Can you guys help me chose good DSL speed and hub for a small business?

[cardsunsfan]

I'm helping out a small business right now who only has one provider in their area. They won't be doing much uploading or downloading. They mostly will be only using it for the accounting/manufaturing software they use to communicate with the larger company that is taking them over.

The service in the area is asking for $20 a month for the hub and I've chosen 256 for the speed. Does that sound about right? I plan on looking online for the DSL hub. They say it will cost around $400. I think that sounds wrong to me!

 

[Ryanwb]

How many PC's will this be supporting? It maybe cheaper to set up a proxy if you already have a legacy network in place

 

[cardsunsfan]

How many PC's will this be supporting? It maybe cheaper to set up a proxy if you already have a legacy network in place

two to three computers...think it will be two though...

 

[cardsunsfan]

Still around Ryan?

 

[Ryanwb]

Oh yeah, duh!

So is DSL the only option here? Anyway, $400.00 is an absolute ripoff. I am looking on newegg.com right now and you can get a nice DSL router for like $125.00, don't get caught into the trap of buying pieces of hardware you don't need. Back when I used to do this as a contracting job for Pulte Homes their old contractor used to sell people tons of stuff they never needed and a job that I could do for $200.00 they were doing for $1500.00

Anyway, just get the DSL "modem" and have it go into the router and connect all 2 or 3 machines to that router. Make sure the router has VPN capabilities and since you are a business you may want a built in firewall, but if you are using XP machines they have a semi decent firewall, but next month they are releasing Service Pack 2 that is going to have a fabulous firewall built in (so they say) or you can use Norton's Firewall which is really nice.

256k is decent, but if they are going to be doing a lot of uploading or downloading, it won't cut it. If they are using it for simply e-mail, it will do fine... Let me know if you have any more questions

 

[cardsunsfan]

Oh yeah, duh!

So is DSL the only option here? Anyway, $400.00 is an absolute ripoff. I am looking on newegg.com right now and you can get a nice DSL router for like $125.00, don't get caught into the trap of buying pieces of hardware you don't need. Back when I used to do this as a contracting job for Pulte Homes their old contractor used to sell people tons of stuff they never needed and a job that I could do for $200.00 they were doing for $1500.00

Anyway, just get the DSL "modem" and have it go into the router and connect all 2 or 3 machines to that router. Make sure the router has VPN capabilities and since you are a business you may want a built in firewall, but if you are using XP machines they have a semi decent firewall, but next month they are releasing Service Pack 2 that is going to have a fabulous firewall built in (so they say) or you can use Norton's Firewall which is really nice.

256k is decent, but if they are going to be doing a lot of uploading or downloading, it won't cut it. If they are using it for simply e-mail, it will do fine... Let me know if you have any more questions

Thanks the slightly bigger business who has 256k only uses it for Mas90 which is a Accounting/Production program... this company will use the same thing. The bigger company doesn't seem to have a problem with 256k... Is it difficult to upgrade if you decided it's too slow? oh and DSL is the only thing I can use. I can't use Cable...

 

[cardsunsfan]

I just saw a Linksys EtherFast four- port cable/DSL router on Cnet.com for $39, would that work? Have you ever looked at CNET? They have a lot of venders on there and I've gotten some really good deals...

 

[Ryanwb]

I just saw a Linksys EtherFast four- port cable/DSL router on Cnet.com for $39, would that work? Have you ever looked at CNET? They have a lot of venders on there and I've gotten some really good deals...

yeah the router I use in my home was like $40.00 and I have never had a issue with it. Go for it