How do YOU connect to the internet?
 

OK, I've been having serious problems for ages now so I thought I'd find out how everyone else connects to the internet.
I am interested in the following things:
1. What sort of internet connection do you have (dial-up, isdn, adsl, T1, etc)?
2. What sort of modem do you have (pci, isa, serial, parallel, usb, ethernet, wifi, bluetooth, etc)?
3. What operating system(s) is running on the PC with the modem
4. Do you have a dedicated router or do you have to have a computer switched on to be connected?
5. Do you share your internet connection between more than one computer?

Thanks for participating!
Simon

hi there
i use dial up to connect to the internet
i use dlink dfm 560es extrnal modem to connect to the internet
i OSes i use include FC2(custom 2..8.1) and xandros presently and windows 2000
i do not have a router
yes i share the internet connection between 4 computers

regards

1. cable
2. ethernet cable modem
3. router is connected to modem
4. yes, router
5. more than one connected through 2 switches

1. ADSL 1.5mbps
2. ethernet
3. well.... none.....
4. belkin wireless firewall / router / switch
5. done through my router

i used to use my web / mail / file server to also firewall and route traffic into the network, but i'm much happier now that i've removed this and have a purely hardware routing setup.

1. direcway satelite -home, dsl -work
2. dwl6000 sat modem-home, brand-x phone co. equipment-work
3. Suse / XP - home, suse / win98 -work
4. always on -home, always on -work
5. 2-home, 12-work

1.dsl connection
2.ethernet
3.slackware 10, windows xp
4.Speedstream router
5.no this is the only one i use for to connect to the internet

1. Cable
2. Ethernet
3. None
4. Yes & Yes ... PC configured VPN, firewall, router
5. Yes

2 cable modems, one docsis 2.0 configured for a 9/1mbit, the other is a propriatary configured for 3/3mbit
hardware based external parallel modem, but i havent used it in years.
maul: windows 2000
c0re: fedora core 1
corvus: fedora core 2, windows 2000 [laptop]
charon: slackware 9 [laptop]
dedicated linksys router. have my main linux server with a second iface out to the propriatary modem on a static ip.
yep.

these ethernet modems... I'm assuming they're really routers, or can they be used in the same way as any other modem? (I'm thinking of port forwarding and does the pc or the modem get the internet ip?)

well for my NTL connection, the Cable modem has an ethernet interface, which passes the ip address to whatever is connected to that interface.

1. DSL
2. no modem, ethernet connection because bellsouth re-did the phone lines and put in
fiber optic cables.
3. n/a (no modem on any PC)
4. yes, linksys 4-port router
5. 3 PC's and a laptop when i plug it in, or sometimes i plug my laptop into my linux box (i setup my liux box as a router also just to have 2 computers in my room)


so basically, the linksys handles the internet and assigns IP's to the computers connected to it.

Depends... Yes there are modems, routers and combinations modems/ routers. What I mean by ethernet modem is the interface between the modem and the PC is via ethernet UTP cable. Actually mine has a USB interface too. If its just a modem then the PC gets the internet IP address.

what get's me is how i had to buy a "broadband" router... There's nothing in the least bit "broadband" about a cheapy router that has a 4 port internal ethernet switch and one external ethernet port.... kinda hints it should be labelled an "ethernet" router... as that's what it routes......

Cable
onboard NIC and a 3Com PCMCIA ethernet adapter for TP 240x
Slackware 10, Debian Sarge, Win2000
D-Link router/firewall
2 desktops, 1 fileserver, 2 laptops

1. DSL

2. in the processing of downgrading from the original only speed to a slower one to save money (I live on Soc.Sec.). Had to go into ethernet bridge (not really a modem--Speedstream 5360) and change setup to PPPoE). "Modem" stands for modulatoro-demodulator, which is why a dial-up signal warbles. None of this is necessary with DSL since it's all digital. Have D-Link 530 TX+ NICs in two computers, Xircom 10/100 credit card ethernet in the subnotebook.

3. Main computer is on Fedora 1, second one dual boot (separate discs) between FC1 and W2K. Subnotebook W95.

4/5. Inexpensive D-Link DI-604 router plugged into ethernet bridge, three computers plugged into router.

Main computer and subnotebook running fine; #2 desktop fine on Linux but W2K doesn't want to recognize the NIC, though it's on the HCL. But such problems are why I only use Windows for income tax programs, which no longer run under Linux with the CrossOver emulator (earlier versions of TurboTax did).