Switching to ADSL - Hardware Advice Sought

I am making the move from dialup to ADSL broadband and would much
appreciate guidance on the hardware I need. I have no prior
experience of broadband.

I have a 6 year old laptop with no wireless card but 2 PCMCIA and 2
USB1 slots. I already have a USB2/Firewire PCMCIA combo
card. My operating system is Windows 2000 SP4.

My priority is security, so a top-notch hardware firewall, WPA v2
encryption and the ability to change the SSID are a must. Ease
of setup and reliability are important, too.

>From my reading, I understand I'll need a dongle to plug into the
combo card (and a microfilter so phone calls can be made whilst
surfing). I'd be most grateful for recommendations, advice and
guidance on the choice of modem/router and anything else that should
be taken into consideration. And what do I need to know about
the dongle?

Thanks

Martin

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> I am making the move from dialup to ADSL broadband and would much
> appreciate guidance on the hardware I need. I have no prior
> experience of broadband.
>
> I have a 6 year old laptop with no wireless card but 2 PCMCIA and 2
> USB1 slots. I already have a USB2/Firewire PCMCIA combo
> card. My operating system is Windows 2000 SP4.

No ethernet ?

Graham

Eeyore wrote:
> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>
> > I am making the move from dialup to ADSL broadband and would much
> > appreciate guidance on the hardware I need. I have no prior
> > experience of broadband.
> >
> > I have a 6 year old laptop with no wireless card but 2 PCMCIA and 2
> > USB1 slots. I already have a USB2/Firewire PCMCIA combo
> > card. My operating system is Windows 2000 SP4.
>
> No ethernet ?
>
> Graham

No, Graham, no ethernet, but I can get a PCMCIA ethernet combo card
e.g.

http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/linksys.htm

http://www.notebooksupplies.com/modems.html

Thanks

Martin

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> I am making the move from dialup to ADSL broadband and would much
> appreciate guidance on the hardware I need. I have no prior
> experience of broadband.
>
> I have a 6 year old laptop with no wireless card but 2 PCMCIA and 2
> USB1 slots. I already have a USB2/Firewire PCMCIA combo
> card. My operating system is Windows 2000 SP4.
>
> My priority is security, so a top-notch hardware firewall, WPA v2
> encryption and the ability to change the SSID are a must. Ease
> of setup and reliability are important, too.
>
>> From my reading, I understand I'll need a dongle to plug into the
> combo card (and a microfilter so phone calls can be made whilst
> surfing). I'd be most grateful for recommendations, advice and
> guidance on the choice of modem/router and anything else that should
> be taken into consideration. And what do I need to know about
> the dongle?

Take a look at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ first and then ask yourself if
you hardware/OS is really up to the job.

Peter Crosland

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> Eeyore wrote:
> > (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> >
> > > I am making the move from dialup to ADSL broadband and would much
> > > appreciate guidance on the hardware I need. I have no prior
> > > experience of broadband.
> > >
> > > I have a 6 year old laptop with no wireless card but 2 PCMCIA and 2
> > > USB1 slots. I already have a USB2/Firewire PCMCIA combo
> > > card. My operating system is Windows 2000 SP4.
> >
> > No ethernet ?
>
>
> No, Graham, no ethernet, but I can get a PCMCIA ethernet combo card
> e.g.
>
> http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/linksys.htm
>
> http://www.notebooksupplies.com/modems.html

Personally, I like wired connections. You can always add a wireless router if
you need one later.


Graham

Peter Crosland wrote:

> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> > I am making the move from dialup to ADSL broadband and would much
> > appreciate guidance on the hardware I need. I have no prior
> > experience of broadband.
> >
> > I have a 6 year old laptop with no wireless card but 2 PCMCIA and 2
> > USB1 slots. I already have a USB2/Firewire PCMCIA combo
> > card. My operating system is Windows 2000 SP4.
> >
> > My priority is security, so a top-notch hardware firewall, WPA v2
> > encryption and the ability to change the SSID are a must. Ease
> > of setup and reliability are important, too.
> >
> >> From my reading, I understand I'll need a dongle to plug into the
> > combo card (and a microfilter so phone calls can be made whilst
> > surfing). I'd be most grateful for recommendations, advice and
> > guidance on the choice of modem/router and anything else that should
> > be taken into consideration. And what do I need to know about
> > the dongle?
>
> Take a look at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ first and then ask yourself if
> you hardware/OS is really up to the job.

Don't be daft.

I've used 400MHz P2s connected to broadband quite happily.

