I have a home network with NIC cards, wire and a ConnectGear 5 port router. I currently have a rough DUN connection that is a pain in the neck. The ISP does not seem to be able to maintain the dial up's effectively enough. What happens is my modem stops getting data from the network. USR replaced the modem and the phone company tested the lines.

This is a problem because I cannot find how to make ICS work with more than one connection, so the network becomes useless to the kids. This has been a major pain in the neck so other solutions are being looked at.

If I should happen to go to the ISP and say "Put me on cable" they will provide the connection and the cable modem. What do I need to do to enable the other computers to network through mine, hardware, software, and set up please.

My system is XP Pro. One of the other systems is Windows 98 and the other is Windows 2000.

Thanks

For multiple computers to utilize one "connection" to the internet, you have the following simple options:

1. Internet Connection Sharing (ICS): Here, you need to set up an ICS Host which should have two Network Interface Cards (NICs - one for the internet connection and one for the LAN), and one Ethernet Hub or Switch. The hub/switch would be attached to the second NIC and all the other computers. Then you would need to install the Windows ICS Host software on the Host Computer and the Client software on each of the other computers - this tells the Clients what their internet gateway is. The drawback with this approach is that the gateway (Host computer) must remain ON for any other computer to connect to the internet, and if you're using Dial-up, the connection must be active for this to work - this means No Phone for anything else (like talking).

2. Router with Dial-up Capability: If you want independent connection with each computer, you can get a router that has dialup capability and a serial connection to which you can connect an external modem. You would set up this router for your dial-up needs using one of the computers, and then connect everything - no extra software required or wanted (for those ISPs that require their package to be installed, this approach won't work). The disadvantage here is similar to #1 - No Phone for talking.

3. Router for Broadband: If this fits your budget, this is by far the best approach and the easiest to incorporate. In this arrangement, you will have your Broadband Modem (sometimes supplied by the ISP) connected to the Cable/DSL Router's WAN port and all the other computers connected to the LAN ports. You would set up the router using one of the computers and then all could access the internet and each other if you also wanted that and again, no additional software is required or, in my opinion, desireable (some ISPs want you to install their package which does little more than create problems and in some cases acts as a reporting mechanism). You would also have "liberated" your phone for talking whether you use Telephone or Cable Hi-Speed.

Thanks, that is consistant with what I thought. Now to find the broadband router that IS within the budget <g>.

A "wired" router is very cheap these days, it's the broadband ISP monthly fees that I was refering to - around here the residential rates for broadband are about 4 to 5 times dialup rates.