Why a Router

I am not a techy by any means but I do enjoy reading this bulletin board
and have learnt quite a bit which enabled me to fix my own broadband as
the first line support from wanadoo was lousy. My set up consists of a
speedtouch 330 usb modem. What I want to know is whilst I am quite happy
with my connection and everything is working well why do some people
employ a router? what are the benefits? is it worth while me getting
one. I am just curious.

Paul

"porky" (E-Mail Removed) wrote in message
news:ciurfd$i5l$(E-Mail Removed)
> I am not a techy by any means but I do enjoy reading this bulletin
> board and have learnt quite a bit which enabled me to fix my own
> broadband as the first line support from wanadoo was lousy. My set up
> consists of a speedtouch 330 usb modem. What I want to know is whilst
> I am quite happy with my connection and everything is working well
> why do some people employ a router? what are the benefits? is it
> worth while me getting one. I am just curious.

Why I chose a router:

Multiple machines can share my ADSL connection without having to use Windows
ICS or the like - I don't need to leave one machine on all the time.

It has built-in wireless capability so I can use my laptop anywhere in the
house.

It provides firewall functionality which protects all the Windows PC on my
network, rather than me having to install ZoneAlarm or similar on each one,
making sure they're all properly configured, kept up-to-date etc.

Think of it this way, an ADSL modem is akin to an open window, a router is a
locked window with opaque glass

Even if you're only ever going to have just one PC connected to your ADSL, I
would still recommend you invest in a hardware router. My friend recently
signed up for ADSL and connected his run-of-the-mill Win98 home PC. Took me
4 hours to get rid of all the trojans and viruses that he accumulated in one
evening. Got a call the next night - he'd connected his XPHome laptop and
could I help again. He now has a router.

ebuyer do a 1 port router for 30 quid. Plus, do like I did and flog your 330
for 20 quid on ebay.

HTH.

porky <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:ciurfd$i5l$(E-Mail Removed):

> I am not a techy by any means but I do enjoy reading this bulletin board
> and have learnt quite a bit which enabled me to fix my own broadband as
> the first line support from wanadoo was lousy. My set up consists of a
> speedtouch 330 usb modem. What I want to know is whilst I am quite happy
> with my connection and everything is working well why do some people
> employ a router? what are the benefits? is it worth while me getting
> one. I am just curious.

It lets me use wireless, allows simpler internet access from 2 PCs, it's
better than a software firewall so far as keeping nasties out, it's always
on so you don't have to wait for a modem to sync when you boot your PC
(small reason but it all counts) and no buggy modem drivers.. just buggy
NIC ones instead :-)

I'd say if what you have works and you don't _need_ a router, there's
probably no massive benefit in getting one.

regards
Paul
--
paul <at> spamcop.net

porky <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in news:ciurfd$i5l$1
@news8.svr.pol.co.uk:

> I am not a techy by any means but I do enjoy reading this bulletin board
> and have learnt quite a bit which enabled me to fix my own broadband as
> the first line support from wanadoo was lousy. My set up consists of a
> speedtouch 330 usb modem. What I want to know is whilst I am quite happy
> with my connection and everything is working well why do some people
> employ a router? what are the benefits? is it worth while me getting
> one. I am just curious.
>
> Paul

For me I don't have to worry about drivers etc to connect. My PC dual
boots Linux and XP. Both of these "natively" use the ethernet card so I
just have to tell them to use DHCP and the router configures them for me.

You just config the router, often with the aid of a noddy package to
connect to your ISP and for most people that's it.

In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Grant
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>"porky" (E-Mail Removed) wrote in message
>news:ciurfd$i5l$(E-Mail Removed)
>> I am not a techy by any means but I do enjoy reading this bulletin
>> board and have learnt quite a bit which enabled me to fix my own
>> broadband as the first line support from wanadoo was lousy. My set up
>> consists of a speedtouch 330 usb modem. What I want to know is whilst
>> I am quite happy with my connection and everything is working well
>> why do some people employ a router? what are the benefits? is it
>> worth while me getting one. I am just curious.
>
>Why I chose a router:
>
>Multiple machines can share my ADSL connection without having to use Windows
>ICS or the like - I don't need to leave one machine on all the time.
>
>It has built-in wireless capability so I can use my laptop anywhere in the
>house.
>
>It provides firewall functionality which protects all the Windows PC on my
>network, rather than me having to install ZoneAlarm or similar on each one,
>making sure they're all properly configured, kept up-to-date etc.
>
>Think of it this way, an ADSL modem is akin to an open window, a router is a
>locked window with opaque glass
>
Don't yet have broadband, expecting it soon. We have a three-PC network,
using a hub, and I'm collecting comments to aid us in making decisions
when the big day comes.

