My wife and I finally were able to get our internet, cable tv, and phone through one company, so we upgraded to have the cable internet.   So far it's great.

I've got a few questions.
1.   I've seen that most people leave their computers on all the time, and leave the connection open.   During the summer, I leave my computer on most of the day to access it, but during the school year, I only turn it on a few times a week, and on the weekends.   Am I supposed to leave it on all the time now?  

2.  I've gotten in the habbit of plugging in my very old laptop from school, into the phone connection upstairs and serfing AFRCOM while my wife watches TV.  She will not watch tv down stairs....with all the nice stuff, including the computer, so I'm left using the old laptop.    Now that I've got cable, how do I go about getting on the net with it?  What will I need to do this?

"That, or just get a wireless router and wireless card for your PC."

That would be the easiest and probly cheapest.  As an electrician, you dont want to pay someone to run wires throught a finished wall/house.  Especially CAT wires.  And please don't try to run them yourselve.....unless you live by me so I can fix them later

Quoted: "That, or just get a wireless router and wireless card for your PC." That would be the easiest and probly cheapest.  As an electrician, you dont want to pay someone to run wires throught a finished wall/house.  Especially CAT wires.  And please don't try to run them yourselve.....unless you live by me so I can fix them later

Home improvement is my specialty

Seriously, there is an exterior wall(garage on other side of wall) to the house that has the CATV cable coming into the house for the basement(main computer).    The CATV cable would only  have to go up to the upper story(we live in a typical bi-level home) and through the wall in the garage.


I installed my own phone jack on that same wall for dial-up when we moved in.   Could I do something similar with the CATV cable so that I could hook up the laptop?   Would I need a second modem? Or, can I plug into the existing one in the basement?

Sorry for such simple questions, but I'm an absolute neubie when it comes to networking.  The closest thing I have done to networking is hooking up two Xboxes together...  

Im not in any way a computer expert but I have run wires.  Most CAT wires(this would be your networking cable/patch cord) can only have 25lbs pulled on them before you damage your wires.  Remember when you are pulling around corners/bens its adds more resistance (which leads to more pounds).  These wires must also not have a sharp bending radius.  If they run close to power wires they may interfere with them as well.  

Acouple rules:
1: When possible, make CAT wires and power wires cross at perpendicular points (90 degrees).
2: Keep CAT wires at least 2" from power wires and 12" from ballist (flou./neon lights and such)
thats all I can think of.   If I remember any more tips I will post later.

Quoted: Im not in any way a computer expert but I have run wires.  Most CAT wires(this would be your networking cable/patch cord) can only have 25lbs pulled on them before you damage your wires.  Remember when you are pulling around corners/bens its adds more resistance (which leads to more pounds).  These wires must also not have a sharp bending radius.  If they run close to power wires they may interfere with them as well.   Acouple rules: 1: When possible, make CAT wires and power wires cross at perpendicular points (90 degrees). 2: Keep CAT wires at least 2" from power wires and 12" from ballist (flou./neon lights and such) thats all I can think of.   If I remember any more tips I will post later.

This is kind of scary, but I knew this from the 100ft CAT V cable that I take along with me on overnight trips to play XBox with my students in hotel rooms.


What I don't understand is what the hell do I do with it when I get it upstairs?   Shoving it up my  ass isn't going to get me ARFCOM......I don't think, although the feeling may be similar to surfing the GD.

I noticed a "firewire" looking thing going from the modem to my tower.   Could a second similar wire be plugged into the existing modem, and then to the laptop?   My lap top is an old....old....old one, and I'm sure it is not wireless ready.  

Go wireless and dont even piss around with hard wiring it.    Much easier.  

Quoted: Go wireless and dont even piss around with hard wiring it.    Much easier.

Might be "easier" in the short run, but any large transfers between pc's might want hardwiring. Depending on how far away the pc's are and if an attic is available, just hard wire the network. Heck, I have no attic and I fished all of the cable through our place. But I still used wireless on the 3rd story and 2nd story to give the laptop users some portability.

