Will Netgear DG834G with with AOL Broadband?

I have several spare DG834Gs which did not work reliably enough for my
needs. Will one of these work with AOL's UK broadband service to which a
relative of mine is about to subscribe (over my advice)? I recall from
dialup days that AOL was non-standard with their PPP and I don't know how
standard is their aDSL PPPoA. Thanks for any advice or experience.

Tony


Anthony R. Gold

Anthony R. Gold wrote in
(E-Mail Removed):

> I have several spare DG834Gs which did not work reliably enough for my
> needs. Will one of these work with AOL's UK broadband service to
> which a relative of mine is about to subscribe (over my advice)? I
> recall from dialup days that AOL was non-standard with their PPP and
> I don't know how standard is their aDSL PPPoA. Thanks for any advice
> or experience.

Well I've seen a DG834G/AOL combined package being sold in PC World:
presumably the hardware bundled with some sort of AOL subscription. This
suggests that it will work and is an approved combination.

I've had AOL working over either a DG834G or a DG834GT (I forget which). All
I needed to change was the MTU size on the WAN Setup menu: from the default
value of 1458 to the AOL-specific value of 1400.

One word of warning: create a separate AOL screen name that's used only for
the router to log on as, because if the router is logged on as a "real" AOL
user (eg one whose email you want to read), you can't log on as that same
user from elsewhere - eg by dial-up when you're out and about.


As a matter of interest, what were the reliability problems you had with
your DG834G? I've got a DG834GT and I've installed many G or GT models for
customers, and I've never experienced problems with any - apart from one
which had an intermittent hardware fault (exchanged under warranty) which
caused it to lock solid, requiring it to be powered off for a few minutes
before it would even display a power light again. But that's one of about 30
that I've installed.

On Thu, 2 Feb 2006 09:51:38 -0000, "Martin Underwood" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

Martin, thanks for the advice and your hints on a dedicated router screen
name and the non-standard MTU setting.

> As a matter of interest, what were the reliability problems you had with
> your DG834G?

The modem performs poorly with PPPoE (so not a UK problem).
The wireless is unreliable in the presence of other strong radio signals
Non-critical but nevertheless irritating are the many firmware bugs.

The DG834G has a fantastic specification and if Netgear or someone else
could build something that fulfilled that spec it would be a world beater.

Tony

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Anthony R.
Gold says...

> The modem performs poorly with PPPoE (so not a UK problem).
> The wireless is unreliable in the presence of other strong radio signals
> Non-critical but nevertheless irritating are the many firmware bugs.
>
> The DG834G has a fantastic specification and if Netgear or someone else
> could build something that fulfilled that spec it would be a world beater.
>
Have you updated the firmware? It's on version 3.xx at the moment and
in the 2.10.09 firmware update, it improved wireless stability and that
plus the following update improved ADSL interoperability.




--
Conor,

S.S.D.D.

On Thu, 2 Feb 2006 14:09:04 -0000, Conor <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Have you updated the firmware? It's on version 3.xx at the moment and
> in the 2.10.09 firmware update, it improved wireless stability and that
> plus the following update improved ADSL interoperability.

I tried 3.01.25 when it came out last October and found that it blocked
all incoming connections regardless of rules. I run a number of servers
and so I require incoming access. I remain at V2.10.22.

Tony

On Thu, 2 Feb 2006 09:51:38 -0000, "Martin Underwood" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

> Well I've seen a DG834G/AOL combined package being sold in PC World:
> presumably the hardware bundled with some sort of AOL subscription. This
> suggests that it will work and is an approved combination.
>
> I've had AOL working over either a DG834G or a DG834GT (I forget which). All
> I needed to change was the MTU size on the WAN Setup menu: from the default
> value of 1458 to the AOL-specific value of 1400.
>
> One word of warning: create a separate AOL screen name that's used only for
> the router to log on as, because if the router is logged on as a "real" AOL
> user (eg one whose email you want to read), you can't log on as that same
> user from elsewhere - eg by dial-up when you're out and about.

Okay, I'm now booked to install the DG834G tomorrow. I set the MTU to
1400 and told the subscriber to create a screen name for the router.

1) What is the form of the DSL router login. If the new dedicated screen
name is say "router" what would be the complete router login name?

2) The subscriber received a DSL modem and a CD (I guess he signed up for
the 2MB Gold tariff). I told him not to install any new software. Am I
correct that regular XP LAN networking plus the AOL software they
currently use with their dialup AOL service will be enough without
anything additional except reconfiguration. The subscriber is nervous
because the AOL modem came with an injunction not to remove some kind of
seal which prevents its connection until after the new DSL CD software has
been installed.

