why home routers

[C0RR0SIVE]

I think so... I would look into setting a computer up as a proxie, with a firewall and the sort, one that no one uses, that way all computers have to hit that, let it scan each packet going in and out and yea...

 

[Celtic_Tiger]

I will do PC proxy for practice at some stage for my mcsa as I have heard that a proxy has certain benefits such as caching web pages and more. I may purchase a home router shortly but I just needed to know why I was doing so and that it was not just wasting money to be one of the hip kids.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Well I aint sure how you would go about using a router if your using a wireless usb connection out to the internet.

 

[kmote]

It's not a wifi dongle, it's a small USB device which connects to a mobile network - am I right Celtic?
You are not wasting money just to be one of the hip kids (it would be brilliant if it were that simple huh ) routers are used at all levels as the best means of providing your internal network with access to the internet.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Meh, he just kinda confused me on how he is connected...

 

[mikesgroovin]

The setup I was using was a wireless thumb drive modem placed in the usb port called 3 broadband which is a cellular phone company, its quite swift and very portable then an ethernet cable to the swith and then enabling ICS with IE. This setup proved effortless enough so I just couldnt see the point of a router but in any case Im not sure I can use a standard home router with the wireless usb modem, can I?

Right now, your computer is acting as the gateway and ICS is acting like your router.

And, of course, your switch is acting like your switch ... (at least I hope it is ... )

So, in this case, no, you wouldn't have a use for the type of device that you all are discussing in here. The type of device you are referring to is often connected to a modem carrying a broadband internet connection signal from your ISP types such as cable and dsl.

 

[Celtic_Tiger]

Ill do my best to explain this one as some are confused as to my broadband connection etc. Hopefully ill expose a new technology to you.

Im currently connected via a usb modem which I got from a moblile phone company its a wireless cellular technology called 3G which is WAN broadband. They have a website 3 Ireland, broadband in Ireland, 3G services, buy mobiles online and more in case your curious theres a few cellular phone companies do this here and they are very popular also it seems that there are also routers specially for USB modems in order for people to share the connection eg. YouTube - DOVADO USB Mobile Broadband Router (UMR) so I know that in this instance people were referring to the standard wired modem/router typically provided by the ISP and that people use these routers to share their broadband connection, its just that i always shared my broadband connection with a switch and enabling ICS in windows and typically a home network connection does not have so many connections that it requires dhcp to handle a handful of Ip's so I just assigned them statically and used a standard firewall to protect all connections but yeah it meant having one PC switched on to allow the connection out (the one now with the USB modem) and normally i only shared when i needed more than one PC on for example games over the LAN. But i see now that people want the added convenience of not requiring another machine on in order to get outside their own network. Cellular wireless tech like this taken off yet in the states?

 

[mikesgroovin]

Yes, it's very common. Verizon, as well as many other US companies, have been doing it for years. In fact, I have an internal verizon wireless modem in the laptop i'm on. I really can't be away from being online at a moments notice, my job requires it. Anyway, in 2004, I was involved in a project involving this technology on Ferrys in the WSDOT (Official Washington State Ferries Homepage). We used verizon in this case and the modems were similar in size but we bought very large antenna due to the distance (being on water) that the signal needed to travel in order to get a signal. Our goal was 2% downtime while the ferry system was active. They still use it to this day and the antenna are still on top of the ships. Works very well. When they dock, they're connected to a more stable connection temporarily to transmit a bulk of data for backups. And ship sales can be transmitted at any point in their excursion from dock to dock.

Anyway, no the technology has been out for years and years here. I think that within the course of the thread, the fact of how you were actually connected was a little misconstrued. It's still very clear that your computer is acting as your LANs gateway and ICS within your operating system is acting as a limited routing function. If you really wanted to incorporate a soho gateway/router in your current setup (like the one this thread refers to), it wouldn't be useful at all. If you wanted to add wireless functions, you could replace your switch with a WAP/switch combo. But other than that... your bases are covered.