For those of you who live in the sticks like myself and use a dial-up internet connection, what is the best way to have multiple machines connected? Are there any options besides having only one machine online at a time (one phone line) or paying for a second phone line?
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Multiple machines on dial-up
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I believe the older Airport Extreme's had a dial-up modem installed; I would assume this would work well for you.
Basically you'd want to set up a network, either wired or wireless. Then use one of your Macs to dial in, and share the connection through the system preferences. I don't remember where it is exactly (I'm on an XP machine right now), but I've done it before and it's pretty trivial to do. It's basically "click this button to share your internet connection" and that's about it.
I *think* you can do this from a Windows machine too, but I've never done it, and I think it's at least a little harder (if not a lot harder). (If some of the machines on your network run Windows, they'll share the connection your Mac is serving without any trouble.)
If you're only connecting two computers, you wouldn't even need a full network. I think all modern Macs auto-sense if they're connected directly to another computer, and set up a network. You don't even need a crossover cable but can just plug a regular Ethernet cable in to both computers, dial in, and start sharing on one (or use wireless if you prefer that).
I've shared a connection before and it works great. You can't even tell it's a different computer handling the connection. That's with an ancient G3 iMac handling the connection too.
I *think* you can do this from a Windows machine too, but I've never done it, and I think it's at least a little harder (if not a lot harder). (If some of the machines on your network run Windows, they'll share the connection your Mac is serving without any trouble.)
If you're only connecting two computers, you wouldn't even need a full network. I think all modern Macs auto-sense if they're connected directly to another computer, and set up a network. You don't even need a crossover cable but can just plug a regular Ethernet cable in to both computers, dial in, and start sharing on one (or use wireless if you prefer that).
I've shared a connection before and it works great. You can't even tell it's a different computer handling the connection. That's with an ancient G3 iMac handling the connection too.
I have already gone through the wizard for connection sharing but it only seems to work with the other Windows machines. Life would be much simpler if broadband was available here.
I have already gone through the wizard for connection sharing but it only seems to work with the other Windows machines. Life would be much simpler if broadband was available here.
I've used Windows ICS for non Windows machines before. You are just sharing the dialup connection over the ethernet port aren't. I've seen this done with Linux and OS X.
I managed to get it working, I had to compare between ifconfig and ipconfig to find out what the dns/gateway should be setup as without DHCP. I also gave the usb 56k modem a try on the mac as I intend to use it as my primary system (24/7) within the week and noticed that after several attempts the best connection it will establish is 31200bps. Is the apple modem capable of a better connection? The same phone line on my USR Internal 56k Performance Pro manages to connect @ 48000bps each and every time.
Well, hardware vs. software modems and connection speed ability are two different things.
Hardware modems are, from a technical point of view, the best possible option. They don't depend on support software of any kind for their own functionality, and therefore they don't consume any computer resources.
When it comes to connection speeds, it depends on the modem's ability to handle local phone line conditions. Generally, they're all over the board. Probably USR is one of the better options, but I've seen situations where even one of them was brought to it's knees.
The only thing I can suggest is to try several different modems on the same phone line, and see which model does the best repeatedly. If they all suck, then the only recourse will be for you to contact the phone company and see if they can detect a problem that they're willing to fix.
Sadly, at this point there's little interest in working on dial-up stuff since that isn't really where the money is any more.
Best of luck!
Hardware modems are, from a technical point of view, the best possible option. They don't depend on support software of any kind for their own functionality, and therefore they don't consume any computer resources.
When it comes to connection speeds, it depends on the modem's ability to handle local phone line conditions. Generally, they're all over the board. Probably USR is one of the better options, but I've seen situations where even one of them was brought to it's knees.
The only thing I can suggest is to try several different modems on the same phone line, and see which model does the best repeatedly. If they all suck, then the only recourse will be for you to contact the phone company and see if they can detect a problem that they're willing to fix.
Sadly, at this point there's little interest in working on dial-up stuff since that isn't really where the money is any more.
Best of luck!
A couple of years ago I actually did have to contact my phone company because if I'm remembering right, I got disconnects, or terrible speeds, or something most of the time.
As it turned out, there WAS something wrong with the lines to the neighborhood (would have been affecting everyone), and as soon as they fixed it, my connections got rock solid. (But these were really bad.)
I've always loved U.S. Robotics' modems
As it turned out, there WAS something wrong with the lines to the neighborhood (would have been affecting everyone), and as soon as they fixed it, my connections got rock solid. (But these were really bad.)
I've always loved U.S. Robotics' modems
Shame USR doesn't make any external hardware modems for the mac, looks like I'm stuck with leaving the PC, my gaming box and a power whore that makes far too much noise, on 24/7 just for dialup. Kinda defeats the purpose of switching to a low power/low noise mac as my 24/7 system. :'(
Actually, USR still does make external fax modems. Here's the link for their external 56K V.92 USB Faxmodem, priced at $49.99 direct from US Robotics.
However, a cleaner, more elegant solution would, naturally, be to have the modem integrated into the wireless router. A quick scan of Answers.com revealed three options, but it looks like two of those products are now discontinued, but this one seems to be a possibility. Also, the product description specifically lists PC & Mac support.
I didn't realize there were any other routers (etc.) with a modem in them besides Apple's previous generation Airport Base Station. That was a really cool feature, that I wish was still on there (not that I can blame them for removing it, since no one else has it).