Networking home computers

First of all, I wish you a very prosperous 2006. 2005 for me had lots of curves and roadblocks, including crazy wack'o people and ill health, but all and all not to bad. Lets hope 2006 is a great year for us all.

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A little over a year or so ago I wrote about networking home computers. At that time I only new two people that had a home network and I was one of them. Now it seems, as I perdicted, more homes have more than one computer and broadband is getting to be the standard over dial-up. You want the main computer and the laptop both to be able to access the Internet.

I have deleted the link and paragraph that was here. I have replaced it with a more simple one.
This is written for local Ripley county Indiana readers, but may apply to other locations also.

Sometimes I forget I have been using computers sense 1981 and some of the things I take for granted everyone else has not a clue what I'm talking about. I received two emails telling me to explain this networking deal. This means the silent majority that never email, might be hundreds or more (i would hope). So here is the network deal in a nutshell.

Verizon DSL

If you have Verizon DSL you have a wireless router already. To surf the Web with another computer you will have to ad a PCI or USB wireless device or card to the second or third computer. Very good directions come with this hardware and all you will have to do is read and install the software. Most all new notebooks/laptops have built-in Wi-Fi (wireless) ready to go. If you have an older one without you will have to ad the Wi-Fi hardware.

Suscom cable

The modem Suscom provides is not wireless. So you can buy one from a computer store like Staples, Best Buy, etc. The draw back to this is you will have to call Suscom and give them the MAC number that you will find on the new modem/router. After you are up and running with the main computer you can set up the other computers. If you use the Suscom modem they provide, you can ad an access point. Read the very clear directions that come with any of this hardware to get up and running.

The above is for Internet access only. If you want a full blown network it is a little more complicated to set up, but it is not that hard if you have XP Home or Pro. Just look in the help files with the key words "network configuring" and don't forget to search the Web for more help. Most home users won't need or want a network. Most just want all the computers to have Internet accsess, if this is the case, don't worry about the networking part.