[ILUG] linux broadband gateway

[Harry Duncan]

Hi Guys,

Looking for some networking advice here... am living close (1200
meters) to an Eircom DSLAM but due to regluatory restrictions on
Eircom from Comreg  (I'm outside the "exchange boundary" for the
exchange and dslam that are within walking distance, even though there
is an underground cable path to it), I can't even pay them to cable me
into them (yes, there is a process for getting that, ask me if you're
interested, its not free but you can get it within your exchange
boundary), and instead have to be cabled to an exchange which is about
4 miles away from which I currently get rate adapted 2Mb broadband.

I thought i might help things along by building a gateway with a
LinITX adsl modem card which is presented to debian as a network card
bridged to a dsl modem, and using my debian box as a gateway I could
implement traffic queue'ing etc better firewalling etc. Things have
slowed down though, might be due to recent storms affecting overhead
cables, but now I can't even watch a youtube video without pausing it
to allow it to buffer.

I'm going to whip out the DSL modem card, and put in a lan card, and
bridge the Zyxel router to the debian box to see if speeds improve,
and maybe investigate a line fault if it doesn't. I don't get the same
degree of info about the line, eg, sync speeds from the pci modem as I
would from a regular CPE device, this way I might.

Another option is to get wireless in, Imagine can provide me with
synchronous service only, 300 a month for a 1Mb / 1Mb  1:1 service,
which I'd be happy to pay to be honest, but is it going to be slower
than my rate adapted crap, or is there a huge benefit to a synchronous
line that I'm never going to look back from if I switch? Are these
wireless systems as good as wired, or am I headed for a mostly good
with pauses type service which I'll have to endure at the 300 a month
for the remainder of the 12 or 18 month contract?

Would be interested in any thoughts on the synchronous -v-
asynchronous services and if the PCI modem is a good or bad idea for
my debian gateway.

Harry