Sharing Net access

Personally, I really don't like tying up my server to handle Internet routing so my preference is for a hardware solution.

One such product is Webramp (www.rampnet.com) and I have a few clients that have been very happy with them. Other clients have been quite happy with the 3Com LanModem product line.

Another option is putting an old 486 with 16meg of RAM, a modem and a NIC into service by using Linux Router Project software configured for PPP access (information at c0wz.steinkuehler.net). That is the option I really like because you can do all sorts of trick things with it once you have it up and running (SNMP bandwidth monitoring, DNS caching, DHCP if you wanted, etc.). But if you're not a tweaker, you'll probably prefer the commercial products mentioned above.

Another option, but far off my preference list, would be a workstation running Win98SE or W2K Professional and using Internet Connection Sharing, or any flavor of Windows workstation running Sygate.

paul

If you want an easy, cheap and quick way use your Win98 box and use internet connection sharing. It is somewhat limited but it works well.

Thank you for your prompt reply. Let me add some detail to further explain. I'm interested in taking the Router hardware solution, but I need to know if I can take a 56k 4 port router like the 3Com and use it on an 8 port hub. I have 6 workstation on the network that I would like to share access to. Can I have the router go from the phone line connection to the uplink port on the 8port hub? Also have you used other routers ie: Linksys or Dlink routers and can they do the same thing? As well Can I use a Cable/DSL router instead so I have the ability to go Cable or DSL in the futre?

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