b'band router?(newbie help)

hacksaw-eddie

hey,
my dad's getting broadband from utv tomorrow for his laptop and i wanna piece of the action (for free, obviously!)
we dont wanna set up a network a guy on utv tech sup. recomended a router.
(he told me about this forum also!)
we need to get a wireless router, cause of wires etc!
so do i need to buy anything other than the following:
1) wireless router (802.11b)
2) wireless pcmcia card
(i have a 10/100 port already on my pc)

also, can any of you recomend a decent router and/or pcmcia card?
kinda entry/mid range!?
is it fairly simple to set up and can i buy from UK, as he said something about some UK products not being compatible with eircom protocols?!

thanks a mill!

rymus

check out the routers section on www.dsl-warehouse.ie. They have a fairly decent range of wireless kit, including the entry level 11Mbps & 22Mbps stuff you'd be after.

If it helps with working out the price of your kit, I paid about €300 for a 54Mbps wireless router & modem combo and a 54Mbps pcmcia nic.

Another option is to look at www.elara.ie but be warned, if you buy something then it doesnt work with your existing hardware they won't take it back.

elexes

Originally posted by rymus
check out the routers section on www.dsl-warehouse.ie. They have a fairly decent range of wireless kit, including the entry level 11Mbps & 22Mbps stuff you'd be after.

If it helps with working out the price of your kit, I paid about €300 for a 54Mbps wireless router & modem combo and a 54Mbps pcmcia nic.

Another option is to look at www.elara.ie but be warned, if you buy something then it doesnt work with your existing hardware they won't take it back.

they did for me . tho i only wanted them to switch the item for one that would work

rymus

Originally posted by elexes
they did for me . tho i only wanted them to switch the item for one that would work

Ah but had you opened the original item?

Ripwave

Originally posted by rymus
check out the routers section on www.dsl-warehouse.ie. They have a fairly decent range of wireless kit, including the entry level 11Mbps & 22Mbps stuff you'd be after.

If it helps with working out the price of your kit, I paid about €300 for a 54Mbps wireless router & modem combo and a 54Mbps pcmcia nic.

Another option is to look at www.elara.ie but be warned, if you buy something then it doesnt work with your existing hardware they won't take it back.

Elara won't take back something that you've opened.

dsl-warehouse have exactly the same policy listed on their T&C page - but posting it back to the UK will cost you more than returning it to Elara in Dublin.

rymus

why would you be posting it back if they don't accept returns?!?

Ripwave

Originally posted by hacksaw-eddie
hey,
my dad's getting broadband from utv tomorrow for his laptop and i wanna piece of the action (for free, obviously!)
we dont wanna set up a network a guy on utv tech sup. recomended a router.
(he told me about this forum also!)
we need to get a wireless router, cause of wires etc!
so do i need to buy anything other than the following:
1) wireless router (802.11b)
2) wireless pcmcia card
(i have a 10/100 port already on my pc)

also, can any of you recomend a decent router and/or pcmcia card?
kinda entry/mid range!?
is it fairly simple to set up and can i buy from UK, as he said something about some UK products not being compatible with eircom protocols?!

As it happens, you won't save much by buying from the UK. The DSL-604+ for €186 will replace the USB "modem" that UTV provide, and provide 4 ethernet ports, as well as 802.11b support.

The cheapest pcmcia card from Elara costs about €35, but you should check out the Dlink cards if you get a DLink router, as that will give you up to 22Mbps connections. (The DWL-650+ costs €51.70 - between them it'll cost less than €250, including VAT and delivery.

You're "piece of the action" won't exactly be free, but what else is Christmas good for?

Ripwave

Originally posted by rymus
why would you be posting it back if they don't accept returns?!?

They do accept returns - it's right there on their website:

http://www.elara.ie/shop/help.asp

Can I just send you the product back if I change my mind?
Yes, if you find that the product you ordered isn't what you wanted it must be returned within 5 days and cannot be opened or used. Make sure to ask for a Return Authorization Number (RA#) from us to place on your package. This number will identify your package to us when it arrives and we will know exactly whom it belongs to and what is necessary to be done in order to process it quickly. Packages received without a RA# will be refused. There is a 10% charge for returns.

