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Not to mention you can't exactly throw a Linksys router (hardware firewall) inbetween you and the wall when you are on dialup.

s/Linksys/El Cheapo/g

Neither the Multitech, nor the Apple Airport Base station, can be gotten for much under $200. In contrast, various Yum Cha ethernet routers can be found on Newegg and the like for under $25; sometimes less, if there's a rebate. I picked up a wireless router for $15 including tax after rebates from a local brick-and-mortar, just because it was too cheap to not have one. (It's currently turned on and pissing off wardrivers by running as an open "access" point... unconnected to any other network. The other open access point in the neighborhood seems to run a penetration test on anything that connects. Freindly neighborhood, huh?)

The cheapest NAT firewall for dialup would probably be the cheapest used PII PC you can find with a modem and NIC, the cheapest router or switch you can buy, and a *nix LiveCD. That would still run $100ish, and power costs might make it a false economy.

If you need such, I'd go with the Airport Base -- not because I'm an Apple fan (my job makes me use 'em, and they're nice, but I spend my own money on cheaper PC gear), but because I expect most people will eventually move off of dialup, and the Airport works just as well on DSL.

Not to mention you can't exactly throw a Linksys router (hardware firewall) inbetween you and the wall when you are on dialup.

Perhaps you've never seen one of these.

We used to sell them to customers too far out in the sticks to get anything but dialup but whom wanted extra security or the ability to network multiple machines. We even had an entire office once that did all of their billing to an AS/400 via a dialup. It was all terminal based so the dialup worked just fine. At peak hours they had 11 people all doing billing at the same time. And you know what's really sad? They could do it faster on that terminal system then any GUI that has come since.

Ditto when I worked in the insurance field. We absoletely hated the new version of our agency management system when they moved to Windows. When will interface designers learn that it's faster if you don't have to take your hands off the keyboard every three seconds?

[...] unless you can figure out a way to block ports on my modem.

Done and done. Other types of "dial-up routers" exist, but this is the one I re-found first. Again, nothing wrong with software firewalls, as I like knowing when programs try to use the network, but they aren't a magic bullet.

I spent over $300/mo between the ages of 12 and 15 connecting to BBSs worldwide and hosting a northern-Ontario FidoNET (and BoM and ACiD) node. It was a great experience and I enjoyed it tremendously. Its helped me become the network designer I am today.

As an aside, I use Multitech modems to this day for my clients for three reasons: they're technologically superior* to any other product I've found so far, they're rugged and have lots of hardware options (for rack-mounting, etc.) and most importantly, their support is outstanding.

I ran into some trouble with an MT5600BA not working with a remote fax machine with HylaFAX and the HylaFAX support people (also excellent) connected me with Multitech who then sent me a custom firmware update to fix the problem. Thanks Multitech -- worth the extra $$$ every time.

* Aside from other features you'll find in their manuals online, their modems support retraining to higher speeds as well as lower. When the line noise on a long-term connection drops the speed down to 1200 baud but then goes away, most modems will stay at 1200 baud until disconnected and reconnected. A Multitech modem will retrain up to faster speeds as it detects better SnR conditions.

I am not a Multitech droid, I just use their boxen.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not employed by Multitech nor do I have any financial interests in them.

"The last I checked, WEP stood for Wired Equivalent Privacy."

I found a few places, like this, that say either is OK:

What Type of Security is Available?

WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy a.k.a. Wireless Encryption Protocol) is data encryption defined by the 802.11 standard that was designed to prevent access to the network...

But Google finds over 20 times as many hits on "Wired Equivalent Privacy," so that's the de facto winner. I'm guessing "Wireless Encryption Protocol" is just such a good expansion of the acronym that it's sprouted up all by itself. That's actually what I had understood "WEP" to mean until 10 minutes ago. :)

For a linux-centric solution, check out the VoipBlaster, or more specifically, voip.ring.org and Fobbit.

