Finally getting cable - ICS options?

[gatso]

At bloody last.  

Gets installed early Jan and I want the home network all ready and prepped for when it happens. I've got the three PCs (two running win2k, one win98) in my house all hooked up on a basic peer-peer network, just 3 network cards and some cable. They all talk to each other and thats fine currently. Anything else would be overkill. ( RJ-58 cable if i remember rightly - T pieces & terminators )

So. Cable gets hooked up and I want to be able to use it on any PC without having to switch on the one that hosts ICS as currently happens.

Am I right in thinking that I'm after a 4 port cable router? Any suggestions on models bearing in mind that $$$ are not unlimited and cheaper would most definately be better?

Anything else? Do I have to switch to UTP cable?

Ta.

Gatso (hoping he's got all the names right because it's a long time since he took a computing class )

[llyr69]

I'm using a NetGear RP614 router/switch/firewall that was $30 after rebate at Frys. No probs so far, installed like a champ, not a hiccough since.

I just wish I could have talked the wife into getting the model with the printserver built-in too!:rolleyes:

[eagl]

My D-Link DI-604 works great for me and I paid $29 after rebates.  It daisy-chained through the uplink port on my 8 port 10/100 switch without any problems.  There is a similiar model DI-704 but I don't know what the difference is.  I can host H2H through it and it includes a fully configurable firewall and port forwarding.  It's last year's tech so it's not the latest/greatest and make sure you update the bios on whatever you get, but it works and you can find them cheap.  My only gripe is that the embedded web server used for configuration is somewhat slow, but it works and is reasonably easy to use.  There are also plenty of online docs to help you configure and tweak it.

If you have a laptop, consider getting something with a wireless access point built in.  That will bump the cost to somewhere between $90 and $180 depending on features, significantly more if you go with Cisco gear.

[gatso]

Thanks chaps. Having never done this I just wanted to make sure I was starting along the right lines.

Only problem I have now is price, UK prices for computer gear are a bit inflated.  

From Dabs (http://www.dabs.co.uk)
D-Link DI-604 £57.57
Netgear RP614 £57.57

Thats about $91.50 in your money I'll be on the lookout for a bargain over the Christmas holidays lol.

Gatso

[Defiance]

found a 7p cheaper one  lol

Never used this store though

http://www.netshopd.co.uk/query.fwx


found rp614 for £50.04  dunno bout pp though also says 7 days
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=35433
this is on insites site http://www.insight.com/uk/apps/productpresentation/index.php?product_id=DLKNA037ZY

I use dabs/insight/komplett and a few clocking sites
I guess your used to dabs so won't mention them but insight/komplett are topnotch for delivery/service from my experience

[eagl]

I was using my 8 port switch to ensure the highest speed connects between computers on my lan, but just today found out the hard way that it adds one more layer to break.  The switch died and like an idiot, I troubleshot everything BUT the switch because how could a simple switch possibly go bad?  

When it's plugged in and the little lights don't turn on, that's generally a bad thing.  So now only 4 computers on my lan get to talk to each other and the internet because they're all plugged into the router instead of a nice fast switch.  Bummer.

[Dowding (Work)]

Check the thread I started a few days ago - 'One Cable modem account - 2 PCs to connect to it - what should I do?' Has some useful tips.

Based on that info I bought the Linksys BFSR41 - £59.99 from amazon.co.uk (I took advantage of the free packing so went there instead of dabs).

The cabling should come on monday, so I'll have to wait until then tho.