?????? #14873 ?????? ???????? SIMS@stalker.com
?? ????: chris <cb@mythtech.net>
????: Re: Wandering off-topic: Speedstream 5861
????: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 10:16:26 -0500
????: SIMS Discussions <SIMS@mail.stalker.com>
X-Mailer: Claris Emailer 2.0v3, January 22, 1998
>Exactly. Much of the manufacturers' publicity regarding these devices made
>me believe that people with DSL simply had an Ethernet feed coming from
>their DSL modem. I came to equate DSL router with Ethernet router. Thanks
>for setting me straight.

There are two different things you could get.

One is a DSL Modem/Router unit (which is really just a Router, but for
sake of clarity, I'll refered to it as the combo). This unit the WAN port
is a DSL interface.

The other style is what you would get from LinkSys or DLink or Netgear,
or any of those vendors. That is a simple Ethernet router (WAN port is an
ethernet connection).

However, to REALLY confuse things, LinkSys sells a DSL & Cable Modem
unit. (Has both DSL and Cable WAN ports, and single LAN port, basically,
just a modem, no router. This device is similar to what you would get
from a DSL or Cable provider to connect to their network).

Chances are good, if you buy a Cable/DSL "Router" in a store from any of
the "normal" vendors, it will actually just be an ethernet router. The
only real reason it is sold as a "Cable/DSL" router is because it has
built in clients for things like PPPoE that will work over the WAN port.
That lets it control modems that require these connections on the Client
side. But they all support plain Ethernet over the WAN as well using
either DHCP or Static IP, so they can be used regardless of what your ISP
connection is (you could use it with a T1 for all it matters, as long as
whatever the connection to your ISP is terminates as Ethernet).

In fact, my brother was buying these units for a while and just using
them as 10/100 switches. For a good while these were actually cheaper
after rebate then buying a plain 10/100 switch... and they all came with
4 port 10/100 hubs (he is a PC user so they were fine, I wouldn't
recommend this trick for Mac users as very few will pass Appletalk over
their hub ports)

