Can you have two modems on at the same time from pne phoneline socket?

Question

Heres the situation:
Im thinking about having a laptop with wireless interent.My sister has a pc and thats where the phoneline socket is.There is only one socket, so can she have her modem on while my wireless modem is on at the same time when there just on phoneline socket?how?

I have something connected for my internet now and it has bt voyager 205 adsl router - looks like a modem to me though?

Answer 1

Nope. The dialup modem plays a constant tone that's modulated (changed) to carry the data. This is originated at the modem so you can't have more than one computer on the line.

Now, if the "phoneline" is really a broadband connection, you can hook up a wireless router to the broadband modem and plug the desktop into the router. You'll get WiFi and she'll still get access to her broadband connection.

Answer 2

William is correct about the difference between dial-up and a broadband connection. I understand some individuals, especially when out in the country, or in an area where broadband has not yet reached, and it is odd, but somebody across the street, or down the lane can have broadband, but not you, still need to utilize dial-up. I also understand that in some cases even if broadband is available, dial-up is far less expensive, $9.99 or less a month, compared to $39.99 and above, and as such some people choose to use dial-up instead of broadband. Sometimes it is just watching each penny, in order to better handle finances, and sometimes it is simply because the higher prices are just out of range financially.

Whatever the reason, if your sister is using dial-up, all is not lost. You can still use her connection, with Internet Connection Sharing software that ships with Windows. It is a bit more dicy using ICS with dial-up, but it is not impossible.

The two major limitations is that in order for the second computer to connect through the first computers internet connection, first there must be two ethernet adapters in the Server computer. The Server is the computer through which sharing is enabled. The other limitation is that the Server must be on and the Internet connection open, or active, in order for the other to connect. Well, there is a third, but it is more of a hassle, than a limitation, it is that the laptop will need to connect via an wired ethernet adapter, rather than the wireless adapter. Most laptops ship with both types of adapters these days, so that shouldn't be an issue. If it is, you would need to purchase an wired ethernet adaper and the cable to hook up to your sisters second adapter.

Now, the easiest by far to share a connection is with a router. Not all connections are broadband, though they are by far the best. There are many who still use dial-up, even businesses, in order to keep costs down. So, you can use a dial-up connection, it just becomes difficult at best because the Modem is usually internal when using a dial-up connection.

Because of this, you and your sister would need to purchase an external dial-up modem, which can then be connected to the router, as with a broudband modem such as cable or dsl.

For easier would be if you and your sister went in together to purchase a broadband subscription with an ISP. Share the costs and buy a wireless router to share the connection. This gives a far superior experiance with the Internet, allowing multi-media to stream into both systems, and through the router to other devices you might wish to connect to the network, such as game consoles, enterainment devices, print servers, etc.

Another option would be for you to purchase your own ISP subscription, setup a new line, and add your own modem, and hook up to the internet with a wired connection, or also purchase a wireless router. The home would then have two seperate connections, but I would encourage you to go with cable so that you don't have to purchase a second phone line and go to all the trouble to add the second line to your home.

If you went with a cable connection you could easily setup a wireless router.

I still think it would be far more feasible for you two sisters to go in halves on a new broadband connection and hook up a router for you two to share the connection. It is simple, easy and you wouldn't need to purchase a lot of extra hardware, or go to the trouble of having extra phone lines etc.

Talk with your sister and see if she will be willing to do this with you. Good luck and I hope you two get it all sorted out so you both have a great connection to the Internet. Have a great holiday season.

*note* Please understand that there are *two* main types of broadband these days, one is Cable and the other uses the Phone Line. There is also a third out now too which uses the Home Power Lines.

This means that if you went with Cable, your sister could keep her current connection, and you could have your own. Don't let others confuse you on this point. You can have your own line if you go with a different type than what your sis is using.

I still think it would be the best for you two to share.

Answer 3

Yay wireless, one of the things I've dealt with a lot. Okay for wireless to work you need a couple of things, one of them is a router. You can find one at any computer store. The router will have to be connected to an external modem. This is where things get tough because you have to find one that hooks into the router. but once you have that your sister should be able to hook into the router wired and you will be able to connect to the router wirelessly. This will be an extremely slow connection, and to be honest not worth the money you lay out to find these parts. I would just upgrade my internet and go with router. The article I cite will give you other tips about how to do it, but your throughput will be terrible.

Answer 4

If you had ISDN, (ISDN uses a RJ 45 jack like standard Ethernet where a phone jack is RJ 11) a wireless router and configured Windows ICS this would be possible. Even then it wouldn't be really worth it practically or cost wise, as when the both of you were online you'd drop to a slow painful crawl.

My advice to you would be to spring for cable internet or DSL at the very least before trying to share a net connection.

Answer 5

To use 2 machines on the same line you need a broadband connection, this goes to the phone socket, and then a wireless router. Both machines can then connect to the router, either wired or wireless.

Answer 6

Well why don't you just connect your wireless laptop with your sister modem. You shouldn't need 2 modems. I think that should work just fine.