Re: ADSL & HH Questions, Sorry....

[Tony Butler <lists@xxxxxxx>]

> I'm just about to move house and will consequently loose my ADSL
connection
> :-(  , no cable either.

And you're _choosing_ to move there right? :)

> I've been looking at a HH setup as an alternative to normal dialup,
price
> wise with a decent ISP and the BT Together scam it's not much
difference in
> price really.  My question really is will I see a real difference
between HH
> and 56K modem to really justify the extra expence.  I understand that
ISDN
> can't perform some of the compression that a normal modem can and thus
there
> ain't any real advantage for http etc, only really coming into it's
own for
> downloading zip files, jpegs etc.

IME, HH is worth it, from a speed point of view, though it _is_ undoubtedly
more expensive than a 56k modem.
ISDN gives 64k _uncompressed_ (or 128k if you bond the channels, but that's
another story), whereas 56k modem is 56k _compressed_.  That means you only
get
56k (or 45-50 realistically) under ideal conditions with highly
compressible
material, so web pages work reasonably well with a modem, but zips etc do
not.
ISDN does outperform modem on the web too though, and the almost instant
connect is a real bonus - it makes it feel like an always-on connection.
The down side to this is that you are likely to connect a lot more often
(because it's so convenient) and thus have a much larger phone bill :-(

I only really noticed it not being BB when downloading large files, or
playing
onlie games - on a modem I'd get 150 pin, HH about 70, BB about 20 :).
The fact that BB is cheaper/bigger/faster makes it a no-brainer where
available.

For the sort of use you want, HH should be fine IMO.

> What will I need to share the connection across my network and
wireless,
> currently using an adsl router.  Will a cheap ebay isdn router do the
same
> thing or am I missing the point, I see there are some fancy lan
routers from

ISDN router/ADSL router/Cable router - they're all much the same in that
they
allow you to share a network connection on a lan, just with a different
port
facing the outside world.

I used to use zyxel ISDN router with good results, though they are
expensive
for what they are.
the draytek range is good too, though if you don't want VPN and other such
niceties then just get somethign cheap n cheerful......

HTH,

--
Tony