Hi! New here.. Need alot of help with Telewest connection..

[chunkspeed]

Hi people!!

Just registered here as my mate says this is one of the best forum around to ask tech questions!

I recently applied for a Telewest cable broadband, 4Mb version.. (not installed yet, but will be soon on Tuesday next week)

But I have 2 PCs at home that needs the connection, but im a uber noob, and afaik the set top box will only have 1 ethernet socket..

So my problem is, what should I actually buy to get both my PCs connected to Blueyonder? Does Telewest provide this? Anyone mind lending me some advice?

I have looked through Scan (again, recommended by a friend).. and have absolutely no idea which to buy.. Do I buy a switch or do I buy a Broadband router? How do I set it up? How to I get it working?

I'm using the internet from work here. Thanks again for all the help!!!

[jamena]

telewest will give you a modem with one ethernet port on it (and a USB port but you don't really want to use that with two computers...). You do not need the software CD blueyonder will give you (possibly if you use the usb port you might, but I'd avoid that)

If one of your computers is always on and has 2 ethernet ports of it's own you could use that as a server/router although buying a dedicated router is probably the best (and easier) way to go about sharing the connection.

Basically what you need is some ethernet (cat5) cables, or some wireless 11b/g cards and a router+switch unit (NOT an ADSL modem+router combo unit though!). If you want wireless then get a router with wireless (11g 54mbps works nicely and is pretty cheap). Linksys and netgear both make pretty good consumer examples and most will let you set them up through a web browser - with most routers you can probably pretty much just plug it in and go though learning a little bit about setting them up won't hurt much

p.s. if you opt for wireless then you will want to learn about setting up wireless encryption/security of course

[chunkspeed]

Not looking to get wireless!

And both my systems have only 1 ethernet port..

I'm a total noob.. so are there any model you can suggest? Maybe a link to the etailer?

When I get the router, how do I set it up? Does the fella that comes over from Telewest on Tuesday be able to set it up for me? Or is setting it up myself as much painless as it is? If I was to set it up on my own, I'll definitely need alot of help..

[schmunk]

I have a Telewest connection which goes through a router to one PC (it used to be 4 though...)

You need the stuff that jamena mentions above.

Then, you connect the Telewest feed to the WAN port of the router and attach the PCs to the LAN ports (wired or wireless). Then you can get into the fun of Port Forwarding etc...

If you're looking at Scan, you would need the wireless routers under 'Cable/BROADBAND Routers' not the 'ADSL Modem Routers'.

For a wired connection, any of the Switches listed will be fine, as they are all ethernet devices.

(For the purposes of this post, Switch = Router)

edit:

From Scan http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=172376 is a good-enough wired Switch. Note that this (and any other Switch/Router) will also allow you to share info between the PCs. You've got yourself a home network!

I doubt the Telewest man will help you set up the Router, as I don't think they support multiple PCs per connection (even though it works perfectly well). However, it should just be plug and play - set your PCs to 'automatically detect settings' and make sure they have the same workgroup name and they'll see each other and the outside world.

[chunkspeed]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=172376

Will this work?

[jamena]

quick search for cheapo routers came up with this
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/52897
...not exactly packed with features but will probably "do the job" just fine. £15ish plus delivery

A better brand further down the ebuyer page is perhaps the linksys for £36ish
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/54772
linksys customer service was good when I used it - nice to know when you can't rely on the e-tailer

Anything much more expensive (over £30ish plus delivery) I'd suggest something like the MSI router from SCAN?
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...=431&OrderBy=3
imho you might as well get the wireless bit and then disable it until you wish to use it.

...scan will undoubtedly give you better after-sales service and support than ebuyer (they have a subforum on the hexus forums where you receive answers pretty quickly as well as phone/email/etc) although if you got the linksys you should be able to go direct to them and bypass ebuyer (whose support in the past has beer poor for me)

Also once you've been on the hexus forums long enough you can sort out free delivery from scan we like scan.

p.s. telewest will provide you with probably one ethernet cable which you can hook up to the router, so you will need one for each of your computers - check the lengths you'll want based on where you plan to put everything... cat5/ethernet cables are cheap

[jamena]

I doubt the Telewest man will help you set up the Router, as I don't think they support multiple PCs per connection (even though it works perfectly well). However, it should just be plug and play - set your PCs to 'automatically detect settings' and make sure they have the same workgroup name and they'll see each other and the outside world.

yes - it should be a simple matter of pluggin the cables in and switching the bits on.

That router from scan looks fine?

The Telewest guy might help, but it depends entirely what sort of day he's having. Usually they're in a hurry too. Have a think about where you want the telewest connection box and where you want the modem/router to sit (e.g. in a cupboard out of the way, or under the TV, behind one of the computers, etc) before the engineer arrives I've had them route cables through flats before (again depends on the guy you get - some aren't as nice)

[schmunk]

When I got NTL in a shared house, the NTL guy ran (and tacked) the TV cable through the ground floor to the sitting room at the back, then ran (and tacked) the internet cable up a flight of stairs and then back along the landing along the length of the staircase into a cupboard.

For my current Telewest, they simply ran it up the side of the house and then drilled a hole through the wall to put the cable next to the sitting room TV (upstairs flat).

[jamena]

I've twice had telewest tacking cables and drilling holes through walls to put the modem in a suitable cupboard in the house... subsequent cat5 cabling can be done yourself but I have to say wireless is a lot easier and cleaner

[gman1981]

When the Telewest man came to fit my TV, net and phone he tacked the TV cable round the wall and asked if I needed and more cable. I asked to have a lot of slack on the modem cable in case I needed to move it later on.

[chunkspeed]

okay.. but will the above I mentioned work for my case?

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=172376

Like I said before, I don't need wireless..

wats a cat5 cable? are these similar to those ethernet cables?

I would have thought the set top they provided will drive into the router and the rest of my computer just plug into the ports on the router? But I have absolutely no idea how to set it up..

[schmunk]

okay.. but will the above I mentioned work for my case?

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=172376

Like I said before, I don't need wireless..

wats a cat5 cable? are these similar to those ethernet cables?

I would have thought the set top they provided will drive into the router and the rest of my computer just plug into the ports on the router? But I have absolutely no idea how to set it up..

Yes, that router will work just fine.

CAT5 is ethernet cable of suitable quality for 100Mb/s networking over reasonable (e.g. inside a house) distances. If you want to use Gigabit ethernet (1000Mb/s) or have longer cable runs, you may want to use CAT5e or CAT6 cable. Note that doing this would only ever improve the network speed, not your internet connection speed.

You're correct with the setup. Modem -> Router -> PCs. I suggest you Google for a guide to setting up a home network for further instructions.

[chunkspeed]

Yea! I suppose a little google wouldnt hurt..

But does changing between ISP mean any different? I mean.. perhaps Telewest setup is abit different than those general setting up on the net?

I tried their website.. which was not helpful at all.

[schmunk]

Make sure your PCs are set to 'never dial a connection' and that networking settings are set to automatic. The PC should then just automagically find the internet connection!

For the PCs to see each other they need to be in the same workgroup - just make sure that the 'Workgroup' name is the same.

[chunkspeed]

Cool thanks alot guys.. I'll keep you guys posted!

I've opted for the Dlink router.. Just waiting for one of the Scan ppl to reply on the router revision as I have been told (again by antoher helpful member in Hexus) that rev 1 routers were rubbish..

[gman1981]

good luck