Back

How To's

Set up a Hub with high speed internet
If you want to have multiple computers or a computer with a networked printer set up with high speed internet, you will need a hub and/or router

Hub:

 Allows you to connect several ethernet devices together to allow printing, file sharing or internet access from several computers. If you have Roadrunner, a hub will generally only allow one computer on the internet at a time. If you have multiple computers, each computer may have to be restarted each time to gain internet access. If you have multiple computers, we recommend purchasing a router. Please see How to Network if you want to share files.

Router:

 Performs the same operation as a hub but allows multiple computers to share the same internet connection. A router also doubles as a firewall. Some routers have hubs built in and some connect to an existing hub.
Connecting up a hub is easy, just follow these steps:
  1. Connect a standard ethernet cable from the Mac to the hub
  2. Connect a standard etherent cable from the printer to the hub (assuming you have an ethernet printer)
  3. Connect your high speed interenet device to the hub. If you have an Uplink port on the hub, connect it there, if not, purchase an ethernet crossover cable and use that to connect the internet device to any open port. On some hubs, the Uplink port can be dual use. Make sure you set the port to Uplink.
Connecting up a router is also easy, just follow these steps:
  1. Connect a standard ethernet cable from the Mac to the router
  2. Connect a standard etherent cable from the printer to the router (assuming you have a ethernet printer)
  3. Connect your high speed interenet device to the router using the WAN (wide area network) port.
Troubleshooting:
Each port on the hub/router has a link light. When you connect a device to the port via an ethernet cable, the light should come on. If it does not, verify 1) that the hub/router is plugged in and turned on 2)the device is plugged in and turned on and 3) that the cable is firmly seated.

If the light is still not on, it is possible you are using a crossover cable - crossover cables are typically yellow or orange. Use a grey cable.

Make sure you are NOT using phone cable. Phone cable will NOT work. You can tell the difference by looking at the connectors. Ethernet connectors are much wider than a phone connector.

After everything is plugged in, restart your Mac. If you are using a high speed connection, go to the File Menu->Control Panels->TCP/IP and make sure the Connect Via and Configure pop up's are set as follows:
Verify the IP address (shown above) has a something OTHER than 169 as the first three digits. If it has a 169 then the computer is not seeing the high speed internet device (ie Roadrunner) and you have a cabling problem. It will also be a 169 if Roadrunner is down, but this is infrequent.
If you have Bellsouth DSL single user, some of these settings may be different - consult bell south for assistance.