On 6/17/05, Ted Harding Ted.Harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk wrote:
On 17-Jun-05 Tim Green wrote:
On 6/17/05, Ted Harding Ted.Harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk wrote:
Now I'm expecting to be asking you folks for advice on setting up ADSL/SDSL on Linux!
If you get an ethernet 'DSL router then setup is a cinch. Just set your PC's ethernet card to use DHCP.
That looks like good news! However, I'm a little bit wary about the hardware side.
My exhcange (Brandon creek) is a BT exchange, BT will be doing the upgrade, and it's a BT line.
Sounds normal.
Do not use BT as your broadband ISP! I'd still recommend Eclipse over them. BT will monkey with the exchange, and you sign up with an ISP and install the micro-filters and the ADSL modem (they all plug into obvious phone style sockets so you shouldn't need an engineer to visit your house, unless like me you need the ISDN taken out first).
When I look on the BT website at their broadband options (and I think their 2Mbits/15GBperMonth is probably what would best suit my likely usage) I see that they supply their own modem router (free if you buy your broadband sub online they say).
So two questions:
a) Will a BT broadband connection only work with a BT modem/router? If so, what's the score on connecting it to a Linux machine and getting it to work (implicitly: is it Linux-compatible)?
Many other ISPs will provide free hardware (eg. PlusNet have a special offer on at the minute) but forking out £40-80 for your own shouldn't break the bank.
You can use any ADSL modem/router commonly available in the UK on your BT phoneline.
b) If, on the other hand, BT's is not Linux-compatible, but one can buy a different one which is BT-compatible, which ones will work most smoothly with BT and are Linux-compatible?
I suspect BT will try to palm you off with a USB based modem. I suggest in the strongest terms getting ethernet because then you will not be limited by USB drivers nor will you be limited to any particular OS.
When I signed up with Eclipse last year I went for the Alcatal Thompson SpeedTouch 530 they offered - it has both USB and ethernet. I configured it through the ethernet port with Firefox in Linux and I have not noticed any trouble with it.
Regards, Tim.