Hi All. Just looking for some advice because I’m just about to start wiring up my student house to network 4 PCs to share a single ADSL conection and was wondering what my setup options were. Personally, I’d prefer to use combined router/modem/switch/firewall hardware to connect the PCs to 1 side (Ethernet/Cat 5) and the ADSL line to the other, but my flatmates don’t like the initial outlay for hardware.
The other option I’ve explored is using one machine as a proxy/Internet Gateway on the network and connecting the others to it through an Ethernet switch. Would this be a more cost-effective solution or is it likely to cause lots of issues compared with using an integrated router?
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
