Broadband for Mac Powerbook G4 and imac

[burblev8]

Please help a poor dial up surfer to set up broadband for the above.

I have a Powerbook G4 and an imac in the office and want to set up broadband but I am confused by all the options and hardware/software requirements.

What I think I want is to set up a broadband account at the office for imac and G4 Powerbook possibly wirelessly and use the laptop at home wirelessly.

Can someone simplify the options and requirements for me?

[alloypearltam]

An Apple Airport Express and an adsl router (we have a netgear router). Basically Airport Express is plugged into the mains.

A cable then goes from the Airport to the router. The phoneline plugs into the router and of course the final cable is the power supply for the router.

The whole system is extremely easy to set up.

[burblev8]

So I would need:-

1 x Broadband account
2 x Airport Base Station (1 for office 1 for home)
2 x Airport Card
2 x Router

What is the difference between Router, Filter and modem?

Sorry for being dense - too much jargon!

[jimothy]

Don't get the Airport base station. Complete waste of money. It's a 54g access point costing the price of a small house. If you do, you need to buy a ruoter as well. And seeing as a combined router/access point that does wireless the same as the Airport is about a fiver more than just a router, why pay £360,000 for the Airport Base station.

Are you using a cable modem or ADSL?

If its a cable modem, get a 54g wireless router (e.g. linksys wrt54g), for ADSL get a wireless ADSL modem (I'm on cable, so can't recommend an ADSL router)

Get Airport Extreem cards for your Macs.
Follow the instructions with the router - they're fairly plug-and-play these days and away you go.

[800]

What he said.
I love all things Apple, but avoid the Airport Base Station, just go for a decent router.

Of course once you've set that up, try one of these to have wireless iTunes from your PowerBook to your home HiFi

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore.woa/

[mattley]

burblev8 said:

So I would need:- 1 x Broadband account 2 x Airport Base Station (1 for office 1 for home) 2 x Airport Card 2 x Router What is the difference between Router, Filter and modem? Sorry for being dense - too much jargon!

Should read 2 x Broadband accounts (1 for office 1 for home)

Broadband accounts are linked to the line.

I use these www.dsl-warehouse.co.uk/product.asp?pr=VIGOR2600G.

Not the cheapest but I've installed about 20 or 'em and they're absolutly brilliant.

3com are OK if you want a bit cheaper if you don;t need the full feature set. Don;t touck Dlink, Belkin or Linksys, especially if you're using macs.

[jamieboy]

mattley said:

Don't touch ...Belkin..., especially if you're using macs.

Why's that? I replaced my faulty Netgear with a Belkin (probably not my first choice, but it was all the local place had in stock) and it has worked perfectly with my PC laptops and my wife's iMac G5 since day one.

Echo jimothy's point about the Apple Base station - there's no need, unless you're desperate for everything to look the same. Our G5 with Airport Extreme card has had no problems with either the Netgear or the Belkin routers.

[jimothy]

mattley said:

Don;t touck Dlink, Belkin or Linksys, especially if you're using macs.

Why? I've got a linksys wireless access point (WAP54g) and it works fine with my mac.

And I wouldn't bother with Airtunes. Get a Squeezebox, it's got a remote control and a display on the front so you don't need to dig out the PC to use it.

[agent006]

mattley said:

especially if you're using macs.

Do macs use a different version of TCP/IP that i'm unaware of then?

[mattley]

Nothing to with the IP stack, I've put loads of this type of stuff over the past couple of years and have found the cheaper ones fussier. It's more stuff like For instance the Dlink and Lynksys config interface won't (or at least didn't) work with Safari 2. Mail can suffer timeout problems even at the bast of times and I've fixed this problem twice by upgrading the router.

I will agree that alot of the time this cheaper kit is fine, and as time goes on and firmware gets better I'm sure all these little things will (maybe have )iron themselves out.

[HiRich]

burblev8 said:

I have a Powerbook G4 and an imac in the office and want to set up broadband but I am confused by all the options and hardware/software requirements. What I think I want is to set up a broadband account at the office for imac and G4 Powerbook possibly wirelessly and use the laptop at home wirelessly.

Would you clarify where the office fits in. Is it in the home, or is it geographically separate?

1) ADSL Accounts
You need an account and ADSL-enabled phone line. If home and office are separate places, then you need two accounts (assuming of course that you want to upgrade both places). You could try asking the major ISPs if they have a suitable "dual-location" plan, but I've not heard of one.
One thing that may be significant. If you want to connect the home back to the office (assuming they are separate), perhaps to download a file, or check for faxes. If so, look for 'static IP', and 'VPN'. Alternatively, take a look at a .Mac account, which could offer you a lot of advantages.

