Broadband - a good idea for a novice?

[volvoman]

Hi, I'm new here so hope this is the right place for what I want to ask.

As mentioned in my first thread over on the customer services forum I'm in the Bromley area on an oldish Pace box and having ongoing issues with the open internet access I have - or often don't have

As a novice in such things, imagine my horror when Mrs volvoman demands we subscribe to NTL broadband as a solution to our exisiting problems and to allow our eldest son the internet access he'll soon need for secondary school etc.

Can anyone explain (or refer me to someone who can) in layman's terms:

a) what is involved in the installation process.
b) what sort of PC spec I will need
c) whether NTL Broadband is any good (not overly impressed with customer services thus far!)
d) whether there are any serious security issues using Broadband on a PC and if so, what can be done to solve them (I heard Apple Macs are less prone to virus attacks etc.).
e) Whether we could/should consider alternatives like other Broadband services or dial up.

Apologies if some of my questions seem a little odd but we really are novices so far as the technical side of computers etc. goes and I'm concerned about having my PC mucked up by viruses etc. or software conflicts if it all gets a bit too complicated for us to handle.


Many thanks in anticipation.

It is definitely worth it. Dial-up internet is incredibly poor value for the speed you get. I switched from NTL dial-up to broadband about three years ago and never looked back - until we moved house to an area with no broadband and had to go back to dial-up. It was awful! Our area now has BB and I've just signed up for it.

NTL cable broadband is a good, stable technology that should give you few problems. I had an engineer out twice in three years; once when the signal levels on the line went squiffy, which he fixed out in the street without coming into the house, and another time when the modem died. He swapped it for a new one, no charge, no questions asked. Yes, NTL customer services has acquired a poor reputation but if you ever have problems and the call centre's not doing it for you, you can always come here.

Installation is relatively simple. An engineer will come to get the cables and socket in the right place; you get your modem plugged in and then you do the install on your PC yourself. You can use the CD they supply to help you, but to be honest it's worth following the instructions on this site (here) and doing it without the CD; the CD is known to do odd things sometimes.

Security - you need to have a firewall running on your PC to prevent unauthorised access to it by other internet users. Having your machine permanently connected to the 'net does make it more vulnerable but a firewall will fix that. Windows XP and Mac OS X have one built in, but there are better alternatives out there. Zone Alarm is a good free firewall. And, by the way, Macs are indeed subject to infinietely fewer nasty viruses etc. I bought a Mac five years ago and will never buy a PC again.

Other services - I think you should forget dial-up. It's expensive, slow and unreliable. If you don't go for NTL cable broadband you could get ADSL down a BT phone line from any one of a multitude of providers I have no experience with. If you sniff around these forums you'll get an idea what people think of them though.

[Angua]

Now I am sure some more technical bod will be along with the "science bit".

However as you already have a STB adding BB is fairly straightforward, as it uses coaxial cable. A small silver box will sit near your computer with a Power lead, Coxial lead and a lead (preferably ethernet) to your computer (can use USB if no ethernet slot on your CPU). They may need to upgrade your cable and there will be a white box (AFAIK) on an internal wall.

You will need a decent firewall and Anti Virus (which you should have already) on your computer as BB is always on. There is plenty of advice and suggestions here

I personally have had only minor problems with NTL BB (usually only when they are upgrading the system) and cable is definitely better than dial up or ASDL.

If you arrange an installation date at least 2 weeks in advance do ring up a week before to check everything is still on track and again a couple of days before (just to be safe)

And there are many helpful people on this forum who can usually solve most problems.

[SMHarman]

Do you already have a PC? Or do you need to buy one in addition to getting the internet installed?

Any PC for sale these days will be good for use on the internet. You should buy one that has an ethernet port as this will make internet set up far easier. If you already have a PC, tell us more about it.

[ian@huth]

The question that hasn't been answered so far is that of what PC spec you should have. I take it that you don't already have a PC. The answer is that it all depends on what you want to do with the PC. If you can give this a thought and post what uses the PC would be put to then someone on here can help put you in the right direction for buying one. Think about things like games, graphics work, digital photo manipulation, camcorder editing, voice and video contact with relatives and friends elsewhere, TV reception and recording, etc. General internet surfing and office applications can be done on virtually any computer but for more advanced usage you have to select the right tool for the job. Don't forget that what you think may be the uses for your computer could change in the not so distant future so think about a system that can change as your needs change.

[Halcyon]

a) what is involved in the installation process.

