Hi. I am new to Broadband as it has only just become available in my area,
and I am not a teccy. Can anyone out there help me out a bit?

Microfilters:
Do these just split the line into 'Voice' and 'Data'?
Do these need to be fitted to every device which connects to the phone line?
Or just when you are splitting a wall socket into Data (PC) and 'Voice'
(Phone)?

Routers:
Me and my brother have 2 PC's and want to share a Broadband Connection. I
don't want to keep one computer running all the time. I have been told I
will need a router. Correct?
I assume I will need 2 ADSL USB modems still?
What additional cabling is usually required?
Will this mean my brother will be able to look at files on my PC? If so,
can I stop him?
Any recommendations on Routers?

Line Test:
What is a line test?
How common is it to fail a line test? And why would you fail a line test?
So, just because Broadband is available in my area, I still may not be able
to get it?

POTS:
Anyone know what POTS lines are? I am currently on Home Highway, and whilst
searching previous posts I heard POTS lines mentioned.

Cheers.

Hi

Here's my first go at answering a long post - here goes...

To answer your questions in turn:

Your DSL device (modem or router) can cope with the voice signals just fine.
It is each phone or other non-DSL device that needs to have a filter to
prevent interference on the phone line and to prevent disconnections of your
DSL service. The easiest (and cheapest) way to do it is to fit a filter at
the master socket where the phone line enters the house first, put all your
non-DSL devices on the "Phone" side of the filter and your DSL device on the
"Modem" side of the filter. This means that every non-DSL device in the
house would be filtered. If you have extension(s) wired into the linebox,
this will mean getting a linebox type filter. If this is impracticable, then
the best solution is to fit a filter at every phone point where there is a
non-DSL device present.

Note that your DSL device will have an American style phone plug so if
you're plugging it into a normal BT type phone extension with no filter,
you'll either need to change the modem cable on it for a similar telephone
modem cable or buy a US-UK phone plug adaptor.

If you buy an ADSL router that allows more than one PC to be connected to it
then, with the correct network wiring, all you will need to leave on is your
router. If the router comes with a built in modem then you will need no
modems at all. The cabling that you will need are 2xRJ45 patch cables that
are long enough to go from your router to each PC. If you set up each PC
with reasonably secure measure (not allowing file sharing for instance) then
neither of you will be able to access each others files. I shall leave the
recommendation of routers to more knowledgable members of the group.


A line test is a check performed by BT to see if your line has the correct
tolerances to enable ADSL to work effectively on it. The standard test we
all hear about is the whoosh test where attenuation is measured and this
must be below a certain figure (62dB?) to enable ADSL to work reliably. The
reasons you may fail a line test include poor line condition, too many
joints in the line where water has been allowed to get in and damage the
line or simply being too far from the exchange. Just because BT broadband is
available at your exchange doesn't mean you will necessarily get it.

Plain Old Telephone System - in other words non-Home Highway enabled,
standard phone lines.

HTH

Regards,
Far

Harry wrote:

gear doesn't seem to be as fussy about having a filter or not - but it
makes a convenient socket-type converter anyway.
one filter feeding several phones.

wireless one.

is via a Network Interface Card (NIC) that connects the Ethernet cable.
If you go for a wireless router you place a wireless NIC in each PC.

course if you choose wireless then you don't need any.

share. (Assuming you are using Windows) The sharing is one of the
things you can see in the Properties of the connection (Local Area
Network is the default name) in the Network folder in the Control Panel.
You can also look at the properties of a folder and turn sharing
on/off for that. The other thing you could share is a printer.

line has to be converted back to POTS before it can be used for BB.
Look for a supplier who will do a 'managed conversion', then if the line
test fails you will not get charged.

--
Dave Roberts

Dave Roberts wrote:

Oops. That was modeM not modeL.

--
Dave Roberts