To use your computer on the Internet, you normally want a broadband connection to the Internet through the telephone or cable system. The telephone and cable systems are both analog systems; that is, they carry a signal that continuously varies. Your computer can only think in terms of ones and zeros, or digitally. The modem is a device that converts the digital signal coming out of your computer to an analog signal for the telephone or cable system and converts the analog coming in from the telephone or cable line to a digital for your computer. You connect with an Internet provider such as AOL. Comcast, Verizon, or whoever you choose using this broadband connection.

The word "modem" is an abbreviation of modulator/demodulator, which defines the actual process used for this conversion. To send information on the telephone line, the computer's digital information modulates a carrier frequency in the modem. To receive information the modem must demodulate the incoming signal, extracting the digital information from the modulated carrier. The broadband modem is actually more complicated than the dial-up modem. For purposes here, we are describing only its primary function.

Whereas you can connect to the Internet with a dial-up connection using a low-speed modem, the most practical connection today is the broadband. Broadband implies a single cable carrying multiple types of signals. The two most popular types of broadband Internet connection are DSL and Cable.

With a broadband connection to a single computer network at a small office or home, multiple users and computers in the same location can share a single Internet access.

Cable Broadband

If you are using a cable hookup, you can use speeds up to 300K or more, depending on the number of users at a time. A splitter is installed in incoming coaxial cable that goes to the television, and second cable runs from the splitter to the cable modem.

DSL Broadband

If you are using DSL, the modem connects to the telephone line and the computer or computer network connects to the modem. The telephone line can be shared with a voice line and/or FAX. In other words, you can talk on the telephone while you are working on the Internet. As a result, if you are using two lines now (one for the phone, another for the Internet), you can almost save enough to pay for the DSL by getting rid of one phone.

With DSL, the line from your house is twisted-pair, and goes a relatively short distance to a central station. From there, the high-speed Internet traffic is taken off the twisted-pair and routed through more appropriate cabling and equipment to the Internet. As a result, just because you have a phone system doesn't mean you can use DSL access necessarily. The telephone company servicing you must certify the quality of the lines from your house to the office and have the proper equipment at the office. You telephone company can tell you if your local phone line will support DSL.

Overview of Installation

In its simplest form, the telephone line connects to a DSL modem using telephone twisted-pair cable. Another type of twisted-pair cable, called Category 5 cable, connects the modem to the computer Ethernet network client adapter.

If using a cable modem, a splitter is inserted into the coax line to the television system and coax lines run from the splitter to the modem and television. The Category 5 line runs from the modem to the computer.

Note: With some modems, the modem is connected to the computer through what is known as a crossover cable. This cable looks like any other CAT 5 cable, but the transmit/receive wire pairs are reversed internally. Crossover cables can be used to connect two network computers without the need for a hub. Read your modem instruction manually carefully to see what type of cable is used when you plan a direct connection to a computer or when, as described in the next paragraph, a router.

This direct hookup will work, but you are asking from trouble. When you log on to the Internet, your host system will assign you an address on the Internet automatically. There are a lot of hackers out there that take delight and testing thousands of addresses very quickly to see if they are valid. When they find a valid address, they download a "trojan" program that opens a door into your system for them. They can then use your system for spamming other computers, stealing your data, or whatever suits their fancy. An anti-virus program won't help you here. You need what is known as a firewall. You can use a software firewall on your computer; but you also may wish to use a hardware firewall. This is normally sold as part of a router and may include a switcher as well. A router is a device that connects two networks. One network here is the Internet; the other is your local network (even though it may only have one computer).

The modem now connects with a CAT 5 cable to the WAN connection of the router/firewall/switcher. Another CAT 5 cable connects one of the switcher ports to the computer. If you are planning on installing a wireless network, the router is part of a wireless gateway or access point. It normally has a router, switcher, firewall, and more in it. The hookup is still the same. it's just that the wireless gateway has two antennas on it that enable the wireless connection to the other computers.

Hosting Services

If you wish to create web pages and put them up for others to see, you need a hosting service. Some of the Internet Providers provide a small hosting service for their clients at no extra charge. For more serious work, you need to lease a hosting service, such as the one we provide. The cost varies with the service provided; but in most cases you should expect to pay about $20 a month or less. You also need some type of FTP transfer software to transfer the pages you create to the hosting service. This software is inexpensive and may be free or shareware.

Tips:

• Buy all of your network equipment from the same manufacturer. Although there is exists a standards for networking and wireless networking as well as the Internet interface, some things outside of the standards vary with manufacturer.
• If possible, purchase your CAT 5 cables in different colors. This helps if you have problems later and you need to trace cables.
• Keep a written record of the hookup, settings, cable colors, procedures, and any other thing relative to getting you system configured.
• For networking, the strongest Window products are Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional. Windows 95, 98, ME, and XP Home have weak networking support although they can be used in networks to a limited extent.
• All of your network components should have the WiFi logo on the box and with a check list on the logo label of what type of networks (A, B, G, etc.) it will work with.

Let us help you with your network!

8/16/2004