-d

Quoted: "That, or just get a wireless router and wireless card for your PC." That would be the easiest and probly cheapest.  As an electrician, you dont want to pay someone to run wires throught a finished wall/house.  Especially CAT wires.  And please don't try to run them yourselve.....unless you live by me so I can fix them later

Fishing wire isn't that hard at all. Just need to know the construction of the house and have some patience.

-d

Quoted: Quoted: Im not in any way a computer expert but I have run wires.  Most CAT wires(this would be your networking cable/patch cord) can only have 25lbs pulled on them before you damage your wires.  Remember when you are pulling around corners/bens its adds more resistance (which leads to more pounds).  These wires must also not have a sharp bending radius.  If they run close to power wires they may interfere with them as well.   Acouple rules: 1: When possible, make CAT wires and power wires cross at perpendicular points (90 degrees). 2: Keep CAT wires at least 2" from power wires and 12" from ballist (flou./neon lights and such) thats all I can think of.   If I remember any more tips I will post later. This is kind of scary, but I knew this from the 100ft CAT V cable that I take along with me on overnight trips to play XBox with my students in hotel rooms. What I don't understand is what the hell do I do with it when I get it upstairs?   Shoving it up my  ass isn't going to get me ARFCOM......I don't think, although the feeling may be similar to surfing the GD. I noticed a "firewire" looking thing going from the modem to my tower.   Could a second similar wire be plugged into the existing modem, and then to the laptop?   My lap top is an old....old....old one, and I'm sure it is not wireless ready.

If you plan on using the laptop upstairs all the time, you can do the following.

1) Buy a wireless router or just wired router.
2) Run a CAT5 (Ethernet) patch cable from the DSL/Cable modem to the router
3) Run a CAT5 patch cable from the router to the computer.

Now, depending on the laptop, it might have a network connection on it already. If not, you might be able to install a wireless card in the laptop, either by pcimia slot or by using USB. If you get wireless, no need to do anymore work other than setting up the wireless connection on the laptop. So if you don't use wireless and the laptop has a network jack...

4) Run a CAT5 patch cable up to the second floor, install CAT5 jack.
5) Plug a CAT5 patch cable into the laptop and then to the jack.
6) Browse ARFcom

-d

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Im not in any way a computer expert but I have run wires.  Most CAT wires(this would be your networking cable/patch cord) can only have 25lbs pulled on them before you damage your wires.  Remember when you are pulling around corners/bens its adds more resistance (which leads to more pounds).  These wires must also not have a sharp bending radius.  If they run close to power wires they may interfere with them as well.   Acouple rules: 1: When possible, make CAT wires and power wires cross at perpendicular points (90 degrees). 2: Keep CAT wires at least 2" from power wires and 12" from ballist (flou./neon lights and such) thats all I can think of.   If I remember any more tips I will post later. This is kind of scary, but I knew this from the 100ft CAT V cable that I take along with me on overnight trips to play XBox with my students in hotel rooms. What I don't understand is what the hell do I do with it when I get it upstairs?   Shoving it up my  ass isn't going to get me ARFCOM......I don't think, although the feeling may be similar to surfing the GD. I noticed a "firewire" looking thing going from the modem to my tower.   Could a second similar wire be plugged into the existing modem, and then to the laptop?   My lap top is an old....old....old one, and I'm sure it is not wireless ready.   If you plan on using the laptop upstairs all the time, you can do the following. 1) Buy a wireless router or just wired router. 2) Run a CAT5 (Ethernet) patch cable from the DSL/Cable modem to the router 3) Run a CAT5 patch cable from the router to the computer. Now, depending on the laptop, it might have a network connection on it already. If not, you might be able to install a wireless card in the laptop, either by pcimia slot or by using USB. If you get wireless, no need to do anymore work other than setting up the wireless connection on the laptop. So if you don't use wireless and the laptop has a network jack... 4) Run a CAT5 patch cable up to the second floor, install CAT5 jack. 5) Plug a CAT5 patch cable into the laptop and then to the jack. 6) Browse ARFcom-d

Thank you!   I think the laptop does have a network jack, because it was used at my school, before it was loaned out to me.  

If it doesn't, my wife said that her place of work has several old laptops that are not being used that are wireless ready.   I'll go the wireless route if I use one of those.

