ADSL coming soon ...Newbie questions

Hi,

My local exchange is being enabled in a two months and I would appreciate
some input where my knowledge is lacking or to confirm my thoughts in my
research so far.

I have a small Home Office with only one PC online atm. I would like to set
up a router for up to 2 other PCs plus a laptop. Main usage will be normal
web browsing, uploading files, emails, usenet.

1. I understand that 50:1 contention refers to the possibility that I will
have to share the 512K pipe with up to 50 other users at my exchange.
Correct? In practice, is it better to start off at 50:1 and then upgrade to
20:1 if (and/or when) things get busier?

2. I'm considering signing up with either Plusnet (Excellent support via
site) or Virgin or Onetel or NDO. OK?

3. The additional PCs I'd like to bring online will only be used for web
browsing. They are located in different rooms, about 15m and 20m away from
the main PC. There is a corridor running along the building, off which each
room is situated. Brick walls between rooms but office doors most likely
left open. I'd like wireless routing - is this a practical option?

4. While I run a small business, is there any reason why a Home/Residential
Package wouldn't be acceptable or permissible for me?

5. I want a very easy to set up 4 x router (wireless or not) with firewall.
Thinking about the Netgear DG834/G. Any others to consider?

6. I also want to be able to set up parental control for one of the PCs so
it can only go to predetermined sites - can the Netgear DG834 do this or do
I have to set this up for all PCs?

7. With regard to lead times, is it best to order my ISP and have hardware
ready before exchange is enabled?

Thanks.

Tommy

The netgear is a very good router, my friend has purchased two for both home
and office and is very happy with it. Not sure hwo it will fare through the
walls, maybe someone can help on this.

I am with virgin and run it into a Alcatel Speedtouch 510 v4 and run 3 pc`s
and a ps2 from it and have had no problems with the service wot so ever and
the dowload rates have been fine. You say the business is run from home, do
you really have to let virgin know this ;-) They offer little or no support
for networking, but in my experience there are enough places out there to
help www.adslguide.org

The parental control, I beleive would have to be set up locally on the pc,
but there is plenty of control software out there on the net

Good Luck

Rich

"Tom T" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bl9qnj$9hirm$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
>
> My local exchange is being enabled in a two months and I would appreciate
> some input where my knowledge is lacking or to confirm my thoughts in my
> research so far.
>
> I have a small Home Office with only one PC online atm. I would like to
set
> up a router for up to 2 other PCs plus a laptop. Main usage will be normal
> web browsing, uploading files, emails, usenet.
>
> 1. I understand that 50:1 contention refers to the possibility that I will
> have to share the 512K pipe with up to 50 other users at my exchange.
> Correct? In practice, is it better to start off at 50:1 and then upgrade
to
> 20:1 if (and/or when) things get busier?
>
> 2. I'm considering signing up with either Plusnet (Excellent support via
> site) or Virgin or Onetel or NDO. OK?
>
> 3. The additional PCs I'd like to bring online will only be used for web
> browsing. They are located in different rooms, about 15m and 20m away from
> the main PC. There is a corridor running along the building, off which
each
> room is situated. Brick walls between rooms but office doors most likely
> left open. I'd like wireless routing - is this a practical option?
>
> 4. While I run a small business, is there any reason why a
Home/Residential
> Package wouldn't be acceptable or permissible for me?
>
> 5. I want a very easy to set up 4 x router (wireless or not) with
firewall.
> Thinking about the Netgear DG834/G. Any others to consider?
>
> 6. I also want to be able to set up parental control for one of the PCs so
> it can only go to predetermined sites - can the Netgear DG834 do this or
do
> I have to set this up for all PCs?
>
> 7. With regard to lead times, is it best to order my ISP and have hardware
> ready before exchange is enabled?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Tommy
>
>

> > 1. I understand that 50:1 contention refers to the possibility that I
will
> > have to share the 512K pipe with up to 50 other users at my exchange.
> > Correct? In practice, is it better to start off at 50:1 and then upgrade
> to
> > 20:1 if (and/or when) things get busier?

Generally speaking, you can upgrade to a "business" package. It will be
more expensive, but will offer the 20:1 ratio. That said, I use 2 50:1
conections at wirk & home, and have never experienced a difficulty.
Downloads always come through at 50+kps, and browsing is lightening fast.

> >
> > 2. I'm considering signing up with either Plusnet (Excellent support via
> > site) or Virgin or Onetel or NDO. OK?

