ATT dsl and routers

Im changing form roadrunner to ATT dsl and my question is will any router work with DSL the way they work with cable modem? Or does it have to be specific for that?

thanks

 

Greetings, lamia8592.

For the most part, routers don't care - I'd be willing to bet that yours will hook up.

Give us your router make and model#, and we can tell you for sure.

 

Hi,

That's true, for the most part - but some ISP's implement consumer DSL using Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) on the WAN link (Verizon is notorious for this, the cheap bastards: Doing so saves them from having to replace/upgrade their infrastructure), and if AT&T does so in his service area, then his router needs to support it.

Most do, but the installer will need to confirm that, and configure it for his NAT/Router, if he's going to re-use his old one.

Now days, most ISP's include a NAT/router/WAP with their service as part of the startup/installation cost. It will be one that they can support, and all other things being equal, I'd advise asking about such, and consider using that, so as to minimize support issues in the future.

In any event, it's best to *ask* whether or not AT&T will support his current hardware.

Oh, and a few last thoughts: I've never seen this mentioned here, though I don't frequent Majorgeeks as much as I'd like, so I may well have missed it.

If you subscribe to an ISP that installs a NAT/Router/WAP as part of the service? You should INSIST that you be permitted to select the admin password to it, one of your OWN choosing (which you should remember/record: I generally tell people now to print it and afix it to the underside of the router (ensuring that such doesn't block any vents, of course): While it's certainly NOT "best practices", in an enterprise environment, I figure that for home use? If a stranger enters your home, you've got FAR more things to worry about than whether or not he/she is going to pick up your NAT/Router/WAP and look for a label with the admin username/password *grin*).

In addition, you should pick your own WiFi settings: SSID, and encryption settings that meet your needs, and record them as well.

And, while I'd like to encourage you all to pick the "best" for such, I understand that sometimes that isn't always possible. The key, as with most things related to computer security, is awareness, first, of the flaws in the security measures YOU choose (Because they all have flaws in one way or another, you know).

And, one final observation: Why is it that none of the people here that answer questions about securing personal Windows computers don't point out the one thing that will help most of all, at the cost of some training/education?

That is, of course, to advise that people NOT run Windows with Administrator-equivalent accounts? And instruct them how to set up their computers accordingly, and escalate privileges as needed?

Hell, I've not run a single personally-owned computer running Windows doing so since Windows 2000 Professional... and, have done the same for work systems as well: My normal, daily-use accounts have been "just plain users", locally, for over a decade now. I've NEVER had any Windows-based computer become infected, ever (which isn't to say that I don't use a good AV program, nor fail to patch my systems when learning of new Windows flaws, etc. - that would be foolish).

Granted, with UAC since Vista, it's not nearly as bad as it once was, but the issue remains, even with UAC, even under Windows 7: Given Windows defaults, the logged-in user has underlying Administrator privileges, which are mitigated to some extent by UAC prompts, certainly... but, why not just remove such entirely, by default?

Create a daily-use account, which has only user rights under Windows, one that you use primarily.

Escalate privileges, when UAC prompts, to a DIFFERENT user account/password. It's a minor inconvenience to have to do so, but the security benefits are HUGE, and are arguably better than even those provided under Linux (Using Ubuntu as an example, where all one needs to do is simply re-type their primary account password) or OS X (same/same).

Doing so entirely eliminates all but the most esoteric threats: Should one encounter a "drive-by" threat on the Web? It can't, by definition, touch the Windows system files at all, since the logged-in Windows user has only read rights to such, and can't get access to such without providing a DIFFERENT user name and password.

Malware can't write to the System registry, startup, can't attach itself to the core networking subsytem, etc.

Unless, of course, the user permits it by escalation, or encounters a zero-day remote root exploit.. those are increasingly rare, thank goodness. But, patch any and all Adobe programs to current, as soon as patches are released, as they seem to be the worst in this regard, these days.

And, yes, doing all of the above does nothing to prevent malware, etc., from infecting the non-privileged user's local profile (including its User Registry/startup)... fortunately, one has at least one backup account from which to recover from such, right? Login as such, rename the user's profile directory, login as that user again to create a new profile, then copy/move data files as needed and delete the remainder once all checks out OK.

Windows "best security" practices, in the 21st century, from a "Majorgeek before such existed" (Hi, James P! djlowe@hotmail.com - drop me a line - been a long time )

Regards,

dj