Discussion
Very off topic this one. Have got fast connection at work, but when I get home Piston Heads becomes a right pain to use on 56k modem.
I am currently with AOL who want a rather extortionate £36 a month plus £85 set up for ADSL.
Any one here found better deals? Good/bad experiences?
Unfortunately no cable where I am, as I have heard this is good for broad band.
I am currently with AOL who want a rather extortionate £36 a month plus £85 set up for ADSL.
Any one here found better deals? Good/bad experiences?
Unfortunately no cable where I am, as I have heard this is good for broad band.
check out plus.net, excellent service and very cheap. You can also get a fixed IP address if you ask which is nice. You can find a link on www.tuff-net.com and follow the links.
I've gone with Pipex ADSL at home - when I signed up there was no set up fee (although I had to buy a new modem and a few other bits - this may be included in your £85 AOL fee). It's about £23 a month for anytime access.
Details here:
www.xtreme.pipex.net/adsl/sales/
Dan
Details here:
www.xtreme.pipex.net/adsl/sales/
Dan
I got my work connected earlier this year and now want one for home. I am looking to list with zen internet www.zenadsl.com (they have multiple 155MBPS pipes, so should be v fast), but have heard that nildram are also very good, and cheaper at under £20 per month ex VAT., but no static ips. You'll have to get your own hardware though, but this can cost as little as £80 odd quick, maybe less? Its not difficult to set up a router, but I think its best to use a network adapter type setup, rather than the USB port type. Finally decide whether you want NATS, or real static IP numbers, multiple or single etc. Then cost it up and see which works out cheaper for you.
If you want any help setting it up later you can always email me and I'll talk you through it, as it were, in a non techie way. I am a non techie at this and have set up my dsl connection and work LAN network (Windows 2000 server) myself and learnt the hard way, so know what might stump you at first. Which incidentally, for dsl, will probably be nothing! Its very easy, believe me.
If you want any help setting it up later you can always email me and I'll talk you through it, as it were, in a non techie way. I am a non techie at this and have set up my dsl connection and work LAN network (Windows 2000 server) myself and learnt the hard way, so know what might stump you at first. Which incidentally, for dsl, will probably be nothing! Its very easy, believe me.
quote:
I've gone with Pipex ADSL at home - when I signed up there was no set up fee (although I had to buy a new modem and a few other bits - this may be included in your £85 AOL fee). It's about £23 a month for anytime access.
Details here:
www.xtreme.pipex.net/adsl/sales/
Dan
A couple of colleagues and I have been with Pipex ADSL for a few months now, and found it fast with no real problems - occasionally you need a couple of retries before connecting, but that's it. It uses your existing BT line, but isn't available all over the country - the Pipex website has a facility for checking availability against your postcode.
For an impartial comparison of broadband ISPs, see www.ispreview.co.uk.
we use zen for most of out of office connections, ie working from home. 25 p/m with static ip and they will do you a set up scrpt if you require. We set it up sothat the IP on the machines on our users network matched up to our office network so he could just plug straight in when he comes into the office. Very reliable and a reasonable price, though the tech support can be a bit slow - I understand they are expanding this though
I'm also thinking about getting an ADSl connection at home. I'm a student living in a shared house with 3 computers, which will all want to access at the same time. I understand I would need something called a router to achieve this and that each computer would have to access this using a network card (to prevent a computer being used as a server). Is this right?
If so, is there anything I should look out for when getting these bits? And where offers the best deals (cheaper is better, remember we're students!)
Assuming i'm making sense with what i've said, is there anything else i should consider?
Cheers
If so, is there anything I should look out for when getting these bits? And where offers the best deals (cheaper is better, remember we're students!)
Assuming i'm making sense with what i've said, is there anything else i should consider?
Cheers
Right here goes.
You need a Firewall Switch (from around £60 I think) and what it does is splits the connection equally(ish) depending on the number of ports you buy on the switch (amount of connections to pc's).
The firewall bit stops the unsavory bastid out there from getting in - as the adsl is an 'always-on' connection.
Other than that it is dead simple - nothing techy like some people try to bamboozle users with.
You need a Firewall Switch (from around £60 I think) and what it does is splits the connection equally(ish) depending on the number of ports you buy on the switch (amount of connections to pc's).
The firewall bit stops the unsavory bastid out there from getting in - as the adsl is an 'always-on' connection.
Other than that it is dead simple - nothing techy like some people try to bamboozle users with.
I use Nildram and can't fault it. I read somewhere that it's been rated the quickest service available of the 512K type currently. www.getadsl.co.uk
quote:
For egomeisters problem a DSL Router would probably be better. Its a hub with a DSL modem and firewall built in with 4 ports. They are made by a UK company and retail at about £150 I think.
