New US Robotics USR9105 and Pipex Xtreme... UP!

Well, I have to say I'm very pleased with my first attempt at getting onto
Broadband.

I've just managed to configure my new USR9105 4-port ADSL Router to talk to
the Pipex Xtreme 500 'Wires-Only' service. The manual is not exactly
helpful, but if you download the Pipex Setup guide for a similar 4-port
router (eg NetGear), it's easy enough to figure out.

Why did I choose US Robotics? Well, despite the fact that this product seems
to be in short supply, it's actually a damn good router. I've enjoyed good
service from USR products for many years, and, despite it not being a
popular choice, it seems to connect very well indeed. Firmware is now
upgraded to the latest version, and we're 'rockin' and rollin' good!

Seems to me to be a much better idea to order your Broadband service on
'Wires Only' and then choose your preferred brand of ADSL Router, rather
than just accepting some crappy USB Modem affair, which will hog CPU
bandwidth.

All in all, not too bad price-wise, either. Modem (USR9105) cost less than
£80, while the Pipex Service was £23 per month.

For those that are interested in the model I chose, Dabs.com has them
available...

Anyway, I'm very pleased with my first attempt. I'd welcome any guidance for
things I need to watch out for, now that I have a PC that is permanently
connected to the Internet, via an Ethernet card... sounds like a security
risk to me!

Comments?

Best Regards

Alan

"Alan Dempster" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:c0bj3t$15a93a$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> Anyway, I'm very pleased with my first attempt. I'd welcome any guidance
for
> things I need to watch out for, now that I have a PC that is permanently
> connected to the Internet, via an Ethernet card... sounds like a security
> risk to me!
>

Decent Firewall and Anti-virus software!

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In article <c0bj3t$15a93a$(E-Mail Removed)>, Alan Dempster
wrote:
> I've just managed to configure my new USR9105 4-port ADSL Router to talk to
> the Pipex Xtreme 500 'Wires-Only' service. The manual is not exactly
> helpful, but if you download the Pipex Setup guide for a similar 4-port
> router (eg NetGear), it's easy enough to figure out.
>
> Why did I choose US Robotics? Well, despite the fact that this product seems
> to be in short supply, it's actually a damn good router. I've enjoyed good
> service from USR products for many years, and, despite it not being a
> popular choice, it seems to connect very well indeed. Firmware is now
> upgraded to the latest version, and we're 'rockin' and rollin' good!

Similar experience here. I recently set up an installation with a USR 9106,
presumably the wireless version of the same thing that you have. Hardly an
"installation" at all really, as everything is in one box - box plugs into
phone socket, one PC plugs into box, and that's about it. There is a disk
supplied with it but you don't really need it as everything can be configured
through a web browser from any PC on the local network. And if it is switched
off, it can re-connect in about thirty seconds. Having had faultless
performance from a USR dial-up modem (Courier "V-Everything") for many years,
I didn't expect anything less from their ADSL kit.

Rod.

Hi Rod,

Yup, the USR9105 is the wired version of what you have. I did think about
the 9106 version, but as the only laptop that I have is a croaky old thing
from work, I couldn't really see what benefit I would gain from wireless!

Anyway, the beastie looks to be good so far. I'm currently trying to find
out more about the hardware built-in firewall, preferably before someone
attacks my PC...! The software that accompanies this router includes a copy
of Norton Personal Firewall, but I'm really inclined to think that I should
expect these functions to be taken care of, at a hardware level, by the
Router itself.

Anyways, so far, so good.

Regards

Alan

PS Love 'Baby Jane' by the way - definitely one of your best numbers ( ! )

"Roderick Stewart" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> In article <c0bj3t$15a93a$(E-Mail Removed)>, Alan Dempster
> wrote:
> > I've just managed to configure my new USR9105 4-port ADSL Router to talk
to
> > the Pipex Xtreme 500 'Wires-Only' service. The manual is not exactly
> > helpful, but if you download the Pipex Setup guide for a similar 4-port
> > router (eg NetGear), it's easy enough to figure out.
> >
> > Why did I choose US Robotics? Well, despite the fact that this product
seems
> > to be in short supply, it's actually a damn good router. I've enjoyed
good
> > service from USR products for many years, and, despite it not being a
> > popular choice, it seems to connect very well indeed. Firmware is now
> > upgraded to the latest version, and we're 'rockin' and rollin' good!
>
> Similar experience here. I recently set up an installation with a USR
9106,
> presumably the wireless version of the same thing that you have. Hardly an
> "installation" at all really, as everything is in one box - box plugs into
> phone socket, one PC plugs into box, and that's about it. There is a disk
> supplied with it but you don't really need it as everything can be
configured
> through a web browser from any PC on the local network. And if it is
switched
> off, it can re-connect in about thirty seconds. Having had faultless
> performance from a USR dial-up modem (Courier "V-Everything") for many
years,
> I didn't expect anything less from their ADSL kit.
>
> Rod.
>

In article <c0bskr$15n48l$(E-Mail Removed)>, Alan Dempster
wrote:
> The software that accompanies this router includes a copy
> of Norton Personal Firewall, but I'm really inclined to think that I should
> expect these functions to be taken care of, at a hardware level, by the
> Router itself.

Some of them will be, but I don't think hardware firewalls are quite as
sophisticated as something like Norton. A hardware firewall in a router may
stop a lot of unwanted incoming traffic, and of course whatever it does stop
it will stop from your entire network rather than a single machine, but there
may also be some devious outgoing traffic that you'd rather not have -
programs reporting back to their makers for instance. It's quite surprising
how many warnings Norton shows me about programs that are doing this, often
programs that have nothing to do with internet access at all, and I often
wonder what information they are sending and what it is for. Sometimes they
give the excuse that this is for my benefit because they can keep me informed
about updates, etc., but I'm not 100% convinced. Note that if you do install
a software firewall you should switch off the rudimentary firewall in Windows
XP as the two can sometimes conflict.

Rod.