Do standard household routers work for T1 lines?

[PremiumG]

Do I use DHCP? Do I use an assigned IP?

I've never setup a T1 connection before, let alone share an internet connection though it. I have two days to learn how!

 

[spidey07]

It depends...

Strictly speakin...no. They will not nor will the ever be able to route a T1.

Now if your T1 provider gives you an ethernet port then sure you can use a consumer router.

 

[PremiumG]

i haven't been to the site yet, but I think it is a standard ethernet port on the wall socket. Not sure.

I will be able to use the wireless router?

 

[PremiumG]

Also, since this is a business, should I recommend a "more professional" wireless router rather than the $50 ones?

 

[randal]

I had typed out a long drawn out whizbang about what to do.

The short answer is to call your provider and have the recommend you a solution. Make sure you tell them your budget - if they are worth a darn they will accomodate you.

On an aside, T1s regularly terminate in the same RJ45 jacks that Ethernet does - the plug is the same but the wiring is different.

 

[PremiumG]

The business owner has told me that his provider is his landlord, who has only offered to open another T1 line for him for his additional PCs which means a lot more in extra monthly costs.

Can you link me to the long drawn out whizbang?

 

[randal]

Whoa whoa whoa. Open another T1 line for his additional PCs? That makes no sense, unless he is adding 50-100 PCs. If he needs extra Network Plugs to hook up extra computers to, then the problem is simple to solve - get extra ethernet ports.

I would be super ultra extremely surprised to hear that a Landlord is delivering an actual T1 to a tenant. I'm 99.9% sure it's a T1 upstream but with Ethernet connections to the tenants.

With that said, I assume that it is the Landlord's T1 that he has somewhere, which he then turns into ethernet to give to his customers. If his tenants need extra network connections, he rakes them over the coals for the $$$. If that is the case, pick up any old wireless router and plug it into the Landlord-provided Ethernet port and you're ready to rock.

If he, for some crazy, unholy, all-is-wrong-with-the-world reason, delivers real T1s to his tenants ... well, you have bigger problems then

 

[PremiumG]

Can you link me to the long drawn out whizbang?

 

[randal]

No, I cannot as I had typed it up on here and then deleted it. It involved things like ... if it is a real T1 delivery check out the Netopia R5300 - they are cheap and capable T1 routers.

The real answer though is talk to the provider/Landlord and bring back more information. Guesses from an Internet forum will not help you.

 

[nweaver]

basic answer...T1 terminates different, and you need something with a T1 connection, such as a Cisco 1700 Series router with a t1 WIC

 

[blemoine]

i may be wrong but it sounds to me like the landlord is going to run another cat5e cable instead of another T1. in that case you can plug a regular SOHO router and you should be good to go. in the event that they do run another T1 i would highly suggest getting a professional to setup the router. Alot of times the ISP (which is not going to be the landlord unless they are renting space from a telco company) with offer a service to manage the routers. that is what you want to do. good luck either way

 

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: nweaver
basic answer...T1 terminates different, and you need something with a T1 connection, such as a Cisco 1700 Series router with a t1 WIC

Agreed.

Secondly, you lease a T1 connection from your phone company. You lease internet connectivity from your ISP. Sometimes they can be one and the same, but sometimes you'll have an entirely different ISP. Regardless, your ISP will need to tell you what your T1 interface settings need to be as far as L2/L3.

This whole setup sounds really convoluted, as is usually the case when you have "landlord" or even desktop gurus talking about WANs. I'm guessing that if you talk to everyone in question, including the provider, that you'll find out that the situation isn't what it seems at all...

