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BT Broadband & ZyXEL Router(s)

Greetings... I have had a very quick flit around page one of the forum and didn't see my concerns addressed, and I'm sure they will have been already covered, so my apologies in advance for asking.

I have just exercised Option 3 with BT Broadband because my last two ISP's have presented frequent disconnections and both ironically ended up blaming BT's lines - but neither could resolve these problems and BT themselves only wanted £135 to come and look, which means BT Broadband is the only thing to 'get in' since BT will be responsible for the signal, line and equipment, and hopefully cannot blame a third party if anything fails...

So here I am with a freshly installed hardwired 5e category home network and no wishes to actually install the BT wireless hub and VOiP phone handset - and sitting on the shelf I've got both a ZyXel 645 router and a ZyXel 792 unit... but how easy is connecting either of them to the BT line going to be?

I called BT the other day, twice, and they promised to let me know, twice... but of course they didn't bother - and it takes ages to even get to speak with a real person, so I gave up and thought I'd bring the question along to a few hardened forum boffins who might just be able to cast a little more light on matters for me...

So if anyone can help me out I'd be both very impressed and mightily grateful, I know my PC inside out... but am rather new to the whole ethernet side of things!

Oh, and it's XP Pro if it needs mentioning :cool:
 
Firstly you can put the ZyXel 792 to one side because that's for G.SHDSL broadband (SDSL) and not a residential ADSL product, such as the one you're trying to install from BT. The 645 is an ADSL/Router modem and should be just fine.

Generally speaking it should just be a matter of hooking your network cables from the PC into the back of the router. Then you just need to connect a phone line between the back of the router and your microfilter (splitter), which should already be plugged into the phone line (note, every output for this same line in your home will need a microfilter on). Now switch it on and then boot up your PC.

From here on out it's usually a matter of following the manual, which will guide you through the process of logging into your router and running a setup wizard of some sort.
 
can i have your home hub if your not using it :p
 
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Thanks guys, I know the ZyXel routers have Wizard Setup menu's but when I tried it with the 792 I didn't get far (and now I know why... from reading the above!) and I am hoping the 645 will go better in that case...

What I wanted to know from BT were the details in input... because there are fields asking for Protocols, Virtual Circuit numbers, Local Addresses, DNS and DHCP something etc, and so on and so forth - which is about where I get lost!

I'm going to shortly slap the Hub and VOIP Handset on Ebay... and throw the ZyXel 792 onto Ebay too... the whole lot brand new... (unless anyone wants to proposition me privately!) my BT connection is only due to happen on 7 September, so I have a few moments to prepare...

If anyone can expand on how I know what information to slap into the 645 during setup... I'd be very grateful...:D
 
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I take it the home hub can be used with any adsl connection yeh?
 
I don't know that it can actually :hrmph:

But many people signing on for BT Bband at the cheaper monthly tariffs don't get the wireless hub and VOiP handset, so it's really that group who seem to want to get their hands on it.

For the moment it's proving tough because BT can't keep up with demand (the handsets are constantly out of stock and reserved for new Bband subscribers alone).

http://www.shop.bt.com/invt/car121

And for technical specs...

http://media.venda.com/btshop/ebiz/btshop/resources/userguides/bttotalbroadband_userguide2.pdf

I've slapped it on ebay this morning anyhow... 220021799221 will bring it up, I've done it with a BIN price of £50 below BT's tariff... ;)

Which reminds me, I must dig out all my other modems and routers and slap them under the damn hammer too!
 
Check your ISP's support pages, if the Wizard isn't doing everything for you then the provider will usually provide the necessary details. Indeed they should have sent you a letter or spec sheet listing the various settings, if they haven't then that's very poor on their part.

The VCI and VPI numbers tend to be the most important to know, with the router usually able to automatically select everything else. Otherwise phone BT and tell them what you need.
 
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Thanks Mark :nod: I'll just have to get the ZyXel 645 out of it's box and try whacking it on with the 'orrible Brightview ADSL I'm currently connected up with just to get a feel for it as it were (that's Madasafish... and no, I've no grounds to recommend them to anyone else... a really dreadful outfit, dishonesty and incompetentcy are their good points...)

BT are dragging their feet... but that's often their modus operandi... and their website is so overbloated I've not yet been able to find a 'technical settings pages' which allows a user to see the full details necessary to manually set up a third party router... :rolleyes:
 
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