.
Click to expand...
Faster and cheaper for me to do. And I won't drill as many holes as
the cable guy did. But it's not bad advice. Thanks.

--Vic
 
A previous post has given the basics.

COMCAST CABLE->CABLE MODEM->ROUTER->PC1
->PC2
->PC3
->PC4->PC5(file server for your son)

All cables after the cable modem are patch cables except PC4 to PC5 which
is a crossover cable like it is now. You should be able to meet spec's with
cat5 UTP. If your runs are long or near other cables, 120VAC, or noise
sources, consider cat 5e or cat6. You may want to be use 50ft as your limit
on cat 5 even though the spec says a much longer distance.
I *don't* want Me/Son/Daughter to share anything except internet
access.
Click to expand...

Turn off file and printer sharing in your lan config.
Use: Control panel->Network

Have them log into their PC's with login names and passwords. Do not let
them use the auto login feature. The XP user manager should handle this. If
you have XP pro and formatted the hard drives for NTFS you can also use
'Access Priveleges' to control who sees what on each machine.
I can run cable and install boxes myself.
I can install the Comcast cable modem myself.
But I know I don't know the best way to hook up the pieces.

How do I do it - what connects to what?
Click to expand...

See above.
What pieces - besides cable and boxes - am I missing to hook this up
how I want?
Click to expand...

A router with enough ports. One port for each PC except the file server.
Two NIC's in the PC connected to the file server. You may be able to
connect the file server to the router and restrict access to the server to
your son. In this way you would only need one NIC in your son's PC.
You'll have to familiarize yourself with the router a bit. The router will
use the IP address given to you by Comcast and will have to be configured
in a way that is compatible will Comcast's network. The PC'c connected to
the router will get their IP addresses from the router and so the PC's and
router must be configured in a way that is compatible. Your routers doc's
should help you out. Basically I think you need to setup the the PC's and
Router for DHCP so the PC's can get IP addresses from the router. The PC's
or the router will also need the DNS server addresses, gateway address and
the subnet mask from Comcast. These might be obtained automatically by
router when it connects to the modem so this may not be a big deal.
Their should be a copy of either 'ipconfig' or 'winipcfg' that will help
with some of this.

You will need to configure 'Client for Microsoft Networks' and 'TCP/IP'
Disable WINS
Disable DNS
Obtain IP address automatically
No Gateway
Bind TCP/IP to the 'Client for Microsoft Networks'
Use: Control panel->Network

This is how I'm setup for Comcast but I do not have a router. Your modem
and router documentation may have more specific info.
Will download speed suffer from 3 computers downloading at once, and
is there a way to optimize downloads in that situation?
Click to expand...

Yes and No. Typical surfing will not be a problem. Downloading files at the
same time may be bandwidth limited but how often are you all gonna be
downloading a file at the same time?

Can I expect beefing from Comcast if I don't configure this correctly?
Click to expand...

No. Don't tell Comcast, what they don't know won't hurt them and will cost
you less. Comcast will want more money if you want them to support this.
They'll ask for more money for more IP addresses. You probably can't
configure this in a way that will cause them problems, so unless you tell
them your doing this, they probably won't find out. In fact, some routers
let you copy the MAC address from your PC to the router so that the router
will look like your PC to the modem. Check your router documentation.

If you switch devices connected directly to the modem you will probably
need to re-boot the modem. This is necessay because the modem will 'lock'
to the first device it sees when it boots. This is done to prevent
connecting multiple devices to the modem. If you don't re-boot the modem it
may not talk to the new device until you re-boot it. To re-boot remove
power from the modem, don't just turn it off, unplug it completely from all
sources of electrical power. Turn off the downstream device, router, pc
whatever. Then turn on the modem and let it boot completely. then turn on
the downstream device, the router in your case.

You may be able to purchase your own cable modem. Check the Comcast forums
for recommendations. Also try:

http://www.dslreports.com/
http://cable-dsl.home.att.net/

These are good info sites. I have seen many posts praising the newer
Motorola Surfboard cable modems. If you purchase your own cable modem, make
sure that Comcast will let you use it on their system. I believe Comcast
has a published list of approved cable modems on their site.

Good Luck
 
A previous post has given the basics.

COMCAST CABLE->CABLE MODEM->ROUTER->PC1
->PC2
->PC3
->PC4->PC5(file server for your son)

All cables after the cable modem are patch cables except PC4 to PC5 which
is a crossover cable like it is now. You should be able to meet spec's with
cat5 UTP. If your runs are long or near other cables, 120VAC, or noise
sources, consider cat 5e or cat6. You may want to be use 50ft as your limit
on cat 5 even though the spec says a much longer distance.
Click to expand...
<snip other advice I've saved>

Thanks, John. Now I'm leagues ahead of where I was.

--Vic
 
For gigabit use cat 6 only.
Click to expand...

Well now we're drifting into the general area of nonsense.
CAT5 is good for much longer than 50ft, and even if half if
the data was resent there's still plenty of throughput
available to use it for 5-10 cable internet connections.

If your runs are near other cables, 120VAC, or noise
sources, the solution is either rerouting the cable or using
shielded cables, not merely a higher CAT #.

If one NEEDS max throughput on long runs higher CAT numbers
are good but it isn't a situation of "gigabit use cat 6
only" at all. GbE was DESIGNED to use CAT5/e, not 6. It is
not going to gain anything to use CAT6 except in very long
runs. There are quite a few NICS out there now with testing
software that one can use to see nothing lost on 5e.
Granted, if someone doen't have the cables yet and finds
CAT6 to be almost same price, it might make more sense, but
that does not equate to a need to replace any
already-existing CAT5/e, especially for a home lan, internet
sharing.
 
Well now we're drifting into the general area of nonsense.
CAT5 is good for much longer than 50ft, and even if half if
the data was resent there's still plenty of throughput
available to use it for 5-10 cable internet connections.

If your runs are near other cables, 120VAC, or noise
sources, the solution is either rerouting the cable or using
shielded cables, not merely a higher CAT #.

If one NEEDS max throughput on long runs higher CAT numbers
are good but it isn't a situation of "gigabit use cat 6
only" at all. GbE was DESIGNED to use CAT5/e, not 6. It is
not going to gain anything to use CAT6 except in very long
runs. There are quite a few NICS out there now with testing
software that one can use to see nothing lost on 5e.
Granted, if someone doen't have the cables yet and finds
CAT6 to be almost same price, it might make more sense, but
that does not equate to a need to replace any
already-existing CAT5/e, especially for a home lan, internet
sharing.
Click to expand...

My bad.
 
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