Connecting to Plusnet ADSL broadband

I've trawled the newsgroup on this subject but still confused. Would you
please advise on the following. I am moving house soon and wish to connect
to Plusnet ADSL broadband. The new home line at present will have the
capablity of a 512 or 1Mb connection, but I will upgrade to 2 Mb when
available. The house has a BT line that will require activation and a
telephone number needs to be allocated.

I am presently on Blueyonder with a cable modem connected to the PC with a
network card capable of a 100Mb speed (I realise this speed is not actually
obtained)

Plusnet have been very prompt and helpful with their replies. They told me
they will supply a modem with all necessary connections (presumably the
cables and filters as well).
They said,
"The modem does indeed come with all the connections you need to get online.
The free modem does have an ethernet port and as such is powered through the
mains".

Would someone advise on the best way to connect my PC to the phone line
socket? I want to make sure I know whats coming and useable from Plusnet and
what else I need to buy before I lose my internet connection.

My assumptions on connection at present are,
1) You connect the filter to the phone socket, connect to the free modem,
and connect the modem to the PC using USB. I'm assuming the power for the
modem will come from the USB connection, OR,
2) From what Plusnet said above, it would appear that I can connect the free
modem to the network card and the modem will then connect to the mains power
seperately, so it must come with a mains lead. Would it also come with a
modem to network card cable? I assume it is better to have tha modem powered
seperately.

Many thanks for any help,
nick

NickNike wrote:
> I've trawled the newsgroup on this subject but still confused. Would you
> please advise on the following. I am moving house soon and wish to connect
> to Plusnet ADSL broadband. The new home line at present will have the
> capablity of a 512 or 1Mb connection, but I will upgrade to 2 Mb when
> available. The house has a BT line that will require activation and a
> telephone number needs to be allocated.
>
> I am presently on Blueyonder with a cable modem connected to the PC with a
> network card capable of a 100Mb speed (I realise this speed is not actually
> obtained)
>
> Plusnet have been very prompt and helpful with their replies. They told me
> they will supply a modem with all necessary connections (presumably the
> cables and filters as well).
> They said,
> "The modem does indeed come with all the connections you need to get online.
> The free modem does have an ethernet port and as such is powered through the
> mains".
>
> Would someone advise on the best way to connect my PC to the phone line
> socket? I want to make sure I know whats coming and useable from Plusnet and
> what else I need to buy before I lose my internet connection.
>
> My assumptions on connection at present are,
> 1) You connect the filter to the phone socket, connect to the free modem,
> and connect the modem to the PC using USB. I'm assuming the power for the
> modem will come from the USB connection, OR,
> 2) From what Plusnet said above, it would appear that I can connect the free
> modem to the network card and the modem will then connect to the mains power
> seperately, so it must come with a mains lead. Would it also come with a
> modem to network card cable? I assume it is better to have tha modem powered
> seperately.
>
> Many thanks for any help,
> nick
>
>
>

I think they made a mistake, and meant to say "The free modem does NOT
have an ethernet port and as such is powered through the USB port"

The supplied modem is USB only - it gets the power, and supplies the
connection to your PC via USB. Your network card won't be used unless
you buy an ADSL router (look at a Netgear DG834 for an example) which
you'd then connect to your network card using a standard network cable.

~P.

"Paul Eagles" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:42bed5dd$0$18805$(E-Mail Removed)...
> NickNike wrote:
>> I've trawled the newsgroup on this subject but still confused. Would you
>> please advise on the following. I am moving house soon and wish to
>> connect to Plusnet ADSL broadband. The new home line at present will have
>> the capablity of a 512 or 1Mb connection, but I will upgrade to 2 Mb when
>> available. The house has a BT line that will require activation and a
>> telephone number needs to be allocated.
>>
>> I am presently on Blueyonder with a cable modem connected to the PC with
>> a network card capable of a 100Mb speed (I realise this speed is not
>> actually obtained)
>>
>> Plusnet have been very prompt and helpful with their replies. They told
>> me they will supply a modem with all necessary connections (presumably
>> the cables and filters as well).
>> They said,
>> "The modem does indeed come with all the connections you need to get
>> online.
>> The free modem does have an ethernet port and as such is powered through
>> the mains".
>>
>> Would someone advise on the best way to connect my PC to the phone line
>> socket? I want to make sure I know whats coming and useable from Plusnet
>> and what else I need to buy before I lose my internet connection.
>>
>> My assumptions on connection at present are,
>> 1) You connect the filter to the phone socket, connect to the free modem,
>> and connect the modem to the PC using USB. I'm assuming the power for the
>> modem will come from the USB connection, OR,
>> 2) From what Plusnet said above, it would appear that I can connect the
>> free modem to the network card and the modem will then connect to the
>> mains power seperately, so it must come with a mains lead. Would it also
>> come with a modem to network card cable? I assume it is better to have
>> tha modem powered seperately.
>>
>> Many thanks for any help,
>> nick
>>
>>
>
> I think they made a mistake, and meant to say "The free modem does NOT
> have an ethernet port and as such is powered through the USB port"
>
> The supplied modem is USB only - it gets the power, and supplies the
> connection to your PC via USB. Your network card won't be used unless you
> buy an ADSL router (look at a Netgear DG834 for an example) which you'd
> then connect to your network card using a standard network cable.
>
> ~P.


