Thanks for all your wisdom. This thread has really been quite
enlightening. However, I owe some of you an explanation with regards to my
setup.
I have the house wired with Cat-5 for both phone and Ethernet
connections. There are six networked computers at home. We presently have
3 phone lines and usually 2 to 3 concurrent users accessing the Internet
via modem. We normally try to keep the "main" phone line open for
incoming/outgoing voice calls, with the other 2 lines being fair game for
both voice calls and modem access.
Unfortunately, cable and DSL are presently not options in our area. I've
looked into ISDN, but with minute-by-minute charges, it's far too expensive
compared to fixed-cost local, toll-free analog phone lines. Satellite
access might be another option to explore, but it's another additional
overhead to consider.
I understand the concept of shared resources in a network. However, I
would like to retain the functionality of the PBX, namely the ability of
people and computers to access an available phone line, while boosting
Internet access speed, without breaking the bank. Right now, for our
needs, we're perfectly happy if we're surfing at 50kb.
I'm particularly intrigued by Richard Patterson's idea of sharing one modem
over the network and Bob Bruskin's use of the STICK, a device which I
believe is quite similar to the fax-detection device I already have hooked
up to the 816. As a matter of fact, I unplugged the fax machine and hooked
up the modem to this device and it worked quite well (it boosted the modem
speed), while simultaneously solving the problem of making sure voice calls
and modem access don't conflict with each other.
Nevertheless, it would be interesting to find out what your experiences
have been with "modem sharing". One thing to note is that I access a
remote host computer through VPN. We have 3 operating systems at home,
namely Windows 95, 98 and 2000. Windows 2000 came with a new computer
which refuses to communicate with older computer running Windows 95 which
has the VPN software installed, which is a completely another story. But
with Microsoft networking being as reliable as it is, my conclusion has
been that resource sharing, for a modem anyway, could be shaky.
I presume that, given my circumstances, I would be better off purchasing
dedicated STICKs for each of my phone lines, thereby allowing each Internet
user access to a dedicated modem. This would set me back by about $300.
And then again, some of you may have more elegant or inexpensive solutions
now that you better understand my setup.
Thanks,
Ramon
*********************************************************
* To unsubscribe, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* The KXT-Digest Home Page: http://kxthelp.com/ *
*********************************************************
