Q. How can I share cable or DSL Internet access with the
other Macs in my house?
A. The latest thing that everyone is buying nowadays is
broadband Internet access, whether by cable, DSL, or even satellite
(only on the PC side so far). With prices dropping lower and lower
every day, it seems like no home is complete without broadband. But
what if you - like many modern families - have multiple computers
in your household, and they all need Internet access?
It was very easy to share dialup access. All you needed was a
modem for each computer, and you were set, as long as you didn't
both need to connect at the same time. However, with the
"always-on" feature of broadband Internet, things become more
complicated. Today I'll tell you how to share your Internet
connection with two or more computers.
First we should discuss the benefits of sharing an Internet
connection. The first is that everyone can have the Internet at the
same time and much faster. This is a big improvement over dialup
access, which only allowed one computer to connect at a time, not
to mention tying up the phone line.
Another advantage over traditional dialup access is that
sharing broadband allows each computer to have its own IP address.
I could write an entire article on this topic alone, so without
getting into too much detail, for our purposes an IP address is
like a phone number each computer has. Every time you log onto the
Internet (even through a dialup service such as AOL, CompuServe,
or NetReach), an IP address is temporarily assigned to you.
Since broadband Internet is "always on," every computer
connected has its own permanent IP address. While this seems
simple, it allows you to use nifty features of the Mac OS such as
printer sharing and many other cool third-party apps.
Okay, so now that we're done with this whole spiel on why you
should share your Internet access with the other Macs (or PCs, but
we'll save that for the next article), let's talk about how you
actually get this daunting task done.
First, you'll need to have broadband Internet service. Comcast is among my favorites, mainly
because they offer support for Macs, especially Mac OS X. This
is a welcome service they offer, especially in today's PC dominated
computing world. Of course, you might not have any choice about
which company you go with in your area.
Once you've got broadband set up, you'll need to make a
decision. To connect multiple computers together, you need
something called a router. A router can either be a hardware device
(something that looks like an ethernet hub) or a software router,
which needs a host computer to work correctly. (See Setting Up a Cable or DSL Router for more
on routers.)
You can choose either one, depending on your situation. An old
6100 or something of the likes can
make an excellent server if you have one laying around. The only
limitation is that it will require a USB port (which rules out all
the Quadras and pre-PCI Power Macs) or two ethernet ports to work.
You can also make your own computer the host, but most people
choose not to, because it requires the computer to always be on,
and it is likely to slow down your computer.
Because of this, most people chose to use a hardware router, and
there are many options available. Netgear, as well as many other
vendors, makes hardware routers. And in most places they can be had
for less than US$150.
Like many other things, OS X has a built-in software router,
called Natd. So if you are using OS X, you can get away
without using a program such as SurfDoubler
or IPNetRouter.
To make things easier, Sustainable Softworks makes a nice piece of
freeware called IPNetShareX
to help you configure the Natd software router.
Now that you've hooked up the modem and router, you'll need to
hook all of your other computers together. We'll do this via
ethernet, as most Macs already have a built-in ethernet port. If
you're using a software router, you'll need a hub, and once again,
Netgear is my vendor of choice, and most ethernet hubs can be had
for under US$50. If you're using a hardware router, there may
already be a hub inside your router.
After all of this is set up, it's time to configure the router
and get online! This is an easy step, but it is different for every
brand of router you buy, so be sure to read the manufacturer's
instructions.
Once this is all done, it's time to start sharing.
