Written: 5/30/99
Author: Moto
Home networking is a fast growing trend. With
PC prices heading into the $600 range, more and more families are buying more
than one PC for the home and networking them together. One of the most
compelling reason for networking PCs is to share access to the internet. Instead
of having an internet account for each PC, you have one internet account and all
the PCs in the network use that account to access the internet.
Who should get a network?
Families: Many families with
children have more than one computer. One for the kids to play games and surf
the net and one for the parents to do word processing, financial stuff and
internet access. People with one computer often get a second phone line just for
internet access if they use the net allot. With more than one computer in the
house, there are bound to be conflicts over the use of the phone line. This is
where networking the 2 (or more) computers together and using internet
connection sharing can help.
Home Office: If you have a
home office you have to share the resources of the home, and this often means
that other members of the family might want access to the internet at the same
time you do. Home offices can also have more than one user. Internet connection
sharing is a cost effective way of letting everyone in the office and home have
access to the internet at the same time if needed.
Roommates: If you're a
student, then you know that households of three or more students, all with their
own computers, are not uncommon. If everyone wants their own access to the
internet, it would require a phone lines and internet accounts for each person.
By networking all the computers together and using internet connection sharing,
only one line and one net account is needed.
How Does This Work?
For internet connection sharing to work, all
the computers that want to access the internet have to be networked together.
One computer has access to the internet and all the other computers in the
network access the internet using that computer's internet connection. Each
computer on the network can be on the net individually, or at the same time as
the other computers, using only one phone or cable or ADSL connection.
All you need to do this is to have all the
computers networked together and use special internet sharing software. One
computer will act as the "host" and the other computers in the network will be
the "clients". The host will have a physical connection to the internet and the
clients will access the internet using the host's connection.
This works very well. A single user can
barely tell if they are on their own connection or on the host's connection. One
would think that if you share a connection with another computer you would cut
your speed in half. This is not the case. Most internet use is characterized by
bursts of activity followed by quiet periods. Unless you are playing online
games of downloading a program or anything that requires a steady stream of
data, two or more users can surf the net together at the same time without much
speed lost using internet connection sharing.
Next Page: Internet Sharing Software