Thanks Paul for clarifying things.
Is it better to use a router and how would I connect it to the telephone
socket? Also, I had to supply my present ISP with a MAC number. Is this
number associated with the network card, and will I have to supply this to
Plusnet if I use the router?
nick

> Thanks Paul for clarifying things.
> Is it better to use a router and how would I connect it to the telephone
> socket? Also, I had to supply my present ISP with a MAC number. Is this
> number associated with the network card, and will I have to supply this to
> Plusnet if I use the router?
> nick
>
>

I'd always prefer a router over a USB modem but others may disagree.
The advantages are that you can plug more than 1 PC into a router and
they'll all have internet access plus using a router you'd benefit from
the NAT (Network Address Translation) that the router would provide,
basically any connections from the internet would be blocked by the
router from getting to your PC.

As far as connecting it, you'd just plug the cable from the ADSL port on
the filter to the WAN port on the router.

You won't need to provide PlusNet the MAC (Media Access Control) address
of your network card, ADSL works differently to cable. It's worth
mentioning that if you choose to migrate your ADSL from PlusNet you'll
end up needing a MAC code from them - that MAC code is totally different
from the MAC address of your network card.

Paul Eagles <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in news:42bedbe8$0$2588
$(E-Mail Removed):

> I'd always prefer a router over a USB modem but others may disagree.

I agree, a router adds an extra layer of security as port scans and virus
probes won't get to your PC, plus some motherboards can't handle the
power that the modems draw through the USB port.

--
Colin
*Drop DEAD from the email address to reply*

On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 16:36:13 GMT, "NickNike" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Is it better to use a router and how would I connect it to the telephone
>socket?

you plug it in, via a BT-RJ11 adapter if needed or the modem port of
a microfilter.

>Also, I had to supply my present ISP with a MAC number. Is this
>number associated with the network card, and will I have to supply this to
>Plusnet if I use the router?

MAC is Migration Authorisation Code for migrating between ADSL ISPs.
Nothing to do with the MAC codes of networking kit.

Phil
--
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices, see
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist...&Board=tiscali

AOL - the unlimited ISP of choice for heavy downloaders.

"cw" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Xns9681CD00B890Bcwfidei@212.159.2.87...
> Paul Eagles <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in news:42bedbe8$0$2588
> $(E-Mail Removed):
>
>> I'd always prefer a router over a USB modem but others may disagree.
>
> I agree, a router adds an extra layer of security as port scans and virus
> probes won't get to your PC, plus some motherboards can't handle the
> power that the modems draw through the USB port.
>
> --
> Colin
> *Drop DEAD from the email address to reply*

Because of the built in firewall, can I take it that I could uninstall
Norton Interenet Security and Norton Antivirus, although I'm thinking I need
Antivirus to check any files I download from the internet.
Thanks,
nick

> Because of the built in firewall, can I take it that I could uninstall
> Norton Interenet Security and Norton Antivirus, although I'm thinking I need
> Antivirus to check any files I download from the internet.
> Thanks,
> nick
>
>

Whilst there isn't any pressing need to have a software firewall on your
PC, I'd still keep it. The router prevents access to your PC from the
internet but it doesn't give you any control over access from your PC to
the internet. A software firewall will allow you to control which
programs have internet access and can you stop any nasties that get on
your machine from 'phoning home.'

Definately keep AV software on there, and make sure it is always up to date.

~P.

"Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 16:36:13 GMT, "NickNike" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>>Is it better to use a router and how would I connect it to the telephone
>>socket?
>
> you plug it in, via a BT-RJ11 adapter if needed or the modem port of
> a microfilter.
>
>>Also, I had to supply my present ISP with a MAC number. Is this
>>number associated with the network card, and will I have to supply this to
>>Plusnet if I use the router?
>
> MAC is Migration Authorisation Code for migrating between ADSL ISPs.
> Nothing to do with the MAC codes of networking kit.
>
> Phil
> --
> Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices, see
> http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist...&Board=tiscali
>
> AOL - the unlimited ISP of choice for heavy downloaders.

Many thanks to all for the information. I think I know what I'm doing now
)
nick

Paul Eagles <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:42bf1fbd$0$2594$(E-Mail Removed):

> The router prevents access to your PC from the
> internet but it doesn't give you any control over access from your PC
> to the internet.

That isn't technically true, most firewalls built into routers are still
bidirectional. You can configure outbound security rules but only IP
based rules rather than application based rules.

--
Colin
*Drop DEAD from the email address to reply*