PCA Forums

I finnaly am getting out of crappy ol' 56K connection, and moving on up! I discovered that isdn is avalible in my area. (cable and dsl are not) and so now is a good time to know what to buy.

I found an isp that claims they do an unlimited dual channel isdn service for $30/mo http://www.ev1.net I found a couple reviews and they seemed ok, I would like to make sure that there isn't any hidden fees and that it really will be $30/mo for the service. if you know of a better isp in the california area, please lmk.

I take it i will need a new modem for isdn and i have no clue what to get. What's a good modem?

I would like to have a router set up too, with a firewall built in, linksys makes a decent one for dsl/cable will that work for an isdn modem too?


internet
|
|
Modem
|
|
|
router w/ firewall
---------------------
| | |
| | other computers. -guests
| second computer - printer server
|
my computer

I would like to set up the network like that. possible? what router and modem will work best for this application? and for about $200 or less. including cables.

Thanks!

For ISDN you traditionally use a modem which is either an internal PCI or an external serial (you're better off with the internal as it's SLIGHTLY faster - external will be limited to serial port speed of 115Kbit while dual channel ISDN is 128).

With either one you can't use it with a router so your only option is using Window's built-in ICS or a software router like Sygate or Wingate. The ISDN modem is treated like a regular modem - you'll have a dialer setup for it in DUN just like you would for a dialup connection (Windows treats an ISDN connection as if it was a regular modem dialup with dual modems).

However another option is to buy an ISDN router instead of a modem which which provides network connectivity directly - you connect it to your network hub or switch, and it provides DHCP (essentially it's a DSL modem with a built-in router). The router dials on demand automatically.

However ISDN routers are a lot more expensive than a modem. These are usually provided for businesses and not residential accounts.

Another consideration is whether you plan to use your ISDN line for regular phone service. If so, you need a router or modem that provides analog voice channels and that adds some more expense.

ISDN modems aren't something you pickup at the Best Buy, although a mailorder place like CDW.com probably carries them. There's also some complexity to making sure your hardware is configured for the type of ISDN line you're getting (this used to be a hassle - don't know if they've standardized this by now).

You're probably best off by getting the modem from the ISDN provider, although you'll probably pay through the nose for it, but at least you'll know it's going to work without a hassle.

Ask them about he cost of the hardware - competition being what it is it might not be too bad anymore. They may also offer to lease it. If the modem costs say $200, and they'll lease it for $5 a month then it's worth it. If it takes a lightning strike, they have to replace it for free.

ok, i am looking for a modem to buy on ebay, an internal PCI US Robotics is probably the best choice. here is my new network layout:

internet
|
|
modem
|
|
Firewall/ICS server/printer server (Linux)
|
|
Router
|
------------
| | |
| | other computers.
| Second computer
|My computer

I am a tad concerend about security, should I have the ICS computer JUSt do that service? or is it safe to allow it to run other services like printer sharing, and file sharing? How much latencey will this network plan add? only 5 MS or so i hope.

If your going to go that route, might I suggest you install Smoothwall as your Firewall/ICS/print server then?

Smoothwall is awesome, it's a customized version of Linux that can be used be even the most novice of users, and in fact you control it like you'd control your Linksys router, via the web browser.

It'll run on anything from a 486 on up, and I plan on getting rid of my linksys and using a smoothwall setup once I get an appropriate pizza box setup to run it on.

You'd just install your ISDN card and a NIC in the box, and connect the nic to a hub, which connects to the rest of your network.

You really should check it out, for being free it is one of the BEST and EASIEST firewall's I've seen - might be right up your alley!

Join the mailing list and see if that card your using is supported (odds are it is) and thank me later for the suggestion :-p

I am going to be buying a couple nics for this project, anything with a 3com chip I am thinking, as they seem to have goooood support under a linux envoirnment. the integrated VIA tahoe/rhine on this rig should be supported as well. being it is on a lot of higher end motherboards. But thanks judg3, I will look into that distrobution. It might be just what the doctor orderd.

Another interesting project like Smoothwall is the IPCop Firewall , I will try that next as my DSL router on an old P133. It's a fully featured Linux based firewall that's easy to configure and it has more features than most hardware router with builtin firewall.

Thanks a bunch doc I will also look into that application as well, I have a friend that can give me a motherboard to put around that pentuim 166 CPU that I had, I got lots of 32MB 72 pin, so it'll have 96MB of ram, and i got a couple 500MB hard drives, i think that'll be enough.

Oh yes, IPCop v0.1 was forked from the SmoothWall GPL version 0.9.9
IPCop requires at least the following configuration to run:
* CPU: 386
* RAM: 8MB
* Harddisk: 125Mb + 2 times RAM size (version 1.3)

Looks over at an old 10mb 8 port hub that only needs 5v DC.


Looks at his P200 system.

Looks at his DSL modem....



Hrmm, I hope someone sells me an ultra cheap case soon, I'm getting jazzed about taking apart my dsl modem, 8 port hub and putting it into a new system! This'll rock!

yes, smoothwall works good, havent played with ipcop yet, but behind smoothwall shields up test my network was undetectable

I just setup IPCop and it works fine, it's all I was looking for: a flexible linux-based firewall with an easy to use webinterface. Most programs work out of the box (haven't tried online games yet) and for the others just forward the required ports (ident, emule etc).