 

[PremiumG]

Originally posted by: blemoine
i may be wrong but it sounds to me like the landlord is going to run another cat5e cable instead of another T1. in that case you can plug a regular SOHO router and you should be good to go. in the event that they do run another T1 i would highly suggest getting a professional to setup the router. Alot of times the ISP (which is not going to be the landlord unless they are renting space from a telco company) with offer a service to manage the routers. that is what you want to do. good luck either way

I think this is the case, the landlord just plugs up another Cat5e cable.

i guess i just plug in the router to where the PC plugs into the cat5e, and be good to go?

whats the difference between the SOHO routers and these $500+ Cisco routers?

 

[thirdlegstump]

whats the difference between the SOHO routers and these $500+ Cisco routers?

About $450 or so.

 

[Boscoh]

Originally posted by: PremiumG

Originally posted by: blemoine
i may be wrong but it sounds to me like the landlord is going to run another cat5e cable instead of another T1. in that case you can plug a regular SOHO router and you should be good to go. in the event that they do run another T1 i would highly suggest getting a professional to setup the router. Alot of times the ISP (which is not going to be the landlord unless they are renting space from a telco company) with offer a service to manage the routers. that is what you want to do. good luck either way

I think this is the case, the landlord just plugs up another Cat5e cable.

i guess i just plug in the router to where the PC plugs into the cat5e, and be good to go?

whats the difference between the SOHO routers and these $500+ Cisco routers?

Please, lets not confuse ourselves even more here. A T1 connection will use an RJ45 and it can use CAT5e cabling too. The difference is in the wiring inside the plug, and the signals that travel over the wires. Saying that it's an ethernet plug or CAT5e really means nothing. You need to get specific, concrete, 100% answers "Is it a T1 or is it Ethernet" from your landlord. There is a big difference, and the difference can cost you a lot of money.

You can put a patch cable wired up for a T1 line, and a patch cable wired up for an Ethernet connection side by side and unless you know the wiring schematics for each, you wont be able to tell the difference. They will look exactly the same to most people.

 

[Boscoh]

Originally posted by: deathkoba

whats the difference between the SOHO routers and these $500+ Cisco routers?

About $450 or so.

Not really. There are greater differences than that, but probably not many you'll notice as a home user.

 

[PremiumG]

Originally posted by: Boscoh

Originally posted by: PremiumG

Originally posted by: blemoine
i may be wrong but it sounds to me like the landlord is going to run another cat5e cable instead of another T1. in that case you can plug a regular SOHO router and you should be good to go. in the event that they do run another T1 i would highly suggest getting a professional to setup the router. Alot of times the ISP (which is not going to be the landlord unless they are renting space from a telco company) with offer a service to manage the routers. that is what you want to do. good luck either way

I think this is the case, the landlord just plugs up another Cat5e cable.

i guess i just plug in the router to where the PC plugs into the cat5e, and be good to go?

whats the difference between the SOHO routers and these $500+ Cisco routers?

Please, lets not confuse ourselves even more here. A T1 connection will use an RJ45 and it can use CAT5e cabling too. The difference is in the wiring inside the plug, and the signals that travel over the wires. Saying that it's an ethernet plug or CAT5e really means nothing. You need to get specific, concrete, 100% answers "Is it a T1 or is it Ethernet" from your landlord. There is a big difference, and the difference can cost you a lot of money.

You can put a patch cable wired up for a T1 line, and a patch cable wired up for an Ethernet connection side by side and unless you know the wiring schematics for each, you wont be able to tell the difference. They will look exactly the same to most people.

Can I tell by looking at the color sequences? (comparing the patch cable and the cable that goes into the ethernet port in wall?).. The client doesn't know if its ethernet, but he says the jack is the same. I haven't been to the site to check it out yet.

 

[MixMasterTang]

T1's require a CSU/DSU which now days is normally integrated into cisco routers with a T1 wic card. The $50.00 soho routers you are talking about can't handle this. Even if you had an external CSU/DSU it hooks to T1 routers through a serial interface on the router.

 

[Joony]

You can pick up a Cisco 2610 with a T1 WIC for around $300 on ebay. It has a one port ethernet interface to hook up to a switch.