Connecting Multiple Computers to a Single Broadband Line
If you have multiple computers at your home or office that you want to connect to a single broadband connection, there are two basic ways to do it:
Sharing an internet connection via a hardware router
Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
Sharing connections via hardware router
Using a router is the best and most common way to share a broadband connection. Router is a device that works as modem and a hub at the same time. Broadband connection is plugged directly into the router and the router then distributes the connection to the computers connected to it. Furthermore the router will set up a local area network in your home or office. All computers that are connected to the router are a part of this LAN also. Routers can have wireless option allowing you wireless access to your broadband and LAN, which is definitely a great advantage that allows you to work from any place in your home or office. The prices of routers have gone down over the past few years and they cost less than 70 EUR now.
To set up your LAN and Broadband you first have to connect one of your computers to your router using a cable, after a short installation you will be able to use your broadband on any computers that are connected to your router by cable or wireless. Even though it might seem complicated, configuring a router is actually a simple task.
Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing or ICS
ICS has been implemented in widows 98, 2000, ME and XP operating systems. This standard will allow you to connect several computers on to a single broadband line. ICS is easy to set up and requires a bare minimum of hardware, however there are certain downsides to them and it should only be used as last resort. There are two basic ways of setting up ICS depending on number of computers you are connecting to your broadband, in both cases you will require an Ethernet card on each of the computers.
If you are looking to connect only two computers you can do that by simply connecting them through a LAN cable and Ethernet cards. Once you have completed the necessary hardware connections, run the set up wizard for ICS in order to set up your connection sharing.
For connecting more than two computers to a single broadband connection you will require a hub or a switch. You will connect all the computers together through the hub, including the main computer who has direct connection to broadband Internet. Downside of this entire concept is that you will have to keep Gateway computer (the one with direct internet access) always turned on in order for all others to have internet access through it. Furthermore running additional process on Gateway computer might cause performance issues. Besides certain applications are known to have problems working though ICS and others simply don't support it, which can disable you from using them.
To summarize, ICS should be used only as last resort when you don't have any other options at your disposal. Connection sharing through a router is much more comfortable and faster, even though it costs more it is well worth it.
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