Hi Folks,
I'd welcome comment from experienced folk on the following.
I'm helping a friend sort out various computer-related problems. One aspect concerns their (NTL/Virgin) cable-DSL Internet connection. What I'm thinking of is getting one of those WAN/LAN boxes that combines a router port (to be cabled to their DSL cable modem) with a 4-port LAN switch.
Browsing round the local (to me) dealers, the best option I've found readily available is the
Netgear RP614 Broadband Router + 4 port 10/100 Switch. Platinum Range. RP614
(£25 from WoC). In theory this should do the job. But I have some reservations in that my one & only experience with a Netgear switch ended with it burning out rather soon. So I'm a bit wary of Netgear kit! But others may know different.
The only non-Netgear alternative seems to be a "BELKIN F5D5231UK4 10/100 4-PORT CABLE/DSL GATEWAY ROUTER" which looks as though it does the same job, at £34 (web price) from PC World (£50 in-store price), so the above Netgear would be much cheaper.
Other options available at PC World are upwards of £50, and are all Netgear.
Comments welcome! With thanks, Ted.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) ted.harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 13-May-07 Time: 20:27:06 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
Hi all,
On Sun, May 13, 2007 at 08:27:10PM +0100, Ted Harding wrote:
Hi Folks,
I'd welcome comment from experienced folk on the following.
I'm helping a friend sort out various computer-related problems. One aspect concerns their (NTL/Virgin) cable-DSL Internet connection. What I'm thinking of is getting one of those WAN/LAN boxes that combines a router port (to be cabled to their DSL cable modem) with a 4-port LAN switch.
Browsing round the local (to me) dealers, the best option I've found readily available is the
Netgear RP614 Broadband Router + 4 port 10/100 Switch. Platinum Range. RP614
(?25 from WoC). In theory this should do the job. But I have some reservations in that my one & only experience with a Netgear switch ended with it burning out rather soon. So I'm a bit wary of Netgear kit! But others may know different.
I've got a Netgear DG834G broadband + 4 LAN cable ports + WLAN access point modem firewall router unit and it works for me since two years or so without any problem. I had to update the firmware after buying it, but that was pretty straightforward.
The firmware is actually Linux-based (as was pointed out to me on this list, if I recall correctly). Administration is done through a web interface. From what I've gathered from places around the web, other Netgear devices are similar in these respects, but I don't know about the specific one you mention.
Best regards, Jan
Ted
I have a Linksys WRT54G which I put on OpenWRT and now DD-wrt ( Linux based freeware ) which gives more features too, SIP proxy for VoIP if you want. I just use it as an access point to cover the rest of my house and sometimes a proxy too. Its nice and stable and I have not had to reboot it because it "didn't work" so 10 out of 10 !
Samwise runs DD-WRT on his on NTL.
Regards Keith
-----Original Message----- From: main-bounces@lists.alug.org.uk [mailto:main-bounces@lists.alug.org.uk] On Behalf Of ted.harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk Sent: 13 May 2007 20:27 To: main@lists.alug.org.uk Subject: [ALUG] Netgear LAN/WAN Switch/Router
Hi Folks,
I'd welcome comment from experienced folk on the following.
I'm helping a friend sort out various computer-related problems. One aspect concerns their (NTL/Virgin) cable-DSL Internet connection. What I'm thinking of is getting one of those WAN/LAN boxes that combines a router port (to be cabled to their DSL cable modem) with a 4-port LAN switch.
Browsing round the local (to me) dealers, the best option I've found readily available is the
Netgear RP614 Broadband Router + 4 port 10/100 Switch. Platinum Range. RP614
(£25 from WoC). In theory this should do the job. But I have some reservations in that my one & only experience with a Netgear switch ended with it burning out rather soon. So I'm a bit wary of Netgear kit! But others may know different.
The only non-Netgear alternative seems to be a "BELKIN F5D5231UK4 10/100 4-PORT CABLE/DSL GATEWAY ROUTER" which looks as though it does the same job, at £34 (web price) from PC World (£50 in-store price), so the above Netgear would be much cheaper.
Other options available at PC World are upwards of £50, and are all Netgear.
Comments welcome! With thanks, Ted.
On Mon, May 14, 2007 at 08:39:56AM +0100, keith.jamieson@bt.com wrote:
I have a Linksys WRT54G which I put on OpenWRT and now DD-wrt ( Linux based freeware ) which gives more features too, SIP proxy for VoIP if you want. I just use it as an access point to cover the rest of my house and sometimes a proxy too. Its nice and stable and I have not had to reboot it because it "didn't work" so 10 out of 10 !
I'm using a wrt54gs and a netgear dg834 running in pppoa > pppoe bridge mode. The wrt54gs is now running openwrt, it was running dd-wrt but the author of it appears to be now violating the gpl so I (finally) made the switch to openwrt. You get full package management with ipkg (very similar to using dpkg and apt-get on debian) with lots of good packages available which gives the router more features as those from vendor who'd charge at least a couple of hundred quid for their hardware let alone the software.