If you already have television or a phoneline with NTL, you will just have to have a run of coax cable running to a box next to your PC.

b) what sort of PC spec I will need

Any modern computer with USB or Ethernet ports running Windows 98, 2000, or XP will be fine for the job. Ideally having an ethernet connection is better and these are now integrated on most motherboards. If yuo dont have one on your own PC, you can pick up an ethernet network card for about £10 new.
If you are going to be wanting the best experience on the net, maybe doing some online gaming, and such, You should have a good monitor that has a good refresh rate and can be used at a high resolution.

c) whether NTL Broadband is any good (not overly impressed with customer services thus far!)

It is reliable most of the time and I am quite impressed with the speeds. The only thing people moan about is a CAP. Basically this is a limit to how much you can download. But for general web surfing you are fine. Its only if you are a hard core downloader of movies and such things that people run into problems if going over the limits. But this isnt a big issue at the moment.

d) whether there are any serious security issues using Broadband on a PC and if so, what can be done to solve them (I heard Apple Macs are less prone to virus attacks etc.).

As has been mentioned, your broadband connection means you are connected to the Internet all the time. Therfore adequate protection is needed. A Firewall can be downloaded free, eg. Zonealarm, and it will protect your PC. You should also get an anti virus software installed, such as AVG anti virus which is also free and updates daily.

e) Whether we could/should consider alternatives like other Broadband services or dial up.

I wouldnt consider Dial up at all. Only if you are someone that sends ONLY e-mails. Most web content now has audio and video and this would take years to load on dial up connections.
Broadband is the way to go.
You can also share a broadband connection in the event you have two or three computers as they can all be linked to a router.

[volvoman]

Originally Posted by ian@huth

The question that hasn't been answered so far is that of what PC spec you should have. I take it that you don't already have a PC. The answer is that it all depends on what you want to do with the PC. If you can give this a thought and post what uses the PC would be put to then someone on here can help put you in the right direction for buying one. Think about things like games, graphics work, digital photo manipulation, camcorder editing, voice and video contact with relatives and friends elsewhere, TV reception and recording, etc. General internet surfing and office applications can be done on virtually any computer but for more advanced usage you have to select the right tool for the job. Don't forget that what you think may be the uses for your computer could change in the not so distant future so think about a system that can change as your needs change.

Thanks for all the replies folks - coildn't reply before due to my 'other' digibox issues

Right - I do already have 2 PC's - one of which I use for my work (self employed) and which doesn't need to be connected to the internet. I decided it'd be best to use the other PC solely for the internet and if I recall correctly the type/spec is: Dell Dimension Xps R450 (1999 vintage) Pentium II, 128mb ram, 17gb hd, 1.44 floppy, DVD Rom, Iomega drive, windows 98.

Not going to be using the internet for
music or movies much if at all. More for kids homework and general surfing.

I know computers are much cheaper now so would I be wise to get another higher spec. or would this one do for our current needs?

Thanks to all who've replied.

[patrickp]

See ntl's minimum computer specifications - yes, that'll do. Incidentally, if you don't have an ethernet port, you can get an ethernet card for less than a tenner, and it's a much better way of connecting than USB.

Also, if you want to connect your other PC as well, you can get a router, which you put in place of your PC as it connects to the modem; you can then connect up to 4 PCs (for a normal wired router) to that - they can all be connected to the internet - and to each other - at once. Most routers will include a 'hardware' NAT firewall, which is some of the best security you can get. Routers come from about £40+ (there are cheaper, I think) and are usually a doddle to set up.

[Halcyon]

For web surfing you'd probably be OK.
However the Pc is probably going to struggle when dealing with flash web sites or lots of content due to it being a slightly slow machine now.
However, it should cope with casual surfing.

If you do intend to use the current PC you have, You will need to check to see on the back wether it has USB ports or an ethernet port.
If you dont have an ethernet or USB port and you have a spare PCI bay inside the PC, you can stick one in for about £10.


If you are looking for a new system, you can get a Pc for net surfing for less than £300.

[quadplay]

Originally Posted by Angua

A small silver box will sit near your computer...

The new ones are Blue these days.

[volvoman]

Originally Posted by Halcyon

For web surfing you'd probably be OK.

If you are looking for a new system, you can get a Pc for net surfing for less than £300.

Thanks Halcyon & Patrickp et al - don't really want another PC unless I have to so will probably suck it and see with the Dell. If I go ahead with the broadband and it doesn't work as well as we'd like we can always upgrade to another PC later.

As regards the connections I think it's USB only and I'd be paranoid about opening up the box to install a card.

Yes I know I'm a 'computerphobe' but it's slowly improving since I've started using XP

Thanks guys/gals!!

[Angua]

We are still using USB with no problems ( for all those of you who go on about ethernet).

[Halcyon]

Yep it should work fine using USB.
You should get USB drivers on a CD with the modem.
Good luck and I hope it goes well for you.