Comments for the geek in all of us

For the technically curious:

We've designed the Warehouse as a large LAN. Each bedroom in a particular apartment is connected to a hub designated for that apartment. This means a computer, or host, in one bedroom MAY communicate with a computer in another bedroom of the same apartment. Each apartment's hub is connected to a master programmable switch set up in a VLAN configuration. The VLAN assures privacy between computers in separate apartments. The switch is connected via fiber optic cable to a port in Networking Enterprises' router in our Fountains office. From that router a Broadband (at least 1.5 mbits) connection to the Internet is maintained by our Internet service provider.

The communications protocol used in the network is TCP/IP. Software to permit the use of TCP/IP is included with Windows 95, 98, ME, NT and 2000, IBM's OS/2, LINUX, UNIX and more recent Mac operating systems. Respectfully, Windows 3.1, DOS and Mac classic users should probably avoid connection speeds greater than 56k baud.

When you subscribe to 308West.net, we will ask you for your MAC, a unique address embedded in your NIC (the ethernet card, network interface card, in your computer). This address, and only this address, will be permitted access to the Internet from your bedroom. Please notify us if you replace your ethernet card (or want to connect a different computer to your bedroom jack) so that we can make adjustments for the new NIC.

The cable from your bedroom RJ45 jack (the one that's about twice as big as a regular phone jack) will be connected to the hub for your bedroom and, if yours is the first connection from your apartment, the apartment's hub will be connected to the master switch. Your task is simply to plug the cable that came with your ethernet card into the bedroom jack and turn on your computer.

The only "magic" left is identifying your computer to the rest of the world. That's done with an IP (internet protocol) address. Once TCP/IP is correctly enabled on your computer 308West.net will automatically provide an IP address to your computer each time your turn it on through the use of DHCP (dynamic host configuration protocol).

For more information, contact info@308West.Net

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