Re: DSL router ( was RE: Firefox Tool Bar gone... (fixed 'Subject' line) )

pctech-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

  2. Re: DSL router ( was RE: Firefox Tool Bar gone... (fixed
     'Subject' line) ) (Tom Jedrzejewicz)

date: Sat, 29 Jul 2006 10:43:37 -0700

On 7/25/06, qsrvbas@xxxxxxxxxxxx <qsrvbas@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

pctech-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

The clue is in the last sentence below, the one that begins "My wife is
attached...".

Ever since she _really_ got into this e-mail and web stuff, etc., I don't 
dare
interfere with her setup unless I can assure her that... well, that I won't 
interfere
with her connection for more than a short while.

I suggest that you send her for a manicure/pedicure or for one of
those girlie spa treatments.  It will cost you some $ but buy you
enought time to make it work.

Tom:

The real problem is simply that I never get time alone. She hasn't "worked" 
outside the home for seven years or so. While I'm in the office five days a 
week, she's spending her days doing whatever it is she does during the 12 hours 
a day that I'm gone. (Super homemaker, so I have zero complaints there.) On 
weekends, well, I _still_ don't get to be alone since that's "our time 
together"; and it's nearly impossible to get qualified support techs anyway.

It sounds like there is more to it than plug and play because there is
special software on the PC.  Chances are the router needs to be
configured properly, but I doubt it is difficult given the market to
which they are selling these things.

It isn't so much the DSL router that's the problem. I'm pretty sure I could 
almost plug it in and get it working in short order.

The trick will be ensuring that my home network and everything plugged in that 
work well with the DSL router. I'm not a "home networking" guru by the 
slightest stretch of the imagination. It took weeks of twiddling in odd moments 
to get all the odd components to route to the right places.

The home wireless router has responsibility in the home. I have basic PCs and 
my AS/400 on the lowest floor, my work setup on the main level that uses basic 
dialup, and her setup on the upper level with the DSL modem. (I require little 
more than VPN and telnet, so dialup usually isn't a major concern. With 
animations turned off, even web-browsing isn't a big problem.)

Configuring everything so that internet requests go out the correct route from 
each component plus getting subnets and IP addresses compatible all through the 
house for internal routing plus learning the proper startup sequences so 
everything just 'works' when any component is powered on (and _her_ PC 
definitely needs to "just 'work'"), was no minor feat for me. It took some time 
to track down some of the finer details.

My biggest unknown area is going to be what's going to happen with DHCP on 
everything. After that, I need ensure that my routing configurations will make 
sense after the switchover.

For her PC, she'll switch from (a) a home wireless route plus the internet DSL 
modem route to (b) just the wireless route. The DSL router will only be 
reachable through my existing wireless router due to cabling limitations and 
other considerations. When I uncable everything, recable everything, then try 
to connect to her e-mail through her PC, I intend the time between that moment 
until the moment of successful retrieval and send to be ASAP.

Once that single hardware and configuration switchover works, I can take my 
time with all the rest. If it doesn't work and the reason(s) "why not" aren't 
obvious, that's when I'll want competent tech support.

Tom Liotta