[plug] ADSL: Hardware Gateways vs Linux

[Trevor Phillips]

On Monday 05 July 2004 17:13, Chris Caston wrote:
>
> > Which makes shopping for them all the more difficult. ^_^
>
> Decide what you want now and anticipate what you will want 1 year from
> now. If for instance you want to use VOIP go for something with QoS.

QoS would be nice - and yet there seems to be very few ADSL Modem/Routers 
which will actually do it.

So far, my research has shown up one pretty consistent fact: Billion ADSL 
Routers are great. I've not seen any bad feedback about them at all, plus the 
higher-end ones have all the goodies, including QoS, VPN, etc...

If I was to go for one with the fruit, then the choice boils down to:
  Billion BIPAC-7402 - Great feature-full ADSL router, with all the goodies.
  Billion BIPAC-7402W - As above but with 802.11b wireless
  Billion BIPAC7500G - Seems to be same features as 7402W, but with 802.11g 
wireless

The prices for these three from PLE (one of their WA suppliers who actually 
list all three models) are $199, $239 and$339 respectively. Or, looking at it 
another way: $40 extra for 802.11b, and an extra $100 for 802.11g.

Does anyone know any other sources of these gadgets in Perth? (Any better 
prices? ^_^)

Since this is my first foray into Wireless, and my main usage will be for my 
PDA, I'm really tempted to go with just 802.11b at the moment. I'm still 
tossing up between going with it integrated into the ADSL Router, or a 
separate unit tho. $90 for a separate unit is pretty good though - if I can 
justify an extra $50 for versatility. ^_^

> You can always buy another adsl modem later if you wish. They don't
> break the bank. I've gone though 3 ADSL modems so far this year.

Eek!! That'd break my bank... -_^

> OK. I'm skinny as a rake and swear that I could have been a chimney
> sweeper in a past life, and I have near perfect vision in the dark, so I
> live running cables.

I'm not exactly skinny (or fat), but I'm not that short. Crawling around in 
the roof was quite fun, but quite challenging and taxing. I ached for quite a 
while after. (Colorbond roof, middle of Summer. ^_^)

On Monday 05 July 2004 18:57, Cameron Patrick wrote:
> I have a Minitar 802.11b access point.  Several other PLUGgers have
> these too -- heck, PLUG owns one itself.  At <$100, you'd have a hard
> time beating the price.  (I bought mine from Jamie Moir a.k.a. Techtopia:
> http://www.techtopia.com.au/.)

What's the power/range of them like? While it is possible to stick one in the 
family room, it'd be neater if it was hidden in the study - or the 
Linen/Networking closet. ^_^

That Techtopia site is quite scary. Lots of cool gadgets on it.

-- 
. Trevor Phillips             -           http://jurai.murdoch.edu.au/ . 
: Web Technical Administrator     -          T.Phillips at murdoch.edu.au : 
| IT Services                        -              Murdoch University | 
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