[Gllug] Wireless access point/ADSL Modem/Router

[Chris Bell]

On Sun 25 Apr, will wrote:
> 
> Well, after my woeful experience with rlsupplies[0] I am looking 
> elsewhere to get an ADSL modem/router that has 4 ethernet ports and also 
> acts as a wireless access point with 128bit WEP.  I have seen this 
> solwise one:
> 
> http://www.solwise.co.uk/adslspec.htm#SAR840G
> 
> Has anyone had any experience with it?  What would people recommend?
> 
> Will.
> 
> [0] I phoned up and asked them if a certain product would dial my ADSL 
> connection, the salesman said yes[1] so I bought one.  I got it a few 
> days later to discover that it doesn't.  I called up and they offered me 
> either a discount off an ADSL modem to do the dialing, which was a lousy 
> deal, or said I could return it although I would lose the postage both 
> ways if I did.

   Not sure what you mean by dialling your ADSL connection. There should be
continuous high frequency carriers on the line which are the links to and
from your ADSL box. As long as they reach their destinations, (your kit and
the local exchange), at a reasonable level and without signal reflections or
excessive distortion, and both ends are correctly configured, the link
should just start up and work. The most that you may need to do from that
time would be to occasionally power cycle your kit if the link was broken
and failed to restart, although I have never suffered from that. The most I
have suffered after a broken link was a partial crash of software on my old
Acorn kit, and nothing to do with the ADSL system. My Linux boxes simply
tried again later.
   You must ensure that your end of the cable is correctly terminated, and
that there is minimum signal loss, and by far the best way for the normal BT
connection is to use a replacement front panel filter unit as supplied by BT
or the similar panel supplied by Solwise. These replace the standard
termination by a multi-stage low loss filter unit. The standard telephone
connection is then available with full REN specification from a port
adjacent to the ADSL port.
   You can check for the presence of carrier from the exchange by listening
across the incoming line using a modern powered phone without the filter
unit in place. You are likely to hear lots of noise. I fitted and configured
my ADSL kit before the ADSL was activated, and it just worked a day or so
before the appointed day.

> 
> After a couple of hours on the phone they have eventually aggreed to get 
> a courier to pick it up, but it took way too long.
> 
> [1] Although the salesman denies all knowledge of me asking this question...
> 
   I purchased a second-hand Asus ADSL single ethernet router from Solwise,
it came with the original small Asus manual plus a Solwise manual. There are
many operating mode options, and it may have a slightly modified system, but
it has always worked perfectly.

-- 
Chris Bell

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