Hi Shlomo and everyone, On Thu, Jul 05, 2007 at 10:18:48PM +0300, Shlomo Solomon wrote: > Thanks for all the detailed replies. I'm actually left with only one > question, > before I buy a router (as everyone has agreed). > > I understand that the Linksys WRT54G-L is Linux friendly, but aside from the > desire to support open source, why does that matter? You've all basically > confirmed what the Bezeq technician said - the router is just plugged in and > should work. > > Since the whole purpose of the excercise ts to fix my connection problem, I > feel "safer" buying the Rotal router Bezeq provides. If there are any > problems, that would be final proof that there's still something wrong at the > Bezeq end. On the other hand if I buy the WRT54G-L and it doesn't solve my > problem, Bezeq will probably say that it's because I'm using "unsupported" > hardware.
I do not know exactly what this specific technician offered to you, nor do I know what Bezeq in general offers to its new and existing customers. I do know what I was offered over the years, and what my relatives and friends got, and I have a few points to make. 1. There are boxes which have, I'll call it, "ADSL connection". That is, some port that a phone line can be plugged into and which talks ATM or whatever to the DSLAM at Bezeq. 2. There are boxes which can do routing. That is, they know IP, and have the software/logic to route IP packets. The first ADSL modems Bezeq gave to its customers were of kind 1 but not 2. They were used with pptp etc. but were not routers. As many here remember, some models (notably Alcatel SpeedTouch Home), could unofficially be upgraded to routing software. Since at least start of 2005, maybe a few months earlier but not much more, Bezeq no more, at least as far as I know, give customers boxes that can't route. I got my current connection at Jan 2005, and got an ECI 312, which is both 1 and 2 above. I think it was common for a year or so, and since then at least 1-2 other models became common and replaced. As I said, they were boxes that could both connect to the phone line and talk to the dslam, and route. The "route" part consisted of at least a dhcp server and a router - this means any normal OS (both Windows and Linux) in its default conf would connect automatically. But, these boxes have only one ethernet connection. And also, many people still had/have older, non-routing adsl modems. Therefore, for some time, it became common to have, not through Bezeq but by purchasing, an "ADSL/Cable router". This was an Ethernet-to-Ethernet router, with 4 ports on its "Internal" LAN switch/hub side, and one port connected to the adsl modem, and it could talk pptp or pppoe or both. But if you had a routing modem, you could use simply a small hub/switch for this, and route on your modem. Some of the routers obviously were better than the modem/router - both in speed, software capabilities, and hardware (such as wireless, USB, etc.). Now to the practical part. As far as I know, Bezeq will replace an adsl modem with the default, simple box it currently gives to new customers for no charge. This box will probably be a modem/router, one ethernet port, no wifi etc., but will be enough to connect one machine with any OS in its default conf to the internet, and a few of them with any simple hub/switch. I know for sure I suggested to people to ask for such a replacement even for a working Alcatel STH, and they did get an ECI 312 - not from a technician but in BezeqStore - with no charge. All the other options - both a router that needs another adsl box to talk to Bezeq (with or without wifi etc.) and a router that has a phone plug but also more than one RJ45 ethernet connector, cost money, and you can buy them both from Bezeq and elsewhere. Personally, I use both the ECI 312 and a LinkSys WRT54GL, doing various things on both, and love them both. Both run Linux of some version and can be ssh'ed into, and on the WRT I have DD-WRT which is fine for me (but I did not look deeply at other firmwares so I do not know if others are better etc.). One last note - after I bought my WRT a few months ago, I saw that asus has a similar router, that can too run DD-WRT, which also has a USB port. This means you can connect some USB flash (or disk) to it and do really nice things, much more than you can in the 4MB flash of the WRT. And one last last note - the WRT54GL is a fine piece of hardware, too. It's considered a bit old, at least compared to the new versions of WRT54G, which do not run linux anymore, but is still good. I did not check myself, but many people report that it has much better wifi reception than cheaper routers, maybe due to it having two anntennas instead of the normal ones which have one. So while it's rather more expensive (I bought mine for around 400 NIS - and as you already know, there are ones for a bit more than 200), it's also rather good. And if you want the cheapest solution, get for free a replacement modem/router from BezeqStore (I hope it's still possible) and buy a cheap 8port switch for 100 NIS or so. I think whatever you do, if you still have a problem with a new modem you should get for free from BezeqStore, they should take care of you. And you really really do not have to worry about connecting to the net after replacing it - do download pppoe etc. before replacing, but unless you like your current firewall/router configuration very much, I am pretty certain you'll use the box as a router and say goodbye forever to all the pptp/pppoe/whatever stuff. Sorry for a very long and boring post, HTH, -- Didi ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
