My personal plan for Broadband

In case you care! I am going to use a wireless router at both home and office. The prices have come down so much that its nice to have the additional option to add any laptops or devices easily.

I have so far got:
1 x Netgear DG834G which is a wireless 54mbps router
it includes firewall and 4 ports in case I want to wire together as well (which I will for the first PC - to save costs)
also comes with 1 adsl filter/splitter
seems easy to install and is well rated:
http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/networking/0,39023965,39155261,00.htm

It comes with either a free:
Wireless card or USB wireless adapter
you will need either one of these for each laptop or pc.
A wireless card will need physically fitting and you can get more cheaply (laptop is a different card to pc). A USB adapter simply plugs into a spare USB port - if no spare port you can get a cheap hub adapter that will split 1 USB port into say 4 for around £5.

Say you have 2 PCs you want to network. If you have a network card in one pc you can connect the router with a network cable to that pc. Then use the wireless USB adapter on your other pc. Even if you have to buy a network card it would be much cheaper.

Possibly Amazon or eBuyer as cheap as anywhere? around £93 inc VAT & free card/adapter. Ordering additional cards/adapters as necessary.

I only got one at first because I wanted to see how it was..... and will now order another ...

Many other wireless and wired routers are available.

Ted at the PO has agreed to stock some filters/splitters - but feel free to order when you get your hardware. Range is around £2 from eBuyer to £13 from PC World!!

If you only have 1 computer or laptop then probably a simple USB modem will be enough for you. They are very cheap ...or may be offered free by your ISP.

I have ISDN at the office and a DACS line at home (see FAQ for more info about DACS). Both will need converting to ordinary analogue lines .. and I understand that I can simply order Broadband and the removal/conversion of the lines ... which should all happen on the same day. Good old BT!

For ISP I will probably use Eclipse ... who seem to be well rated, have one month contracts, cost is cheaper than many of the other major well known ISP - and do not have usage restrictions. They have added new options including a 250kb service which may suit some people who need only small downloads. They also automatically give you a 'flex' option which allows you to increase the speed for say just an hour .... at a cost of 5p & up (depending on service) per hour. see
http://www.eclipse.net.uk/index.cfm?id=bbresidentialservices
If you order from Eclipse please use the referrer code CAMELOT

Let me know what you plan!:
ISP:
Hardware:
Hardware source: