Cable Internet Home Networking

could u explain this a lil more, geminiwave. sorta confused by this. btw the advertised speeds for the internet is 3MBs dn / 256K up.

so u would suggest i get the cable modem/router and mom get the wireless card instead? yes web browsing and email is all she does on the web.

 

I also have Comcast HSI, and though I only have a one floor house, I did have a similar problem when I was setting up my network. My mother also does simple web-browsing, email,etc, and I have a D-Link 624+ Wireless G router with a Wireless NIC for my mom's comp. I do have to tell you, that your ceiling will probably hurt the signal a lot since I get a low signal when my mom's computer is about 100-200ft away in another room. Your best bet if you really want wireless is an antenna that will extend the range of your router. Since your mom will be doing the simple e-mailing, etc the bandwith that she uses will be fairly small in comparison to what is actually provided to her. Meaning that though she will have slower connection, it will be fast enought to load webpages, etc quickly. What Comcast advertises as 3MBs dn / 256K up, is what they say will come through the cable and to up to the modem. After that it depends on how you set up your network. If you create a direct connection from your modem to your router to your computer, then you will have a fairly close speed towards what they offer minus environmental circumstances (essentially the environment the cable is in underground, etc...basically out of your control). Your mother on the other hand will most likely have a much slower connection than yours in terms of bitrate but as mentioned before, it will not be a noticeable hit for her. A word of advice when dealing with a D-Link router; I've found that they tend to play nasty when you have SP1 installed on one computer and SP2 on another. Make sure that if you do get one that you have the same Service Pack on both computers before setting up the network. SP2's firewally tends to get funny when it deals with networks that have started off of SP1. I'm not sure if this is a universal thing with all D-Link routers, or any router for that matter, but I have run into this before, and it will save you a couple of hours and prevent a lot of frustration. Good luck!

 

Okay first off...your speeds of 3Mbps means Mega-bits so that is 3000Kbps divided by 8(one KiloBYTE is 8 KiloBITS) so 375KBps is going to be your download speed. So that being said, you'll get around half of your speed if going through a wall or ceiling or something solid. Many walls have metal in there which interferes with radio signals. Or any number of things. Some insulation will do it too(alot of insulation really).

Yes I would suggest that you get the Cable modem\router and your mom gets the wireless card. She wont have ANY speed problems for what shes doing and thus wont notice the difference between 100KBps and 400KBps. even if she got 20KBps she might not notice any speed difference. You on the other hand will notice it big time. Especially if you game.

 

do u know of any routers/nics that have these antennas? or is it something seperate i'll have to buy?

 

its something seperate you have to buy. unfortunatly they CAN be rather expensive. Honestly though, I think you'll be fine. Just get something with some strong antennas on them like a D-link or a linksys. Though Linksys appearently is starting to go downhill...I've had really good luck with mine. It works like a champ.

 

Be sure to look into power line adaptors, they can be had for about $8 off ebay, but they only work at 14MBps, although they have no interferance.

 

what exactly is that? do i need it?

 

well after waiting for almost a week, i finally got my cable internet... the tech came in today and spent over an hr trying to set the modem and software up. turns out he didnt plug in a usb cord into the modem... i should get another mth free for figuring it out...

 

I HIGHLY reccomend using a wired connection

I'll have a how-to guide thing up in a little bit.

 

Hey Pr0digal, what are your reasons for suggesting a wired connection?