3) When the router connects and logs in as "router", will the LAN hosts
then be free to connect and log in to AOL under their own email screen
names?

Thanks for any clues and any other advice which might save me wasted tears
or time tomorrow.

Tony

Anthony R. Gold wrote:

> Okay, I'm now booked to install the DG834G tomorrow. I set the MTU to
> 1400 and told the subscriber to create a screen name for the router.
>
> 1) What is the form of the DSL router login. If the new dedicated screen
> name is say "router" what would be the complete router login name?

A neighbour had problems when he came back from holiday last summer and
AOL had (finally) done the regrade to 2000 kbps. His USB modem wouldn't
connect and we went through several sessions with AOL tech support going
through de-installing and re-installing the drivers. In the end, to get
him online, I lent him a router and all was going within minutes, but he
didn't have a suitable account for multiple users, so we used the router
to login on (E-Mail Removed) plus hispassword and he used the webmail
interface. I guess that won't be needed in your case but the connection
will perhaps need to be described as "LAN" (sorry, limited knowledge of
AOL settings, no wish to use their interface/software hence few answers)

Peter Morgan.

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Anthony R.
Gold says...
> On Thu, 2 Feb 2006 14:09:04 -0000, Conor <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> > Have you updated the firmware? It's on version 3.xx at the moment and
> > in the 2.10.09 firmware update, it improved wireless stability and that
> > plus the following update improved ADSL interoperability.
>
> I tried 3.01.25 when it came out last October and found that it blocked
> all incoming connections regardless of rules. I run a number of servers
> and so I require incoming access. I remain at V2.10.22.
>
Good. The 3.0x.xx doesn't fix that much TBH. At least you got the
important ones.



--
Conor,

S.S.D.D.

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Anthony R.
Gold says...

> Okay, I'm now booked to install the DG834G tomorrow. I set the MTU to
> 1400 and told the subscriber to create a screen name for the router.
>
> 1) What is the form of the DSL router login. If the new dedicated screen
> name is say "router" what would be the complete router login name?
>
router

> 2) The subscriber received a DSL modem and a CD (I guess he signed up for
> the 2MB Gold tariff). I told him not to install any new software. Am I
> correct that regular XP LAN networking plus the AOL software they
> currently use with their dialup AOL service will be enough without
> anything additional except reconfiguration.

Yup. You may want to install the AOL Toolbar for IE that has links to
the common areas of AOL such as Mail etc.

For IE:

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail...rnet_Explorer/
1113505480/1

For Firefox:

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail...fox/1113505480
/2

> The subscriber is nervous
> because the AOL modem came with an injunction not to remove some kind of
> seal which prevents its connection until after the new DSL CD software has
> been installed.
>
The seal is to ensure that you install the modem drivers off the CD
before plugging it in. Nothing more. It's to make it as idiot proof as
possible.

> 3) When the router connects and logs in as "router", will the LAN hosts
> then be free to connect and log in to AOL under their own email screen
> names?
>
Shouldn't need to apart from mail/AIM.


--
Conor,

S.S.D.D.

On Thu, 02 Feb 2006 20:25:25 +0000, Peter M <us-(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

> Anthony R. Gold wrote:
>
>> Okay, I'm now booked to install the DG834G tomorrow. I set the MTU to
>> 1400 and told the subscriber to create a screen name for the router.
>>
>> 1) What is the form of the DSL router login. If the new dedicated screen
>> name is say "router" what would be the complete router login name?
>
> A neighbour had problems when he came back from holiday last summer and
> AOL had (finally) done the regrade to 2000 kbps. His USB modem wouldn't
> connect and we went through several sessions with AOL tech support going
> through de-installing and re-installing the drivers. In the end, to get
> him online, I lent him a router and all was going within minutes, but he
> didn't have a suitable account for multiple users, so we used the router
> to login on (E-Mail Removed) plus hispassword and he used the webmail
> interface. I guess that won't be needed in your case but the connection
> will perhaps need to be described as "LAN" (sorry, limited knowledge of
> AOL settings, no wish to use their interface/software hence few answers)

The fact that some accounts are not suitable for multiple users is most
alarming. Or was the problem just that with the router logged in an
(E-Mail Removed) you found unable to log a second computer in using the
very same name? That was the issue Martin warned me about and which I
hope we solved by giving the router its own dedicated non-user screen name
for logging itself in.

Tony