ADSL Modem Advice

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Sparky_za

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Hi Guys

Having my first ADSL line installed sometime over the next few weeks (depends when Telkom can convert) and I'm looking for some advice on an ADSL modem.

Ideal setup for me would be something with at least 2 1Gbps wired connections, and wireless N.

Suggestions?
 
The ADSL modems with gigabit LAN are very expensive. The only one that I know of is the Cisco E4200 which retails for ~ R1400.

What you can do instead is to buy a cheap (yet good) ADSL modem, like the D-Link DSL-2500U @ ~R200,
and then connect it to a gigabit + wireless N router, like the TP-LINK WR1043ND @ ~R650.
 
To be honest I don't mind spending the money. Would like a really neat solution with as few pieces of hardware as possible. Originally I was looking at a solution such as you have suggested, but decided against it.

But thanks for the suggestion on the Cisco, I'll check it out. We're a supplier of their equipment so I'm sure I could organize a decent discount.
 
The Cisco E4200 (actually whole range) is router only, doesn't include a modem. I have been looking for a while and couldn't find a decent modem that included gigabit and wireless N. The ones I did find, the reviews said the coverage was dodgy or throughput speeds were bad.

Most suggested separate modem and router so I've been looking at that Cisco E4200 and Asus RT-N56U for gigabit and dual wifi (5Ghz for media streaming). Going to use my cheap TrendNet modem with it. Can't find any places with stock of either one.

Will keep checking this post, please let a brother in on any info you come across.
 
Good point on the router not including a modem, downloaded the Cisco tech docs for the E4200/E3200 and it says you need an external modem, which can then connect to the router. Not exactly an ideal solution from them :confused:

If I drop the Gigabit requirement then there are a bunch of routers available, but the main reason I wanted the Gig connection is for the media server.
 
SmallNetBuilder is a really cool site to check out networking equipment reviews. They even have graphs of throughput etc comparing the different items.
 
Have a look at the Netgear DGND3700
http://www.netgear.com/home/products/wirelessrouters/high-performance/DGND3700.aspx

Duxbury sells them for about R1500.

It's got 2 USB ports on it so you can connect external drives directly to it, DNLA for streaming media to your TV etc.

Not sure what chipset it uses but the processor is a Broadcom dual core 400MHz chip so I'm betting on it using a Broadcom ADSL chipset which is the same as what D-Link and I think TP-Link also use.

It has both 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless which is useful to avoid interference if you live in a complex where there are lots of other Wi-Fi networks.

It has an ADSL2+ modem and a normal WAN port so you can use it to connect and ADSL line or something like an IBurst modem on the same router, not sure about load balancing or fail over between the 2 ports.

And finally it has 4 gigabit network ports.
 
grim said:
Have a look at the Netgear DGND3700
http://www.netgear.com/home/products/wirelessrouters/high-performance/DGND3700.aspx

Duxbury sells them for about R1500.

It's got 2 USB ports on it so you can connect external drives directly to it, DNLA for streaming media to your TV etc.

Not sure what chipset it uses but the processor is a Broadcom dual core 400MHz chip so I'm betting on it using a Broadcom ADSL chipset which is the same as what D-Link and I think TP-Link also use.

It has both 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless which is useful to avoid interference if you live in a complex where there are lots of other Wi-Fi networks.

It has an ADSL2+ modem and a normal WAN port so you can use it to connect and ADSL line or something like an IBurst modem on the same router, not sure about load balancing or fail over between the 2 ports.

And finally it has 4 gigabit network ports.
Click to expand...

This looks pretty good too. I'll do a side by side with the Linksys and see what pops out.

At least both will make the gf happy because they're pretty :p
 
According to the specs of that Netgear DGND3700 it looks brilliant, but I'm still skeptical about its ADSL SNR margins and if it has bridge/half-bridge modes.
 
The Netgear seems to have very mixed reviews on the net, and the Cisco does not support both 2.4 and 5GHz networks simultaneously (not that I think this will be too much of a problem for me)
 
I've got a DGN2000 which also uses a Broadcom chipset and my downstream att is 15db with 29db noise margin can't recall the upstream off hand but I've never had any issues with Netgear ADSL routers, I've heard some horror stories about some of the newer models that were replaced quite quickly by Netgear with the current range.

As for bridged/half-bridged mode, I have never had a need for it at home.
 
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