ADSL noobie

[Raptor]

Hi all

I've been following the progress of Telkom ADSL for some time and have finally take the plunge to get HomeDSL 192K. From all the ranting and raving that I've seen on these forums - I decided its time for me to add some to the noise. ;-)

Anyway my dsl will be installed next week and I have a couple of questions:

1. I need a modem - definately not Telkom's so what should I get (billion, netgear, d-link, mecer)? I don't need any fancy features as I already have a switch, a wireless AP and IPcop firewall machine. Just need a reliable modem that will get the job done

2. A good ISP will help

3. Some clarification of Openweb and freeproxy - what are the capabilities, what will i need to use them for and any other useful advice

4. Finally, regarding IPCop and the linux version it uses - I have a really old pc running IPcop (PII 350, 256 mb ram) - but I want to use a 40gig hdd. Now I know the bios will not see the drive - but i've read somewhere that Linux doesn't use the bios to see the hdd. Any help will be appreciated


Cool, thanks.

 

[thisgeek]

Get yourself a Billion 5102SM - I got mine from Jump. Works like a charm with IPCop.

Isn't there a compatibility jumper that will allow your bios to recognise the drive?

Try look for a BIOS update for the machine as well. That might help.

I'm running my IPCop on a celery 233 with about 392Mb of ram. Runs fine.

Btw, IPCop 1.4.9 is out.

 

[doobiwan]

Can't comment on IPcop but any "recognized" brand modem should be fine. I'd recommend though that you get one that supports some some of the more advanced features, like ADSL2+.

 

[Clipse]

1. I need a modem - definately not Telkom's so what should I get (billion, netgear, d-link, mecer)? I don't need any fancy features as I already have a switch, a wireless AP and IPcop firewall machine. Just need a reliable modem that will get the job done

Get yourself a cheap Dlink dsl-300t adsl modem with a bit of router capabilities aswell. Very cheap from R380 onwards.

2. A good ISP will help

Hmm.. Pick us

We will be offering very well priced IS ADSL Access from November, so if your interested in a good price and good service, get in touch with us then. We can offer you access on any of our accounts right away, but before November the signup process is a bit "messy", if you want an account, email or pm me and Ill let you know what the current available method is.

3. Some clarification of Openweb and freeproxy - what are the capabilities, what will i need to use them for and any other useful advice

Well FreeProxy (from now on promptly named FreeVPN) is a method of unshaping your international available bandwidth. Before you hit your international cap, you can make the most of it by connecting to FreeVPN and not having prioritising on for instance p2p ports, which slows it down.


Any other questions, just shout and ill answer

 

[Raptor]

Thanks Clipse - I will give you a shout come 1 Nov - but until then are the 30 gig accounts still ok? WEbafrica, axxcess, etc ? I'll probably want to use the freevpn on this as well...

One other thing - the 30gig IS account that will be introduced in November - will it be unshaped?


By the way where can I find the Dlink dsl-300t adsl modem is it a walk in store or online.

re. the 40 gig drive - my motherboard on the ipcop machine will not see it period (i have tried the latest bios update - but no joy). But i just wanted to confirm that linux does need the bios to see what drive you have.

 

[Raptor]

I'm running my IPCop on a celery 233 with about 392Mb of ram. Runs fine.

Btw, IPCop 1.4.9 is out.

Hey thisgeek

are you using the proxy services and webcaching as well as the firewall?

 

[Clipse]

Thanks Clipse - I will give you a shout come 1 Nov - but until then are the 30 gig accounts still ok? WEbafrica, axxcess, etc ? I'll probably want to use the freevpn on this as well...

One other thing - the 30gig IS account that will be introduced in November - will it be unshaped?


By the way where can I find the Dlink dsl-300t adsl modem is it a walk in store or online.

re. the 40 gig drive - my motherboard on the ipcop machine will not see it period (i have tried the latest bios update - but no joy). But i just wanted to confirm that linux does need the bios to see what drive you have.

The super 30gig special thingemabob adsl accounts will last from various resellers till 1st November.

The IS shaped, bit less but similar to SAIX shaped adsl accounts. The accounts however is effectively unshaped via our FreeVPN implimentation, but please dont get confused between unshaped and low ping. The international traffic on the IS accounts is via satelite so we talk about 600-650ms, at the same time this is unshaped traffic via FreeVPN.

Also remember, the IS account is not an international 30gig cap, Im sure you didnt mean that by saying "IS 30GIG account" but just need to clarify this again.

If your interested in the best possible ping for international games like WOW/GW, then our LowPing VPN will do that job for you over the local server connection. Skype and the various other tools will be more than decent over the IS international access.

 

[Raptor]

The IS shaped, bit less but similar to SAIX shaped adsl accounts. The accounts however is effectively unshaped via our FreeVPN implimentation, but please dont get confused between unshaped and low ping. The international traffic on the IS accounts is via satelite so we talk about 600-650ms, at the same time this is unshaped traffic via FreeVPN.

I think I will be mainly surfing and downloading stuff, won't game at first.

So if I do get the IS ADSL - it will be unshaped? And the international cp will be sumthing like 5gigs of the 30 ?

 

[Clipse]

I think I will be mainly surfing and downloading stuff, won't game at first.

So if I do get the IS ADSL - it will be unshaped? And the international cp will be sumthing like 5gigs of the 30 ?

The IS ADSL Accounts will be "best effort" unshaped via our FreeVPN implimentation, the accounts will be offered shaped, not as heavy as saix accounts but still there will be shaping involved.

Depends which accounts you buy, 2/3/5/7/10 gig international cap, then your local after cap would work like this, 30GIG - xCAP size = Local cap after international cap.

 

[Raptor]

So you will distinguish between local and international traffic?

 

[Clipse]

Nope.. All IS adsl accounts will take the first 2/3/5/7 or 10 GIG transfers, be it local or international, and add it to your cap.

There is no, international or local distinguised traffic monitoring.