Graham

Eeyore wrote:
>
> Peter Crosland wrote:
>
> > (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> > > I am making the move from dialup to ADSL broadband and would much
> > > appreciate guidance on the hardware I need. I have no prior
> > > experience of broadband.
> > >
> > > I have a 6 year old laptop with no wireless card but 2 PCMCIA and 2
> > > USB1 slots. I already have a USB2/Firewire PCMCIA combo
> > > card. My operating system is Windows 2000 SP4.
> > >
> > > My priority is security, so a top-notch hardware firewall, WPA v2
> > > encryption and the ability to change the SSID are a must. Ease
> > > of setup and reliability are important, too.
> > >
> > >> From my reading, I understand I'll need a dongle to plug into the
> > > combo card (and a microfilter so phone calls can be made whilst
> > > surfing). I'd be most grateful for recommendations, advice and
> > > guidance on the choice of modem/router and anything else that should
> > > be taken into consideration. And what do I need to know about
> > > the dongle?
> >
> > Take a look at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ first and then ask yourself if
> > you hardware/OS is really up to the job.
>
> Don't be daft.
>
> I've used 400MHz P2s connected to broadband quite happily.
>
> Graham

Agreed, Broadband isn't very demanding for obvious reasons; the
communication bottleneck.

Eeyore wrote:
> Peter Crosland wrote:
>
>> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>>> I am making the move from dialup to ADSL broadband and would much
>>> appreciate guidance on the hardware I need. I have no prior
>>> experience of broadband.
>>>
>>> I have a 6 year old laptop with no wireless card but 2 PCMCIA and 2
>>> USB1 slots. I already have a USB2/Firewire PCMCIA combo
>>> card. My operating system is Windows 2000 SP4.
>>>
>>> My priority is security, so a top-notch hardware firewall, WPA v2
>>> encryption and the ability to change the SSID are a must.
>>> Ease of setup and reliability are important, too.
>>>
>>>> From my reading, I understand I'll need a dongle to plug into the
>>> combo card (and a microfilter so phone calls can be made whilst
>>> surfing). I'd be most grateful for recommendations, advice and
>>> guidance on the choice of modem/router and anything else that should
>>> be taken into consideration. And what do I need to know about
>>> the dongle?
>>
>> Take a look at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ first and then ask
>> yourself if you hardware/OS is really up to the job.
>
> Don't be daft.
>
> I've used 400MHz P2s connected to broadband quite happily.

The term ignorance is bliss comes to mind. How about offering some
constructive comment for a change rather than abuse? Just because it works
does not mean that it is advisable to use it. The OP said that security was
a prime consideration. Windows 2000 is now obsolete and has a number of
security flaws. Thus it would be prudent to use a more secure OS. Since the
OP is concerned about security then he needs to use a router/modem that has
a good built in firewall and WPA2 security. The wireless device on the
computer needs to support WPA2 as does the operating system. Overall the OP
should consider if it might be better to replace his machine with a more up
to date one that will run XP. If the OP has sufficient expertise then he
could consider running Linux but his post does not suggest that he has.


Peter Crosland

Peter Crosland wrote:
> The term ignorance is bliss comes to mind. How about offering some
> constructive comment for a change rather than abuse? Just because it works
> does not mean that it is advisable to use it. The OP said that security was
> a prime consideration. Windows 2000 is now obsolete and has a number of
> security flaws. Thus it would be prudent to use a more secure OS. Since the
> OP is concerned about security then he needs to use a router/modem that has
> a good built in firewall and WPA2 security. The wireless device on the
> computer needs to support WPA2 as does the operating system. Overall the OP
> should consider if it might be better to replace his machine with a more up
> to date one that will run XP.

"XP" may be considered out of date as well, as Microsoft have released a
new operating system to replace it.

> If the OP has sufficient expertise then he
> could consider running Linux but his post does not suggest that he has.

No more expertise is required to run a Linux-based system than a
Microsoft Windows-based one. Having experience with one or the other may
be the difference, though.

Paul Cupis wrote:
> Peter Crosland wrote:
>> The term ignorance is bliss comes to mind. How about offering some
>> constructive comment for a change rather than abuse? Just because it
>> works does not mean that it is advisable to use it. The OP said that
>> security was a prime consideration. Windows 2000 is now obsolete and
>> has a number of security flaws. Thus it would be prudent to use a
>> more secure OS. Since the OP is concerned about security then he
>> needs to use a router/modem that has a good built in firewall and
>> WPA2 security. The wireless device on the computer needs to support
>> WPA2 as does the operating system. Overall the OP should consider if
>> it might be better to replace his machine with a more up to date one
>> that will run XP.
>
> "XP" may be considered out of date as well, as Microsoft have
> released a new operating system to replace it.
>
>> If the OP has sufficient expertise then he
>> could consider running Linux but his post does not suggest that he
>> has.
>
> No more expertise is required to run a Linux-based system than a
> Microsoft Windows-based one. Having experience with one or the other
> may be the difference, though.

To run it maybe not but to set it up and get the drivers for the hardware
may be very problematic.

Peter Crosland