New to Broadband-Equipment Needed?

We'll be moving to Southern Walk soon. Do I need to buy ethernet cards for use w/Broadband for our computers?

 

Yes you need an ethernet card. Check out the Internet FAQs & HOW TOs at
http://www.openband.net/residential/faq_res.html

 

Thanks! Is everyone basically on their own to configure their computers for OpenBand? I called and they said they don't offer any configuring assistance, you can't buy the ethernet card there, they don't install them and you are basically on your own. True? I'm not exactly techno-lamo but was surprised that I can't even "buy" someone to do it for me. [V]

 

We are about 2 days close to making our decision on whether to purchase our home in Broadlands or not. Why because of the HOA fee and what it offers, We believe this is taking away some of our right to choose what services we want to use. Any comments.

 

There's really not much to it. You can get a Netgear 10/100 network at Best Buy for $20.00 (they can even install it for you, if you want). Just plug the card in a slot, you may have to run the installation cd. Plug in the cat-5e cable to your network card and the wall. It's a DHCP server so you don't have to configure any settings. I think that's it.

 

If you don't have the confidence in doing it yourself, try asking a neighbor. Or find a nerdy kid in the n'hood, I'm sure we have lots of them. Offer some money like $10 or $20 for them to install the card, setup the browser, maybe install a norton firewall, and show you how things work.

But trust me, if you have the manual for your computer, there will be a detail step by step instruction on how to install the card. Very easy. 10baseT cable are cheap to buy like $5 or less. Again ask a neighbor, I'm sure someone can make you one or just give you one.

Now what I need is someone who knows about smart card technology and sat TV

-Teak

 

Thanks. When I went to the openband FAQs, they have a PDF 20 pages long about configuring your system for "Glass Mile internet" (is that the service used?) and it just intimidated me a bit. Is it just a matter of installing the network card and plugging in the cable?

 

The Glass mile internet is basically the name they give for fiber to the curb(FTTC) which is the service they provide to us. As long as you're not getting a static IP address, then all you should have to do is install the network card and plug in the cable. You might have to use the installation CD that comes with the network card.

 

Decenzec...
You may not need an Ethernet card if one is already installed in your computer. If you have a Macintosh, an Ethernet port is included, and configuration is quite simple.

If you have a Windows desktop, then installing an Ethernet card is not difficult, as already described by sheir and teak.

If you have a Windows laptop, it might already have an Ethernet port, but if it doesn't then you need to buy an Ethernet PCMCIA card. Those just slide into the PCMCIA slot of the computer, couldn't be easier.

When you add hardware to a Windows computer, you'll also need to add some supporting software (drivers and so on). The manuals that come with the hardware should describe the installation and setup plainly enough.

Enjoy!