Home Networking With HALNet ADSL

The DSL modem acts as a bridge between your LAN (ethernet side) and SBC's ATM network (telephone side). In other words... it connects you to us. You are pretty much free to configure your LAN however you like, and use up to 3 IP addresses (one per device visible from the outside world).

These are just a couple of examples of how to configure a basic LAN at home:

The first example here shows 3 computers connected to a hub. This allows each of the computers to obtain a REAL IP address. This setup works great if you ever do, or plan to do any video conferencing or file sharing across the internet. It is recommended if you are using Windows that you get a firewall program of some kind no matter how you are connected to the internet.

The second example shows multiple computers connected through a "router". If you would ever like to do anything besides check your email or browse the web, then this is probably not a recommended method. The only reason why this would be necessary would be if you have more than 3 computers that need to access the internet. Using a "router" allows you to connect as many computers as you would like by using NAT (Network Address Translation). There isn't any easy method to configure it to have more than one of your computers able to do anything interesting. Remember that even with this "router" you still need a firewall. NAT does not provide you with ANY other protection but to block direct connections from the outside world (which kind of defeats the purpose of what this site is all about).

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This site is designed to be of some assistance, however is not meant to be your sole source of information. By following the suggestions given on this page you understand that you do these things at your own risk. The steps mentioned here may or may not work for your purposes. There is no warranty or support of any kind provided by HAL-PC for the topics discussed in this site. The only support for your home network that is given is by me personally, at my choosing, on my own time, and via email only.
I know... I hate disclaimers too.