Free Computer Consultant ………. Daily Insights

Last week a friend of mine called to say that their ISP had changed their IP address and now, even though they could now get on the internet, they could not access their network printers.

Here is what I think happened (because no one really knows for sure):

• LinkSys router had non-standard IP scheme and static PUBLIC (WAN) IP address programmed in
• The ISP changed something that required a change in the WAN setting
• When the user called in to tech support, she knew nothing about routers, just needed help getting online
• ISP Tech Support directed her to RESET the LinkSys router to FACTORY DEFAULTS, knowing that this would set the WAN port to DHCP (or automatic addressing) which the technician knew would connect the LinkSys router to their network
• What the technician didn’t know or CARE was that she was WIPING OUT other important network settings

I was able to determine (since nothing was labeled) by looking at the PORT under PROPERTIES in the workstation printer configuration what the STATIC IP address of each printer was.

I changed the workstation from DHCP network addressing to a STATIC address that was on the same subnet as the printer - in this case: 192.168.254.0/255.255.255.0.

I was then able to access each printer by putting the IP address of the printer into the address bar of a web browser and configuring the network settings to use the new subnet of 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0.

I put a label on each device with a static IP address, indicating the address.

Since there is no server at this office, the printers were configured on each workstation so I had to go to each one and change the PORT address for each of the networked printers.

Get a label maker and use it. It will save you (or someone else) some time and trouble down the road. And ALWAYS be wary of what a tech support technician tells you!

I will tell anyone who will listen. Consumers want broadband with more bandwidth. DSL in the United States, with some exceptions, is falling behind. Those who think selling “up to 1 Mbps”, which usually averages only half that, for $49.95 per month are just waiting for a viable competitor to take away their business.

There are more viable competitors everyday. Europe and Asia get it. Some parts of the US get it. The rest don’t.

5 mln Europeans to connect to broadband via mobile in 2007 by ZDNet’s ZDNet Research — European mobile broadband market will reach 5 mln connections at the end of in 2007. Austria and Sweden are leading the way with hundreds of thousands of consumers signed up to affordable high-speed Turbo 3G network services delivering data rates up to 7 Mbps, Berg Insight says. The total value of the European mobile broadband [...]

That’s right, 40 Gigabits per second internet connection. Not DSL or Wireless, but Fiber Optic internet.

Where? Who? If you are guessing Bill Gates or someone other rich tech guru on the west coast of the United States, you would be wrong. Very wrong.

If you guessed a 75 year old grandmother in Stockholm, Sweden, you would be right.

Unfortunately, the United States is NOT leading the way in broadband. I wish it were.

You can read the whole story here.

Wireless is wonderful technology. Whether speaking of WiFi for local area networks or wireless broadband for internet, the technology and usefulness keeps getting better.

Nonetheless, I usually tell people that wireless is great but a cable is always better. Now, I have been a proponent of wireless since before the turn of the century (sounds weird to use that phrase, meant something totally different to me when I was growing up). In fact, I saw Bernie Ebbers of Worldcom fame - now of prison fame - deliver the keynote address at the WCA convention in New Orleans in Summer 2000. What a pompous jerk, and a poor choice for keynote speaker, but I digress.

But a recent incident with one of my clients has me rethinking the advantages a partner of mine and I were telling potential investors years ago. Wireless makes a great broadband connection, but also a fantastic backup to a wired connection.

Enter the backhoe. On a stretch of roadway so known for water main breaks it defies all logic why the city, while replacing almost all of the roadway, doesn’t go ahead and replace all of the water manes at the same time. (Job security for later?)

Thursday morning a water main breaks. Shortly thereafter a city employee, who apparently doesn’t have to call J.U.L.I.E to mark utilities before digging, cuts through a primary telephone line artery. Because my client has a fractional T-1, their internet actually has priority over the phone lines. Friday around noon, the internet comes back up. Late Friday, some phone lines are operational.

Since everything is soaked, the repairs take longer and their are spotty problems at least through Monday night. Tuesday morning and now everything appears back to normal. If they had Wireless broadband, possibly with VoIP phones? Only the bathrooms would have been out of service.