Archive for November, 2007

Modem issues with TPG.

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

I’ve had reports recently from owners of some D-Link, Draytek and Linksys modems (so far) having authentication issues with TPG.

Jason From PCSoft had this to say:
“I thought this might be of value to you.. We recently rolled out some new DLink 824VUP routers for a business spanning across several offices. Unfortunately, they utilise TPG as their hosting provider. As a result, we could not configure these routers to work with the existing modesm in bridge modem. Through consultation with Dlink we realised the fault was due to the fact that TPG do not send an acknowledgement of the type of authentication they use for their network, thus the routers cannot authentication with the ISP. We managed to convince Dlink in Taiwan to release a new firmware update to allow us to specify the type of authentication on the router rather than waiting for a response from the ISP. I have created a link for this on our website which I think will be of value for your visitors…
http://www.pcsoft.com.au/content/view/41/44/“

Draytek have released updated firmware versions which are now available on their site.

I heard the first report today from the new owner of a Linksys AM300 who reports “Very slow to sync, PPPoE not working. XP dialer works over Bridged connection, so TPG is OK.” Apparently the operator he spoke to at Linksys wasn’t aware of the TPG bug so it was assumed to be faulty. So if you find you have a Linksys product not connecting to TPG you may need to specifically request a firmware update to be sent to you as I doubt they’d have these on their support website at this stage.

Update 22/11/07: Got a call from TPG today. (Somehow this message managed to make it back to them). They’re looking into it to see if they need to change anything at their end but it would appear that the affected modems have already been altered by the manufacturers to allow for it.

Update 29/11/07: The customer with the Linksys AM300 just got back to me to tell me the beta firmware version from Linksys still has some problems causing the modem to hang or drop out regularly.

Update 6/5/08: It appears the issues with the AM300 & TPG are now sorted. Scott just emailed me the following information:

“Just wanted to confirm that I am successfully running TPG PPPoE on my AM300 in ‘half bridged’ mode to my WRT54GL router (I have the AM300 and router on different subnets (e.g 198.x.1.1 …. 192.x.2.1). The business ADSL plan is very reliable and am happy with the service thus far.”

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3G Wireless Routers

Wednesday, November 14th, 2007

I’ve been everywhere man, I’ve been everywhere… Or so the jingle goes. 3G wireless Internet is starting to really take off in Australia and I get a lot of requests from people about how to share it with multiple PCs on a network, preferably wirelessly.
The easiest way to go is with a router and there’s a few emerging on the market now to suit both the PC Card and USB types of modems.

The Billion 7300GX has been on the market for a few weeks now but for some reason is yet to take off. Strange, as over the last few months I’ve been virtually inundated with requests for this one and there seemed to be a queue forming for it. Where’d everyone go?
Besides being a wireless modem + router similar to the 7300G, the 7300GX adds the ability to accept PC Card style wireless modems and at under $200.00 it’s an absolute bargain.
Compatibility has been tested and proven with the Vodaphone 3G card and Telstra’s Turbo Express card but there’s an issue with the Hutchison card that should be resolved mid-November. No word on the Optus card at this stage.

Linksys led this market with the introduction of the WRT54G3G a couple of months ago but it’s a little more expensive and lacks the built-in ADSL modem. Mind you this means if you ever do switch to another type of broadband service you can plug whatever modem you like into it, chances are it’ll be ADSL anyway due to the minimal Cable coverage in Australia. But if you have Cable already and want to use a 3G connection for backup or failover then this one is the way to go.

Draytek focused on USB 3G modems and upgraded the existing USB Print Server port on the 2800 and 2910 series to accept them. USB 3G modems must be the more popular choice because these have been extremely popular.
Gabriel from Draytek Australia told me how he travelled across Taiwan by bus during the recent Draytek Distributor reunion and had a 2910G plugged into a power inverter in the bus’s cigarette lighter sharing a 3G USB modem wirelessly so everyone on the bus had wireless Internet on their laptops as they traveled. Neat stuff! More on this and other 3G sharing applications from Draytek here.

Update: In response to some of the questions I’ve been getting I have created a basic FAQ about 3G networking including a quick summary of the current 3G capable routers here.

Posted in 3G Wireless, new stuff, technologies | 73 Comments »

New Billion modem

Monday, November 12th, 2007

A couple of weeks back the Aussie Billion importers introduced the new 5200 modem to the range. The initial lot sold out before even arriving into the country so I had to wait for the second shipment to get hold of some.
It’s a basic & simple product designed to suit the budget user with 4 ports & ADSL2/2+ compatibility but with a few less features than the 7300 model. I wondered at first if it would replace the 5210S model but that one still has its place with its single port and USB capability.

There’s definitely a market for a cheap, basic ADSL modem going by the number of enquiries I get asking me “which is the cheapest one” so I reckon Billion are onto a winner here.
The 5200 also has a wireless equivalent in the 5200G that has been available for a month or two now and has been selling well.

Incidentally there’s a price war going on at the moment that’s most noticeable amongst Billion’s VoIP products. Grab one while it lasts!

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