Eircom ADSL and multiple computers

Mr. Flibble · 09-10-2002 1:34am #1

Hi.
I'm planning on getting Eircom's ADSL Solo service installed soon. I have 4 computers networked at home at the moment(1 PC, 3 Macs) and want to be able to connet them all to the ADSL connection. Can I just dedicate one of the macs to be a router for the network and use all the comps on the net? Or as Eircom are selling their ethernet modem for 200euro would I be able to get a hardware modem/router for not too much more? Can anyone suggest a decent one?

BigEejit · 09-10-2002 11:18am

I have looked into this at length and I have won (on Ebay) but not yet received an USR 8000a ... its a 4 port switch (100/10BaseT), with a 10baseT WAN port (to go to the ADSL bosca), it is also a print server so all machines can access you printer (no more dedicated PC) and it also has a RS-232 port for a modem in case the ADSL dies on you / or you get disconnected (not that that would happen), it has a built in firewall and DHCP server, configurable by http ... a few other gizmos as well

... I found mine on Ebay for US$75 plus $24 shipping, I have already got a 5VDC power supply for it ...

Note: It looks great on paper and thats why I ordered it, I havent received it yet (only won it last week) and I'll probably be waiting another week ... it could be shiite but I'm counting on it being good because USR is the manufacturer.......:D

Mr. Flibble · 09-10-2002 12:31pm

Let me know what its like.

Is a router absloutly necessary? What would happen if I plugged the ADSL ethernet modem into my hub - would only one computer be able to connect to the net?

longword · 09-10-2002 1:10pm

I-Stream Solo gives you a single dynamic IP address. What you need to share that is Network Address Translation (NAT, also known as Masquerading). You can either try to get one of your existing machines to do that - Windows has "Internet Connection Sharing", Linux has netfilter, dunno what Macs can do - or you can buy a DSL router to do it. If you're going with a router, and your ADSL modem is of the USB variety, you'll need to dump that in favour of an ethernet modem or a DSL router with an ADSL modem built in.

Frank Grimes · 09-10-2002 1:45pm

Originally posted by Mr. Flibble
Is a router absloutly necessary? What would happen if I plugged the ADSL ethernet modem into my hub - would only one computer be able to connect to the net?

The ethernet modem is a bridge, you'd need a PPPoE client to connect through it.
I'm not sure what's available for Macs, but on Windows you could use a program like Wingate to share the connection.

BigEejit · 09-10-2002 5:28pm

The USR 8000a supports NAT http://www.usr.com/support/8000a02/8000a02-online-manual/seven.html and it also supports PPOE as well as other stuff I'll never use http://www.usr.com/products/networking/router-product.asp?type=specs&sku=USR8000A ... I'm drooling just thinking about it

Slutmonkey57b · 09-10-2002 6:46pm

If you're using new macs the built in air port will network all your macs together automatically afaik. Then you'd just have to persuade the windows machine to connect to your mac network..... good luck....

Just as another tease, a friend of mine in London could opt for a wireless ADSL router/modem that linked all the pc's and handhelds in the house together for him. Which was nice.

Mr. Flibble · 09-10-2002 7:02pm

Has anyone out there had any experience with the USR 8000a? I might go for it too. Are there any Irish suppliers for it or anything similar?

Eircom ADSL and multiple computers

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