Re: Breadbored questions
- From: "Dr Ivan D. Reid" <Ivan.Reid@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:27:56 +0000 (UTC)
On Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:52:34 -0000, Sena <"#"@cymoeddorguk.privacy.net>
wrote in <MPG.2192fb6d59f29e1998d810@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
If you've only got one computer and therefore no local network, do you
still need a router for breadbored?
Mother's contemplating breadbored. She was with Freeserve, so is now
with Orange. Is Orange breadbored OK for someone with very little
brain, very little clue, terrified of technology and unable to
comprehend even the simplest of instructions even after having had a
computer (and an Internet connection) for the best part of 6 years or
more?
Well, I was with Freeserve, got their BB, was shunted to Wanadoo
and thence to Orange, grandfathered in on an unlimited access account at
$28/mo. The last straw was when BT decided to start charging £4.5/qu for
"payment processing" so I signed up for Orange's Home Max (IIRC) at £24/mo
including line rental, "unlimited" downloads, and a VoIP (skype-like)
phone connexion, with a "Livebox" wireless router also included
(technically at £2/mo, but I couldn't see how to reject this and use my
existing Netgear wireless modem/router, nor if I could still use the VoIP
if I wanted). I actually got a £15 refund from BT today for the unused
subscription!
The Livebox is OK, tho' without as many bells and whistles in the
software as the Netgear (e.g. I can't see how to tell it to always assign
a given DHCP IP address to a given MAC address, but it does seem to spread
its DHCP addresses through the net range for a much better chance of
reassigning the same IP to a given MAC, as required by the RFCs -- and
I've worked out how to access the computers by name rather than IP, which
I hadn't with the netgear). It's got two ethernet connectors, so no probs
connecting a single PC -- I've got the Netgear emasculated down to a bare
router to serve the rest (soon to be replaced by a switch). It's trivial
to then disable the wireless part and run just a wired notwork. I did a
firmware upgrade and now appear to have a Bluetooth transceiver running (I
have nothing to check that...) but there is apparently no support for it
yet. There's a USB port which is supposed to connect to a printer, and
_maybe_ an external hard-drive.
Given that I'm left wanting more fine control, I suspect that
someone with enough nous to a) change the password; and b) disable the WiFi,
would leave it in a sufficient state for a novice to use.
So anyway - mother needs a breadbored provider wherein the cost is Not A
Lot (because she doesn't use it a lot and frankly it's probably not
worth her while but that's her problem not mine) and wherein she has to
do absolutely NOTHING to set it up, other than to plug in the line
splitter. And frankly, even that might be beyond her.
Well, as I said, disabling the WiFi and changing the password are
recommended (I can't remember if the WiFi was enabled by default -- given
that they make no mention of a wired connexion in their advertising, I
suspect it is...).
I do love my mother, really I do. But it's an uphill struggle to get
her to realise that the computer is only a machine, and that she really
won't come to any harm if she clicks on an icon or refreshes a web page
(don't ask).
Mebbe she should take a holiday to Byron Bay and get some lessons
from my Mum -- after I get her BBed in February. (Telecom want to sell her
a Wireless Broadband connection, which is only 256 Kbps in the basic package,
because she's "too far" from the exchange to get ADSL. The wireless modem
is $250 and I expect that doesn't include external aerial and installation.
She's exactly 2 miles from the exchange, so it'd have to be a tortuous
route for the wires to drop her ADSL potential below ~2 Mbps. Base packages
for both are $50/mo, but the WiFi also has a lower download limit IIRC.)
--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".
.
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