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I am connected to internet via cable modem and asked my cable company if I could purchase another cable modem for a second household computer and was told yes but will have to pay another $45.95 monthly fee or that I could purchase a router ...can someone PLEASE explain how a router works and If both computers can be online at the same time ?

You have to get one of these devices - (product features vary with different bands but there are some common features in all of them - so the features/brand selection is upto you - some people i know go by cnet.com/anadtech.com product reviews) - I dont recommend circuitcity at all because of their inflated prices. The links are just examples....

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Netgear- ... tDetail.do

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/D-Link-W ... tDetail.do


You will need atleast 2 of these if you are not using the wireless option - (ypu can get these for cheap in other stores and you can get them in different lengths too)

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Belkin-C ... tDetail.do


For connections-

Right now you probably have something like this...

Cable->Cable Modem->Computer1



For networking you would need to set it up like this

Cable->Cable Modem->Router Input Port

Router Output Port1 ->Compter1

Router Output Port2 ->Compter2


A router sits between the computers and the internet gateway (the cable modem) - It routes the data traffic from all the computers through the gateway - for e.g. If computer1 is transmitting/receiving data this particular nano second - it will hold of data from computer2 for a bit. Data is usually transmitted/received in small chunks called packets - so once the packet time for computer1 is over, computer2 gets to do its thing and so on and so forth. This happens more than thousands of times per second - for the casual user it looks as if both computers can use the net at the same time.

that ethernet cable there is on 7' you might need a longer one depending where the computers are located.. like we got the router in my room so i only need a 10'... but we needed a 50' to go to the rooms on the other side of the house... it also depends if ur gonna just run the wires along the ceiling, or if ur gonna go all out like we did and do it through the walls and everything then ull really need a longer one.. other than that its pretty simple.. the only hard part is dealing with the spiders behind stuff while ur wiring

is there a 50 ft ethernet cable available somewhere or did you use a adapter of some sort to link two 25 ft. lines ?

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Belkin-C ... tDetail.do


theres a 50' there. I'd reccomend going wireless on the computer thats far from the router because you dont need to wire anything up.

yep circuit city, we actually went there to get ours.. the only reason we went with the cable over the wireless is coz its more reliable.. with the wireless u run into to many unknown problems.. too many thing to mess up the signal.. and if theres alot of people living nearby with wireless that can mess up the connection too... when one day u see a wierd name on ur available connections ull know someone close by has wireless as well.. some people do well with wireless.. go for the wireless first if u start to have problems switch to using cables

okay I have a wireless router and I have 1 ethernet cable running from the Cable modem to the Router . then I have a ethernet cable running from Router port #1 to one computer and another ethernet cable running from Router port # 2 to the second computer .....all is working fine , but I don't understand why they are called wireless when I have 3 cables connected to the Router ?

If you dont want to use cables - you need a wireless network card in your computer to talk to the router wirelessly....

Something like this would work -
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Belkin-W ... tDetail.do

I have this - but i would not recommend it because of the signal problems i ran into - netgear brand worked good for me.

**Caution: If you go wireless - refer to the manual and set it up as a secure wireless connection - otherwise any cheap bastard (including yours truly) that is in the wireless range can get on your network.

I as well don't suggest wireless if your looking at an easy ay out....cause it would be more headaches than it's worth. I only suggest it if you have a moving computer, ie:laptop

u dont even need that kind of network card, if u dont want to have to open your computer, u can always get an external adaptor that connects to ur usb.. but im not sure if the adaptor has to match up with the router

no the adapter doesnt need to match the router brand. It will work no matter what brands you use. This is how people can connect to wifi spots no matter what brand of card they have.


Wireless isnt as hard as people here are saying it is. There isn't very much to "interfere" with the signal unless you have a wireless phone running on the same frequency sitting right next to the router. I have 6 computers in this house 5 of them wireless because I dont want wires all over the place.