Yi is making the high speed plunge!

[Admiral Yi]

Do I need to pay the evol corporation 29.95 to do the hook up or is it idiot proof?  I'm looking at the cable company, so I assume I would need to run wire from the ground floor (where the cable box is) to the basement (where my computer is).

[Grey Fox]

Pay it up.

[sbr]

Do you already have a phone line down there?  If so that is probably just an activation fee that you would have to pay for them to come out and do their thing, no way around that.

You don't want the phone company running phone lines for you; I can't speak to where you are, but most of the tme they don't want to do it so they normally charge a ridiculous amount to do it.

[Admiral Yi]

Do you already have a phone line down there?  If so that is probably just an activation fee that you would have to pay for them to come out and do their thing, no way around that.

You don't want the phone company running phone lines for you; I can't speak to where you are, but most of the tme they don't want to do it so they normally charge a ridiculous amount to do it.

I looked on the Mediacom website and they said you can do it yourself or pay them 29.95 to do it for you.

[derspiess]

Do you already have a phone line down there?  If so that is probably just an activation fee that you would have to pay for them to come out and do their thing, no way around that.

You don't want the phone company running phone lines for you; I can't speak to where you are, but most of the tme they don't want to do it so they normally charge a ridiculous amount to do it.

I looked on the Mediacom website and they said you can do it yourself or pay them 29.95 to do it for you.

If they're going to run the cable for you, I say pay the $30. But if they're only going to install the modem where your cable box is and leave you to figure out the rest, then it's not worth $30.

Whatever you do, I would suggest getting a router to put between your computer and the cable modem, even if you'll only have one computer that will need internet access.  Not sure if it has changed in recent years, but cable modems don't really offer much in the way of security, and even the cheapest router will give you the benefit of being behind a firewall.

[Admiral Yi]

Please tell me more.

[Maximus]

Some ISPs now have router/modems in a single box. If they don't have that, I agree about putting a router in there. Also don't install the ISP's shit on your computer unless you know what it does and really want it.

[garbon]

That's so polite of them. Time Warner forced me to pay a $45 dollar setup fee even though I had one of their cable modems and was at a location where said modem was working when I changed my address of record...

[Admiral Yi]

I called up Mediacom to get some more dope, and the long and the short of it is I need to get a router and hook it up to my dad's connection.  Given that his computer is on the 2nd floor and mine is in the basement, I'm thinking wireless.

So do I just go to Best Buy and get a router and a wifi...thing?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

[sbr]

Almost all routers have built in wifi.  You will need a wireless network card for your PC.

How far will you be from the router?  Is it a standard wood and sheetrock house?  Wireless down into the basement sounds like it would be problematic; couldn't be much worse than dial-up though, right?

[DontSayBanana]

Almost all routers have built in wifi.  You will need a wireless network card for your PC.

How far will you be from the router?  Is it a standard wood and sheetrock house?  Wireless down into the basement sounds like it would be problematic; couldn't be much worse than dial-up though, right?

Actually, that's exactly how I'm rigged up- two computers in the shared office, both physically wired to the router, and mine's kept in the basement, where I always have at least 60% signal.  And that's just a cheapie $40 Belkin Wireless-N.  I've also got my Xbox 360 wired to a Linksys WRT54G with DD-WRT running in adapter mode on the first floor

[sbr]

Almost all routers have built in wifi.  You will need a wireless network card for your PC.

How far will you be from the router?  Is it a standard wood and sheetrock house?  Wireless down into the basement sounds like it would be problematic; couldn't be much worse than dial-up though, right?

Actually, that's exactly how I'm rigged up- two computers in the shared office, both physically wired to the router, and mine's kept in the basement, where I always have at least 60% signal.  And that's just a cheapie $40 Belkin Wireless-N.  I've also got my Xbox 360 wired to a Linksys WRT54G with DD-WRT running in adapter mode on the first floor

Ah, OK.  There are very few basements in the Northwest I wasn't sure how that would work out.

[DontSayBanana]

Ah, OK.  There are very few basements in the Northwest I wasn't sure how that would work out.

WiFi from floor to floor isn't that bad in a house- honestly, floors in houses are mostly empty space between joists that are covered with a relatively thin surface material.  It's much more problematic in commercial buildings or large apartment complexes because the subflooring is more likely to be a thick layer of concrete.

[Admiral Yi]

You will need a wireless network card for your PC.

Is this hardware that plugs into the back of the computer, hardware that plugs into the motherboard, or software?

[DontSayBanana]

For a desktop PC, it's usually a PCI card that plugs into the motherboard.  WiFi's built into just about all recent laptops, but if it's not for some reason, you can get a USB antenna.