Replacing a USB ADSL modem with a wireless router

Hi,

I've recently acquired a laptop, and am trying to replace my Speedtouch
USB ADSL modem with a wireless router so I can connect my laptop, as
well as my existing desktop, to the Internet. However, the instructions
I have assume that I do not already have a connection/modem, and I have
not been able to find any instructions on how to go about doing this,
including whether it is necessary (or extremely inadvisable!) to
uninstall the old modem/its associated software (eg Dr SpeedTouch)
before disconnecting it. Can anyone advise me?

Thanks,

James McLaughlin.

In article <(E-Mail Removed). com>,
says...
> Hi,
>
> I've recently acquired a laptop, and am trying to replace my Speedtouch
> USB ADSL modem with a wireless router so I can connect my laptop, as
> well as my existing desktop, to the Internet. However, the instructions
> I have assume that I do not already have a connection/modem, and I have
> not been able to find any instructions on how to go about doing this,
> including whether it is necessary (or extremely inadvisable!) to
> uninstall the old modem/its associated software (eg Dr SpeedTouch)
> before disconnecting it. Can anyone advise me?
>
Unplug modem. I'd leave the software still installed in case the router
packs up and you need to use the modem as a back up.


--
Conor

"You're not married,you haven't got a girlfriend and you've never seen
Star Trek? Good Lord!" - Patrick Stewart

Conor wrote:
> In article <(E-Mail Removed). com>,
> says...
>> Hi,
>>
>> I've recently acquired a laptop, and am trying to replace my Speedtouch
>> USB ADSL modem with a wireless router so I can connect my laptop, as
>> well as my existing desktop, to the Internet. However, the instructions
>> I have assume that I do not already have a connection/modem, and I have
>> not been able to find any instructions on how to go about doing this,
>> including whether it is necessary (or extremely inadvisable!) to
>> uninstall the old modem/its associated software (eg Dr SpeedTouch)
>> before disconnecting it. Can anyone advise me?
>>
> Unplug modem. I'd leave the software still installed in case the router
> packs up and you need to use the modem as a back up.
>Hmm, this is a adsl modem/router?
You may need to set a few things in its config, like (IIRC) PPPoE or
PPPoA, the number it should dial for a connection, and maybe some other
stuff like user name and pw

Douggie

Douggie wrote in message
A8hnh.42399$(E-Mail Removed):

> Conor wrote:
>> In article <(E-Mail Removed). com>,
>> says...
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I've recently acquired a laptop, and am trying to replace my
>>> Speedtouch USB ADSL modem with a wireless router so I can connect
>>> my laptop, as well as my existing desktop, to the Internet.
>>> However, the instructions I have assume that I do not already have
>>> a connection/modem, and I have not been able to find any
>>> instructions on how to go about doing this, including whether it is
>>> necessary (or extremely inadvisable!) to uninstall the old
>>> modem/its associated software (eg Dr SpeedTouch) before
>>> disconnecting it. Can anyone advise me?
>> Unplug modem. I'd leave the software still installed in case the
>> router packs up and you need to use the modem as a back up.
>> Hmm, this is a adsl modem/router?

> You may need to set a few things in its config, like (IIRC) PPPoE or
> PPPoA, the number it should dial for a connection, and maybe some
> other stuff like user name and pw

> the number it should dial for a connection

Are you sure you aren't confusing dial-up and ADSL? ;-)

In the UK, most ISPs' ADSL implementations are:

VPI/VCI = 0/38
PPPoA
G.Dmt
VC-MUX

Username+password are as supplied by the ISP



When setting up the wireless access point within the router, I'd suggest:

- Change SSID (netowrk name) from default (eg "linksys" or "netgear") so you
can distinguish your netowrk from your neighbours' networks.

- With your router turned off, use NetStumbler on the wireless laptop to
scan for available networks (if any) and choose a wireless channel that is
not close to any of the networks that you can see. For minimum interference,
I'd suggest one of 1, 6 or 11 so as not to get any overlap from adjacent
channels.

- With the router turned on, set the chosen channel.

- With encryption turned off, make sure the PC can connect to the wireless
network

- Now turn on WPA (or at least WEP) encryption with an encryption key that
consists of a short phrase that does not consist entirely of words that
could be found in a dictionary.

- Having done this (and rebooted the router if it needs it following that
change of encryption), reconnect the PC to the network - you will be
prompted to enter the same encryption key that you configured on the router.

On 05 Jan 2007, Douggie <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Conor wrote:
>> In article <(E-Mail Removed). com>,
>> says...
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I've recently acquired a laptop, and am trying to replace my Speedtouch
>>> USB ADSL modem with a wireless router so I can connect my laptop, as
>>> well as my existing desktop, to the Internet. However, the instructions
>>> I have assume that I do not already have a connection/modem, and I have
>>> not been able to find any instructions on how to go about doing this,
>>> including whether it is necessary (or extremely inadvisable!) to
>>> uninstall the old modem/its associated software (eg Dr SpeedTouch)
>>> before disconnecting it. Can anyone advise me?
>>>
>> Unplug modem. I'd leave the software still installed in case the router
>> packs up and you need to use the modem as a back up.

