Speedtouch 330 -vs- Voyager 205

[ninebob]

I am being connected to Bulldog 8meg broadband on the 11th, and they have sent me on a new modem in advance. It's a Speedtouch 330.

My concern is that I have experienced problems with this model
number in the past, although this one, despite being the same model number, looks totally different.

I had hassle with one of these:

Bulldog have sent me one of these:

.

First question is, are they both the same modem in different cases?

Second question: I still have in my cupboard a BT Voyager 205 router from when I was with BT Yahoo. I suspect this may be the better option but would like your opinion. I'm not entirely sure what the difference between a router and a modem is, but one distinct advantage I can see is that the BT Voyager 205 connects by ethernet rather than USB, therefore assumedly not using clock cycles and being a bit faster?

Also, if I do use the router, will it support the 8 meg speed? When I had BT Yahoo it was only 2mb and the product info on BT's website doesn't seem to be much use.

And will it require any change of set-up or configuration to use it with my Bulldog service?

All advice gratefully received....

 

[darude]

I personally found that my connection was more reliable with a speedtouch 330 over a BT voyager 105 on AOL. Also the computer seemed more stable running on this. The Speedtouch modems are also compatable with Linux which the BT one arn't. If you can afford get a broadband router (I got one for £20 on EBAY and sold both modems on there too (I got about £15 for both).[/b]

 

[ninebob]

IIf you can afford get a broadband router

As far as I was aware the Voyager 205 which I have is a router, or am I wrong? I still don't really know what distinguishes between a modem and a router, but you're not the first to tell me the latter is best.[/i]

 

[Igorian]

IIf you can afford get a broadband router

As far as I was aware the Voyager 205 which I have is a router, or am I wrong? I still don't really know what distinguishes between a modem and a router, but you're not the first to tell me the latter is best.[/i]

A modem is a passive device, which is effectively invisible to the internet and is only responsible for transmitting and receiving data across a communication medium (the phone system) by modulating or demodulating the signal respectively. By invisible, I mean that it doesn't form part of the network and your host PC will adopt the public ip address leased by your isp and exposes your pc to the internet.

A router is an active device in that it separates your host PC (or PCs) from the internet. The machines on your side form a private network and are not directly exposed to the internet. The router is responsible for passing the data from your private network to the internet (or from one network to another), again via a modem. For internet purposes, routers also (generally, but not always) incorporate a modem. By separating yourself in this way, you are generally more secure because the router is acting as a firewall and your private ip addresses are not exposed to the net.l

 

[darude]

Hi the voyager 205 is a router, Just looked on the web. I don't have any experiance with this just the 105 which was a modem. I would use the Voyager 205 via the ethernet socket.

 

[blu3tang]

but one distinct advantage I can see is that the BT Voyager 205 connects by ethernet rather than USB, therefore assumedly not using clock cycles and being a bit faster?

Yes correct, ethernet will be a lot faster, some people have reported speed increases of 10-20%, but it really all depends on your setup.