Author Topic: One Cable modem account - 2 PCs to connect to it - what should I do? (Read 885 times)

Dowding (Work) · « **on:** December 09, 2002, 06:15:48 AM »

Hiya

I've got a cable modem account where I'm living now, and there are two of us in the house that play AH etc. Now, I'd like to connect both of us to the internet using the cable modem, what do you suggest?

I've done some research, and it seems I need a router. One that comes highly recommended is the LinkSys EtherFast Cable/DSL Router with 4-Port 10/100 Switch (Model BEFSR41). At £60 ($80), it sounds good. We both already have NIC cards and the cable modem etc, so I'd just need the router.

Unfortunately, my ISP uses a dynamic IP. All I know about that is that is its not static.

And that causes problems with having to get a new lease from ISP for the new IP... as you can see I haven't got a clue what I'm talking about.

Has anyone in AH set-up a similar system to what I'm proposing or has any suggestions?

I would be very grateful - otherwise its no internet or AH for me until next August when I move into my own place (not built yet).

Thanks!

AKDejaVu · « **Reply #1 on:** December 09, 2002, 06:52:09 AM »

Is one of you using WinXP or Win2k?

AKDejaVu

Reschke · « **Reply #2 on:** December 09, 2002, 07:16:32 AM »

Have you checked to make sure that the IP that is "dynamic" actually changes? With my ISP I have had the same "dynamic" IP for over 3 years now. It does not matter if I reboot or stay offline for up to a week or two the IP comes back to what I have continued to see. It might change for me soon though because I am moving about a mile from where I currently live but I don't know yet.

With that Linksys router you can tell it to use the dynamic IP in the setup. I have a friend who has a cable modem with that router and he has 6 computers in his house hooked up into it. I can ask him specifics later today when I see him.

Eagler · « **Reply #3 on:** December 09, 2002, 07:42:57 AM »

router or pay ur ISP for an additional IP

Dowding (Work) · « **Reply #4 on:** December 09, 2002, 08:13:34 AM »

Both PCs use Win98 SE.

Not that it will mean anything to you guys, but it's Telewest's Blueyonder 512 K service. I read this by someone on the Amazon.co.uk site:

"However there is one major failing in that it has no facility for forcing a renewal on a lease from the service provider. On Blueyonder, for example, there are often problems which require you to run winipcf to drop the lease and force a renew. With the linksys the only option is to unplug it and await the lease to be dropped at the Blueyonder end which usually means waiting overnight. Other wise it is absoutely brilliant and I cannot imagine life without it. "

Now, I think he's talking about problems the router has with blueyonder, since I've never had to use winipcf in the 18 months I've had the service running on one PC.

Then there was this in quite a comprehensive review:

"Also, if you have a dynamic IP, you will have NO CONTROL over your DHCP IP. There is no option on the Router's interface for either renewing or releasing your dynamic IP. You can't even see when your lease expires! You will be at risk of loosing your IP's frequently. Just wait awhile and see what kind of future support comes down the pipe. LINKSYS: We really need to be able to refresh our dynamic IP's and see the status of our current lease!"

Thanks for any help, regarding this.

ebgb · « **Reply #5 on:** December 09, 2002, 08:13:50 AM »

Agree with the above. Linksys router worked very well for me,
5 comp's. Our ISP went dynamic and I never knew. The few
times we had a problem we'd just power everything down for
a couple of minutes and power it back up and it worked again.

It is also possible to use one of the computers as a gateway. Not sure if WinXP does this but Win98SE will for sure. Only trouble with this is one of the computers has to be on just as the
router would have to be.

Dowding (Work) · « **Reply #6 on:** December 09, 2002, 08:18:59 AM »

Did you have any trouble playing AH over more than one machine?

jonnyb · « **Reply #7 on:** December 09, 2002, 09:07:07 AM »

I've got the Linksys router. I've also got cable with dynamic IP. The router has a webpage interface you can access very easily. Once you connect the router to your system, open up your browser and goto 192.168.1.1. This will bring up a message box asking for a username and password. Leave the username blank, and put "Admin" as the password. This will bring up the web interface, where you can tweak to your heart's content.

The Linksys router can be setup to use DHCP, or you can statically assign IPs to the machines on your network. The default is DHCP, and is the easiest to use. Traffic routes just fine through the machines, and you can put as many machines as you want on the network.

boxboy28 · « **Reply #8 on:** December 09, 2002, 10:27:07 AM »

Easiest solution is pay for the additional IP
for me here its on $6 a month for the additional IP

DAVENRINO · « **Reply #9 on:** December 09, 2002, 12:08:35 PM »

$5 / month here

funkedup · « **Reply #10 on:** December 09, 2002, 02:05:24 PM »

With my ISP, we just requested an extra IP address ($5/month), then plugged a switch into the cable modem, and plugged the computers into the switch. Set both computers to DHCP and voila we were in business.

2Slow · « **Reply #11 on:** December 09, 2002, 02:23:11 PM »

I use a use a hub and linksys router. I have not had any problems. I set the router to use the mac address the ISP set for my system. I have 6 PC's going at the same time with no issues.

I use the router DHCP for internal IP addresses and have set the router to refresh with the ISP.

eagl · « **Reply #12 on:** December 09, 2002, 04:26:37 PM »

I use a DLink DI-604 and it works fine. It's quite cheap (under $50 and you can get rebates to make it cheaper) and it includes enough firewall and router features to keep you safe AND let you host from behind the firewall. My only grip with it is that the setup is accessed via a web server embedded within the router, and that embedded server is pretty crummy. Other than that though, it works great.

My setup goes like this: Cable modem plugged into WAN port on router, router port 1 plugged into uplink port on 10/100 switch, and 6 computers plugged into the switch. Everything works great including hosting AH H2H (after I told the router to forward tcp and udp ports 2000-5000 to my game rig.)

Thorns · « **Reply #13 on:** December 09, 2002, 08:52:33 PM »

I have a 4 port DI-704, and it was really cheap too...$39.00! I run 2 computers, and my laptop for work. Nicest thing is the company pays for Cable Internet connection.

Thorns

Blank · « **Reply #14 on:** December 09, 2002, 10:21:59 PM »

I am also on telewest blueyonder cable in bristol.

we have 3 pc's and 1 mac in the housend a SMC barricade SMC7004BR 4 port router, and i have no problems with it.

I have win XP pro on my machine and the others are WIN Me and MAC OS 9.

very simple to setup you have one ISP which the router uses and it it then assigns new ones to each of the machines in the network.

you just go round each machine in turn and release IP then renew it.

have no problems except if I Disco in AH sometimes it makes the cable modem die and I have to reboot it.

No one else in the house plays AH, but we can play quake 3 online all at once / browes internet and no problems.

hope this helps