You can get a wrt54gl (which actually says it is a product covered by the gpl on the box) for 34.10 delivered from ebuyer.com if you use google checkout, ebuyer quickfind code 103185. It even comes with a 3 year hardware warranty. Of course if you are connecting this to an adsl line you'd still need to get some kind of adsl modem/router that can do pppoa to pppoe bridging.
Adam
Thanks for the comments on Netgear kit!
People who've replied seem to be happy with the hardware reliability, so that's a comfort.
My concerns about Netgear go back to buying a 4-port hub which, after it had been running for a few minutes, would stop working. Apparently due to over-heating, since if switched off and left for say 30 minutes to cool down, it would work again, for a few minutes ...
Since I reckon no decent manufacturer should get it wrong at that sort of level, it somewhat put me off Netgear.
But (as the statistician said to his wife who accused him of being an incompetent lover), you should not generalise from a sample of one ...
Best wishes to all, Ted.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) ted.harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 14-May-07 Time: 10:02:30 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
On Mon, May 14, 2007 at 10:02:45AM +0100, Ted Harding wrote:
Thanks for the comments on Netgear kit!
People who've replied seem to be happy with the hardware reliability, so that's a comfort.
My concerns about Netgear go back to buying a 4-port hub which, after it had been running for a few minutes, would stop working. Apparently due to over-heating, since if switched off and left for say 30 minutes to cool down, it would work again, for a few minutes ...
I'd have returned it at this point as a dodgy switch from the batch - not had any problems with netgear switches, and we've got "several" GigE fanless "dumb" switches in our office... they're really rather reliable (there's 2 of them sitting on this desk, for a start).
Since I reckon no decent manufacturer should get it wrong at that sort of level, it somewhat put me off Netgear.
If you thought that, why didn't you return it under manufacturers warranty and get them to replace it?
Cheers,
On Mon, May 14, 2007 at 11:24:08AM +0100, Brett Parker wrote:
Since I reckon no decent manufacturer should get it wrong at that sort of level, it somewhat put me off Netgear.
If you thought that, why didn't you return it under manufacturers warranty and get them to replace it?
Given the several months it took to get a new netgear adsl router out of them and the multiple phone calls and emails i'd not hold your breath on going the warranty route without getting a replacement first.
Although, I've had a few netgear switches and they've been fine too.
Adam
On Mon, May 14, 2007 at 08:39:56AM +0100, keith.jamieson@bt.com wrote:
Ted
I have a Linksys WRT54G which I put on OpenWRT and now DD-wrt ( Linux based freeware ) which gives more features too, SIP proxy for VoIP if you want. I just use it as an access point to cover the rest of my house and sometimes a proxy too. Its nice and stable and I have not had to reboot it because it "didn't work" so 10 out of 10 !
Samwise runs DD-WRT on his on NTL.
I run straight white-russian version of OpenWRT on mine - the only thing I will warn about is... if you use a password to get ssh access, beware that when you upgrade it it can (and sometimes does) completely remove the password from the password file - so try to make sure that you've got a key over there too, otherwise it's a fun boot in to the "safe" mode and then setting the password (it'll let you drop in to telnet as root happily).
Cheers,
On 14/05/07, keith.jamieson@bt.com keith.jamieson@bt.com wrote:
Samwise runs DD-WRT on his on NTL.
Regards Keith
Am currently looking at X-Wrt atm ... but we had no major* issues with dd-wrt and NTL.
Peter.
* Did occasionally have difficulty accessing the management interface if the router was heavilly used.
On 5/13/07, Ted Harding ted.harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk wrote:
Netgear RP614 Broadband Router + 4 port 10/100 Switch. Platinum Range. RP614
(£25 from WoC). In theory this should do the job.
One just like that from WoC is doing the job just great for my dad on NTL / Virgin. WoC even have an instruction sheet, with pictures, explaining how to do the setup.
Tim.
On Sun, May 13, 2007 at 08:27:10PM +0100, Ted Harding wrote:
I'm helping a friend sort out various computer-related problems. One aspect concerns their (NTL/Virgin) cable-DSL Internet connection. What I'm thinking of is getting one of those WAN/LAN boxes that combines a router port (to be cabled to their DSL cable modem) with a 4-port LAN switch.
Actually, re-reading this... is your friend using cable or adsl? (it won't be both if he doesn't have 2 connections) If he has a cable modem then they just provide (aiui, i'm not a cable customer) an ethernet port to plug into. If it is adsl then he needs something to do the adsl bit (i.e. plug into the phone line).
Adam
-
Adam Bower -
Brett Parker -
Jan T. Kim -
keith.jamieson＠bt.com -
samwise -
ted.harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk -
Tim Green