I will soon be getting broadband internet. Im pretty sure that the cable modem connects to the pc usimg a RJ45 Cat5 network cable. In my house we have 3 computers. Two in an office (spare room) and one in my bedroom. One of the computers in the office and the computer in my bedroom are networked using a RJ45 Cat5 crossover cable. The other compter in the office is used by my Dad for office work (Word/Outlook/Internet). I would like to know the basics of a broadband router. And how i would go about setting up a basic network with broadband access. (I think that i have to plug the cable modem into the router and all 3 pc's aswell) I would like to know the easiest way possible to get the internet to all 3 computers. Will i have to replace the 10m crossover cable with a straight-through lead? Will one of the computers have to stay on at all times to get the internet? My cousin has a similar setup with two computers and has to leave the computer in his office on at all times for the internet to be enabled on his bedroom computer. All help is greatly appreciated. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays (The computers already networked run win xp pro the other runs 98se)

All you need to do is connect all 3 pc's to the router either by cat 5 patch cable straight to the router (assuming it has the standard 4 ports) or you could connect them to a hub and connect the router to this. either way all connections need to be by cat 5 patch cable as a crossover connection only allows 1 connection between two machines. set all pc's to the same subnet as the router or get a firewall(adviseable with static ip) and set them to the subnet of the lan port. you don't need to leave any of the pc's on all the time as the connection is maintained by the router and is independent of the pc's unlike a dial up., CHUMP

If i connect each pc to the router with straight through leads will i be able to share files between them? Also do i plug the cable modem into the routher with a straight through lead. Thanks for the help and merry xmas/happy holidays

if your broadband router includes switching ports, then yes each computer plugged in will be able to communicate, provided the operating systems and protocols allow it. your router should have a WAN uplink port which is used to connect to your broadband device (cable/dsl modem), usually with a straight through cable.

On the issue of straight-through / crossover leads: In general a cross-over lead is used only to directly connect two PCs together without using a separate hub (or switch). Think about it; in order for the transmit/receive data-lines in the cable to connect correctly between them, the transmitone has to "cross over" to the receive one on the other PC, etc. When hubs are used this is taken care of within the hub except if it is necessary to join two hubs together (to increase fan out) in which case a cross-over cable may be needed between them. Most hubs have a little switch on one of the RJ45 connector positions to effect this crossover avoiding the need for the special cable. This is purely a hardware cable connection issue and has nothing to do with full / half duplex, speed or anything else.