Fate can throw the most unlikely technology in our direction and
when BT Yahoo decided to stuff the Lordpercy.com DSL connection, a
stressful 2 days ensued resulting in the discovery of a piece of
kit that is ideal as your first ADSL gateway.
 BT Yahoo in their
infinite wisdom decided to change the DNS servers servicing our home
gateway (hg21 to be precise) ok so this shouldn't cause any problems
according the BT's helpdesk it would have been n ice to have some kind
of warning before it occurred but as all it needed was a power down
of our Alcatel router it should have been pretty straightforward.
Leaving aside the fun that then ensued getting the alcatel router
working again and the complete lack of help from BT's "helpdesk"
there was one silver lining to this cloud. In order to get back
online to keep this site up to date LP managed to secure the loan of
a BT Voyager 2000 Wireless ADSL modem from his boss!
The BT Voyager 2000 wireless ADSL modem is the equivalent of
Ronseal wood stain, it does exactly what it says on the tin,
compared to setting up both a Linksys and Alcatel router of the same
class this was childs play. The first connection to the BT voyager
2000 is via cabled Ethernet (cable supplied) through here you can
load the supplied CD or just browse to the default page via its IP
address typed into internet explorer.
 The screen is set out logically with clear steps to
enter account information (username and password) once this is
complete you should be online, that's it for DSL setup no strange MTU
values to enter just simple data entry. Adding wireless clients is
easy enough too just perform a search from the Voyager interface for
new clients select the one you want to add and hey presto a new
client.
Feel like braving the perils of WEP encryption? first you need a
26 alphanumeric pass code to use, can't think of one? that's on the as
the BT voyager 2000 wireless ADSL modem can supply a random code for
your use, enter this into the modem and the client card on your PC
and you'll have a 128bit secured network.
Sure you can go further with NAT and full DHCP functionality but
most users will stop there with a shared internet connection and
secure wireless LAN, as you grow more confident with networking the
voyager 2000 will not let you down as its highly configurable.
One negative comment concerns the inbuilt firewall, it is set as default
to off or "no security", this is a poor choice for the type of user
that BT hope to attract with the voyager 2000, but its a simple task
to select a higher standard and each level shows you by means of a
grid what each setting allows and blocks.
Unlike our normal alcatel router the BT voyager 2000 wireless
ADSL modem is far more user friendly and ideal for those setting up
their first network at approx £120 its not the cheapest on the
market as both Linksys and Netgear offer good products for about £20
- £30 less but both require a little more knowledge to set them up.
Overall we were pleasantly surprised by the ease of use with this
product and that once past the initial setup it is still possible to
configure the more advanced settings so it should last you for a
while despite being based on the older 802.11b standard.
More Networking products -
[ Belkin Bluetooth USB Dongle ] [ Linksys wireless pci card WPC54G ] [ Netgear ADSL Wireless Router ] [ Linksys Wireless G Broadband Router ] [ TDK Bluetooth Plus PCMCIA Card ] [ Netgear WGT634U Wireless Media Router ] [ Netgear WG121 USB Wireless Adaptor ] [ Linksys WVC54G ] [ Netgear WG111 Wireless USB ] [ Netgear WG511T 108mbps wifi card ] [ Netgear HDX101 Review ] [ Solwise Homeplug Ethernet Over Mains ] [ Linksys WUSBF54G WiFi Finder ] [ BT Voyager 2000 Wireless ADSL Modem ] [ Linksys WAG54GX2 ] [ Belkin Bluetooth Access Point ] [ Logitech MX3100 ] [ Zoom 4300 Bluetooth Modem ] [ Belkin Bluetooth PCMCIA Card ] [ Buffalo Broadband Wireless Router ] |
