BT plug and play

[bilko]

Hi
I want to upgrade to broadband. I am already on Bt anytime for about £15 per month and am thinking of ordering the Bt 500 plug and play modem from bt's homepage. It comes with free line connection and the modem for £50 instead of £80 and 1 months free line rental worth £30 odd, also a one off £10 saving on something or other when ordered online. The modem also comes with 2 filters?
I am assuming that i just load the software provided and plug the modem into the back of my computer somewhere? then once the line has been activated off i go? - won't i have do deactivate the existing built in 56k modem on my pc and retype a load of dialup phone numbers in one of those scary pc places that i can never find?
Is it really as easy as plug and go? only their engineer service costs £250
I don't really want to change my ISP as i had a terrible time deleting AOL and Freeserve and am happy with BT.
They also do an option where you can use your own broadband modem and just get the line rental. I AM NOT VERY GOOD WITH PC stuff so is there a better (same price etc)modem that comes with filters? and software that would be easier to install for a pc numptie?
Thinking on........
If anyone has time......what is the best webcam and mic to get for under say£70? as i have recently been having some great conversations on this MSM6 using webcams only its a bit one sided at the moment as i haven't got one.
Thanks for your points and views
Ian

[stc_bennett]

Hi Ian,

I had the BT500 plug and play a couple of months back, I did not take there offer on the modem as it is a USB only device i wanted ethernet connection. I payed £65 for a netgear DM602 which was easy to use and setup and offers USB and Ethernet connection plus allows DHCP/ICS via the modem with a Network Hub attached.

When you order BT 500 you get sent a CD with some software to install. Configure your modem with the instructions and all should be working.


For a webcam i would go for a philips around 40 to 50
and for a microphone i would go for a platronics one.

www.plantronics.com/europe_union/en_GB/catalog/display_product_detail.jhtml?rootId=cat1200109&productTypeId=cat1200109&prodId=prod440018

Hope it helps Steve



>> Edited by stc_bennett on Saturday 9th August 15:16

[bilko]

thanks for the tip Steve, i think i have a USB will have to check, i know that sounds silly but really not up with computer mechanics, takes me 5 minutes to download my mail now after all the rules i have made to get rid of persistant spammers. and Norton isn't that good either as it recognizes spam in the subject line but still lets it in. What is it with spam anyway? if i get one more mail telling me how to enlarge my thing or do i want to look at hot t**ns, NO!!! i don't. oh God now i'm ranting - sorry
THANKS
Ian

[sybaseian]

bilko said:

thanks for the tip Steve, i think i have a USB will have to check, i know that sounds silly but really not up with computer mechanics, takes me 5 minutes to download my mail now after all the rules i have made to get rid of persistant spammers. and Norton isn't that good either as it recognizes spam in the subject line but still lets it in. What is it with spam anyway? if i get one more mail telling me how to enlarge my thing or do i want to look at hot t**ns, NO!!! i don't. oh God now i'm ranting - sorry THANKS Ian

Ian,

there are better and cheaper Broadband providers - I'm with freedom2surf @£22.50 per month, no connetion fee providing I keep the service for 12 months, plus the usual extras, webspace, etc and the option to buy your own or they will supply a modem for about £60.

I decided to supply my own (Netgear DG824M) which is a wireless access point, 4 ethernet ports, Modem, Firewall, Switch and Router combined for about £170.

I have the girlfriends PC connected via ethernet and two laptops and a PDA connected wirelessly.

It's so simple to setup - plug in the 824M, and type in the relevant details as supplied by your broadband provider.

If you only have a USB connection on your PC, buy a PCI ethernet card for about £10 and takes 30 secs to install (with instructions provided).

The 824M comes with a cat5 ethernet cable and one ADSL filter (you will need one filter for every phone socket on the line)

[stc_bennett]

The Problem with other ADSL providers is that when you do have a problem with either line sync or something down to the line provider (BT) Bt have to be called in to investigate and repair the Line. If you are with BT Broadband you are already infront of the other ISP as you have a direct line to there Technical Support and if it requires and Engineer to sort the problem they can schedule that for you there and then.

but for instances i was with plus net before and i promptly canceled my contract because of the lack of customer support. My ADSL line was off for 2 weeks and they could not find the fault contacted BT about this and they said that Plusnet never contacted them for an engineer to be schudules to check the exchange and your line. and i was offered if i took the BT line by 6pm that day they could garantee my ADSL line back on within 24hrs.

Since then i have had no problem with BT.

