Sharing a DSL connection....
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Thread: Sharing a DSL connection....

  1. #1
    Registered User delmer_1's Avatar
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    Sharing a DSL connection....

    hey guys/girls there is a guy i work with, who has a small shop in the local mall. I went to help him a while ago because he has a desktop and a laptop he uses there and wanted to be able to use his dial up connection on both computers at once. Not a problem we networked the computers together and i shared the dial up connection, everything worked fine.

    now he just called me and wants me to stop over and help him again.....he recently got a DSL connection and wants to share it. This should be fairly simple, i do this at my apartment right now. My ISP is verizon, and they use pppoe, so i just right click on the connection and share it. however his is different. His connection is provided through alltel, but he said that his internet service is through a local ISP.( the same one he used when on dial up...that way he doesnt have to change the email address for his business) From what he told me, he doesnt have to supply a username or password and that he is connected contantly. So what I am wondering is how do I set up his PC to share the connection so he laptop can connect at the same time. right now he can get online with either one, but only one at a time, since he only has one IP.


    To the best of my knowledge, both computers are running windows 2000 pro. It has been a while since i set up a connection like this. The last time it was sharing an always on cable modem between two win98 computers, and i used a program called Sygate home networking. I would like to not have to use it, because I am pretty sure windows ICS can handle it. But I just dont remember how.





    EDIT:::

    i spoke with my boss, who has also looked at this stystem before and he told me that it is alot more complex than what i previously thought.

    according to him the modem has ethernet and USB, and if they are both not connected, it wont work.

    and also that the local ISP has some kind of propreitary software you have to run to make the connection. he has been in teh computer field for over 20 years and seems to really know what he is doing, so it sound like i may have just got in way over my head. I am still going to attempt to figure it out...but it sounds like this is going to be about as much fun as licking a cactus.
    Last edited by delmer_1; July 23rd, 2003 at 08:57 AM.
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  2. #2
    Registered User swamprat's Avatar
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    All you should need is a router. Each machine gets its own port on the router, and the dsl modem is connected to the wan port on the router. router handles the internet connection. you may have to give each computer its own ip address, like 192.168.0.10 and 192.168.0.11 in the tcp/ip properties, but that's about it.

  3. #3
    Registered User geoscomp's Avatar
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    although you probably won't find a router with a usb and an ethernet connector..but then i've never seen a dsl modem that requires both to be plugged in for the connection to work..there are some where you use usb to set up the modem, but that's it..from then on it's one or the other
    Last edited by geoscomp; July 23rd, 2003 at 09:23 AM.
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    Registered User Necrometal's Avatar
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    A router should be all that you need. Although you have to make sure that the router you get supports PPOE.

    Almost all of them do now adays. And to make the connection work its just a matter of telnet'ing, or browsing into the router and setting up the username, password, ports, etc... for the PPEO and then having the client computers get IP automatically.

    The router will handle DHCP and everyone should be able to get online no problem.

    Make sure you take off any extra software the ISP has placed as it probaly will not be needed after you set up such a connection.
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  5. #5
    Registered User delmer_1's Avatar
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    thanks for the input..the only problem is, i think the guy wants this done without an additional hardware purchase. I guess there isnt' a whole lot i can do until i go look at it, but i would think that there should be a way to do it with software. ANd I also never heard of a modem that requires the use of both ethernet and USB, but i guess i will find out when i go see this. I dont really feel like going tonight...but i probably will never feel like going...so i guess i will see how i feel when it is time to go home.
    Some people are like Slinkies . . . not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs

  6. #6
    Registered User delmer_1's Avatar
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    well, i went over last night to take a look at it....what a mess!!!

    he has his DSL modem connected to the uplink port on a hub.
    his laptop and desktop are both connected to the hub
    the USB cable on the DSL modem is also connected to his desktop.

    And he has the most ridiculous proptietary connection software I have ever seen. you open it up and there are two connections listed. one called Alltel DSL and one called Dale (his name) they apparently told him to use teh one called Dale. it is a pppoe connection. this loader starts at windows startup and then automatically connects this Dale connection. he has this set up on both computers.

    Feeling a bit intimidated, since i know my boss had messed with this for hours on several occasions...i start to look at it. He doesnt have teh disks to reinstall the ISP software in case i mess it up, so that made me a little uncomfortable.

    SO i check out his Network and Dial up connections...there are 4 of them:

    Alltelldsl (PPPOE)
    Dale (PPPOE)
    Ethernet 1 (ethernet card connected to the hub)
    Ethernet 2 (USB connection to the modem)

    I look at the DALE connectoin which is what they told him to use, but when i try to connect, it doesnt have his username or password saved..so i try the allteldsl, it comes up his username and password are saved, i click connect and it connects. all is good.

    so I write down all of the settings for this connection, then share it. set teh laptop to connect to teh internet through the LAN. teh desktop works fine..but the laptop doesnt always. it will hit some pages, but not others. I set it to use DHCP, left all other settins alone, it partially works. then i set the gateway to the IP of the other computer. and set the DNS settings to the same two IPs as the other PC is set up. it appears to work well.

