Basic advice wanted

My exchange is being enabled next month and I would like peoples opinions on
providers and modems.
I currently have ISDN provided by pipex. I am very happy with this. I want
a service that provides newsgroups, allows P2P use and is £50 a month max.
I want to connect three PC's to broadband so I guess they all need network
cards and can connect to a modem/router. Any suggestions on hardware? Does
the hardware feature built in firewalls or should I also use software
firewalls to protect the PC's? Do I use straight through or cross over
cable?
Should I put filters on each phone socket or just the master?
Does my distance from the exchange limit the max speed I can have? I will
be about 1Km from my local exchange.

Thanks for all help.


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Victoria Concordia Crescit

"KerplunKuK" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:404911e9$0$10163$(E-Mail Removed) ...
> My exchange is being enabled next month and I would like peoples opinions
on
> providers and modems.
> I currently have ISDN provided by pipex. I am very happy with this. I
want
> a service that provides newsgroups, allows P2P use and is £50 a month max.

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ I personally use f9, thoroughly recommended
(does all you ask and much,much more for £22/month).

> I want to connect three PC's to broadband so I guess they all need network
> cards and can connect to a modem/router. Any suggestions on hardware?
Does
> the hardware feature built in firewalls or should I also use software
> firewalls to protect the PC's?

I use an EN5861 with built in firewall, but you can never have too
many...also get yourself decent anti-virus s/w

> Do I use straight through or cross over
> cable?

Straight through

> Should I put filters on each phone socket or just the master?

Each phone/fax/Sky box etc...how many devices do you have connected?

> Does my distance from the exchange limit the max speed I can have? I will
> be about 1Km from my local exchange.

1Km should be well within limits, even for a 2M cct. Line loss is the
deciding factor in whether you get DSL or not - if you have a 512K cct, it
will not be any slower if you are 3Km from the exchange than if you are
50metres from the exchange

>
> Thanks for all help.
>

Love your taste in music, BTW... Ali

KerplunKuK wrote:

> My exchange is being enabled next month and I would like peoples opinions on
> providers and modems.
> I currently have ISDN provided by pipex. I am very happy with this. I want
> a service that provides newsgroups, allows P2P use and is £50 a month max.

Ok so far..

> I want to connect three PC's to broadband so I guess they all need network
> cards and can connect to a modem/router.

Yup..

> Any suggestions on hardware? Does
> the hardware feature built in firewalls or should I also use software
> firewalls to protect the PC's?

The firewall in most current broadband routers is perfectly adequate.

> Do I use straight through or cross over
> cable?

Depends. I had a Netgear that autosensed the cable and acted
accordingly, another I had was a little more fussy and needed straight
through. You only use x-over if you're connecting straight from one NIC
to another.

> Should I put filters on each phone socket or just the master?

Just the master would do if all your phone extensions come from that
*after* the router is plugged in. If you have any cabling coming from
the back of the master socket (i.e., before it hits the filter), you
should fit filters wherever that ends up.

> Does my distance from the exchange limit the max speed I can have? I will
> be about 1Km from my local exchange.

The quality of the cabling between the two points is more important.
Don't worry about it, in the majority of cases all is well...
Especially in <1km scenarios.

>
> Thanks for all help.

On Fri, 5 Mar 2004 23:48:56 -0000, "KerplunKuK"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I want to connect three PC's to broadband so I guess they all need network
>cards and can connect to a modem/router. Any suggestions on hardware?

I quite like my USR 18000a which has a builtin firewall and print
server. You need to get the right sort of modem to connect to it tho
- needs to be an ethernet modem. Almost no routers will connect to USB
modems.

>Do I use straight through or cross over cable?

Just use ordinary cables, all modern routers autosense.

>Should I put filters on each phone socket or just the master?

On each extension where you plug in a non ADSL device, but remember
your ADSL will need an unfiltered line.

>Does my distance from the exchange limit the max speed I can have?

Yes, but they won't give you ADSL unless you can get at least 512k.

--
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remove SPAM to reply
Victoria Concordia Crescit
"Zomaar" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:FU82c.18012$Y%(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "KerplunKuK" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:404911e9$0$10163$(E-Mail Removed) ...
> > My exchange is being enabled next month and I would like peoples
opinions
> on
> > providers and modems.
> > I currently have ISDN provided by pipex. I am very happy with this. I
> want
> > a service that provides newsgroups, allows P2P use and is £50 a month
max.
>
> http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ I personally use f9, thoroughly recommended
> (does all you ask and much,much more for £22/month).
>
> > I want to connect three PC's to broadband so I guess they all need
network
> > cards and can connect to a modem/router. Any suggestions on hardware?
> Does
> > the hardware feature built in firewalls or should I also use software
> > firewalls to protect the PC's?
>
> I use an EN5861 with built in firewall, but you can never have too
> many...also get yourself decent anti-virus s/w
>
> > Do I use straight through or cross over
> > cable?
>
> Straight through
>
> > Should I put filters on each phone socket or just the master?
>
> Each phone/fax/Sky box etc...how many devices do you have connected?
>
> > Does my distance from the exchange limit the max speed I can have? I
will
> > be about 1Km from my local exchange.
>
> 1Km should be well within limits, even for a 2M cct. Line loss is the
> deciding factor in whether you get DSL or not - if you have a 512K cct, it
> will not be any slower if you are 3Km from the exchange than if you are
> 50metres from the exchange
>
> >
> > Thanks for all help.
> >
>
> Love your taste in music, BTW... Ali
>
>

Cheers for the reply. I have three phones connected plus my Sky box. Will
that cause problems?
Yeah Greenday are sweet!