Infinity now available, last minute questions though

[Ixel]

My day (or at least I hope anyway) is finally here where I can order Infinity, hoorah! I'm in the process of getting my migration authorisation code from BE currently, but would like to know some final details.

1) I've seen some people say on other forums in posts dating months back that they've been able to order the business version of Infinity on a residential landline without switching the landline to be a business landline too, does anyone know if this is true (or would I be best phoning BT business sales and asking them, or open a live chat even)?

2) I want a static IP for some purposes such as hosting a small gameserver or website. I know some people will say "why don't I buy a dedicated or VPS server with a 100mbit connection?" but I already have one, and with Infinity am hoping to get rid of it eventually. The traffic used definitely doesn't exceed more than 10mbit up throughout the MRTG graphs I've seen, and my line estimation for Infinity Option 2 is 58.5mbit down and 19mbit up. The question is would I be wise paying £5+VAT/month for it or do you think there's another option I should look into (except dynamic DNS as that won't cut it if I want to run a small Team Fortress 2 server (since adding to favourites stores by IP address, not hostname/domain name)? Also want a static IP for things like my SIP server so I can receive incoming calls from my other landline number via VOIP (to my Cisco SPA502G).

2a) If I'm not talked out of going for the business version of Infinity and get a static IP, would I be wise in taking advantage of the 5 static IP's for the same monthly price as 1 static IP (I could assign one IP to each device in the house, I know how to do this with my Cisco 887VA router (which I intend to use on Infinity as a VDSL2 device as well), or do I require some reasonable justification for wanting 5 static IP's (or simply put, would I be greedy in doing that)?

To summarise, the reasons I am keen on getting the business version is, from what I understand, basically:

- Support is in the UK, not India

- Support have a quicker turnaround for fixing problems on a business package than a home package

- Prioritised traffic?? Maybe?

- Static IP address

I think that's the main questions I had.

[MHC · Accepted solution]

I have my business broadband, originally ADSL (through various options) and now VDSL (Infinity) delivered over a residential telephony line.       There are no problems with it and when I call to report a fault, all that teh business support team cannot see is my telephony usage or bill which is not as issue.

I'm not an expert on IP so cannot answer those questions.    But you do not need to justify 5 static IP address just order them.

As you will be running a web server, make sure you consider the 80/20 package rather than the 80/10.

Does your Cisco have an Ethernet WAN input?    The BT modem has an Ethernet output which feeds the router directly and you will need to be able to use the BT modem if a fault appears.    Use of your own modem, is not supported on any VDSL service.

- Support is in the UK, not India    YES - you just need to understand a Scots accent and they don't bite!

- Support have a quicker turnaround for fixing problems on a business package than a home package YES

- Prioritised traffic?? Maybe?  Apparently so,  but I rarely see a slow down of congestion,

- Static IP address     YES

[Ixel]

Many thanks for the prompt reply!

I see, yes I do intend to get the 80/20 service to make full use of my estimated upload especially. I'll get the 5 static IP's then since they appear to cost the same as 1 static IP :). I can setup my Cisco router to do what you suggested, and I do understand that if I use the Cisco router BT can't offer assistance whilst I'm using it, but I could always switch back to the OR modem in the event a line fault occurs, run it for a few days and analyse the results to determine whether BT need to intervene. I would prefer to have an all-in-one solution if possible, rather than having a router and a modem on the wall, just a router which has a built-in modem, not to mention one power socket spare :).

I'm just waiting for BE to give me the MAC then I'll proceed with signing up. Do you think I should phone sales when I signup or is it reasonably reliable to order online?

[MHC]

I don't like the "all-in-one" solutions, in general, as the porcessor is running the modem interface and demodulating the incoming signal, handling the switching, DHCP, DNS &c &c.  I prefer to have a modem running as a modem and a router providing teh routing and switching.   That said, I would possibly make an exception for CISCO, but with run of the milll low end business and consumer brands - keep them seperate.

I few months back I persuaded a colleague to put a switch into his network, rather than using teh internal switch in the modem/router which just provided the interface and DHCP - local network performance improved drastically.  We initially did it with the switch ports set to 100Mbps which showed the drastic improvement, then removing teh restriction and allowing Gb connections it was even better.

[Ixel]

Interesting. I'll take what you said into consideration then, I may very well try the following setups before considering whether to use Cisco as the 'all-in-one' solution I mentioned.

I have currently got the following setup:

- Cisco 887VA router connected to ADSL2+ (also supports VDSL2 as mentioned)

- Netgear 8-port gigabit switch connected to the Cisco 887VA LAN0 port (so I can have a local gigabit network)

- Cabling is cat6 where devices support 1Gbps, and cat5e where devices only link to the switch at 100Mbps.

Some ideas for future setups when going Infinity:

- BT OR Modem w/ Cisco router connected to the LAN port on the BT OR Modem, and the Netgear switch connected to the Cisco router LAN0 port

(or possibly..?)

- BT OR Modem w/ Netgear switch connected to the LAN port on the BT OR Modem, Cisco router kept as a spare perhaps, or sold (I doubt this would work?)

But I'll bear in mind what you said about one device handling multiple functionalities, where as having two seperate devices balances any load between them, one device doing one job, the other device doing the other job. As for network equipment, I generally try and run the best brands possible such as Cisco or Netgear at a crunch.

[kimura]

I agree. I myself am a victime of these all in one devices used at business. The NAT translations were so high that it used up almost 90% of the CPU utilization. 

It's best to have a dedicated device for safety purposes. 1H of downtime is h*ll in business.