Things I need to buy for broadband. Modem, Micro Filters, what else?

I am thinking of signing up for Metronets broadband service, in which
case I need to buy my own modem. Apart from the connection fee and the
micro filters what else do I need to buy?

I use a lap top, so what sort of modem would be best?

Do I need micro filters for every phone extension or just the one with
the broadband connection? - I understand that they cost about £10-£15
each?

Ideally I would like to have a wireless connection so I can use my lap
top anywhere in the house, but might wait a few months before doing
this, should I buy a particular type of modem that would make the move
to wireless easier/cheaper? (any good explainations of whats needed
for wireless?)

...also, Metronet operate a 50:1 contention ratio, I roughly understand
what this means, but wondered if 50:1 was a particually bad number or
more or less average? - also, does this mean I'll share with 49 other
Metronet users, or 49 other users (any ISP) at my exchange (the
pricing structure of Metronet makes it more attractive to low
bandwidth users so would be preferable to share with them!)


Thanks for any help

David Bevan

http://www.davidbevan.co.uk
http://www.websphereusergroup.org.uk

"David" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> I am thinking of signing up for Metronets broadband service, in which
> case I need to buy my own modem. Apart from the connection fee and the
> micro filters what else do I need to buy?

Nothing apart from the modem/router as you have already stated.

> I use a lap top, so what sort of modem would be best?

Either a USB modem or a router which would be attached to your laptop via a
RJ45 cable - you would need a PCIMA network card if your laptop doesn't
already have the relevant socket

> Do I need micro filters for every phone extension or just the one with
> the broadband connection? - I understand that they cost about £10-£15
> each?

A filter is needed for each phone extension that is used (if an extension
point is unused no filter is needed)

They can be purchased for a lot less than <£15 (the cheapest are £1 or £2)

> Ideally I would like to have a wireless connection so I can use my lap
> top anywhere in the house, but might wait a few months before doing
> this, should I buy a particular type of modem that would make the move
> to wireless easier/cheaper? (any good explainations of whats needed
> for wireless?)

If you want to use wireless, you should buy either:

a) a wireless ADSL router/modem (i.e. with wireless built in now)
or
b) a "normal" adsl router and at a later stage a wireless access point (WAP)

To use the laptop wireless you would need with a USB or (probably better) a
PCIMA card that supports wireless

Until then, you could use the router (wireless or otherwise) via an RJ45
cable..

> ..also, Metronet operate a 50:1 contention ratio, I roughly understand
> what this means, but wondered if 50:1 was a particually bad number or
> more or less average? - also, does this mean I'll share with 49 other
> Metronet users, or 49 other users (any ISP) at my exchange (the
> pricing structure of Metronet makes it more attractive to low
> bandwidth users so would be preferable to share with them!)

Answered in your other post.

Regards
Sunil

David wrote:

> I am thinking of signing up for Metronets broadband service, in which
> case I need to buy my own modem. Apart from the connection fee and the
> micro filters what else do I need to buy?
>
Assuming you get the necessary cable bundled with the modem, that's it.
You might even get 1 or 2 microfilters bundled.

> I use a lap top, so what sort of modem would be best?
>
Depends on what ports you have on the laptop. Most ADSL modems use
USB. If you have an ethernet port, I'd strongly suggest that rather
than a basic modem, you get a modem/router - there are a few reasonably
cheap ones around, though still slightly dearer than a basic modem
(around 50 quid, e.g. Solwise SAR130 http://www.solwise.co.uk/modems.htm)
The router will be less hassle to set up, less load on the cpu, and
more flexible if you want to add more machines to a LAN in the future.
It might even be worth getting an ethernet card if you haven't got one.

> Do I need micro filters for every phone extension or just the one with
> the broadband connection? - I understand that they cost about £10-£15
> each?
>
You need a microfilter for each voice phone, although you can plug several
voice phones into one filter. £15 sounds a bit pricy. There are some
neater options like replacement front plates for the BT master socket
which include a built in filter.

> Ideally I would like to have a wireless connection so I can use my lap
> top anywhere in the house, but might wait a few months before doing
> this, should I buy a particular type of modem that would make the move
> to wireless easier/cheaper? (any good explainations of whats needed
> for wireless?)
>
I which case you probably want a wireless modem/router - a bit pricier,
but no messy cabling! <g> These usually have a wired connection too,
so you might want to go with this from the start.

> ..also, Metronet operate a 50:1 contention ratio, I roughly understand
> what this means, but wondered if 50:1 was a particually bad number or
> more or less average? - also, does this mean I'll share with 49 other
> Metronet users, or 49 other users (any ISP) at my exchange (the
> pricing structure of Metronet makes it more attractive to low
> bandwidth users so would be preferable to share with them!)
>
50:1 is the standard for the BT service that all ISPs home ADSL is based
on. You can get 20:1 if you go for a (usually more expensive) 'business'
service. There's also the contention on the ISP's backbone to consider.

Have a look at http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ - lots of useful info,
ISP comparisons, equipment reviews, etc.
--
Alex Monro, Exeter, UK 90% of everything is crud - T. Sturgeon
alexm at pobox dot com GPG key 68F8 6270 available from
Running on GNU/Linux (SuSE 8.2) hkp://blackhole.pca.dfn.de