>Hmm, this is a adsl modem/router?

(I assume you typed this - it was shown with ">>" here, as if it was part
of the previous poster's comments)

>You may need to set a few things in its config, like (IIRC) PPPoE or
>PPPoA, the number it should dial for a connection, and maybe some other
>stuff like user name and pw

But the question was about "what to do with the {existing} USB modem"
not about how to set up the router that's being bought. Once the router
is in place, it'll just need the laptop to be set to use wireless access
(I assume that's the plan) so it can be used in parallel with the other
PC (the desktop, which I assume has an ethernet port).

On 4 Jan 2007, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>I've recently acquired a laptop, and am trying to replace my Speedtouch
>USB ADSL modem with a wireless router so I can connect my laptop, as
>well as my existing desktop, to the Internet. However, the instructions
>I have assume that I do not already have a connection/modem, and I have
>not been able to find any instructions on how to go about doing this,

About doing "what" ? (I'm assuming you are wanting to set up the laptop
to use either a cable connection to the router or wireless... but it may
help to know what the "this" is in your query...)

Martin Underwood wrote:
> Douggie wrote in message
> A8hnh.42399$(E-Mail Removed):
>
>> Conor wrote:
>>> In article <(E-Mail Removed). com>,
>>> says...
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> I've recently acquired a laptop, and am trying to replace my
>>>> Speedtouch USB ADSL modem with a wireless router so I can connect
>>>> my laptop, as well as my existing desktop, to the Internet.
>>>> However, the instructions I have assume that I do not already have
>>>> a connection/modem, and I have not been able to find any
>>>> instructions on how to go about doing this, including whether it is
>>>> necessary (or extremely inadvisable!) to uninstall the old
>>>> modem/its associated software (eg Dr SpeedTouch) before
>>>> disconnecting it. Can anyone advise me?
>>> Unplug modem. I'd leave the software still installed in case the
>>> router packs up and you need to use the modem as a back up.

>> Hmm, this is a adsl modem/router?
>
>> You may need to set a few things in its config, like (IIRC) PPPoE or
>> PPPoA, the number it should dial for a connection, and maybe some
>> other stuff like user name and pw
>
>> the number it should dial for a connection
>
> Are you sure you aren't confusing dial-up and ADSL? ;-)

nope
altho i use cable here, i have set up a couple of adsl modem/routers,
they needed (IIRC) #38 (memory said #87, but suspect its flawed or
summat like to initiate the adsl link. I regard this as a number, and as
it needs to get pumped down a phone line, i thought i'd say dial, hope
this didn't cause too much confusion
>
> In the UK, most ISPs' ADSL implementations are:
>
> VPI/VCI = 0/38
> PPPoA
> G.Dmt
> VC-MUX
>
> Username+password are as supplied by the ISP
>
Yus, but will needed to be set in router
[snip good security advice]

Douggie

On 05 Jan 2007, Douggie <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>nope
>altho i use cable here, i have set up a couple of adsl modem/routers,
>they needed (IIRC) #38 (memory said #87, but suspect its flawed or
>summat like to initiate the adsl link. I regard this as a number, and as
>it needs to get pumped down a phone line, i thought i'd say dial, hope
>this didn't cause too much confusion

I think this is partly a Windows thing (treating a USB / PCI ADSL modem as
either a dial-up analogue modem, or an ISDN card) and the 0,38 is given in
the "destination phone number" field as a parameter for the driver to use
for configuring the VPI/VCI settings.

I use mostly routers, and suspect Martin has simply not seen this kludge
(for USB modems, most likely) so caused him to query it :-)

For Martin... it isn't "pumped down the phone line" at all, of course,
as there is no longer a "dial tone" for the ADSL modem to "listen for",
but yes, it is used in the "phone number" bit, just not with a router!!

Hi all,

I realise it's been about two weeks since the last reply to my topic,
however Internet access has been a bit uneven just lately, so I'm
seizing the opportunity to post a belated thanks and reply to your
postings, as also an update of how I've followed your advice.

So: I have installed NetStumbler, but there are no nearby networks.
Though I will need it when I attach my laptop, which picked up the
neighbours' network in my bedroom.

I kept the old modem's software installed, this on top of the router
and the wireless adaptor I had to install (No Ethernet connection on
the desktop) seems to have slowed things down a bit though. On the plus
side, I was able to remove the adaptor's software from Startup and use
XP SP2 to configure my wireless instead, speeding things up a bit and
getting a better connection! Before that, I'd also decided to have the
network devices use static IP instead of DHCP, thus eliminating
dropouts when the network address was acquired.

I'm using WPA, and will upgrade to WPA2 as soon as I install the
relevant XP update.

I've replaced this computer's current microfilter with one that came
with the router, after hearing this tended to be more reliable.

And, yes, I did have to enter 0/38, PPPoA etc in the router config
pages.

That's how things stsand right now, so thanks for the help
NoNeedToKnow, Douggie, Conor and Martin!

James.