Networking computers

[chelsea25]

I presently have 1 pc in my home, and am about to get another, i would like to know how i network them together, so i still only have to pay for 1 internet connection? and if i can, will it slow the connection down?

Thanks in advance.

[johntheplamf]

What you want is a router, which come with USB connections(A lot of drilling holes to other bedrooms), or a wireless one(A bit more expensive, but worth it). E Bay has a few for reasonable prices.

http://search.ebay.co.uk/router_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8

[stevie21]

I thought this would be really complicated but I (and countless others I've heard talk about it) found it really simple.
Plug a mode/router into your phone line and plug each of the 2 PCs into this router. Most routers have 4 ports, meaning you can plug 4 PCs (or xbox, ps2 etc.) into them. If you go wireless you'll need a wireless netword card in your PC. If you stick to wires, many newer PCs already have the wired version (in the back of your PC, it's the same looking connection as a standard dial up modem, but bigger).

There are other ways to do this (having one PC acting like a server and the 2nd one feeding off of this instead of off of a router : the first PC needs to be on for the 2nd to get online) but I'd opt for the above instead.

[Space]

Most modem/routers have Ethernet connections or wireless connections, not USB connexions.

Ethernet connections are fine if you don't mind having  cables running from the router to the PCs.

[chelsea25]

Thanks everyone for your help, it is much appreciated, think i better get bidding on good old eBay, lol.  i'll see how i get on.

[dodgyshirt]

THe cheapest and simplest way assuming you are on broadband, is to fit an ADSL PCI modem such as this and an RJ45 Crossover cable such as this and a network card for the client PC such as this and you can network the PCs for less than �15.

If you are on dial-up, the same set-up can be adopted using your existing internal 56k modem.

Networking on dial-up will be slower but not on broadband.

[Tim Baxter]

Sorry dodgyshirt, broadband does suffer from more users=less bandwidth (called contention ratio) which drops the bit rate.  Broadband has a limited bandwidth so it does have to share it amongst users.

[dodgyshirt]

Sorry Tim Baxter, the contention ratio is applicable at the Exchange server. Having received ones share of the bandwidth, any drop in throughput on a domestic 2-PC setup is negligible.