Thanks for the simple instructions!

very welcome.

-d

Quoted: Im not in any way a computer expert but I have run wires.  Most CAT wires(this would be your networking cable/patch cord) can only have 25lbs pulled on them before you damage your wires.  Remember when you are pulling around corners/bens its adds more resistance (which leads to more pounds).  These wires must also not have a sharp bending radius.  If they run close to power wires they may interfere with them as well.   Acouple rules: 1: When possible, make CAT wires and power wires cross at perpendicular points (90 degrees). 2: Keep CAT wires at least 2" from power wires and 12" from ballist (flou./neon lights and such) thats all I can think of.   If I remember any more tips I will post later.

I run a lot of Cat 5e and Cat6 for work.  It aint rocket science, though we like to make it sound like it is.

The two rules above are good ones though, pay attention to them.  I've not had much issue with sharp bends though, and when the shit hit it I've pulled a lot harder than 25lbs once or twice That's why they put the Kevlar in there!

Anyway, if you can run phone wire you can run Cat 5.  It's the same type of cable as Cat 3 phone wire, just with four pair inside instead of two.  They're all color coded.  Getcha a patch panel, some RJ45 jacks, some surface mount boxes, and a punchdown (or impact) tool to seat the wires and you're golden.  

Now electricians.. They've got it bad.  That shit'll kill a guy.  Network wire is a cakewalk compared to that.  It's pretty damn resilient too, especially when we're talking home networking speeds and distances. The protocols involved are all error correcting anyway.

If you're getting a box of wire, might as well pick up a few bags of RJ45 plug ends too, and a crimper.  No sense paying $2 a foot for patch cables.  Orange/white, orange, green/white, blue, blue/white, green, brown/white, brown.





Heh.. Come to think of it, maybe you DO want to go wireless

went wireless.

Not fun, not easy.  Netgear customer service sucks.  Dell sucks, but they helped.  

Long story short.

No driver for ethernet port.
cable company used USB instead of asking me why no driver.
Netgear customer service sucks.
Dell helped me figure out the driver issue.
Cable company had to restart the modem
Netgear sucks.
10hrs later, and no firewall, I've got wireless access with my wife's toshiba Win2000 laptaop

I forgot to add in my last post that to all of you who told be to go wireless......


I hate all of you.

Quoted: I forgot to add in my last post that to all of you who told be to go wireless...... I hate all of you.

It would've been the same thing had you used wires.. Bridging the gap is the easy part

Quoted: went wireless.                 absolutely nothing wrong with wireless Not fun, not easy.  Netgear customer service sucks.  Dell sucks, but they helped. yes netgear is horrible Long story short. No driver for ethernet port.                       this is simple to load what model numer is your system cable company used USB instead of asking me why no driver.       all the cable co is required to do is get the serivice working, this is the easier route..... imagine that Netgear customer service sucks.              see above Dell helped me figure out the driver issue.         im sorry you had to put up with them Cable company had to restart the modem           huh Netgear sucks.              see above 10hrs later, and no firewall, I've got wireless access with my wife's toshiba Win2000 laptaop

you must mean encryption,  that is not that easy to setup, linksys now has 1 touch encryption with their new equipment

Quoted: Quoted: went wireless.                 absolutely nothing wrong with wireless Not fun, not easy.  Netgear customer service sucks.  Dell sucks, but they helped. yes netgear is horrible Long story short. No driver for ethernet port.                       this is simple to load what model numer is your system sure is, if you know it isn't working cable company used USB instead of asking me why no driver.       all the cable co is required to do is get the serivice working, this is the easier route..... imagine that They could of at least said, your ethernet port isn't working, sense I asked them about installing wireless Netgear customer service sucks.              see above Dell helped me figure out the driver issue.         im sorry you had to put up with them Cable company had to restart the modem           huhYup, I called them, they shut it down and started it back up from there. Netgear sucks.              see above 10hrs later, and no firewall, I've got wireless access with my wife's toshiba Win2000 laptaop you must mean encryption,  that is not that easy to setup, linksys now has 1 touch encryption with their new equipment

Yes, encryption is not enabled at this time