nopesport.com - the new home of computing advice

[samsonite]

after asian's success i now request your expertise

i have a crappy usb broadband modem. i need to pump internet connection to 3 computers, 1 of them a mac

i have had a look around and found very few routers that state with no doubt that they have a usb input.

so im thinking get a modem/router combo.

peter g suggested ebuyer.com to get one from

can anyone say what i should get? or whether they have found a standalone router with a usb input?

help. please.

im not exactly rolling in dough by the way.

[brooner]

i got a modem/router combo and its done the job nicely for the past 9 months, the origo ASR-8400, one usb connection and space for 4 RJ45 (normal lan cable) connections. Claims to be compatible with MacOS too. Manufacturer updates the firmware quite regularly which is good and I've never had any major problems with it.

manufacturers details here
and found on ebuyer here for less than £35here

Trawl through the numerous pages of user feedback, sure y'll find it'll do the job.

[pyrat]

http://www.linksys.com/products/product ... 9&prid=160

linksys make good routers, this is one with usb input as you requested.
Dabs will probably stock it and I wouldnt be surprised if ebuyer do as well.

Check ur prices tho as an integrated router modem solution might in fact be cheaper.

No dungeon tonight then dude?

[samsonite]

oh yeah, 7.30 is it?

[pyrat]

aye min nae bother.

[chrisecurtis]

Have a look at solwise - http://www.solwise.co.uk

They sold me a 4-port asus router about 18 months ago - rock solid and fast ever since, serving 3 or 4 computers most of the time and up to 12(!) now it has a wireless hub hooked into it and people come round with wi-fi gear. Does all the hardware firewall stuff too. It is a single unit that does everything - runs the network and connects directly to the ADSL line.

Solwise were extremely helpful when I phoned them, but have not had to deal with them for ages.

Why do you need USB - did I miss something? If you are going to get a router/hub it is usually easier to have everything connected via ethernet - an ethernet card for a PC is about £6. USB ethernet adapters are available but cost more. If it is to use an exisitng ADSL modem this can have problems as having multiple machines connected will mean lots of "broken packets" when machines try to "talk" at the same time and some modems can have trouble with that.

[samsonite]

will this do me? -

http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardwar ... klinx=38F9

i have pipex that comes through my phone line via a filter, like a lot of people.

Maximum downstream rate of 8Mbps.
Maximum upstream rate of 1Mbps.

what the nope does that mean?


or this -

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products ... _uid=60654

[gross2004]

Get the one from Dabs............. it'll support you after a night out:

"Supports Dying Gasp functionality"

[Ed]

Maximum downstream rate of 8Mbps.
Maximum upstream rate of 1Mbps.

Downstream is from the server to your computer (i.e. when downloading stuff). Upstream is the other way (uploading stuff). The rest of it is how many bits per second - i.e. how fast the data transfer is.

8Mbps is (I think) about 16 times usual broadband downstream (512kbps), 1Mbps 4 times usual broadband upstream (256kbps).

I think the general gist is that it should be quick enough!

[gross2004]

So what is Dying Gasp functionality?

[Simon]

So what is Dying Gasp functionality?

Fairly much what the name suggests.

If the item is about to die it is able to send out a message telling you this.

[chrisecurtis]

Simple answer - the DABS one will do what you want, the ebuyer one will not. More complicated answer...

The one from DABS will plug into your phone line the same way your current modem does. You then connect computers to it via ethernet. For a diagram see the section "Ethernet Router & Local Area Network" on this page: http://www.adslguide.org.uk/guide/connections.asp

The 8M stuff is about how fast information can flow. A dial-up modem works at a max of 56K, standard broadband works at 512K coming to you and 256K going from you. (roughly ten times faster to receive web pages than dial-up) Broadband is often available at 1M (i.e. 1024K) and even up to 8M (if you can afford it!) The DABS kit will handle any speed of connection you are likely to have.

To make it all work, you first have to connect one computer to the box with an ethernet lead and get them speaking to each other. You connect the box to your phone-line filter. You use a browser on the computer to configure the new box to connect to Pipex (e.g. tell it your user id and password) - not much more difficult than setting up your modem for "one-computer" connection. (The new box has its own "web-site" built in where you type in the settings). It should then connect and the computer will connect to the net through the box. Once you have it working through one computer, you hook up the others - quite easy - and they all work through the same broadband link. If all are downloading, they share the speed and slow down, but browsing works at full speed for each computer since it is very unlikely that everyone will be downloading a page at the same time. Each computer thinks it has a permanent connection to the internet.

The ebuyer one does not have a modem built in - it will connect your computers by wi-fi or wired ethernet but you would then need an ADSL modem to connect to broadband.

The DABS one will do the job (never used conexant so do not know about quality, reliability etc.). It is cheap so if it works it is good value. It should come with instructions for set up. Lots of people happy to help if you get stuck.

P.S. "Dying gasp functionality" is the ability of a device to signal to another device that it has just lost power instead of simply going off - not much use in a home network IMHO!