I also enquired about other ADSL providers saw one advert £12.99 month Free Connection, phoned up to see what the catch was and it was a daily tranfer limit of 500meg and No P2P software was allowed to be used over the network. if you did go over your quota for that day you were disconnected the next day.

and with BT's current offer of a free month on ADSL it works out better than Plusnet or nildram etc and you get the benifit of being able to call an engineer out to source the fault while on the phone without having to wait upto 72hrs for a response from your own ISP.

But agree buy a network card Netgear FA311 is only £11 and easy to install plus your PC will be a bit quicker as the processor will not have to decode the USB information

Steve

[sybaseian]

There are good and bad ISPs, but never had a problem with mine.

Mine is unlimited downloads/uploads, P2P and allows you to host your own website if you wanted and comes with a static IP for free, but suggest that you run a firewall

[bilko]

thanks guys,
let me just recap: the Netgear FA311 does seem good but it is a modem right? and then i would just need to install it and get the BT broadband line connected.
Also not exactly sure what ethernet is and whether bt line would support it. Oh, and would i need to get filters? (sorry guys basic stuff for you i know) but i had my fingers burnt once allready after installing a plug and play cdrw drive only to find that it didn't play! as £50 at pc world and 3 days offline bought me the experience of knowing that you had to go into the computer and change some signal or other first. Still doesn't work after 1 cd burn with the supplied Nero package!.Still, have to get that fixed if i get them to install Netgear FA311.

[sybaseian]

bilko said:

thanks guys, let me just recap: the Netgear FA311 does seem good but it is a modem right? and then i would just need to install it and get the BT broadband line connected. Also not exactly sure what ethernet is and whether bt line would support it. Oh, and would i need to get filters? (sorry guys basic stuff for you i know) but i had my fingers burnt once allready after installing a plug and play cdrw drive only to find that it didn't play! as £50 at pc world and 3 days offline bought me the experience of knowing that you had to go into the computer and change some signal or other first. Still doesn't work after 1 cd burn with the supplied Nero package!.Still, have to get that fixed if i get them to install Netgear FA311.

The FA311 is a PCI ethernet card that you install in your PC - open the case and follow the very basic instructions. You will also need an ADSL modem with an ethernet connection rather than a USB connection.

It's then a question of linking the two together via a cat5 ethernet cable.

To connect to a phone socket with your ADSL modem, plug in the filter to the telephone socket and then plug the modem into the filter - you will need to put a filter between every phone socket and telephone in your house, otherwise you get a weird noise on the line.

If you only have one PC in your house, go for the simple setup and buy an ADSL modem with a USB connection to you PC - if you intend to connect more than one PC to your broadband connection, it gets a little bit more complex but is still within your abilities if you follow the instructions and get advice on here.......

>> Edited by sybaseian on Monday 11th August 01:49

[stc_bennett]

Hi Ian

My personal Choice would be to go for a Network Card in your PC (Netgear FA311) conected by a CAT 5 Cable (Similar to a Telephone Cable ) to a ADSL Modem (Netgear DM602) Then the modem is conected to your BT line through the modem cable and a ADSL Filter. When i brought My netgear modem it had all Cabling, Power and software supplied.

Also the Netgear Modem is of a greater quality than the standard BT stuff and it has a USB connection.

Secondly if you have kids or a second PC you can network these together and share the internet connection between the 2 easier with a Ethernet Modem than witha USB modem.

Netgear DM602
www.dabs.com/products/prod-search.asp?action=search&refp=DM&mid=542&tid=-1&ob=manufacturer&obd=asc&stab=ref&p=&lp=&up=&mc=&sc=&Refine.x=42&Refine.y=7

Netgear FA311
www.dabs.com/products/prod-search.asp?action=search&tid=715&mid=542&ob=manufacturer&obd=asc&stab=ref

PCWorld usualy are more expensive than the online retailers. And have confidence in your ability as long as you are earthed and dont touch nothing else in the computer you cant damage that much. Have ago and you will see how easy it is to install new Hardware in your PC

Steve

There are also other makes of modem on the market by Dlink etc all around the sam cost

[jodypress]

hi, my dad is on bt broadband and it is generally very good, (not as good as my blueyonder though ) he has the usb modem and is easy to set up etc, but when he wanted to go wireless he needed an ethernet modem. i spoke to bt and they had no problems with that at all, very helpful and it was easy to setup. just think ahead. if a year or so down the line you want to go wireless, there are no access point etc that accept an usb modem, and you will have to spend another £60+ on an ethernet one.