You're hit and miss with netgear, tbh. Some are pretty good, some are bad. Depends a lot on the firmware. Tiscali/Homechoice netgears were a major problem I remember, but I've used one and have no complaints, and a few friends also have them and, again, no problems.
Well, I certainly
can't say anything good about Sky's offering wherever Netgear equipment is concerned! I mean, displaying a warning screen and/or some kind of "expert user verification" before serving advanced configuration pages would be fine...But blocking
all users - No matter how experienced - From router configuration options (And everything else for that matter!) is just bang out of order and smacks of
Apple communism, IMO!
One thing I have often wondered though is why there seems to be an odd historical difference between the equipment provided by different types of broadband providers. Consider the following points for a moment:
- ADSL (Broadband over phone lines) providers often give the customer a broadband router with which to access their service. Now aside from being just a "router", the device will normally be comprised of a 10/100mbps wired ethernet switch, 802.11A/B/G wifi card (Optional), ADSL-Ethernet modem, and a multi-functional RISC processor that runs DHCP/routing/network firmware and links the other bits together...
Therefore, a typical ADSL router forms a network in it's own right.
.
- On the other hand, Cable providers often give the customer a cable modem to allow service provision. Now this cable "modem" in my experience has often proven to be more like a network bridge and not a true "modem"...But either way the cable modem often performs no routing or similar functions, and will generally allow only one device (PC, VoIP phone, XBox 360 etc.) to access the Internet at a time.
As a result: To form a network on a cable connection, one often needs to purchase a seperate router or other network hub device.
So my curiosity here is mainly: Why do ADSL providers supply an "
all in one" device for access, whereas Cable providers make the customer purchase seperate bits of equipment? After all, if an ADSL modem can be "rolled" into a routing device, then surely a DOCSIS-standard network bridge could be integrated in the same way?
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Finally: I know that this is a
broadband thread, but I'm curious as to whether or not we have any forum members still using dial-up connections? The main reason behind my curiosity in this case is because earlier tonight I found that my long-redundant BT line is still apparently working (It gives a dial-tone) and I started thinking about the possibility of using it as an avenue for providing "in-house" access to my broadband connection through dial-up methods, and for remote machine control via the PSTN. :roll:
This in turn kicked-off a succession of ideas in my mind about techniques and methods of using a dial-up connection in such an efficient manner that it might give the
look and feel of a 2mbps broadband connection even with a 12.2kbps modem, and allowing multiple users to "time-share" a dial-up server on a single telephone line.
Now I cannot say if I will ever further this past the ideas stage, although I've already coined the acronym
BBoD (Broadband over dial-up) for it...But if there was a program/service that would make it
feel like ye were surfing on a proper broadband connection (Seemingly instant page loads, near instant e-mail retrieval etc.) and cut thy telephone access fees down, would ye be interested in using it? 8)
)