BT Broadband Advice

I'm looking at upgrading my BT/Yahoo Anytime dial-up to their Broadband
offering but see that they only appear to offer a USB modem (Alcatel
Speedtouch) and the FAQs say it is only suitable for connecting a single PC.
I want to connect my home network - 4 PCs/laptops, mixture of OS's (W95,
2000 Professional, XP Home) all on a wired 10/100 setup and I don't want to
use ICS as I don't want the first machine on all the time + I want to be
able to continue to use the W95s
What are the options ? is there a decent low cost ADSL modem with 10/100
interface I can use in place of the BT offering? Can I get something with
router functionality and inbuilt switch as well or is a modem + router
better.
Or should I go for someone other that BT.
All suggestions gratefully received!

Chris O

"Chris O" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:cgllci$hmb$(E-Mail Removed)
> What are the options ? is there a decent low cost ADSL modem with
> 10/100 interface I can use in place of the BT offering?

Yes, their are several options..

Even BT will give you one - "Customers of BT Yahoo! Broadband for games
console will be sent a SpeedTouch 530 combined modem/router, enabling online
gaming." - as long as you choose the "for games console" when signing up - I
think they charge a subsidied £20 for it if you order online

Its odd but thats all their seems to the "for games console" option -
nothing else.. no extra monthly fees or anything..

> Can I get
> something with router functionality and inbuilt switch as well or is
> a modem + router better.

A combined unit is normally better

> Or should I go for someone other that BT.

There are lots of other ISPs - try uk.telecom.broadband and
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/

If you go with another ISP, ebuyer sell a combined adsl modem/router for
£35/40 - under their own brand label

Regards
Sunil

> What are the options ? is there a decent low cost ADSL modem with 10/100
> interface I can use in place of the BT offering? Can I get something with
> router functionality and inbuilt switch as well or is a modem + router
> better.
> Or should I go for someone other that BT.
> All suggestions gratefully received!
>
> Chris O

I would ask on uk.telecom.broadband about BT and be prepared for the
deluge !!. Ebuyer routers are good, work well and are cheap, don't believe
anything BT tell you.

Dave

--

Some people use windows, others have a life.

Chris O wrote:
> I'm looking at upgrading my BT/Yahoo Anytime dial-up to their Broadband
> offering but see that they only appear to offer a USB modem (Alcatel
> Speedtouch) and the FAQs say it is only suitable for connecting a single PC.
> I want to connect my home network - 4 PCs/laptops, mixture of OS's (W95,
> 2000 Professional, XP Home) all on a wired 10/100 setup and I don't want to
> use ICS as I don't want the first machine on all the time + I want to be
> able to continue to use the W95s
> What are the options ? is there a decent low cost ADSL modem with 10/100
> interface I can use in place of the BT offering? Can I get something with
> router functionality and inbuilt switch as well or is a modem + router
> better.
> Or should I go for someone other that BT.
> All suggestions gratefully received!
>
> Chris O
>

Buy a cheap 4 port adsl modem router from ebay -- several can be found
for about 40 pounds including p&p and vat. DABS also have router for
around this price, most use the Conexant chipset the names on the boxes
include "Mentor" and "Origo". This type of router has 4 ethernet ports +
usb networking port and will give you DHCP for internal IP addressing
and a NATS firewall.

The other bit of advice is look for another isp I migrated from BT
Yahoo to Zen and have never looked back.

"Chris O" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:cgllci$hmb$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm looking at upgrading my BT/Yahoo Anytime dial-up to their Broadband
> offering but see that they only appear to offer a USB modem (Alcatel
> Speedtouch) and the FAQs say it is only suitable for connecting a single
PC.
> I want to connect my home network - 4 PCs/laptops, mixture of OS's (W95,
> 2000 Professional, XP Home) all on a wired 10/100 setup and I don't want
to
> use ICS as I don't want the first machine on all the time + I want to be
> able to continue to use the W95s
> What are the options ? is there a decent low cost ADSL modem with 10/100
> interface I can use in place of the BT offering? Can I get something with
> router functionality and inbuilt switch as well or is a modem + router
> better.
> Or should I go for someone other that BT.
> All suggestions gratefully received!
>
> Chris O
>
>
>
If you want to use the USB modem and have an old (Pentium) PC spare, then
you could use it as a dedicated router/firewall - http://www.smoothwall.org/
or http://www.ipcop.org/cgi-bin/twiki/view/IPCop/WebHome

Otherwise, as suggested by others, ebuyer do some very cheap adsl
modem/routers - just make sure that whatever you get has a built-in firewall
(you will certainly need it with broadband).
One other thing, BT/Yahoo is about to introduce monthly download limits ,
early next year - not ideal if you intend to do a lot of downloading.

Dave

logized wrote:

> If you want to use the USB modem and have an old (Pentium) PC spare, then
> you could use it as a dedicated router/firewall - http://www.smoothwall.org/
> or http://www.ipcop.org/cgi-bin/twiki/view/IPCop/WebHome
>
> Otherwise, as suggested by others, ebuyer do some very cheap adsl
> modem/routers - just make sure that whatever you get has a built-in firewall
> (you will certainly need it with broadband).
> One other thing, BT/Yahoo is about to introduce monthly download limits ,
> early next year - not ideal if you intend to do a lot of downloading.
>
> Dave
>
>
Agree very much with all of above
Buying a cheap ADSL NATS router fits in best with the OPs requirements
for firewalling Kerio (the best in my book?) or Zone Alarm but for a
small business or large family Lansuite 602 is attractive as it will do
the firewalling and much more.

As for ICS alternatives that work with Win95 or any operating system
suitable internet proxy servers are available for free -- "FreeProxy",
"Lansuite 602"(which is free for 5 users and "Proxomitron" can also act
as a sharing proxy.

IPCop is very very good and pretty easy to install but it means having
an extra PC running as a dedicated firewall/dns server/caching web
proxy. I use it at home and the same PC also runs "Copfilter" for spam
and virus fillering and web caching for the whole home network. As a
firewall/dns server/caching proxy IPcop will run happily on a 486, but
to do more you need a 586. IPCop has first class community support.

Smoothwall form which IPCop forked is now a commercial product only the
previous version is GPL and some people have had problems getting
support, hence IPCop was born.
Another similar dedicated firewall is Netboz it runs very nicely from a
bootable cd rom and a floppy.

>
> Smoothwall form which IPCop forked is now a commercial product only the
> previous version is GPL and some people have had problems getting
> support, hence IPCop was born.
> Another similar dedicated firewall is Netboz it runs very nicely from a
> bootable cd rom and a floppy.
>
>
>
Smoothwall do still offer an open source free version - "Smoothwall Express
2.0" - which has some good features and is stable.
They now provide much better support through various web forums and there is
plenty of activity with add-ons/mods etc.
IPCop is also a very good product - I may use it again when v1.4 is
released.
Haven't tried Netboz - looks interesting though.

Dave