Okay here is my situation. I just bought a 4-way cable splitter and I hooked up three TVs to it and it works fine. I also get cable internet connection through these lines. One of these cables which is hooked up to a TV is also hooked up to a cable modem for internet access(I guess there is another splitter for that.) I was wondering if there is any possible way (seeing that there is still one prong from the 4-way splitter not occupied) if I could get internet access from it by hooking up something to it. I know that if you hook up a cable modem to it the ISP will ask you to pay extra and I don't want to have a wireless connection. Is there something I can connect into that extra prong to give me access to the internet or is there something I can hook up to the cable modem to give me a wired connection? Thanks in advanced.
You can get a router, go from the cable modem, to the router, from the router to your PC, and also go from the router to another PC, using Cat5 cable,if you don't want to go wireless.
Thats what I was thinking, getting a router and doing what you said. I came up with a new idea though I don't know if it will work. What if I get a ethernet splitter and connect it to the cable modem. Will it work and if it works how will it decrease the internet speed.
I haven't had the opportunity to use an ethernet splitter, so I can't offer an opinion on that. Someone else should drop in and let us both know if that is a viable alternative.
I looked it up and saw no splitter that can share the internet connection. I've decided I might get a switch. The only problem is that I don't know how it works. I searched for a good explanation but I can't find one. Do you need a router for the switch or can you just plug the cable modem straight in the switch then plug in the rest of your stuff through the other ethernet ports? Again thanks for all your help!
The cable from the wall goes connected to the modem, from the modem connect the wire to a router(instead of to the computer). A basic router has about 4 ethernet ports (where cat5 cables can be connected to) each port carries an internet connection. So basically you can connect 4 computers to that router and have full LAN and internet on each computer. Now if you want to connect a 5th computer, that's where a "switch" would come in. You would connect the switch to the router through a cat5 cable, now the switch will provide you more LAN/internet connections. I have a 5 computers connected through a 4port router and a 8 port switch. I never really noticed any slowdown on internet surfing on any computer, or when playing games through the LAN. As long as you have a "router" (my airlink 101 router cost me 30 dollars), and a "switch" you can connect as many computers as you want. And no particular computer has to be on, so that all the computers can be on the internet. The router is programmed during setup to provides the isp with the requiered authorization for your home connection. I've had this setup for almost 2 years and have never had problems connecting to the internet, it's very reliable. As to your question about a "switch". The switch is like a splitter for ethernet cables. It's more of a "dumb" type of product, without a router it can only be use in a LAN type environment.
the switch will let you have internet on all your pc's but if it's directly connected to the cable box you will have to authorise all the pc's with your cable supplier, going the router way is cheaper and easier you only have to clone your original pc's mac address
you must have a little cable modem ddp once they are registered you can chuck anything on and only have to reboot the modem at least thats what we do over here
pcrepair, it is a motorola modem, about 14cm x 18cm with both usb & ethernet connections. even on my customers' systems i haven't set up the mac address with or without routers.
