Good works are the fruit, not the root, of salvation
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Basic Network Layout
This page is to assist people who are new to Cable Modems, Routers, Networking and Internet Connection Sharing or would just like to expand their knowledge in those areas.
You should know that in a domestic setting, (at home) sharing your Internet Connection with people that live in your home is perfectly legal. It is not usually legal to share it with people outside your home. An example would be for you to willingly provide Internet access to a neighbor either by a wired or wireless connection. If you use a wireless router it is your legal responsibility to secure it in a way that does not allow unauthorized access. On wireless routers, I usually activate MAC Address Filtering and configure it to deny access to all except those addresses listed. For most private homes, this would be adequate security. You can enable WEP, WPA, WPA2 or WES but you should know that these will slow your speed on the internet because your transmissions have to be encrypted and decrypted. Regardless of the security you choose, you should know that all information you submit over the internet by wired or wireless connections could possibly be compromised. Choose carefully who you send personal information too and make sure your on a secure connection. This is known by the beginning of the URL you are connected to. HTTP is NOT secure, HTTPS IS secure.
To setup a small network with internet access in your home I recommend using a Router and doing the following: The image above is intended to assist in the proper physical configuration.
1. The router by default should be setup as a DHCP Server. This means it will provide the IP addresses to the computers on your Local Area Network (LAN). Pressing the reset button while the router is on should restore the default settings in the router. Resetting the Router is only recommended if you purchased it used and are doing the first installation since it was purchased or if you are trying to solve a connection problem.
2. The computers should be setup with Ethernet Controllers and they should be set to Dynamic IP Addressing which is the default. This means they will get their IP address from the Router as opposed to Static IP Addressing which allows you to choose the specific IP Address you want for each computer.
3. Setup the network as needed with all of the equipment powered off including print Servers, network printers, xBox, Wii and VoIP telephone boxes. By this I mean to connect all of the Ethernet cables to all of the computers, the Router, the Modem and all other devices while they are powered off. See the diagram above. Some Cable Modems have a backup battery in them. This battery MUST be removed to insure that the modem is starting from it's default settings and will seek a new device attached to it.
The Coaxial Cable coming into your home connects to the Cable Modem. Make sure it is in good condition with no sharp bends that cause a kink in the cable and make sure the cable connections on both ends are tight.
Connect a cat6 ethernet cable from the connection on the modem to the "WAN" or "Internet" connector on the Router. Here I recommend a cat6 cable because it is a superior cable to the cat5 for data transfer and this single cable will handel all of your data to and from the internet. The transfer speeds will still be dependant on the port type in the Cable Modem and the Router. Many of the Cable Modems and Routers that were manufactured prior to 2005 only have 10baseT WAN connections. The DOCSIS3 Cable Modems and the newest Routers have Gigabit ports.
Run cat5e cables from the Router to the various computers. Here I recommend cat5e cables unless you have a Gigabit Router and Gigabit Network Controllers in your computers. For Gigabit networks, use cat6. On a 10/100 network, cat5e cable is adequate
4. This is important! Start the Cable Modem first and allow it to boot before turning anything else on. This takes about a minute. The Cable Modem needs to be on and ready when you turn on the Router because the Router is going to request an IP address from the Modem. If the Cable Modem is not ready, the Router can not get the proper address.
5. Next turn on the router and allow it to boot. This takes about 30 seconds. The same principal applies. The Computers are going to individually request IP addresses from the Router. If the Router isn't finished booting, Windows will assign default addresses to the Computers that will be on the wrong subnet so you won't be able to connect to anything over the network.
6. Now turn on the Computers and other devices. As they boot, they should get their IP addresses from the Router and they should be on the internet. If your Computers have shared Folders or Printers you should also be able to see them from the other computers on the network.
All of that should have gone well. You should now be able to access your Router from any of the computers on the network by typing in the Routers IP address in your browser. If you can not access the Router, you need to look at the configuration of any software Firewalls on the computers to make sure that the Firewall is not blocking access. There are too many different configurations to offer any direction for this so check your Firewall help file to make sure it is properly configured. http://192.168.1.1 would be the default address for a Linksys Router and many others. It should ask for a username and password. On a Linksys the username is left blank and the default password is "admin". Now probe around in there to locate and change the password. On a wireless unit, locate the wireless section and change the default channel and the SSID. If there are other Routers in your neighborhood they can cause problems for each other if they are on the same channel. There is a freeware program called NetStumbler that can be installed on a wireless computer and will help identify used and unused channels in your area. It can be downloaded from the MajorGeeks website.
On a Wireless Router, I recommend setting up MAC filtering. You will need the MAC address of each computer that you want to allow to connect through the wireless portion of the Router. Before activating the MAC Filtering get your MAC address from the wireless computers after they have connected to the router by going to "Start" > "Run" then type "cmd" and hit enter. This will take you to the Command Prompt. At that prompt type "ipconfig /all" and hit enter. The wireless adapter should be identified and will have the MAC address listed as the Physical Address. The sequence will be alpha numeric in the following format 00:00:00:00:00:00 They need to be entered in the MAC address list and then check the spot to "Deny all except" and save the changes.
You should now be on the internet with basic security in place. You should also have a software Firewall and Anti-Virus on each computer. I don't recommend using the Windows XP built in Firewall. It provides almost no security compared to others like ZoneAlarm and BlackIce. I also recommend the use of Anti-Spyware software like AdAware or Spybot Search and Destroy. All of these software packages can be downloaded from the MajorGeeks website.
It's important to know that whenever you change the first device connected to the cat5 ethernet cable from the Cable Modem, usually the router, you need to go through the Startup Sequence again beginning with step 3 above. Even if you are just connecting your computer directly to the Cable Modem for diagnostic purposes you MUST do the restart procedure. The Modem remembers the MAC address of the first device connected to it so to clear that MAC address and allow a new device to be connected and configured there, a restart of the Cable Modem is required.
If you're having intermittent connection problems with your wireless machines you should be aware of the following:
1. If you have a 2.4Ghz wireless telephone in use in your home you need to make sure you keep the base station as far away from the wireless router and/or access point as possible. The 802.11b and 802.11g both operate on the 2.4Ghz band as well and they WILL interfere with each other.
2. Also be aware that a microwave oven will jam the wireless signal to and from your router or access point.
3. You may also be having a conflict with another Router in your neighborhood or possibly with a neighbors 2.4ghz phone on the other side of a wall if you live in an apartment. NetStumbler is a useful tool for finding an unused channel in your area.
4. Another seemingly unlikely culprit for wireless connection problems would be wireless security cameras operating the on 2.4ghz band. They can be very difficult to place in your home without causing problems with your wireless internet connection.
Happy Surfing
Shnerdly
Last Updated - December 12, 2009