However I am not sure if BT will do a wires only install to the home.
Matt.
You wouldn't even have to do that.
Netgear do a nifty basic firewall 4 port dsl/cable modem for £60. You just hang it off the modem.
>> Edited by neil_cardiff on Wednesday 9th October 16:54
Thanks guys,
Neil, do you have the model of the basic firewall 4 port dsl/cable modem? And where could I get it for £60? I definitely doing it if it's just £60, the budget is tight and i thought they were at least £100!
Once I bought this and the network card to connect my pc to it, would it just be a matter of getting in touch with an ISP and signing up? I take it that ADSL uses a standard BT line with no mods or anything?
The only downside to this would be that I'd never get any work done!
Neil, do you have the model of the basic firewall 4 port dsl/cable modem? And where could I get it for £60? I definitely doing it if it's just £60, the budget is tight and i thought they were at least £100!
Once I bought this and the network card to connect my pc to it, would it just be a matter of getting in touch with an ISP and signing up? I take it that ADSL uses a standard BT line with no mods or anything?
The only downside to this would be that I'd never get any work done!
quote:
However I am not sure if BT will do a wires only install to the home.
Wires only means you do your end yourself, just by plugging in a splitter which contains a microfilter. BTopenworld certainly do it, as I've been using their ADSL service for months with almost 100% reliability (down for 1 hour in the middle of the night once) - cost £29.99 a month.
Do they tie you to using the 'frog' with the wires only though? I was under the impression that if you bought a freeserve dsl in a box type kit then you were allowed to do wires only, but I thought they didnt allow strictly wires only so you could choose your own 'frog' alternative or DSL Router.
Matt.
Matt.
quote:
Thanks guys,
Neil, do you have the model of the basic firewall 4 port dsl/cable modem? And where could I get it for £60? I definitely doing it if it's just £60, the budget is tight and i thought they were at least £100!
Once I bought this and the network card to connect my pc to it, would it just be a matter of getting in touch with an ISP and signing up? I take it that ADSL uses a standard BT line with no mods or anything?
The only downside to this would be that I'd never get any work done!
My source at MicroWarehouse can sort you out - email me for his email details - he'll call you, I would recommend going for the £90 version - it is more secure.
This will allow you all to connect together on a workgroup so you can play games off-line etc, but once you have a connection to a adsl provider - you will be ready to all go on-line.
quote:
Once I bought this and the network card to connect my pc to it, would it just be a matter of getting in touch with an ISP and signing up? I take it that ADSL uses a standard BT line with no mods or anything?
Yes and no - ADSL does use a 'standard' BT line, in so far as there's no need to do any wiring at your end (unlike ISDN). On the other hand, your line does need to be switched over to ADSL at the exchange. This doesn't affect anything if you aren't using the ADSL line - a phone can be plugged in without using a microfilter and everything will work fine. However, if a ADSL modem is connected to the line no phones will work unless a microfilter is in place.
Once you've got the bits of kit, you call an ISP to arrange ADSL stuff, and they sort out the conversion of your phone line to ADSL with BT. You should note that many ISP's have a minimum 1 year contract for their ADSL service, and will charge you for the full year even if you cancel early. Pipex has no minimum term, however (or at least, they didn't when I signed up).
BEFORE you buy the bits of kit it's worth checking if your phone line can have ADSL enabled. BT will tell you here:
www.bt.com/btbroadband/ns_availability_check.jsp
Sorry the post is a bit long - I'm filling in time until 17:30!
Dan
quote:
Netgear do a nifty basic firewall 4 port dsl/cable modem for £60. You just hang it off the modem.
What modem? You don't need a separate modem with a combined modem/router/hub. There are no ethernet ADSL modems on sale in the UK that are not also routers, although some have 4 port hubs, some don't. Some have firewalls, some don't. Anything that claims to be a DSL router that does not have an inbuilt ADSL modem is for cable, not ADSL. Cable is different to ADSL because you have to use the existing modem. The non-ethernet variety of ADSL modem (i.e. the USB ones) are pretty useless for connection sharing unless you want to use ICS. Actually they are pretty useless, period. Wires only means you are free to buy whatever equipment you want. A good resource is
www.adslguide.org.uk
If you want to run Messenger on more than one PC then there may be issues with most routers. The Alcatel 510V4 is an example of a modern router that can cope with this though.
quote:
Do they tie you to using the 'frog' with the wires only though?
Not with wires only. They may only 'support' (I use the term loosely) the frog on the phone, but you can use whatever equipment you like with most ISPs. Some of the people who paid lots of money to have an engineer visit and swap the faceplate (which you can buy yourself for 15 quid and it's a 30 second job) are restricted to the frog in their T&Cs. I doubt they would enforce that either though.
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