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2007-02-09 01:57:53 · 2 answers · asked by Fr0z3nByt3 3 in Computers & Internet Computer Networking

2 answers

I guess you want to hook up multiple computers together to either share files or share an internet connection? Cost will depend upon how much equipment your computers already have, plus how you want to connect them (wirelessly or wired). For example, many computers already come with either a wired network adaptor or wireless network adaptor. But in general:

First, you'll need a router, a device that takes the signal from the modem and routes it to your different machines as well as allows communication between them. You can go wired (meaning you connect the machines to the router using a network cable) or wireless. Wired is faster, more secure, and easier to establish a connection (i.e., just take a look at all of the questions on Yahoo! Answers from people who have problems establishing their wireless connection). A strictly wired router will run about $40. Since the cheaper wireless routers are close in price, and most wireless modems will also allow you to plug in a network cable for wired networking, you may want to still get a wireless modem in case your needs change in the future.

Wireless is slower, but that is only significant if you plan on tranferring huge data files from one computer to another. The primary benefit of wireless is it gives you the flexibility of locating the computers in different rooms (well, you can run wire from one room to the other, if you're a decent do-it-yourselfer). A decent wireless router will run about $40-$60.

You want to make sure you install the router (and, hence your DSL modem or cable modem from above) in a centralized location in your home so the signal will reach to the most areas. That is, the signal strength from the wireless router to your machines will depend upon how the distance and how many obstructions (walls) there are between them. If your router is in the basement at one end of your home and one of the machines you want to connect is on the second floor at the other end, you may need to buy a repeater or access point for about $50.

Each machine needs a network adaptor if it doesn't have networking built in. For a desktop machine, a wired PCI network adaptor (a card that you install inside your machine) is about $20. For wireless, a desktop card will run about $40. For a laptop, a PCMCIA card (a card you fit into a slot on the side) will run about $40-$50 for wireless, $30-50 for wired. For either type of machine you can get a USB network adapter that plugs into the USB port. That offers the most flexibility and ease of installation. Wired versions are about $30, wireless a little more expensive.

If you go wired, then you'll also need network (ethernet) cables, which are cheap, to connect the router to each machine.

Bare minimum requirement is a router and a network adapter for each machine if it doesn't have networking built-in. If you're not sure if your machines have networking built-in, right-click on My Computer on your Desktop. Select Properties. Click the Hardware tab. Click the Device Manager tab. If you have a network adapter built-in, you should see a "Network Adapters" category in the list, coming after Monitors. Click on the plus sign next to Network Adapters to see what kind you have.

2007-02-09 02:08:54 · answer #1 · answered by rongee_59 6 · 0 0

Hi, What kind of network are you aiming for? Peer to peer or Roaming User authentication? I good starting point is using Windows Help located under the "Start" button. Type Networking in the search box.

2007-02-09 02:05:06 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

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