How should I set up my home network?

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I'm trying to set up a network for my two computers, I don't have a router but I do have a hub. I have had a network with them sharing a dial up connection. I now have a broadband connection and was trying to connect both together. It was working fine til I accidently turned off my computer, and now it wont connect at all to the net, but the other computer will. ANy advice at all? I'm really going insane here and cant sleep til I figure this out.

I want connect two computer with a single network cable. please help me can do it
thancks

Mully: I'm guessing you need to get a router. I'm not sure how you were configured prior to getting broadband, but a router's going to be the quickest and easiest way to get your scenario working.

mrp: you want this article: http://ask-leo.com/can_i_network_two_computers_with_just_a_cable.html

Hi! My home is currently set up on a "wired" network. We have four computers that all connect to a router, which is located in a bedroom central to the house. This also happens to be where our broadband connection comes into the house. This is my college age son's room and he is usually away at school, which means no computer is hooked up in there usually. He brings his laptop home on weekends and connects it. We want to switch to a wireless network. We have a total of 2 PCs and 2 Macs. Some already have wireless cards in them. I think all we need to get is the wireless base station to do this (and of course, two more wireless cards for the remaining computers without them), but what I'm concerned about is does there have to be a computer hooked up to the wireless base station at all times to run it or just to configure it? Or are we good to go once we plug it in? This wireless stuff is foreign to me.

I also have a question and concern about speed. My son has a laptop (the one in college) PC with an 801.11g card in it. He says he gets great speed at college. My laptop (Mac) can only run an 801.11b card. I'm planning on getting an 801.11g wireless router, as I believe they are down compatible as well to 801.11b (please correct me if I'm wrong), but I am worried about the speed of that, as compared to my current wired setup. Since I work from home on my Mac, mostly on the internet (web design), speed is of course an issue for me. Will I get roughly the same speeds as I do with wired or am I going to experience a "downgrade" in my speed with 801.11b wireless? My office is less than about 50 feet from where the router will sit, however it is a different room.

A wireless access point or router does not need a computer to run. You'll need one to configure it, of course, but once set you should be good.

Your DSL connection will be the limiting factor for internet speed - so the number of computers and what they're doing on the internet will affect your speed much more than simply adding another wireless computer.

hello! i have recently bought a network switch in order to set up my home network. in the switch i have plugged my 2 computers and the connector from my broadband. my host computer can still connect to the internet through the switch.
both of the computers are showing the presence of a network but only my host computer can ping the client and not the other way round.
Please help!!

My guess is you need a router, not a switch. These articles should help:
http://ask-leo.com/why_does_my_home_network_only_work_with_one_computer_at_a_time.html
http://ask-leo.com/whats_the_difference_between_a_hub_a_switch_and_a_router.html

Hello,

I have two desktop pc's, a laptop, and a "Talk Broadband" gateway that I use for telephone service from my cable internet. I also have a router, and have recently purchased a hub. Before buying the hub, I had the cat5 cable from my modem running to my TB gateway, then from the gateway out to a landline phone, and a cat5 out to my router, then to my 3pcs. According to my TB provider, this is the way that the network must be setup, with the hardware available. I was discontent with this set up for 2 reasons.

1. The TB is a bit unreliable, and ocassionaly goes off line, denying me not only phone service, but also denying internet to all my hosts.

2. I have other members of the house that I share the single internet connection with, and they need to have their own individual ip address, of which my cable isp provides, but are not accessable when using only the router.

So upon getting the 4 port hub, I connected the TB gateway from the hub, and nothing out from the TB gateway that would be affected by it going off line. I use the other three connections from the hub for the 3 pcs and they now all have their own unique ip address. The problem is that I now cannot use my router, which I especially like for it's use as a physical firewall, not to mention the home networking features. Any suggestions?

Not sure why you can't use your router. I'd try internet - to hub, and then the TB gateway to one port on the hub, and the Router's internet side to another port on the hub. Other computers can connect to the hub if they want, or to the router.

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