could anyone tell me the cheapest and best way to have multiple computers in the house online at the same time ? multiple phone lines are not an option...

thanks in advance

niteowl07, you will have to have a router.
Richard

who or how do you set it up ? is it simple enough that i could do it ?

It's pretty simple if you use a wired router. You just need to buy enough ethernet cables to connect the router to your computers. You connect the router to the modem your ISP gives you via the WAN port and connect your computers to the LAN ports.

It's more complicated if you get a wireless router because you have to configure WPA and worry about the placement of the antennas you have to buy for the computers. Most laptops have wireless built in, but the same is not true for desktop computers and you may have to buy wireless cards for them.

It is very simple, like Jenny said, if you have wireless devices in the other computers. I used Linksys E3000 and it was really easy. I have a wired desktop, wired Xbox 360, one laptop downstairs, two laptops and a netbook upstairs, three iPhones and one iTouch using the WIFI connection. Everything can be on all at the same time and it was a super easy setup. Draclvr used some other wireless thingy, she can explain that part. I didn't have to fuss like I did with my six year old Belkin.

thanks muchly , all !

Because my wireless broadband comes into the house about 30 feet from where my computers are, I am ALL wireless. Due to location, I am unable to have anything wired. I've had three different setups (one was toasted by lightning and one just quit working after about 5 years). This current one was the easiest of them all. I am using two Linksys AE1000 USB wireless adapters. It was as easy as plugging them into my computers, installing the drivers and entering my password. Linksys AE1000

Jenny is correct that the wired for the main computer to a wireless router is the best. Then you can either use the wireless that is built in to most recent laptops or add something like the AE1000 to any desktops that may not have a wireless adapter.

The main thing is securing your wireless network and even that was so much easier with this new system.