Uber techie people challenge

[Spy Bee]

Hello

I've just switched from BT to Tiscali. The line has switched but I haven't yet received modem though, so I have no internet (On pub landlord's laptop). Anyway, the pub landlord has just given me a st585 wireless router (I need wireless really and Tiscali aren't providing this). Anyway, question is that it is packaged as AOL - will it work for Tiscali?

Cheers nerds.

[Captain]

Sorry, it's highly unlikely that it will.

[Spy Bee]

Originally Posted by Captain

Sorry, it's highly unlikely that it will.

Done some googling and it says it willwork on any ISP, but only on a BT line. So presumably it won't work on my Tiscali line?

Or does it just mean any BT line as in, any line that isn't a alternative business line?

[Captain]

The problem is this: You seem to have a modem from an ISP that also functions as a wireless router. A wireless router in itself is a generic product, you can shift it about pretty much as you like.

That is not the case with a modem. It is set up to the exact requirements of the ISP that distributed it. The chances of that setup working for a different ISP are very, very slim, to put it mildly.

If you know your stuff, you can tweak the settings and maybe get it to work. It will definately be a very time-consuming project.

If you need wireless, get a proper modem from your ISP and buy a separate wlan router on top. Problem solved.

[wiiksie]

Adam, I reckon it will work mate. To get a router to work on any DSL line, all you need is the login ID and password (usually an email address for login ID) for that ISP. BT ones are usually firstname.lastname@btinternet.com, with a password of 'BT' (I think this can be any text, as long as its not empty).

So you need to get your Tiscali DSL login details, and enter them in your router setup pages (usually http://192.168.0.1 or http://192.168.1.1). You will need to login to your router, and the standard login for that is:

userId: admin
password: admin

It may be different though, do a web search and find the login details for that router if admin and admin don't work.

[Spy Bee]

Cheers Weeksie, I thought that was what it would be, but I wasn't sure how I would go about it. I couldn't remember the IP for the router though and had no idea if it would work.

Thanks... if I am on here at 11pm - it's worked!

[Paul]

Ooh, Captain making a bid for some crafty votes there until Weeksie eases in and solves the problem, the slick bastard. The cat is well and truly amongst the pigeons in the TLW techie nerd community.

[DJLJ]

I all depends Adam. Both Cap'n and Weeksie are correct above, just for different countries. In Scandinavia, ISP's normally flash specific firmware onto their modems, to make sure these can be used only on their networks, whereas over here, they normally do it in SW. Go with the above from weeksie, it should just work. It will not be tuned specifically for your line, but will wotrk nonetheless. Oh, and reflashing new cracked firmware onto a modem is not something you should look into unless you really know what you're doing.

[Ted]

Can I divert you techy folk to my laptop thread? Cheers ears.

[George Costanza]

admin and admin usually works as router passwords. ip addy will probably be 192.168.1.254 i think. they tend to be different from the standard router ip'd of 192.168.0.1 or 1.1 or 2.1.

just run cmd. in the new window type ipconfig and it should give you the defualt gateway which is the ip addy of the router

[PaddyBerger15]

Weeksie talking in Martian again.

[l19red]

those cunts at tiscali made me redundant. For this reason alone they are the worst ISP there is.

[real red]

BT's most recent release of software / firmware for their home hub modems has stopped a lot of people from finding ways to use them in ways BT don't like, such as getting the home hub phone to work with other SIP providers. Or working with other ISPs. Or getting a different DNS server.

Translation: BT are twats

[Jorge Borge]

Bloody hell, I've only just seen this thread having already commented on the techno techno poll of the ubers. There's some badass techno, possibly neon could be strobe, bar raising going on here. In the words of 2Unlimited, there would really appear to be no no, no no no no limit to these gentlemen's knowledge.

I doff my up-turned, tin foil covered collander in your general direction, sirs.

[GAYER]

OK I'll step up to this one...

Adam, Tiscali isn't the problem the fact the modem came from AOL could be though as they often have their settings embedded in their hardware. Now 95%+ of the DSL providers out there all use the same encapsulation method which is VCMUX but AOL and a few others use LLC (MTU 1450 in the case of AOL). Fortunately they both use the same VPI and VPC settings of 0,38 respectively so in effect you should only need to be able to switch the encapsulation method for the new provider(Tiscali).

Also, you said that it's a wireless router but does this have an inbuilt modem because not all of them do? If it does then it's simply a case of finding the manual (online or hardcopy) and switching the encapsulation method to VCMUX as the 0,38 bit should already be done for you.

Obviously you will also need your welcome letter from tiscali as it will have your username and password on it, which you can't get online without.

[Jorge Borge]

Hoo hoo!

I knew I was backing a winner by abstaining from the poll.

Abbreviations - check.
Jargon - check.
The leaving of bystander far more confused than when he started reading it - double check and mate.

It's in the bag.

[DJLJ]

Originally Posted by SKEET

OK I'll step up to this one...

Adam, Tiscali isn't the problem the fact the modem came from AOL could be though as they often have their settings embedded in their hardware. Now 95%+ of the DSL providers out there all use the same encapsulation method which is VCMUX but AOL and a few others use LLC (MTU 1450 in the case of AOL). Fortunately they both use the same VPI and VPC settings of 0,38 respectively so in effect you should only need to be able to switch the encapsulation method for the new provider(Tiscali).

Also, you said that it's a wireless router but does this have an inbuilt modem because not all of them do? If it does then it's simply a case of finding the manual (online or hardcopy) and switching the encapsulation method to VCMUX as the 0,38 bit should already be done for you.

Obviously you will also need your welcome letter from tiscali as it will have your username and password on it, which you can't get online without.

They (AOL) actually put their own rom into these? If so they are wankers....

Never looked at one of their routers/modems, just assumed they flashed with their own firmware?

[GAYER]

I'm sure they have custom chipsets but to be honest, an EEPROM is all it will take for the majority of users, especially if they chose AOL in the first place, as they wouldn't have a clue how to go about flashing them.

Even their(AOL) fucking browsers were proprietary, making standards compliency even more of a challenge to web designers. Not that I know a single one who ever bothered to test a site in an AOL browser. AOL is the original malware.

[DJLJ]

For their own browsers, perhaps it wasn't big in the UK? But they were the biggest ISP in the US with 30+ percent at one point, so most if not all US websites were tested on their AOL browser.

Anecdote: My first encounter with ROM was when I was just out of school, and questions were being asked to my employer, why the new ultr fast computer wasn't as fast as promised. Turned out, someone had put a picture of himself in front of a Paula Abdul poster onto 2K of the 4K ROM. Ouch....

EEPROM's, I'd have thought they would have gone away from smething like this, just because they are reflashable. In todays world, do a search on Google and you an find flashers (hw) for most things. If they really wanted to keep it propriatary, then just put a rom on there containing the non-stardard MTU info or whatever they want.

[Spy Bee]

I didn't get in until 1am, so I didn't do it. I have just sorted it now though. My vote goes to Weeksie, but thanks for all contributions!