When you move into shared accommodation either a flat share or maybe student accommodation you have a number of factors to think about when it comes to your computer and broadband usage.  Even if your household only has one computer you have to decide who gets to use it primarily, perhaps for work purposes, college purposes or for personal use.

If you are sharing a flat with someone then you more than likely will have separate computers, however you do not need to have separate internet connections.  It is possible for you to have the one broadband setup and both computers be able to use it simultaneously, there are in fact 3 options you have when it comes to this.

The easiest and most common in today’s world is to use a wireless router, you basically set it up near the phone line and all of your computers can connect wirelessly and use the broadband connection.  The main benefit of this method is that both computers do not have to be turned on.

The more traditional method is to connect each laptops to your router using a LAN cable, this will also allow both of them to use the internet at the same time.  This also has the benefit of not having to have both computers turned on.

Another method that is not very common in today’s world is to connect one computer to the router/internet as the host, then create a local area network between the computers to allow the other one to access the internet via the host.  This means that the computer acting as the host will have to be on at all times if the other one intends on using the internet.

You should always consider your bandwidth/usage if you plan on sharing an internet connection, ensure that you have enough each month because you would hate to overuse the internet and be faced with a hefty bill at the end of the month.