Here's what DSL-Warehouse says:

Returns Policy
Return of the products is subject to a number of requirements:

All products must be returned within 7 days of receipt
All products must be unopened
All products must be undamaged
All returns must be accompanied by a completed RMA form; this will be provided by us to authorise the return
The returned items remain your property and responsibility until received at our warehouse
Refunds will be made within 7 days of receipt by our warehouse
You will be responsible for shipping the unwanted or faulty items back to us and are liable for all carrige charges.
Any returns that are received outside of these terms will not be accepted.

You said that they wouldn't accept a return after you had determined that whatever it was you bought didn't work with some other piece of kit - I certainly interpreted that to mean that you opened it and couldn't get them to work together, and while I certainly know what it feels like to be stuck with something I don't want, I also have sympathy for a vendor that's keeping the price as low as possible, in part at least by not "eating" the cost of unsaleable goods that are returned opened. I don't see any difference between Elaras policies in this respect and DSL-Warehouse.

hacksaw-eddie

cheers for the help guys!
just wondering what speeds you all regularly get whilst downloading?
im connected to UTV clickstream and it says im connected at 512k, but im only downloading files at about 50k/sec which seams pretty crap
rang tech support,. they said try www.u.tv/speedtest which would show my speed, it did.. tried it a few times...average of 415k, but why are my download speds so low, surely they should be in or around 400k/sec?!

cheers
hacksaw

CivilServant

I think you've ur bits n bytes mixed up. utv speedtest measure in bits. 8 bits in a byte. So divide whatever you got in the speedtest, ie. 412/8 = 51.5 which is bang on right. 400KB/s would require a 3Megabit connection ie. 3200bits/sec

rymus

max speed... ive got around 50k 90% of the time, bursts to 70/90k sometimes but that only lasts a couple of secs.

50-54k is perfectly normal.

redhat_newbie

Hi all,

I got UTV broadband connection, I want to share the connection with windows machine(win2k) and linux machine (redhat9). I am interested in buying a router which supports my UTV USB modem (Zyxel 630 series) and my linux box.

Please help me in this case.

many thanks to all,
cheers,

OfflerCrocGod

Dont bother dump the modem and get a router with in-built modem, the DSL-504 is excelent you can get it from Elara for €135 - 140. Routers that support USB modems are rare and more expensive the ones that support ethernet modems.

redhat_newbie

hi OfflerCrocGod,

The router you suggested is out of stock on Elara. Could you please suggest any others. I want it to be compatible with all *nix flavours and win2k/xp.
Router:
1) with/without wireless as well (would check out whether I can afford it)

Thanks OfflerCrocGod,

buzz me back,
cheers,

Ripwave

Originally posted by redhat_newbie
The router you suggested is out of stock on Elara. Could you please suggest any others. I want it to be compatible with all *nix flavours and win2k/xp.

Almost every router out there provides an ethernet connection, so they are pretty much OS independent - you don't need special drivers to talk to one.

hacksaw-eddie

thanks civilservant!

so on most broadband's with 512k connection, download speeds are usually only approx 50 kilobytes/sec? ie. if i have a 1mb file to DL, it'll take about 20 seconds?
here was me thinkin it'd be 8 times the speed...sh*t!

so im guessin thats wat happens wit a 56k modem..its 56kilobit, so divide by 8 and get avereage 7kilobytes/sec Dl's?
i never copped that!

OfflerCrocGod

As Ripwave says any router+modem will do and this one should do the trick. It has all you should need.

tomk

Check out the Modems and Routers sticky at the top of the board for more info.

If you have an old PC lying around unused - say P166-200 - you could also build your own firewall/router.

EvilDoctorK

Interesting info on the above .. I would be interested in having something similar set up.. however I don't have DSL use Irish Broadband which (I think) means I don't need as sophisticated a router (as it doenst' need to have a modem built in )?

would something like this - http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ECS03726&productID=40612 - work ?

Ripwave

Originally posted by EvilDoctorK
Interesting info on the above .. I would be interested in having something similar set up.. however I don't have DSL use Irish Broadband which (I think) means I don't need as sophisticated a router (as it doenst' need to have a modem built in )?

would something like this - http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ECS03726&productID=40612 - work ?

As far as I can tell, that device doesn't have any ethrtnrt ports (other than the one that you connect it to the network with. So if you plug your IBB connection into ot, you won't be able to plug your PC in (unless it has wireless as well as an ethernet port).

You might want to go with something like this instead.

(DLink keep moving their pages about - the actual product lik is here)