On 3/23/05, Doug declared: >I thought I had a handle on things until I read these emails about >firewall. I'm using my granddaughters G4 with OS 10.3.7 and the Mail >program (she does not want my copy of Emailer on, darn). She just >ordered DSL from SBC and they said nothing about we needing firewall. >We have our phone service with this same company. I would think they >would have told us we needed a firewall when we put in the DSL order, >would they?
Your ISP (in this case, SBC) has no concern about whether or not you are protecting your computer or your network. All they care about is that you don't do harm to OTHER users. SBC currently offers two different modems (at least they do where I live): Speedstream 5100b and 2Wire HomePortal 1800HG (in some regions they may still be distributing the 1000HG). The Speedstream is a DSL modem only. If you decide to add a firewall [highly recommended], and you decide upon a hardware version, you can add a router into the mix to get firewall protection. The 2Wire HomePortal is a DSL modem and wireless/ wired router in a single unit. The router's default settings provide proper protection for probably 99.9% of computer users, so it (the router portion) is "plug-&-play". ---Jay ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe send a mail message with a SUBJECT line of "unsubscribe" to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
