CONGRATS! GREAT NEWS!! :grinthumb
As to browser problems when they occur
here’s a link that can help debug browser problems using IE (many of the issues would affect IE or other browsers as well)
As to home network, I can continue helping in this thread or you can open a new one (with a new title that attracts appropriate attention to the topic). Am sure you’re also more likely to get additional help/opinions as additional people will tend to look at newer threads (I have no problem with either choice you make and of course others have other hardware experiences, technical exposures, etc)
For home networks, all you basically need to create a home network is a router. The router serves as the gateway between
- A Local Area Network (LAN), which is your home network of your different computing / peripheral devices (e.g. your computers, printers, etc) and a
- Wide Area Network (WAN) (i.e. the Internet) which you connect to via Virgin’s ISP service
(hope this diagram comes out ok, never tried one before!)
<-------------WAN---------------------------------------------------------)|(---------------LAN------------------>)
..........coax cable.........|...........ethernet cable..............|.........<wired/wireless>..........
..............................Motorola...................................YOUR..............................Your
Virgin <======> Cable Modem <===========> ROUTER <=========> LAN Devices
Virgin continues to communicate with just a single device: the router. The router makes
all of your home network look like just a single device. Virgin still assigns you just
one IP address.
Note, from Virgin’s perspective only difference between diagram above vs. today is it’s
not “YOUR ROUTER” connected to the Cable Modem but rather today it's
your computer. That’s also the one potential “gotcha” that will “get ya”! In the above diagram Virgin can see the MAC address of your router when router is connected
vs. the MAC address of your computer causing those connection problems again when you switch between the two. The solution:
MAC address cloning.
MAC address cloning will be a router feature though might be called a different name on the router’s configuration setup. (make sure u know before you buy tho i think this feature is fairly standard) It boils down to:
- You can “assign” a MAC address to your router. You assign it the MAC address of your computer! (which I note for you below)
- You also set a router option telling it to report the assigned MAC address to the WAN, not its own MAC address.
With that done, no more pain-in-the-*** resetting your ISP and cable modems whenever you might decide to switch cable modem’s ethernet connection between router vs. directly into your computer.
If you look at ipconfig output you did last, it reports the ethernet adapter Physical Address is 00-1A-A0-80-D6-0C; that odd looking set of numbers 00-1A-A0-80-D6-0C is the MAC address for the ethernet adapter sitting in your computer.
Also, I would suggest you at least compare pricing between a router which
- Supports only wired ethernet cabled connections vs.
- Supports wired ethernet cable AND basic wireless (you’ll see wireless routers state the support “802.11g”)
I think you’ll find the incremental cost for the router can make it cost effective to simply buy a router which supports both wired
and basic 802.11g wireless. I think you’ll find it’s the cost of the
wireless adapters (one per device you want to wireless connect) that starts to add up the cost. (I’ll just add that you will also see things about wireless and newer version “802.11n” (802.11n is
so new it’s not even standardized yet!) Also names like
range boosters and
super and
max only drives up the price) and not clear how much extra power/ extra range/ extra speed you want from wireless all of which is extra price.
Btw 1) You can check each of your computer’s for its Ethernet adapter before ever buying a router. Run the ipconfig /all command on each computer and make certain the ipconfig output at least reports (anything) about an Ethernet adapter being present! Just as in your case, if ipconfig doesn’t report an ethernet adapter verify the Network Connection is Enabled and drivers are present and running. No cable need be connected to check that much.
Btw 2) Since you are including the kids' computers you might want to check for router models that allow you to set “parental control” (like time-of-day access, blocking web sites, etc.). These “profiles” are usually set on a per MAC address basis (that unique number assigned every network adapter). And not to be confused with Virgin’s use of the acronymn MAC for something-or-other I noticed when they talk about some of their user accounts.