Not familiar with Virgin or Onetel, but have used PlusNet's sister compnay,
Force9. They were ok on standard dialup, but started to suffer problems
with connections later on, then they put there prices up 3 times in a year.
Kind of put me off them. We have been using PIPEX for ADSL, both at home
and office.

> > 3. The additional PCs I'd like to bring online will only be used for web
> > browsing. They are located in different rooms, about 15m and 20m away
from
> > the main PC. There is a corridor running along the building, off which
> each
> > room is situated. Brick walls between rooms but office doors most likely
> > left open. I'd like wireless routing - is this a practical option?

Depends on the kit you buy. Check the power output (in Watts or milliwatts)
of any Access Points / routers you buy. Also check out reviews. Some seem
to go further than others.

> > 4. While I run a small business, is there any reason why a
> Home/Residential
> > Package wouldn't be acceptable or permissible for me?

No reason at all. Our office account is the standard home account.
Currently there are 8 PCs on the network (including part of the network
being wireless). It has revolutionised how we use email, and made life a
lot easier.
> >
> > 5. I want a very easy to set up 4 x router (wireless or not) with
> firewall.
> > Thinking about the Netgear DG834/G. Any others to consider?

For our office system, we kept costs to an absolute minimum. So, we just
use the standard USB modem that we got "free" with the ADSL connection. It
is connected to a PC running linux, which we have set up as the gateway.
All other machines route through its Proxy for Internet, email, news, FTP
etc. Has been a fantastic solution. We leave it powered on 24/7 and have
only had to reboot twice in a year. It also meant we could recycle an old
PC (Pentuim 166MMX).

> > 6. I also want to be able to set up parental control for one of the PCs
so
> > it can only go to predetermined sites - can the Netgear DG834 do this or
> do
> > I have to set this up for all PCs?

No idea! Perhaps a firewall type of program would let you do this. Don't
know for sure.

> >
> > 7. With regard to lead times, is it best to order my ISP and have
hardware
> > ready before exchange is enabled?

I know I had problems. The web said my line would be fine, but the BT
survey said it wasn't! So my order was cancelled. Now, 1 year later, I've
just got it installed at home, but I checked with BT first before contacting
my chosen ISP.
> >
> > Thanks.
No problem. Hope it has helped.
Robin

Robin <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
:> > 1. I understand that 50:1 contention refers to the possibility that I
: will
:> > have to share the 512K pipe with up to 50 other users at my exchange.
:> > Correct? In practice, is it better to start off at 50:1 and then upgrade
:> to
:> > 20:1 if (and/or when) things get busier?

: Generally speaking, you can upgrade to a "business" package. It will be
: more expensive, but will offer the 20:1 ratio. That said, I use 2 50:1
: conections at wirk & home, and have never experienced a difficulty.
: Downloads always come through at 50+kps, and browsing is lightening fast.

I have read somewhere (www.adslguide.org.uk???) that BT ADSL is working at
NOTHING like 50:1 anywhere at present - but this is a theoretical possibility
for sometime in the future. AFAIR the article said that about 20:1 was a
more viable practical limit and any attempt to run higher would give
almost certainly yield unacceptable results for users.

"Robin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3f796d28$0$8767$(E-Mail Removed). ..

<snip>

> No problem. Hope it has helped.

Sure did. Thanks.

One other question - it is a good idea (or a bad one!) to buy the ADSL
router now and set up the network first, before ADSL is installed, to iron
out network-related problems after ADSL is switched on?

T.

In article <blc6rr$amv44$(E-Mail Removed)>, Tom T wrote:
> One other question - it is a good idea (or a bad one!) to buy the ADSL
> router now and set up the network first, before ADSL is installed, to iron
> out network-related problems after ADSL is switched on?
>
It's up to you, but for what it's worth, this is what I did, and there were
no problems. In my case, the availability checker said there was a very good
chance that my line would support ADSL up to 2MB/s, so I assumed it would
pass the line test, which it did, so I didn't hesitate to buy equipment
first.

The local network should work the same as if it were connected through a
normal hub, and depending on what modem/router you buy, you should be able to
mess about with its settings via HTML or telnet from any computer on your
network. You may get an ADSL indication from your exchange a few days before
the connection to your ISP is valid, but once the full connection is there,
just change the settings in your internet programs to use the LAN instead of
dial-up, and off you go.

Rod.