Tech Support > Computers & Technology > Internet & Broadband > Going shopping
Going shopping
Posted by Bill on August 15th, 2004


Time to get broadband. Thanks to all those contributing to discussions
recently, any comments on my thoughts to date ?

ISP, Plusnet £15 for 1Gb @512k. I am only replacing dial-up which is 5Mb
a day to me at present. They seems well recommended and little derided.
The 250Mb webspace is a bit of a bonus, OK it is low use but I'm fine
with that, and they run DD payment, CC is not acceptable to me.
There is also the customer service bypass available via the newsgroup if
required.

For the hardware I have been put off USB by all your postings, so I'll
head towards a network card and a modem/router/firewall. Bit of a
toss-up between Draytek 2500 at £85 and Netgear 834 at £67, play safe
with the Draytek or is that OTT, and the Netgear nightmares overstated ?
Perhaps a 4 way router is overkill, but I might have something else to
plug in soon. I have no experience of networking things, so I am hoping
for a smooth ride here.

Likely supplier is broadbandbuyer.co.uk, anyone dealt with them, are
they OK ?

TIA for input

Bill



Posted by King Queen on August 15th, 2004


On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 00:03:41 +0100, Bill
<ngaccount@genLUNCHEONMEATBANsheet.co.uk> wrote:

They promised me a discount for pointing a fraud out to them once. The
discount never actually happened and they ignored my emails asking
why.




--
To email me remove ".lartsspammers"
http://www.kingqueen.org.uk

Posted by Tony on August 15th, 2004



----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill" <ngaccount@genLUNCHEONMEATBANsheet.co.uk>
Newsgroups: uk.telecom.broadband
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2004 12:03 AM
Subject: Going shopping



Bill, I have two Netgear DG834G wireless modem/router units (one at work,
and one at home) and they have run 100 percent reliably since I fitted them
both in January this year. Both run 24/7 and both have been upgraded to the
latest firmware (not that the old firmware was giving any problems). They
are excellent and don't let anyone put you off the 834 if you fancy going
for one. I really cannot fault them... I use both wired 100mbps and
wireless 54g to a laptop and the connections are extremely reliable at both
my locations.

The Netgear DG834G is so easy to set up. All you do is plug it into a
network adapter (CAT5) and you are away.... tap in the IP address to access
its built in setup menu and thats it! Any wireless devices are assigned IP
addresses automatically by DHCP from the DG834.

Tony



Posted by Tony on August 15th, 2004



"Bill" <ngaccount@genLUNCHEONMEATBANsheet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:cfoq5j$207$1@ngspool-d02.news.aol.com...

Bill if you go for the Netgear DG834G, you`ll get the best deal right now at
Simply Computers.

Heres the link http://tinyurl.com/5hk6o

The total price including free delivery (in August only) is £93.99

The same deal will cost you £104.19 from broadbandbuyer.

I bought both mine from Simply Computers.

Regards

Tony





Posted by Alexander Mann on August 16th, 2004


Bill wrote:
Have you looked at Metronet? www.metronet.co.uk

These 3com's seem quite highly rated but I've not tried one mysekf:
http://www.misco.co.uk/productinform... ER/index.htm
or http://tinyurl.com/6lhsx

The SpeedTouch 510v4 from www.dslsource.co.uk is easy to set up and
cheap too.

* alex goes back to wanting a Cisco 837


--
200408@relay.nnam.net
(valid email address)

Posted by boo_star on August 16th, 2004


"Bill" <ngaccount@genLUNCHEONMEATBANsheet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:cfoq5j$207$1@ngspool-d02.news.aol.com...
Are you sure that 1GB/month is enough? I mean, one ISO download a month
would eat 65% of your allowance. For pure browsing, email and NG usage you
would probably be ok, but you can forget streaming video/radio and any
serious downloading. You would be better to go for the unlimited option for
£6 (IIRC) on the top of the base fee.
Personally I use a Solwise SAR-715 so I can't comment personally on either
of your choices but from what I've read the Vigor is the better of the two.

<If you have more then one PC, I'd choose the multiple port router. You
have the advantage of not needing your main PC to be running whenever you
want to go on the internet with you other pc(s.)

Can't comment. I have used solwise.co.uk and they are good but they don't
sell either of the routers you wish to buy.

No probs, have fun with your DSL



Posted by Darran West on August 16th, 2004


I've been using the Netgear DG834 for months and it has always worked well
for me. I know from reading posts in this group that people have had
problems with this model but I've never experienced any problems at all.

Darran West


Posted by poster on August 16th, 2004


On 16 Aug 2004, in uk.telecom.broadband, "boo_star" wrote:

Some might ask "what the heck is an ISO download" as we have different uses
for our connections. Someone else mentioned MetroNet which starts at lower
level, offers an ISP-provided firewall to block incoming traffic, but has a
few less features (and charges for additional MB, not in 1 GB lumps).

I think the PlusNet website does mention a couple of hours radio a week in
one of their examples, but it all depends on what Bill wants and if he has
a full and varied set of other leisure time activities and computing is a
small part, there's little need to go for an uncapped service...

The bulk of my friends/clients have used cheaper 4-port routers from Dabs
or Ebuyer, while the only one that had a Netgear (814) had it die within
7 days. I'm not convinced paying double the money is necessary, and I'd
sugggest a software firewall, to protect this PC from any others that in
time might be connected on the same LAN. Peter M.


--
PlusNet <http://tinyurl.com/24ymz> - I recommend them and save some cash.

Posted by Alexander Mann on August 16th, 2004


poster wrote:

As long as people know that the MetroNet firewall doesn't block probes
from other MetroNet users... A local firewall is still needed.

meh - conexant based routers :-/

I'd go for something like a SpeedTouch 510v4 - quite good value and the
NAT feature provides sufficient protection for most people. *Very* easy
to setup and stable, too.

alex


--

Posted by Bill on August 17th, 2004


Tony wrote:
Thanks for the input, but I will definitely be wired, not wireless. (834
not 834G) If I don't go for the Draytek there is more choice of
suppliers it is true.

Bill



Posted by Bill on August 17th, 2004


Alexander Mann wrote:

Interesting structure from them, and decidedly beneficial on simple
connection grounds at around the 1 - 2Gb useage level. Unfortunately I
really do not like the look of their payments system, and getting email
/ web is useful to me.

Bill



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