Are Modems Plug n Play?

I don't live in the UK, but I did my work to found that the Speedtouch 330 is a PURE MODEM, with USB connectivity. It's NOT a router and have NO WiFi capability.
Before I went cable, I had a Alcatel Speed Touch Home modem. It connect using an ethernet cable, not USB. Another PURE modem, also without any WiFi capability.

Next, domestic routers have a web like interface that can be accessed using any browser. If your "router" can't be accessed that way, then it's probably not a router, or a special professional router that is NOT meant to be used at home.

The Belkin N wireless modem router IS 802.11n compliant.

Electro
August 2012

To answer your question: no - but. (BTW I suspect that Electro does not live in the UK and so is not cognisant with our stuff. I on the other hand am a Professional Broadband Installer who does.

Domestic routers such as the ones supplied by TalkTalk usually come pre-configured by the ISP. However a replacement will need to be configured by you. However it is very easy using the router's built-in installation Wizard.

Having said that, you probably will be one of "Channel Conflict" that is to say you are "sharing" your WiFi channel with a neighbour. The fix is not a new router but you use a utility like inSSIDer to find out what channels are in use locally and then set your router to one that is not only not in use but AT LEAST TWO channels away (preferably more) from any that are. If you can't get to that situation, you will need a new router that supports 802.11n at 5 GHz. which will not suffer from local interference so badly.

Terry
July 2012

After some search, it looks like the speedtouch 330 is only an ADSL USB connected modems, not a router nor a modem-router combo.
I only find links about modems and no mention of any router part. There are 2 brands proposing it: Alcatel and Thomson.
The Thomson speedtouch 330 is NOT whireless capable.
It can be presumed that the Alcatel offering is identical.

It looks like it can work as an USB hub as you can connect your, presumably USB, printer to it.

As you seem to have a modem and not a modem-router combo, it's normal that most of my previous post made no cence to you, I was presuming access to the router's web like configuration page.

My solution would be to get an ethernet based ADSL modem and router or a real ADSL modem-riouter combo.
The ethernet based solution will be more effecient as it don't use your CPU to process the communication, the router and ethernet adaptor will do most of the work.
The Belkin N wireless modem router you are thinking about looks like a good candidate for your needs.

Electro
June 2012

Hi Electro, thanks for your reply

I can't find any controls for controlling the output levels ? when it's working the signal strength is showing full but as the modem/router is only about 12 ft from where I'm using the laptop so I'd expect that??

The unit supplied by talktalk is a "speedtouch 330" the one I was looking at replacing it with is a "Belkin N wireless modem router"

There are a couple of other wifi's showing on the "available wireless networks" but none are showing as higher signal level as mine? again nothing showing as to be able to "change channels?"

My desktop and the printer are hard wired into the router, so it's only one laptop at a time that is using the wifi

When I got the router all I had to do was plug it in, as it came pre configured, all I had to do was enter my username.

Most of the time I'm using the xp laptop, the win 7 is only used when I've finnished some photo editing and uploading them to the likes of flikr not sure about that homegroup on the win 7 one? and if I'm updating the Iphone/pod touch the laptops are off.

After that you have totally lost me!

nigel
June 2012

Check the transmission power level. You may need to set it a notch higher.

Any other WiFi networks in the area? You may have a conflict with some. Check if you can use another channel.

Make sure that the devices and the router are set to use the same encription and protocols.

Make sure that the passwords and encryption keys are valid. If you are not sure, suppress the actual keys and generate new ones. You may need to use an USB key to transfert the encription keys: They can be quite long and use non-printable characters.

As long as you use the same router, changing the broadband modem is realy plug and play.

If you change the router, you'll need to configure it the same way as the previous one.

It's always good to have at least one device that is normaly connected by whire. If one of your computers is usualy used in a given location and is rarely if ever moved around, have that one whired.
This will give you a reliable connection and reduce the need WiFi bandwidth.

DON'T EVER suppress the beacon. Doing so will force any connected devices to broadcast it's credentials UNENCRYPTED and in PLAIN TEXT every 10 to 20 seconds. They will do that ALL the time no mather where you are. This makes it realy easy to aomeone to "impersonate" your network or pretend to be one of the allowed device to your network.

On Windows 7, DON'T use homegroup as you have an eterogenous environment, it only work if ALL devices are computers running Windows 7. It's goal seems to be to lock you into using only Windows 7.

Electro
June 2012