We have all come a long way from connecting to the internet via the old 2400 baud telephone line modem to a slow AOL connection. Now, there are many ways to connect to high-speed internet at various costs and service levels. Today, the Cable TV provided high-speed internet access usually costs about $50 per month in the United States and provides speeds from 1 megabits per second to 3 megabits per second (in some locations). The baby bells have also jumped on the high-speed internet service bandwagon, with various DSL service offers. The DSL service is delivered to your home or office over a standard telephone line, and the cost can be as low as $25 per month for high-speed access. The best thing about high-speed internet service (other than you dont have to wait forever for your favorite web page to load) is the option to connect other users to your same internet connection - and share the service. There are two ways to share an internet connection either hard wire network (using twisted (4) pair Cat 5 wire), or Wireless network. The old-fashioned hard-wire method is still the best for constant connectivity and security. With a hard-wire network and the correct security precautions, it is very difficult for a hacker to access your network from across the street! However, wiring your house or small business for hard-wired internet and network access can be a big job with big costs, and your computer is stuck in one location near the wire outlet. Today the wireless network solutions from Linksys (a Division of Cisco Systems, Inc.) and CableOrganizer.com are affordable, reliable, and secure. Here is a fast primer on how to build your first indoor wireless network to share internet access. The first thing you have to do is purchase a high-speed internet connection from your favorite local internet provider. Both DSL or Cable internet access will be delivered through a high-speed DSL or Cable modem. Now to set-up a simple wireless network you need two more things; a Wireless Router (to connect to your high-speed modem), and a way to receive the wireless signal at your computer, a wireless network card. Wireless Network Cards are available for internal installation as a PCI card, or, as an external plug-in card for your laptop, or as a USB port connection on any computer. I prefer the USB port connected network cards because they are easily portable to any computer (laptop or desktop). The instructions that are provided with the router and the network cards are relatively easy to understand. Just remember to follow the instructions carefully from the beginning. You will be connected wirelessly to the router and the internet very quickly, and you will be amazed at the quality of the 300 feet range connection. Before completing your wireless network configuration, please dont forget to install the recommended security precautions. The Linksys Wireless Routers allow you to specify only the computers that you want to allow access to your network (via the network card MAC address). And, you can also configure 128-bit encryption of all the wireless traffic from your computers to the wireless router. This security is sufficient to deny access to the most malicious hacker attempts, and it is all provided free with your Linksys Wireless network from CableOrganizer.com. There is nothing better than surfing the net wirelessly from your backyard patio on a nice day. Have fun! |
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