How long to set up a router?

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plazma

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My ISP wants to give me a new router, and charge me for setting it up. So if you were a tech at an ISP, how long would it take you to "set up" a router?
 
plazma said:
My ISP wants to give me a new router, and charge me for setting it up. So if you were a tech at an ISP, how long would it take you to "set up" a router?
Click to expand...

Who is this ISP? If they want to charge you then I would say don't go with them ;)
 
Good heavens. Fortunately the isp only wants to charge me R275 for this "setup" that takes all of ten minutes. (They have like a whole container full of these routers and the dude who does it can probably do it blindfolded AND with one hand tied behind his back).
I wonder if I should divulge who they are...
 
No idea who this ISP is - never had experience with them charging for setups (or doing them at all tbh).

The setup can take 10 minutes to an experienced setter-upper, but the R275 charge is more-than-likely an hourly rate. So whether the setup would take 3 minutes or 53 minutes, it would probably only be R275 either way.
 
**** it. you could spend hours flashing firmware and tweak the little ****er to perfection... but 275 clams for a basic rooter setup. ****. id rather just read the manual.
 
Set up a router:

This is the self install portion where I had some issues. In this step you need to verify your ADSL line before you can access any websites other than
telkom.co.za. The basic process should be the following:

1. Plug router into PC using LAN cable (you could probably do this connecting via Wi-Fi to the router as well) – BUT DO NOT SWITCH IT ON YET!

2. Plug telephone cable into the router and the other end into one of the open phone jacks on the wall

3. Run the setup CD that comes with the router.

4. Complete the setup and switch the router on when instructed to by the software

5. The green DSL light on the router should turn green

6. Go to the router setup (you should be able to access this by going to the routers IP in the web browser, for example: http://192.168.1.1) and login
to the setup screen using the routers admin account. Mine defaulted to username: admin password: admin

7. Enter the guest account supplied by Telkom (you get this by phoning 0800375375) in the PPPoE settings portion.

8. The router will connect to the web (there was a connect option on my routers setup screen)

9. The Internet light on the router should turn green at this point

10. Visit http://www.telkom.co.za/verifyadsl and enter your landline number and the order number you received via SMS, but in the format
of xxxxxx-xx and not xx/xxxxxx as supplied by Telkom. DO NOT DO THIS STEP UNTILL YOU ARE ACTUALLY READY TO VERIFY YOUR ADSL LINE. IF YOU DO THEY
WILL NEED TO RESET THE PORT FOR YOU.

11. After you verified the ADSL line you can enter your chosen ISP’s connection details into the router setup and then you are connected! (More on this in Step 4)

Unfortunately this turned out not to be as simple for me. I experienced issues with the following steps in the above mentioned process:

4. My setup did not complete. I had to go to the router setup (via http://192.168.1.1) to complete it. I had to change the protocol on my router from
PPPoA to PPPoE.

5. My DSL light never came on. I phoned Telkom on 0800375375 and they checked the line for me. They determined that there was a fault on the line and
logged a problem ticket for it. The next day the fault was resolved and the green DSL light came on.

7. I had to wait on the line for 20 minutes to get the Telkom guest account! So in the hopes of saving you some time, here it is:

Username: guest@telkomadsl
Password: guest

You have to enter this in your routers setup screen to gain access to the Telkom network. You will ONLY be able to visit telkom.co.za. to do the verification.

10. I couldn’t get access to the Telkom website from my PC, although my router could. I turned out that this was a Windows 7 (and Vista possibly) issue.
If you
have this issue, do the following:
1. Go to the command prompt and type: ipconfig
2. Check if it says Default Gateway: 0.0.0.0 in the results (it would list the correct gateway under the 0.0.0.0 entry)
3. If it does, you need to do a route delete. Do this by typing the following: route delete 0.0.0.0
4. Now you will have no gateway defined.
5. Type: ipconfig /release
6. Type: ipconfig /renew
7. Type: ipconfig
8. You should now only see one entry listed for the gateway (something like 192.168.1.1)

Now visit http://www.telkom.co.za/verifyadsl and verify the ADSL line.
Click to expand...

Here you go :)
 
Thanks Kitty. I think I'm going to decline my ISP's offer to set up my router. I knew I was going to get ripped off.... but not any more.
 
mrudling said:
10 min if you know the router. Agree with m0zy.
Click to expand...
I couldnt fill 10min with router config even if I tried. Username + pwd + CPI & reboot.

Unless you're configuring QoS & access lists...that takes a bit of time.

plazma said:
I wonder if I should divulge who they are...
Click to expand...
Definitely. People who rip off customers so blatantly deserve no mercy.
 
Come on, tell us who are these people! We should be aware of these mean people and their evil methods of milking money off us >_<

What are you scared of? Name and shame these people!
 
Just to setup the router to use your DSL: 38 seconds, unless its a Belkin.
To setup Wireless, Firewall, DHCP, Routing, Port Forwards, Security, and everything just the way I like it: MAX 10 minutes.

Btw: I can promise you that an ISP couldn't give 2 ****s less about your LAN DHCP, Port Forwards, and such settings.

So the real answer to your question:
Less than a minute, unless its a Belkin.
(Those Belkins need to reboot the router for EVERY MINUSCULE CHANGE YOU MAKE... and it takes 25-45 seconds to reboot... x.x
 
It depends on the type of router and what config is required on it

Normal standard router with normal ADSL account
5 minutes

But a Cisco router with specific VPN config can take longer and generally the ISP will have an engineer with at least a CCNA (CISCO CERTIFIED NETWORK ASCOCIATE) doing the work
Which costs them money to employ and Cisco engineers aren’t cheap.

So find out what router they want to send you and also what config it is that they need to configure
 
So why shouldn't a techie be paid for offering a service, if the client can't or won't do it themselves?
 
badtrev said:
So why shouldn't a techie be paid for offering a service, if the client can't or won't do it themselves?
Click to expand...

Agreed, plus if that includes travel costs its quite reasonable. I'd reckon about R400 is average for a call out in other industries.
 
I do not agree. If the ISP is supplying a router presumably they are making profit from the supply of the router, directly or indirectly, and that should come with a level of "service" attached.

What's wrong with having the OP calling the ISP's technical support line for those few minutes to set it up? Isn't that how most of us do it? The ISP incurs minimal costs, the OP learns exactly how to do it himself next time, or when he wants to set up an alternative ISP for whatever reason.... wait.... that is not good....

Come now, name the ISP.
 
Did you ask the ISP that you want to configure your router on your own? Did they refuse? If so, please tell us the name of this ISP. It's that simple.
 
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