Computer network question!

RE: Computer network question!

Microsoft’s proxy server allows you to ‘throttle’ bandwidth, but is it likely that all of you will be using it at the sametime? I would suggest having set-times, almost liek a rota so that you get an hour or so a full capacity to get what you want.

Simmer

RE: Computer network question!

Thanks guys! I’ve got a friend who’s going to get ntl broadband, he’s just got an ASDL Router thingy, which supposedly splits the connection equally between the number of users.

RE: Computer network question!

GZYL,

I assume you are in the UK and are you using cable or ADSL ?

You will need a switch but get one that is capble of handing your broadband connection, NetGear 114 I belive is a good one, but will need to check on the number for you.

So your setup would look something like this

Broadband Box on your wall -> Modem -> Switch/Hub -> PC’s

With regards to make sure each user gets equal bandwidth, I am not sure that is possible on a cheap budget. There maybe some software that will do that for you, but a hub or switch will set you back a few hundred with bandwidth controls and restrictions on it.

Regards

Nikumba

RE: Computer network question!

GYZL,

It largely depends on the broadband provider is the only good answer I can give you without knowing which youre planning to use. The provider that my company supports has a way of limiting the access a customer has to one or, in a few cases I’ve heard of, two machines. This is done by locking in the harware code that is on the network/ethernet card in your pc to the broadband modem and disallowing any others.

Software packages exist that set up whats called a “proxy server” which essentially makes all requests to the internet appear like theyve come from the one pc, with the valid hardware address, that the broadband modem will accept.

Basically the best advice I could give you would be to get the hub and patch cables and see what happens, it could be youre in luck and you’ll get away with it. If not send me a mail, if no-one else pipes up with a better answer, and I’ll see what I can do to find the right software for you, ok?.

The other thing I’d warn you about is that broadband does have a bit of an achilles heel at the moment in that it is a shared bandwidth technology. This means that if you, for example, live on a terrace with ten other houses and they all have broadband, and are using it simultaneously, then you have to share the broadband connection with all ten other users i.e for a 1 megabit broadband connection the equation is 1Mb/10 = 100Kbps for every user. Worth asking your provider about and seeing if you can find out who’s got it in your street!.

Let me know if you need help with anything ok?

Cheers,
Steve

RE: Computer network question!

Just beware that your provider must permit you to plug several users on the same connection… (Even if it is possible to circumvent this “limitation” 😉 )

RE: Computer network question!

I think so …