Networking Advice

[MYstIC G]

Hello Chaps.

We're moving office in the next few days and I'm a bit fed up with the current kit arrangements we've got so I can finally get things sorted out properly as long as I get the kit ordered.

At the moment we have:

• a Netgear PoE switch: http://www.netgear.co.uk/business/products/switches/smart-switches/FS728TP.aspx which our broadband feeds into from a...
• BT Broadband hub
• Horrible cabling that runs from both switch and hub (yes I know, eww).

What I'm looking to do is:

• Mount a wall bracket, say: http://www.attock.co.uk/Wall-Mounting-Cabinets/Hinged-Wall-Brackets/flypage.tpl.html
• Mount the switch in said wall bracket
• Purchase a multiple WAN router, say: http://www.draytek.co.uk/products/vigor3200.html
• Mount the multiple WAN router in the wall bracket
• Run 2x BT Broadband (not my choice before everyone spits) through the multiple wan router, disabling their shitty WiFi and BTOpenreach bullshit.
• Use the DCHP and wireless on the multiple WAN router, link it to the switch and push all the cabling onto the switch (rather than the existing mess of some things in BT Router, some things in switch, etc.)

Can any of you guys see any massively glaring issues with this? Do any of you have any better suggestions.

The logic behind doing all this btw is to tidy up all the cabling and take advantage of the fact that there's going to be a second internet connection, i.e. to stop it just being a "backup".

Cheers!

 

[Tuthmes]

Run 2x BT Broadband

Don't be stupid and get 2 lines from the same company. If BT in your area goes tits up, your 2 lines are useless.

 

[soze]

The Draytek is cool we have installed a few of them but they have always been used with one broadband connection and something like the Vigor 120 for the other connections. I am not sure how good the Routing mode is on a home hub I imagine the firewall would be a dick to shut down. I see it giving you multiple potential points of failure. So IMO lose the home hubs and just get one standard.

Re the Broadband 2xBT is mainly the same as one BT one any other as the majority of the time they run over the BT gear anyway? I hear BT is down so we are all down plenty of times but I have never heard Talk Talk are down and so is BT ect. If you can get 2 from different exchanges though that's worth looking into.

 

[Moriath]

Run 2x BT Broadband

Don't be stupid and get 2 lines from the same company. If BT in your area goes tits up, your 2 lines are useless.

Bt runs all the backbone for all the wired adsl anyway so its not a reliability choice .. tbh

 

[Zenith.UK]

I thought the primary point of multiple lines was redundancy in case one provider fell over.
If you're getting both your lines through BT, the only advantage is double the bandwidth. If BT falls over, you lose all your connection.
A serious suggestion might be to have BT Broadband on one WAN, a cable provider (Virgin?) on another. That way you can still effectively bond the lines, have redundancy in case of one provider or the other falling over, and even route particular traffic over an individual provider if you wished (using QoS).
eg. Low latency, time critical traffic like VOIP and video could go over the quickest connection while regular web and email could go over the other.

MysticG, why a PoE switch? What devices are you powering from it? Wifi APs?

 

[Tuthmes]

Bt runs all the backbone for all the wired adsl anyway so its not a reliability choice .. tbh

Yeah, a bit like KPN in the Netherlands. However if the dhcp server of BT (that's giving you both IP's) stops working, having another company would still mean you still have another line. Asuming they have their own hardware and if not, you prolly would be in another IP pool (read different server). Also smart would be to run the other line using another medium, like cable, fiber or sattelite.

Also I don't really like wireless connections at work. Health wise nor safety wise.

 

[Moriath]

health .. not seen anything proved against radio signal .. or wifi signals .. or mobile signals to that fact...

unless your provider is LLU ie unbundled the exchange from bt then its not worth splitting

 

[Tuthmes]

health .. not seen anything proved against radio signal .. or wifi signals .. or mobile signals to that fact...

unless your provider is LLU ie unbundled the exchange from bt then its not worth splitting

I know. But you're not sitting next/close to your radio 8 hours a day. Aswell that more and more studies show increased health risks when it comes to wifi or phone signals.

http://news.yale.edu/2012/03/15/cell-phone-use-pregnancy-may-cause-behavioral-disorders-offspring (recently)

“We have shown that behavioral problems in mice that resemble ADHD are caused by cell phone exposure in the womb,” said Taylor. “The rise in behavioral disorders in human children may be in part due to fetal cellular telephone irradiation exposure.”

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/lo...h-concern-110908/20110908/?hub=TorontoNewHome

etc.

It's starting to look to have the same sceme as smoking studies hade way back (or pick radium or whatever). In any case using your commen sense, doesnt hurt either. 8 hours a day, 5 days a week 48-49 weeks a year close to a large radiation source will have an effect on you in some way or another. Even if it has to take 20 years or more.

 

[Tuthmes]

Scame rather and not really the right word... Let's just say we tend to learn things about new stuff over the years.

 

[Moriath]

i will put on my aluminium hat and lock all my doors .. tnx for the warning

 

[Tuthmes]

Yah, yah, yah.

I know it's a very impopulair thing to mention and it's not like I'm following my own logic either. But you can add the advantages of using a cable aswell (safety, stability, speed). The cable just has one large drawback. So unless you tend to move your computer around a lot I wouldnt.

 

[Moriath]

Cable is always better ,, but there's no problem with wireless it's just slower and less reliable.

But I'm sure G nows that and wouldn't suggest it unless it was not cable usable

 

[MYstIC G]

Ta for the input lads. To answer some of your questions

Run 2x BT Broadband

Not my choice I'm afraid.

MysticG, why a PoE switch? What devices are you powering from it? Wifi APs?

It was powering a number of VoIP handsets in an environment with a limited number of power sockets. At the time it was more cost effective than an electrician.

The Draytek is cool we have installed a few of them but they have always been used with one broadband connection and something like the Vigor 120 for the other connections. I am not sure how good the Routing mode is on a home hub I imagine the firewall would be a dick to shut down. I see it giving you multiple potential points of failure. So IMO lose the home hubs and just get one standard.

They're BT Business hubs, it's possible to turn off all their dumb inbuilt shit thankfully. Thanks for the thumbs up for Draytek though as I've never dealt with them before.

As for WiFi whilst I'd prefer to do without we've got iPhones/iPads/Laptops that I don't want using a permanent cable connection but may require access to a network printer.

 

[MYstIC G]

On site and in testing, so far so good!