For a ready-made setup, checkout Multitech's MultiVOIP

These units aren't the cheapest VOIP solution, but among the easiest. They come in FXO and FXS flavors, which means (check me on this) you can hookup one end to a phone company provided POTS line (FXO?) and extend that to a remote location (FXS?), or hookup one side to your PBX and another to a POTS phone at the remote office (both FXS?), or PBX-to-PBX (??), or whatever.

The have a demo. You call a toll-free number which rings into a MultiVOIP device co-lo'd at some ISP in Chillicothe, OH (I've been to Chillicothe - it's sufficiently remote to convince me that it would work beautifully over a half-decent connection). That device connects you to a (very nice, I might add) sales rep at Multitech.

For a linux-centric solution, check out the VoipBlaster, or more specifically, voip.ring.org and Fobbit.

For a ready-made setup, checkout Multitech's MultiVOIP

These units aren't the cheapest VOIP solution, but among the easiest. They come in FXO and FXS flavors, which means (check me on this) you can hookup one end to a phone company provided POTS line (FXO?) and extend that to a remote location (FXS?), or hookup one side to your PBX and another to a POTS phone at the remote office (both FXS?), or PBX-to-PBX (??), or whatever.

The have a demo. You call a toll-free number which rings into a MultiVOIP device co-lo'd at some ISP in Chillicothe, OH (I've been to Chillicothe - it's sufficiently remote to convince me that it would work beautifully over a half-decent connection). That device connects you to a (very nice, I might add) sales rep at Multitech.

For a linux-centric solution, check out the VoipBlaster, or more specifically, voip.ring.org and Fobbit.

For a ready-made setup, checkout Multitech's MultiVOIP

These units aren't the cheapest VOIP solution, but among the easiest. They come in FXO and FXS flavors, which means (check me on this) you can hookup one end to a phone company provided POTS line (FXO?) and extend that to a remote location (FXS?), or hookup one side to your PBX and another to a POTS phone at the remote office (both FXS?), or PBX-to-PBX (??), or whatever.

The have a demo. You call a toll-free number which rings into a MultiVOIP device co-lo'd at some ISP in Chillicothe, OH (I've been to Chillicothe - it's sufficiently remote to convince me that it would work beautifully over a half-decent connection). That device connects you to a (very nice, I might add) sales rep at Multitech.

MultiTech provides excellent support for the *nix community. I have used their support and/or code to bail me out of jams on several occasions.

These guys say that their v.92 modem is linux "compatible."

It also seems Zoom supports v.92 under linux. Here's a news release, I guess they've supported linux v.92 since January this year.

These guys say that their v.92 modem is linux "compatible."

It also seems Zoom supports v.92 under linux. Here's a news release, I guess they've supported linux v.92 since January this year.

For one specific reason: it supports an external modem that can be used as a backup connection.

This is less of an issue now since most of the DSL providers that were going to fail have done so, but for people using Covad who aren't confident that the company is going to live this is a good solution - you can set it up and use it as a NAT box and firewall, and when your DSL provider goes bankrupt and shuts down you can switch to a dialup or ISDN connection with minor configuration changes on the box itself.

This is also useful if it's important that you be able to get access anytime, even if the service is temporarily down.

When it's not being used as a dialup (or ISDN) connection, the serial port can also act as a single-port RAS box, supporting PPP connections into the network.

As far as having boxes outside the firewall I believe it has some support for that but it's not perfect. Specific outside ports can be mapped to particular internal machines and ports, but I don't know if it supports port ranges - I haven't kept completely up to date on the firmware updates.

For the manuals, see http://www.multitech.com/DOCUMENTS/RouteFinder/man uals.asp

I met with them at the Computer Telephony Expo a few months ago, and they were purportedly going to be coming out with a one-line personal gateway device.

Otherwise, I've personally experimented with products from DSG Technology -- and while they are not quite personal gateway level, they make some really nice and relatively inexpensive little boxes that allow you to make calls (inter-device) for essentially free

The concept of the "micro-tel" isn't that far off from a reality -- really how different is the concept than that of ham radio ?