Specific question here is that I don't know anything about router
firewall functionality, and as a user of ZoneAlarm and some anti-spyware
I can't imagine just plugging in a piece of hardware that performs the
equivalent function. Brief description of router functions would be
appreciated.
--
Michael J Kingston - Researching Family History
News of surname DIGWEED always welcomed
< Remove my initials from the "To:" address field when replying >

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Grant <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
> It provides firewall functionality which protects all the Windows PC
> on my network, rather than me having to install ZoneAlarm or similar
> on each one, making sure they're all properly configured, kept
> up-to-date etc.
>
I agree 100% with most of your post, but this one point needs qualifying.
The firewall in a router is great for keeping nasties *out*. However, it's
not so great for preventing any trojans you may have acquired from "calling
home" and sending your personal information to undesirable places. This has
been discussed many times in this NG, and the perceived wisdom is that, even
with a router, you should *still* use a software firewall such as ZoneAlarm.
This will warn you if any unauthorised applications try to access the
internet. A router won't!
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

"Tiscali Tim" (E-Mail Removed) wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)
>
> I agree 100% with most of your post, but this one point needs
> qualifying. The firewall in a router is great for keeping nasties
> *out*. However, it's not so great for preventing any trojans you may
> have acquired from "calling home" and sending your personal
> information to undesirable places. This has been discussed many times
> in this NG, and the perceived wisdom is that, even with a router, you
> should *still* use a software firewall such as ZoneAlarm. This will
> warn you if any unauthorised applications try to access the internet.
> A router won't! --

All very true Tim and good advice.

On 23-Sep-2004, porky <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I am not a techy by any means but I do enjoy reading this bulletin board
> and have learnt quite a bit which enabled me to fix my own broadband as
> the first line support from wanadoo was lousy. My set up consists of a
> speedtouch 330 usb modem. What I want to know is whilst I am quite happy
> with my connection and everything is working well why do some people
> employ a router? what are the benefits? is it worth while me getting
> one. I am just curious.
>
> Paul

I suggest you test your PC security and read the advice by using the
selection of port scans on these sites, ---- http://grc.com/default.htm
http://www.pcflank.com/index.htm
http://www.sygatetech.com/
You might be surprised by the amaount of info that can be read off your PC
if it isn't protected fully.

My ST 530 router gives me a result of True Stealth on the GRC test which I
take as meaning that when a scanner scans my connection it appears as if no
PC is there.
I agree with the comments made by another respondant about the need for a
software firewall too which will flag up any outgoing connections -- I use
the firewall in my Trend Micro Internet Security, but it needs to be set to
max to flag up out going connections.



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"porky" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:ciurfd$i5l$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I am not a techy by any means but I do enjoy reading this bulletin board
> and have learnt quite a bit which enabled me to fix my own broadband as
> the first line support from wanadoo was lousy. My set up consists of a
> speedtouch 330 usb modem. What I want to know is whilst I am quite happy
> with my connection and everything is working well why do some people
> employ a router? what are the benefits? is it worth while me getting
> one. I am just curious.
>
> Paul

A router is also dead handy for getting your PS2/X-Box/VoIP adaptor
online...

"Tiscali Tim" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I agree 100% with most of your post, but this one point needs qualifying.
> The firewall in a router is great for keeping nasties *out*. However, it's
> not so great for preventing any trojans you may have acquired from "calling
> home" and sending your personal information to undesirable places. This has
> been discussed many times in this NG, and the perceived wisdom is that, even
> with a router, you should *still* use a software firewall such as ZoneAlarm.
> This will warn you if any unauthorised applications try to access the
> internet. A router won't!

What about running through a proxy/firewall on a spare PC? something like
smoothwall