    I talked to him this morning and he said that the desktop is working great, but the laptop cannot get to some sites. he cant' get to Yahoo, or Google, but can get to altavista and some other sites.

    when i left last night, i told him to try this for a few days, and if it worked, i would come back and remove all of the extra crap that he doesn need. but it looks like i will be back sooner than that. any ideas why he can hit some sites and not others? sounds like a dns issue to me, but I am not sure how to fix it?

    right now, teh desktop is set to share the alltell DSL connection. when using ICS, this sets the IP of that machine to 192.168.0.1 How do i need to change teh settings on the laptop? right now it is set to obtain an IP from DHCP, the DNS servers are teh alltel dns servers, teh same as the desktop. and the gateway is 192.168.0.1.

    and in IE, i set it to connect through the LAN. is there anything else i forgot to do?
    Some people are like Slinkies . . . not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs

  7. #7
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    I am not sure about the modem needing both ethernet and USB what may be the case is the way COX entertainment locks out multiple users on one IP.

    On COX systems the cable modem forwards the MAC address of the NIC and if the MAC changes the previous MAC used is locked out of the system for 24 hours.

    If the system detected two computers and locked out the first MAC then the USB connection is what most TECHs have a user set up to get around the lock out. This would explain the two connections as the software would have to be reinstalled to use the USB.

    (this was the most frustrating experience of my life because it gave all the symptoms of a bad NIC except the NIC was able to get an IP)

    My suggestion would be to tell the customer the get a copy of the install software, and a router that supports ppoe. I know the customer does not want to buy a router but I don't want to get up and go to work either but I do it.

    Get the Information you need from the ISP to configure the router then kill all the connections and set the systems up properly.
    Last edited by Tacit_k; July 25th, 2003 at 10:09 AM.

  8. #8
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    The Linksys hardware firewalls support a PPPoe connection. You could have the router do the dial-up to the ISP and then both systems would connect.

    I have done this with ATT DSL service. In the Windows side of the app, instead of having it dial to the ISP, you select the "Router" option and it gives you a user/pass to dial in with.

  9. #9
    Registered User NetScum's Avatar
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    Originally posted by geoscomp
    although you probably won't find a router with a usb and an ethernet connector..but then i've never seen a dsl modem that requires both to be plugged in for the connection to work..there are some where you use usb to set up the modem, but that's it..from then on it's one or the other
    I have a LinkSys BEFSRU31 that has both CAT5 and USB ports. Works great for the desktops at home and my old notebook that had a USB port.

  10. #10
    Registered User NetScum's Avatar
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    Originally posted by delmer_1
    thanks for the input..the only problem is, i think the guy wants this done without an additional hardware purchase. I guess there isnt' a whole lot i can do until i go look at it, but i would think that there should be a way to do it with software. ANd I also never heard of a modem that requires the use of both ethernet and USB, but i guess i will find out when i go see this. I dont really feel like going tonight...but i probably will never feel like going...so i guess i will see how i feel when it is time to go home.
    Going by all the things you and your buddy are doing to save few bucks you should consider the cost of your time trying to make this all work.

    At Best Buy the LinkSys BEFSRU41 is $39.99 after a $10.00 MIR and its such straight forward setup you will have all this solved in a matter of minutes... Good luck!

  11. #11
    Registered User delmer_1's Avatar
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    from what he told me, he doesnt really care if i cant get it working, but it would be nice. SO talking him into buying a router is probably out of the questoin at this point. Now he tells me that the laptop can't get to any webpages. there has to be some kind of DNS issue, but if the dns server IPs are the same on the laptop as they are on the desktop, i dont see why it cant find these sites.
    Some people are like Slinkies . . . not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs

  12. #12
    Registered User mrwilhelm's Avatar
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    Originally posted by delmer_1
    I talked to him this morning and he said that the desktop is working great, but the laptop cannot get to some sites. he cant' get to Yahoo, or Google, but can get to altavista and some other sites.
    Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Here... This will solve that particular problem.
    "Without fools there would be no wisdom."

  13. #13
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    If he can afford a additional Ethernet Card, install it and enable the ICS on the first ethernet card connection in Win2k and select another ethernet adapter for home network, so other new ethernet's IP will be 192.168.0.1, which will be used as a gateway for other PC, connect other PC directly to 2nd Lancard, and you are all set. I think this is the chipest internet conection sharing solution for 2 computers.

    Please do let us know how you solve this problem.
    Last edited by Jaggie; July 27th, 2003 at 02:49 PM.

  14. #14
    Registered User delmer_1's Avatar
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    i will probably be going over to look at it either tonight or tomorrow(28th or 29th) so i will let you guys know.
    Some people are like Slinkies . . . not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs

  15. #15
    Registered User delmer_1's Avatar
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    Well, I went over last night and thanks to the help of you guys, it is working fine now. The solution posted by mrwilhelm was exactly what i needed.

    After setting the MTU value to a lower number, the laptop connected just fine.

    I also removed the USB cable from the modem to the PC as it is not needed.

    I was a bit disapointed with the PPPoE connection though. I mentioned before that he had some proprietary software he used to connect..itis called Tango Manager. this would load at startup, and then initiate the pppoe connection. But there was no way to share this connection.

    so i went to network and dial up connections, found the pppoe connection and shared it there.

    the only problem is that it is dependant on this tango manager software, probably since win2k doesnt support pppoe natively. so i coudlnt remove this software, becasue when i close it, the pppoe connection will not connect.

    So, right now this tango manager loads at startup, and so does the pppoe connection. but i had to set it to redail every 10 seconds or so because sometimes it tries to connect before the tango manager loads, so this way, if that happens, it will try to dial again after it loads.


    thanks for all your help... he is happy with it.
    Some people are like Slinkies . . . not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs

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