Sharing a broadband connection?
 

Hi, can anyone help here.

I have broadband which comes into a broadband router/modem. This has two connections, USB (which my flatmate uses for his MAC), and ethernet which I use. I want to be able to use the 2 computers I have on this ethernet connection. Can I buy a 'switch' or such to allow this, without the hassle of building a network, to save me from moving the cable from PC to PC as wished?

Joe

Re: Sharing a broadband connection?
 

If you have two NIC's you could use connection sharing on the one PC that's actually connected to the modem.

However, the easiest way will be to buy a router/modem and put both PC's on what's called a private network. It's about 10x easier than it sounds.

Re: Sharing a broadband connection?
 

Yes, a switch will route ethernet packets in the same way as a router but I'm not sure where you'll be avoiding the hassle of building a network, as a router would act exactly the same in this application. FWIW, setting up a network is not difficult.

Re: Sharing a broadband connection?
 

I concur with what has been said. For or $40 or so (maybe cheaper, it's been a while since I bought this stuff) you can get a Lynksys router to go between your modem/router and all the computers that you want to use ethernet on. I have one of these and I basically plugged it in and it worked. Giving me 4 ethernet ports and another port to go to the DSL or whatever broadband device you are using. You don't even need to install any software on the computers. There is an interface you can use to configure the Linksys box if needed, but I didn't need to use it.

This would leave the USB connect for the MAC guy unaffected.

Re: Sharing a broadband connection?
 

Cheers for all the advice, I've just ordered a linksys router which should be with me in a couple of days.

Joe

Re: Sharing a broadband connection?
 

You are going to realize the linksys is the best router out there to get. Make sure to power cycle your cable modem. The cable modem locks onto a MAC address, so you will need to power cycle it when you hook it up to the new router.