Thinking of coming to IDNet using OSX - advice please.

[weirdscience]

Hi

I am considering IDNet for my broadband service and I wondered if someone can help regarding equipment. My current set up is a combination of G4, G5 & Intel Macs wirelessly connected using the inbuilt Airport wifi card connected to an Airport Extreme Base Station which in turn is connected to the Virgin Media Cable Modem.

I understand that IDNet uses my BT line, from my current setup what new equipment do I need? Is it just a modem? The Airport Extreme Base Station doesn't have a built in modem. I wanted to keep it as simple as possible and please bear in mind I have no windows pc for firmware upgrades / configuration (thats why I would like to keep my Airport Extreme Base Station if at all possible).

I've been with Virgin (formerly telewest) for years and it was the ease of just plugging in (and lack of suppliers in those days) that attracted me. All advice welcome and thank you in advance.

[Rik]

Welcome to the forum, and have a hello karma.

I'm not a Mac person these days, so haven't used Airport at all. Does it have a built-in firewall? If so, then you could probably just use an ethernet modem, eg:

http://www.adslnation.com/products/xmodem-m3.php

The best bet would be to give IDNet a ring on Monday (or drop them an email, support@idnet.net) and they will talk you through the possible permutations.

[Gary]

Macs have a built in firewall, well the later ones do I'm sure your ones may as well and ethernet capability, so a router should work fine with one and wifi should not be an issue with a router either, from what I have seen with other mac users

[Najarak]

I use G4,G5 and a new Intel aluminium iMac ( got it on Thursday - superb  ) and a Windies XP Pro machine, I don't have an Airport Base Station but all the Macs have Airport cards.

I use a Netgear DG834 router, some computers are connected via ethernet, some use wireless. The initial set-up of the router must be done via ethernet cables. The interface uses any browser ( works perfectly with Safari ), all you do is type "192.168.0.1" in the address box in Safari and use the set-up wizard, type in your IDNet user name and password, thats it ! The router has NAT translation which is a firewall, I also use the one in OSX. From what I remember the Network pane in System Prefs sets itself.

Any Firmware updates for the Netgear can be done using the Mac.

Been with IDNet since January 2006, no problems whatsoever.

[Rik]

Thanks, Steve, I'd forgotten you were a Mac man.

[weirdscience]

I use G4,G5 and a new Intel aluminium iMac ( got it on Thursday - superb  ) and a Windies XP Pro machine, I don't have an Airport Base Station but all the Macs have Airport cards.

I use a Netgear DG834 router, some computers are connected via ethernet, some use wireless. The initial set-up of the router must be done via ethernet cables. The interface uses any browser ( works perfectly with Safari ), all you do is type "192.168.0.1" in the address box in Safari and use the set-up wizard, type in your IDNet user name and password, thats it ! The router has NAT translation which is a firewall, I also use the one in OSX. From what I remember the Network pane in System Prefs sets itself.

Any Firmware updates for the Netgear can be done using the Mac.


Been with IDNet since January 2006, no problems whatsoever.

Hi

Thank you everyone for your replies, I will call CS on monday (not if IDNet but when) but in the meantime Najarak you seem to have a similar set up to mine & i wondered if i could dispense altogether with the Airport Extreme Base Station (AEBS) & get a Netgear like yours. Presumably it is a wireless one, i looked on ebuyer ( http://www.ebuyer.com/search/?qfind=DG834&x=0&y=0 ) could you tell me exactly which one it is? Just to recap that I can use Safari/Camino to set the Netgear up without any issues? I suppose I will lose wireless printing by dispensing with the AEBS, is there anything similar with Netgear?

Thank you again for your help

regards

[Rik]

I use a Netgear DG834G to print both wirelessly and through an ethernet cable, if that helps at all.

[Najarak]

Hi

Thank you everyone for your replies, I will call CS on monday (not if IDNet but when) but in the meantime Najarak you seem to have a similar set up to mine & i wondered if i could dispense altogether with the Airport Extreme Base Station (AEBS) & get a Netgear like yours. Presumably it is a wireless one, i looked on ebuyer ( http://www.ebuyer.com/search/?qfind=DG834&x=0&y=0 ) could you tell me exactly which one it is? Just to recap that I can use Safari/Camino to set the Netgear up without any issues? I suppose I will lose wireless printing by dispensing with the AEBS, is there anything similar with Netgear?

Thank you again for your help

regards

Sorry   I missed off the "G", I have a DG834G, I presume that you could dispense with the AEBS, I have never had one, I use a USB printer attached to one of the Macs and use the Printer Sharing facility from the other computers.

The Netgear interface works in Camino and Firefox.

To dispense with the AEBS I would imagine that you would need an ethernet printer  (Rik, do you use an ethernet printer ? ) as the Netgear does not have a USB port which the AEBS does.  You could ask in the Apple Mac forum on the Thinkbroadband forums, I am sure that one of the gurus on there would know.

[lozcart]

Hi

I am considering IDNet for my broadband service and I wondered if someone can help regarding equipment. My current set up is a combination of G4, G5 & Intel Macs wirelessly connected using the inbuilt Airport wifi card connected to an Airport Extreme Base Station which in turn is connected to the Virgin Media Cable Modem.

I understand that IDNet uses my BT line, from my current setup what new equipment do I need? Is it just a modem? The Airport Extreme Base Station doesn't have a built in modem. I wanted to keep it as simple as possible and please bear in mind I have no windows pc for firmware upgrades / configuration (thats why I would like to keep my Airport Extreme Base Station if at all possible).

I've been with Virgin (formerly telewest) for years and it was the ease of just plugging in (and lack of suppliers in those days) that attracted me. All advice welcome and thank you in advance.

Weirdscience the cheaper way for you would be to keep your Airport Base Station and buy a standard ADSL modem router (without a wireless facility) and then connect this via Ethernet to the base station. You can use the Airport Base Station to provide the wireless connection to your computers as before.

[Rik]

(Rik, do you use an ethernet printer ? )

I do Steve. Another option would be a router like the Draytek, which has a USB printer server, or a dedicated printer server dongle.

[Najarak]

I do Steve. Another option would be a router like the Draytek, which has a USB printer server, or a dedicated printer server dongle.

On reflection if I was weirdscience I would do what lozcart suggests and get a wired router, the Netgear DG834 would be ideal, this would merely replace the Virgin Media box leaving his system otherwise unchanged.

A good "if it works don't fix it" solution.

[Rik]

I'm all in favour of those, Steve.