[Gllug] Broadband modems

[Peter Ball]

On 3 Jul 2003 at 18:20, Tethys wrote:

> North London John writes:
> 
> >My main concern is with the modem. It has to be Mac OS X and linux
> >(ppc and x86) compatible.
> >
> >Can anyone suggest a particular modem, give general advice on what to
> > check for when getting broadband, or recommend sites with such info?

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/

> Don't get a modem, get a router. You don't need any drivers, just plug
> it into your network, configure your machines to use it as the default
> gateway, and you're done.

Absolutely, and many security problems largely go away - at least with NAT
 
> >And just for the flames, ISDN vs ADSL?
> 
> ADSL. There's no reason to use ISDN any more for anything other than
> interoperability with others (for example, the advertising industry
> still sends copy around over ISDN lines). If you don't have a specific
> use for ISDN, go for ADSL. It's cheaper, always on and has far greater
> bandwidth.

If your thinking about a modem presumably your private rather than business so I usually 
agree.

However, even in London not everyone can get ADSL.

I still have a number of sites which have not yet switched from ISDN to ADSL and from my 
experience ISDN is still more stable than ADSL.  Also ISDN is available unmetered at 64k and 
128k. I have a number of sites which use unmetered ISDN in always on mode without 
problems.

Approx monthly prices ex vat
512/256 ADSL £23.82 (5 IPs)
64/64 ISDN £49.98 (1 IP)
128/128 ISDN £107.98 (5 IPs)

For resilience (the poor man's version) I'm using 512/256 ADSL (in any case I too far from the 
exchange to get faster than that) and 64/64 ISDN.  The ADSL and IDSN are on different ISPs.

It's not as resilient as I would like but a lot more resilient than I could have dreamt of affording 
very recently.  My office, the cable route and the exchange are the same.  But a lot or the 
electronics in the exchange are separate and I think the routes rapidly diverge within BT.  In 
any case I have never (touch wood) have both ISDN and ADSL go down together.






 

-----------------------------------
Peter Ball
Computers For Linguists
peter.ball at marguet-ball.net
Tel:    +44(0)20 7732 1741
Fax:    +44(0)20 7358 9214
Mobile: +44(0)77 1968 2913
45 Endwell Road, London, SE4 2PQ, United Kingdom


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