It's my first post here so - hello folks

I am on a dialup package which is being 'discontinued' soon and if I don't migrate to broadband I will end up having no internet connection. I am running suse 9 pro and am concerned that the free modems from the ISPs will be compatible.
Should I order broadband but then buy my 'own' modem - and then sell the free one?

Can anyone recommend a broadband modem that you can get working with linux. I have not got wireless stuff yet - and did not plan on getting all new wireless equipment either so it would help if it was the 'wired' type.

It is really confusing me now... like some of these modems are "controllerless" and/or USB types - will these ever work with linux?
Then there are modems that will work with linux fine, but only after first being initialised through windows - And other modems (apparently) have a web-interface via DHCP so can be configured via linux easily... This is all stuff I have read - how much is accurate??? who knows

Please could somebody explain a bit of this to me - I am down to my last few hairs...
Thanks

don't get a modem get a router with a built in adsl modem. connect to your router via ethernet and then the issue of "support" does not exist. if everythign speaks IP to everything else it's impossible to not support it. do not buy anything that doesn't have an ethernet socket on the back of it.

I agree 100%

OK - thanks for the replies. So do I have to contact each ISP and ask them - Like if one says "...it's probably BT Voyager 105 or similar" what do I do? Tell them no I don't want that one - I want a router with an ethernet socket?

if you are looking at bt, i think they've dropped all those shitty ones. we use bt voyager 205's a one port adsl / usb / ethernet router which always reminds of the little alien dudes from Batteries Not Included.

Some modems that ISPs provide free with broadband connections may work under Linux. However, sometimes you need to download and install firmware/drivers for the said modem - which can be a monumental pain to get configured so that the modem can access the Internet under Linux!

Save yourself a shed load of trouble and get yourself a router/modem. This is what I had before I went wireless - it's superb and setup is a breeze.

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/91710

Generally speaking, it's normally far easier to use a router/modem for Internet connection in Linux, because they are not dependent on drivers, as ordinary modems are.

Thanks for the info guys - sorry if I was a bit curt before, I just seem to be going round in circles. Thanks for the link DavidNW - the zoom looks like it would suit me fine. If I do go with BT it looks like I should get given a Voyager 220V and as far as I can tell it has an ethernet socket on it But I'm not sure yet about how these are with linux - I would still rather choose my own... Just don't really want to pay for equipment I'll never use.

Regards

If there's an ethernet port, then all relies on the Ethernet standard and then should work from any OS.

I don't see anything that could go wrong.. ?? If somebody can confirm (I only had one or two routers at home given by my ISP).

You will use ethernet, arp, IP, dhcp, DNS.
There are some which have a firewall and NAT built in. It's always handy to have a firewall in the router directly, it's easy to configure.

Some have a virtual DMZ also. That would be for having a more-complex-than-average network. (a http server in a dmz for example).
Some can do vpn.
Some have wireless with several security schemes.
...
Some can be used to heat your feet

As usual, it's always important to be patient: check carefully at the feature specs and the user feedbacks.

I don't know as much as the other people who have responded to your question, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Based on my experience, I would get a separate ADSL modem and router. The modem/router combinations provided by the phone companies seem to give serious headaches to people who have problems managing firewalls. To start with, the phone company "protects" you by setting up their own preferred (Windows-centric) firewall.

In my experience, it's easier to tell the phone company to disable all firewalls up to their modem, then connect it to your own wireless router (with a built-in NAT firewall), on which you only will be managing firewall issues.

Furthermore, the equipment provided by them is not "free." You will be paying a monthly rental fee. Personally, I always buy my own hardware. It's not that expensive, and you get to pick exactly what you want.

voyager 220v will work perfectly. get it. btw, voyagers run linux, and it's real easy to break out of the telnet shell into busybox if you feel like it.

form my own experience

the adsl modem I use (the modem is a linksys I think) connects to the computer or router using a network cable and I have not had problems

the modem was given to me by the isp and it works fine (my isp provider is uniserve)

my advice is to get a modem that you can plug into the uplink port of a router so your home network can have internet since your isp will probily give you one or two ip address

Thanks for all the advice folks - I appreciate the effort you have gone to with your replies. I have a clearer view of what I should be getting now -
One more question though...
If I do want to purchase my own equipment to avoid the rental fee as 'rickh" mentioned, does it mean I have to choose an ISP that doesn't supply the equipment as standard (thus eliminating BT), or do you think is possible to negotiate a deal with the ISP that I wish to buy the stuff myself and avoid them charging me rental? Did most of you guys get free equipment from the ISP, but additionally bought your own, or can you tell the ISP - "I do not want your 'free' stuff, thanks"?

Thanks again

routers, like bt's voyager range are offically free most of the time. BT will not reduce your rate if you don't use their hardware. pointless imho. rickh and i "clashed" over this exact question last week. he thinks you're better with a seperate router and modem, I totally disagree, especially if the modem / router combo is provided by the ISP in the first place. the issue here is that *IF* you want to go to NTL or Telewest (cable providers) then you would need a different router, but are you? if not then it's a non-issue and even if you did, you've still been given the ADSL router for free anyway.

additionally rickh is used to American ISP's whereas i'm used to UK ISP's...

acid_kewpie your input has been invaluable, thankyou. I am indeed going to be subscribing to a UK broadband ISP (hopefully soon) - and cable is not yet available in our area. I can see now there are many different ways of looking at these issues depending on exactly what your requirements are, but I think the bt voyager (220v) should be satisfactory for my introduction to broadband - I'll have to compile busybox though, as I'd never heard of it before.

Respect to all who posted

cool, i didn't mean you need busybox at all... basically busybox is a single program which does basic versions of a huge amount of normally seperate programs, so embedded linux implmentations, like that on an adsl router have a linux environment with moderate functionality with minimal disk space. totally irrelevant to actually usingt he adsl router of course, pretend i never mentioned it.