Re: noob questions

On Wed, 2 Jul 2003 15:30:39 +0100, "Pipsy Mouse" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>> also, i am looking to get a static IP. What does NAT mean exactly?

>Network Address Translation. It is a method that allows a single public
>number to represent multiple private numbers. Any transaction
>initated by the private number appears to the network as the public
>number. This should not be confused with security as is often the case.

Two aspects of NAT come into effect... one is that a user (at home or in
business) can use NAT on a cheap/costly router to put all PCs on their LAN
behind, to share the ADSL connection, but at the ISP end (such as some of
the BTopenworld accounts) NAT might be used which prevents incoming mail
and other traffic, preventing running a web server.

From memory this was on several of the lower cost business accounts, even
if paying an extra monthly fee for their business bundle (giving a static
IP and allowing use of a domain name). You had to run through a few steps
of the signing up procedure to find them mentioning use of NAT, but perhaps
someone can confirm/correct my interpretation.

>> Lastly, any views on Plusnet?
>No personal experience.

works fine for me.... Peter M.