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View Full Version : can't connect laptop AND home PC to NTL broadband


bushido26
07-04-2005, 21:18
Hi,
My set up is that I have a cable modem which connects to 3com wireless access point, and is then hard wired to the home PC. My problem is that I cannot connect wirelessly while I have already assigned my home PC an IP address and vice versa. Meaning that my wireless connection works ok when my home PC is off. It is as if the NTL DHCP server will only allocate 1 IP address to my broadband connection.

Is there something I need to set to enable both my laptop and home PC to dynamically grab an IP address from my NTL cable modem??

jellybaby
07-04-2005, 21:30
Has the access point not got a built in DHCP server? If it has, enable it. This way it should allocate an IP address to both devices

Jez
07-04-2005, 22:25
Hang on - you say "access point" - is this what you mean? I may be quite wrong but I didn't think an access point had DHCP - you'd need a router for that, which - if I'm right ;) - would be why you can only ever get one IP address, as it'll be the one coming from the cable modem.

Tezcatlipoca
07-04-2005, 22:51
It is as if the NTL DHCP server will only allocate 1 IP address to my broadband connection.


That's exactly what it does :)


You need to get yourself a router. You could get a wireless router, but, as you already have a wireless access point, you could just get a normal wired router (as a wireless router is really just a router with built-in WAP).

Matth
07-04-2005, 23:41
An "Access point" is essentially a wireless version of a hub, and not a wireless version of a router.

Two pieces is a more expensice way of doing it, but if you add a cheap router - I'm quite happy with my Sweex LB000021 - then that would do it.

Begize
07-04-2005, 23:41
How is the cable modem connected to the access point? Does it have a built in hub? My access point does DHCP but this will be no use to you as people said above, NTL only allow one device / IP concurrently per connection.

You need something to "front" the connection to NTL, either a router or perhaps an old PC with two network cards and some firewall software.

Either way, plug the cable modem ethernet into the one "side" of the router / firewall and your access point / hub into the other. Turn on DHCP on the access point (if it has it), create a range that includes the address of the router as the default gateway and you should be laughing.

DocDutch
08-04-2005, 13:53
How is the cable modem connected to the access point? Does it have a built in hub? My access point does DHCP but this will be no use to you as people said above, NTL only allow one device / IP concurrently per connection.

You need something to "front" the connection to NTL, either a router or perhaps an old PC with two network cards and some firewall software.

Either way, plug the cable modem ethernet into the one "side" of the router / firewall and your access point / hub into the other. Turn on DHCP on the access point (if it has it), create a range that includes the address of the router as the default gateway and you should be laughing.

nice advice there with the last bit but then you would need to switch on internet sharing and that can be more bother then worth. best idea I could give you is going for a cheap router and connect the AP to that wired, also change the ip address of the AP to that of the router so you can always get into it in later stages to either setup security or anything that you might need to do, or as mentioned earlier just get a wireless router and those a going down in price hard.

bushido26
08-04-2005, 21:29
Hi, My exact setup is that I have my internet connection coming in to my cable modem, then out to an 8 port hub which goes out 2 ways, one to my PC and also to my wireless access point.

What is the point of a wireless access point if you can only have one internet connection that hangs off it?

what do I need to add/take away to be able to connect my PC and laptop(wirelessly) at the same time?

homealone
08-04-2005, 21:48
Hi, My exact setup is that I have my internet connection coming in to my cable modem, then out to an 8 port hub which goes out 2 ways, one to my PC and also to my wireless access point.

What is the point of a wireless access point if you can only have one internet connection that hangs off it?

what do I need to add/take away to be able to connect my PC and laptop(wirelessly) at the same time?

you will always only have one internet connection, that is all NTL provides, unless you subscribe to the X-box thingy, when you get another.

What you want to do is share that one connection with more than one computer - for that you need a router. (QED)

The hub is not needed for this setup, and if you have a wireless card in your laptop and get a wireless router, you won't need the access point either.

Matth
09-04-2005, 23:17
An Access point can HANDLE more than one connection, but cannot split it.

A HUB, also does not split a single connection.

A ROUTER (cable router / broadband router - technically, a NAT Router) does the splitting... it also tend to be combined with a 4 port hub (typical wired router), or a hub and Wireless (Wireless router).

Once you have a router at the start of the chain, you can add wireless, extra hubs etc. - only a single router is needed.

You can also use a spare PC with a couple of ethernet interfaces as a Linux Router - the "Linux Router Project" has some basic setups.
http://www.linuxrouter.org/ - rest in peace, development stopped
http://leaf.sourceforge.net/ - a bit more promising
There are quite a few router/firewall projects that could use an old PC, but the little router boxes are normally fanless and silent... who wants an old PC humming in the background?

paddymac
09-05-2008, 14:20
hello people. just wondering does anyone know if i can hook my wirless laptop to my pc which has no internet connection.......?? i have 2 pc's and 1 laptop... my first pc is upstairs and it has broadband..... i use my laptop all around the house (through the wireless router that's upstairs) and even in the basment which is where my other pc is....could i maybe connect my laptop to my pc (in the basement) using the yellow ethernet cable and get broadband down there aswell

anything at all will help thank you

paddymac

Aragorn
09-05-2008, 14:36
paddymac, :welcome: to CF.
First off, I would recommend not bumping a 3yo thread - better to start your own.
Yes, in theory you can share an internet connection - XP refers to it as 'internet connection sharing', but it's not great. For starters, the PC will only have access when the laptop is running and plugged into the ethernet cable. Assuming it's a windows laptop, searching for "internet connection sharing" on microsoft.com should give you a walkthrough.
If your wireless signal reaches down there, why not get a cheap USB wireless adapter to dedicate to this PC.

paddymac
09-05-2008, 14:56
thank you very much gonna try that now cheers