2) Line Management
In each location, every phone socket (those that are in use) needs a microfilter. This splits the data and voice signals. There are several options on the market which either plug into the existing facia plate or (more neatly) replace the exisitng facia plate (if you use these, you may need to buy or borrow a funky little wiring tool)

3) Data Management
So now you have a data cable running out of one of your phone sockets (N.B. try to make this the primary socket, not extensions). You need to convert this data into something the computer can use, and distribute it. You need a modem/router. For each location, you need to make the first decision: Ethernet or wireless? (it doesn't have to be the same for both locations, as the PowerBook can be easily switched). Ethernet:
is faster,
gets through thick walls,
requires you to lay cables,
keeps you tied to one place (no walking around the garden, though you can put in points around the house)
is already installed on both machines
Only you know which is right for each location, but do think ahead:
- Will you want to add more computers in the future
- You may want to move on in the future to network devices (possibly storage, possibly Airport Express, but especially printers)
Whichever you choose, you will need either a wireless or ethernet modem/router (the modem bit manages the signal from the phone socket, the router routes data around the LAN network you have created)
Most routers are very easy to set up, using a web browser to access the interface. Having said that, do look for one that is Mac-friendly (quick tip: pop into WH Smith, look for MacWorld Plus on sale now, which is a general buying guide, and see if it has a section on Mac-friendly routers). Also, make sure that it has a firewall built-in.

4) Data Receipt
That's something on each computer to receive the signal. As I've already said, if you decided to go Ethernet, just plug in the cable. If you go wireless, you will need Airport Express cards. Follow the instructions to drop them in.

5) Configuring
Restart the computers, then open System Preferences/Network. Go to "location: Automatic" and "Show: Network Status". If you are lucky, it will have found the router. With the bumpf you have received with the router and from your ISP, you may need to type in a few things. Save the details on the router. While you're at it, save the configuration on the laptop ("location: New Location". When you get home, return to Automatic, and create and save a new location here. You might even be lucky that the "Automatic" location auto-detects where you are and sorts itself out, but just in case, you now have saved settings.
You will need to study your ISP paperwork, but you can easily set up both machines to collect from the same Account, or run separate Office and Home accounts.

6) Protection
Well if you chose wisely, your routers already have firewalls. OSX also has a good firewall. So you don't need another. Do check your Sharing Preferences, just in case (and a good book, like The Missing Manual will help).
You could get a virus-checker, but be aware that there is not a single viable virus in OSX...


So that's:
- Two ADSL accounts (if Office & Home are separate)
- A bucketful of microfilters
- Two routers (Home & Office) which could be either wireless, Ethernet, or one of each.
For Wireless
- an airport card for each machine that will use it
- ten minutes of setup
For Ethernet
- A bucketful of cable and facia plates, and half a day of bloke-fun with drills, screwdrivers and rawlplugs
For software
- Mail, browser and firewall are already on your machines
- Antivirus is optional
- Consider a .Mac account
For help:
- A copy of The Missing Manual for your OSX flavour (which will help you in a few other places)
- Try www.adslguide.org.uk for impartial advice on hardware, ISPs, and Mac-specific issues

[burblev8]

What can I say? That was epic!

Thanks - I feel all empowered. I'm actually quite a practical, logical, techy type but broadband seems to have completely passed my by. I was beginning to understand how my mother feels when I talk about cars...

Anyway, I'm going to set up a wireless router at home and a cabled router at the office (as they are geographically separate, Rich)

One more question...

Any recommendations for ISP?

[HiRich]

adslguide has a lot of information (and user ranking) on all UK ISPs, and it's worth doing a search on PH as it's a regular question.

I would suggest demon (preferred by Apple) and Pipex could be considered the benchmarks for fairly 'professional' users, and Nildram seem to come very highly recommended. I use Demon and they have been pretty good, if rather expensive and they were very slow to upgrade to higher speeds. I would suggest you look for:
- 2Mbs line (presuming you are not out in the sticks)
- Self-install (no point messing with a free modem that you aren't going to use)
- No bandwith/usage limits
- Good quality rating on adslguide (when you have shortlisted a few, you can look at the comparator and then browse the forums, including the Mac forum, to see the sort of problems people are reporting)
and browse for any additional features that might be of interest (e.g. nailed-up line and static IP address, which might be interesting/useful for you; host-based spam filter if you suffer problems; website hosting)

Another application worth adding is an RSS feed (NetNewswire Lite is free, very good on Mac, see http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/ and go to the bottom of the page). I've grown to love being able to grab the latest news on subjects i want to read every time i wake up my Mac.