stepping into the 21st century
We just took advantage of a Cablevision deal: we got cable (basic family package), internet, and internet phone all for $100/month for the 1st year. Previously, we had been spending nearly $70/month on just the normal phone, with crappy television reception. With Elynn's continuing issues at work, we had been talking about a home office for graphic design; this required a high-speed internet connection for transferring graphics files. The deal was too good to ignore, and even after a year it's darn good (it only goes up another $10/month).
Currently, the cable modem is in the basement, unhooked to any computer (even this one - I'm still vamping off a neighbor's WiFi). This is because they unified the VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone and the cable modem in one box.
We had the choice: a) drill a new hole in the side of our house to run the cable next to the computer for the cable modem, and then either rewire the phone lines in the house or buy new phones; or b) use existing lines (from the previous owners) to run the cable modem directly to the main phone box in the basement, and purchase the equipment for a wireless LAN for our computers.
We like our house and the phones are already nicely distributed around the house, so we chose (b) and the cable modem is now in the basement. I now have to figure out how to set up a nice secure WLAN here. I've already reinstalled my notebook's software to enable WPA, in addition to WEP; now I have to figure out what I can do with El's joy, the G4. Given Apple's recent territorialism, I may be locked into genuine Apple-Airport boards.
Update - the next morning: Apple has discontinued the Airport cards; they're pushing Airport Extreme, an 802.11b/g hybrid, but this card is only compatible with equipment newer than the last 3 years. So I scored a brand-new Airport card for Elynn's beast on eBay, but the price was steep: due to scarcity, the average eBay price for a new Airport card is almost twice as much as a new Airport Extreme card! I also purchased a new Linksys WRT54GS broadband router with eBay - although available in stores, the going price on eBay knocks about 20-25% off. A saving grace is that this is all deductible from her free-lance earnings!
Currently, the cable modem is in the basement, unhooked to any computer (even this one - I'm still vamping off a neighbor's WiFi). This is because they unified the VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone and the cable modem in one box.
We had the choice: a) drill a new hole in the side of our house to run the cable next to the computer for the cable modem, and then either rewire the phone lines in the house or buy new phones; or b) use existing lines (from the previous owners) to run the cable modem directly to the main phone box in the basement, and purchase the equipment for a wireless LAN for our computers.
We like our house and the phones are already nicely distributed around the house, so we chose (b) and the cable modem is now in the basement. I now have to figure out how to set up a nice secure WLAN here. I've already reinstalled my notebook's software to enable WPA, in addition to WEP; now I have to figure out what I can do with El's joy, the G4. Given Apple's recent territorialism, I may be locked into genuine Apple-Airport boards.
Update - the next morning: Apple has discontinued the Airport cards; they're pushing Airport Extreme, an 802.11b/g hybrid, but this card is only compatible with equipment newer than the last 3 years. So I scored a brand-new Airport card for Elynn's beast on eBay, but the price was steep: due to scarcity, the average eBay price for a new Airport card is almost twice as much as a new Airport Extreme card! I also purchased a new Linksys WRT54GS broadband router with eBay - although available in stores, the going price on eBay knocks about 20-25% off. A saving grace is that this is all deductible from her free-lance earnings!