Ways to Share Internet Access at Home

Posted on March 7, 2011 by admin

There was a time that you needed a separate modem for each computer you wanted to connect to the internet. That, thankfully, is no longer true. There are plenty of ways for you to share one internet access point with two or more computers. The setup process on your computer will vary, depending on your operating system and the mode of connection you are using, but it most certainly can be done.
You can have your desktop directly connected to your cable or DSL modem and then add a second desktop or a laptop to that same internet connection. You won’t be charged any extra fees from your internet provider for doing this, it is considered standard practice. 


You have paid for the connection, and it is perfectly legitimate for you to connect as many devices as you desire to that one access point.
You do need to realize, however, that sharing that connection may affect the speed and performance of your connection in certain situations. If you plan on watching movies or playing games via the internet, attempting to do so on more than one computer at a time may affect your connection speed. This is because your two computers are sharing the bandwidth that would otherwise be fully available to one computer, and both of these activities require significant bandwidth, in and of themselves.
With that said, here are five different options for sharing your internet access at home.

1. Ethernet cable. Two computers can create a LAN (local area network) by connecting them with a physical network cable that will allow data to flow between the two PC’s. The main issue with this situation is the limitations to the locations for the two computers as they will need to be in close proximity to each other in order for even a fairly long cable to connect them.  In addition, you will have to share up the Internet connection from one of the computers (modem, wireless card, etc.) which is easy for some to figure out and almost impossible for the pure novice (although Apple has truly made it a piece of cake for MAC users).
2. Wireless router. A much more popular solution is the wireless router. With a wireless router, your modem gets connected to the router instead of your PC. The router is then connected to your PC and ‘routes’ the internet connection to your PC. You then add a wireless antenna to your second computer in order to receive and transmit data through the router, including the internet connection provided by the modem.
3. Routing software. This is a fairly new option, and one of the solutions has been aptly named “Virtual Router.” and another is called Connectivity. Rather than purchasing another piece of hardware to provide the connection between the two PC’s, you use a piece of software instead. Windows 7 is the platform to use with these software pieces. In addition to connecting a second PC, you can also use this software to connect your Android phone to your home internet connection via your PC.
4. Cell phone as a modem. You can also reverse the process listed above and connect your PC to the internet by using the data connection on your smart phone. This is commonly referred to as tethering. It requires the installation of an app on your phone and then connecting your PC to your cell phone with either bluetooth technology or a USB connection.
5. Bluetooth. With two bluetooth enabled devices you can easily share an internet connection via the bluetooth connection. It is simply a matter of pairing the two devices and then setting your network connections in the PC that has the internet connection to allow sharing.

The information provided here is general in nature, and you will need to follow more specific directions to accomplish these internet connections in your home. However, detailed instructions for completing any of these types of connections are readily available on the internet. Just type in a search to find the step by step directions for your situation.
(Source:.bundledpackagedeals.com)
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