- What suggestions do you have for your classmates on their network cabling?
- Are there any other suggestions for what they should consider for their equipment setup?
- Where are you moving to for your new work-from-home position? Which ISPs are available at this location? Which do you pick and why?
- I will be moving to Smithfield, VA, to work for Smithfield Foods but working from home as a cyber security analyst. The town of Smithfield resides within the county of Isle of Wight. Due to the rural area, only 3 ISP are available: Spectrum Internet, HughesNet Internet, and T-Mobile Home Internet. Of these three options, I would only choose Spectrum Internet for two reasons. The first, the others use mobile hotspots, and the second spectrum offers a Home Business option to have a hard line installed along with wi-fi, so you have better coverage.
- What equipment do you need for your work-from-home position? What does your ISP provide? What does your employer provide? What do you need to provide?
- My home office will require a computer, modem, router, and all the necessary power cords and cables to connect the devices. My company would provide my Desktop with two-factor authentication. My ISP would provide the modem and routers and the necessary coax and ethernet cables for my wi-fi and wired internet. I would need to provide additional IoT, such as a printer and tablet.
- What network cabling will you be using, and which devices?
- I will use coax and ethernet cables. The coax cable will be connected from the wall to the back of the modem, the ethernet will connect from the computer to the modem, and the ethernet will connect the modem to the router for other wi-fi access.
- How do you determine the IP addresses on your devices?
- Since I have been using Windows 10 for my work computer, I could use a few different ways to ascertain my IP addresses. First, you can use the command prompt, type “cmd” in the search bar, right-click on the command prompt and “run as administrator,” then, on the command line, type “arp – a” This will display all the IP addresses within the network. Second, I could open the “My spectrum” app and go to my internet option; select display connects to all connected IP addresses.
- How will you set up equipment in your office in your new home? Will you be using wireless or hard wire for your network connection? What else should be considered?
- I will be setting up all my equipment in my allocated office space. I will have the modem and router on the desk with the computer, and my printer will be next to the desk on the stand. Having all my equipment close will allow easy access and minimum cables. I will have two sources of the internet for work, the primary being wi-fi, but given that I live in a rural area, the wi-fi can sometimes be spotty. For this reason, my backup internet connection will be my wired coax line into my modem, fed into my computer via ethernet Cat5 wire. My IoT devices will be connected via wireless; if all else should fail (unlikely), I could always use my cell phone as a mobile hotspot for emergencies.
References:
Internet Providers In My Area | Compare Plans by Address. (n.d.). Allconnect. https://www.allconnect.com/internetLinks to an external site.
Matters, C. (2021, July 23). How to Set up a Home Network: A Complete Guide. Cablematters.com; Cable Matters Blog. https://www.cablematters.com/blog/Networking/set-up-home-networkLinks to an external site.
Pratik. (2019, March 6). How to Find IP Address of Any Device On Your Network. TechWiser. https://techwiser.com/find-ip-address-of-any-device/Links to an external site.
Charter Communications. (2017). Business Internet Services – High-Speed Internet | Spectrum Business. Spectrum.com. https://www.spectrum.com/business/internetLinks to an external site.