3 PCs, 1 external modem

im looking to connect my 3 PCs at home to the one modem, i dont want to have to have any of the other pcs on to access the Inet therefore an ethernet topology is no use to me. I was going to use a router connected to my ADSL external modem and connect the pcs to the router.

would this work and is there a better solution?

Regards.

if you only want one machine to access the internet, then you attach that one machine to the modem. There is no point in attaching the other 2 too it if you don't want them to have internet. To enable comunication between the 3 though, you will have to add a network card to the Interent connected machine and then assign IPs to the cards so that they can talk. This will keep 1 machine on the internet, and the other 2 within a non connected workgroup.
Now if you just get a 4 port router, you can connect the external modem to the WAB port on the router, configure the DSL connection and setup DHCP and then you can have all 3 online and talking to each other for about $100.

Hope that helps...

Im not familiar with DHCP, can you explain a little more and/or direct me to some documentation on this please?

Regards.

Most devises that you buy now are auto configurable. That means you check a box and they just work. DHCP is a way to assign IP's to machines so they can talk to one another. An IP is like a phone number for a computer. Without it, you can't talk to the computer unless you are directly attached to it. Once a machine has an IP it can then talk to the rest of the world.
With a router, it assigns IPs to all machines that request one for it. The IP's will ussually be 192.168.1.xxx These adresses are private to you. They don't route over the internet, so they are used cause they are safe.
as far as documentation goes, you can check any manufacturer web site for info. they all have details on this stuff.
If you don't use DHCP you will have to hard code the IP on each machines NIC. This will enable comunication between the machines. Otherwise, its like they are not wired at all. XP does provide an automatic addressing utility that will run on a machine if it senses a connection without a DHCP server. So if all your machines are XP then you don't have to worry about it.

If you need more details, just ask. I'm rambling and it's time for lunch...

All three machines are running XP so that according to you eases my problem a little. I think I will go with the DHCP option as i dont want to have to turn on the other PCs just to access the internet but all three require access.
Time to go do some digging for some DHCP routers me thinks.

Cheers for your help.

If you just want hard wired, Linksys, Dlink, netgear all make good units. If you want Wireless plus wired, then the same all apply. Although, I have had best luck with Dlink over all the others.