[rescue] CompUSA broadband "router"

[Sheldon T. Hall]

Quoth  Larry Snyder <larrys at lexis-nexis.com> ...

>Bill Bradford <mrbill at mrbill.net> wrote:
>
>> I have better things to do with my time than throw together old crappy
>> *PC* hardware to do NAT for my network.  Its much easier to just buy a
>> cheap box thats actually designed to do it, plug everything in, and turn
>> it on.
>>
>> Some people may enjoy spending a day or just an entire afternoon setting
>> such a thing up, but not me... at least not lately, with the other two
>> members of our sysadmin team at work on vacation or out this weekend..
>>
>> Bill
>
> I have to agree.  I'm ISDN-ish, and for the last few years used a
> Multia connected to a Motorola TA for NAT/PPP management.  A couple
> weeks ago I replaced them w/ a used 3com appliance.  It runs cheaper,
> quieter, cooler, and about 35% faster.  No-brainer.

<AOL>
Me three!
</AOL>

I'm on ISDN as well, and tried the PC-as-NAT-box thing.  It worked fine, but
the ISDN "modems" I was using (courtesy of a couple of Rescue list members)
could outrun the serial port on the PC.

I managed to score an "appliance" in the form of a Farallon Netopia ISDN
router, and it's absolutely the duck's nuts.  It takes care of all the ISDN
channel management, so I only use both channels when the need for speed
exists, does NAT, manages port-blocking and pass-through, etc., so forth,
and so on.  I think they are (or were) about $1k new (list), but I got this
one NIB for $20 at the local computer junk store.  Knowing what I know now,
I'd have paid a lot more, though maybe not $1k.

Setup took longer than it might with some other stuff, as the Netopia really
wants the IP address of the "next hop" machine at your ISP, but once set up,
it's never required any fiddling.

Sometimes the dedicated solution is superior, even for a generally
general-purpose person like myself.

-Shel
--
Sheldon T. Hall
shel at cmhc.com
206-842-2858 (Home)
206-780-7971 (Office)