US DSL Modem in Europe

[hufaunder]

I am traveling to Europe and will have to bring my own DSL modem. I
have an Alcatel Speed Touch Home DSL modem from Earthlink. Will this
modem also work in Europe?

Thanks

 

[Jim Howes]

I am traveling to Europe and will have to bring my own DSL modem. I
have an Alcatel Speed Touch Home DSL modem from Earthlink. Will this
modem also work in Europe?

Assuming by europe you mean UK (other countries may vary (although the jury is
out on that one), and you did post to uk.telecom.broadband) then...

If it can support G.DMT modulation, and PPP over ATM, and of course has a power
supply that will work with 230V, then probably, yes.

If any one of those is a no (apart, perhaps from the power supply angle which
may be irrelvant if it is a USB device) then probably, no.

 

[PhilT]

I am traveling to Europe and will have to bring my own DSL modem. I
have an Alcatel Speed Touch Home DSL modem from Earthlink. Will this
modem also work in Europe?

DSL isn't dialup - unless there is a service provisioned on the phone
line (10 days notice required) the modem will be as much use as a
housebrick. If there is a service there will be a modem/router anyway
so what are you hoping to achieve ?

Phil

 

[NoNeedToKnow]

I am traveling to Europe and will have to bring my own DSL modem.

Why?

(Also, Europe is a fairly big place, and some parts still may have limited
services, or different services, to any you have at home... Surely you
will be better off not expecting anything you are using at present to
work, and setting up with suitable (local) kit wherever you end up.)

 

[xfile]

Hi,

Can't speak for other countries and cities, but traveled to Paris a few
times with a Buffalo wireless router (and eventually left there) for
Internet sharing in the household.

Other than bringing a converter for power adapter, I experienced no issues,
and that's why I left there for good.

 

[hufaunder]

xfile,

Thanks for the response. That was actually quite useful. In my case I
will use the modem in Germany and Switzerland. Does anybody have any
experience with these countries or at least has some educated guess?

For everybody else, yes, there is already ADSL there. The problem is
that the modem there only has a USB connection which makes it
impossible to hook it up to a wireless router.

 

[Ivor Jones]

xfile,

Thanks for the response. That was actually quite useful.
In my case I will use the modem in Germany and
Switzerland. Does anybody have any experience with these
countries or at least has some educated guess?

For everybody else, yes, there is already ADSL there. The
problem is that the modem there only has a USB connection
which makes it impossible to hook it up to a wireless
router.

Germany uses Annex B (ADSL over ISDN) which is incompatible with Annex A
(ADSL over analogue POTS) as used in the UK and most other places. A
modem/router designed for Germany won't work elsewhere. There are hardware
differences, not just firmware.

There used to be a device made which will do what you want, it was the
Draytek Vigor 2200USB and was a 4-port router with a USB connection for a
modem. It was designed for use in cases where ISP's restricted users to
their own USB modems. This no longer applies so the device isn't available
any more although you might find one on eBay if you're lucky.

Ivor

 

[dave @ stejonda]

There used to be a device made which will do what you want, it was the
Draytek Vigor 2200USB and was a 4-port router with a USB connection for
a modem. It was designed for use in cases where ISP's restricted users
to their own USB modems. This no longer applies so the device isn't
available any more although you might find one on eBay if you're lucky.

Item 170041710175 - I'm not the seller.

 

[Ivor Jones]

"dave @ stejonda"

Item 170041710175 - I'm not the seller.

That's the beast. They were very expensive when they came out, ISTR paying
over £150 for mine..! I only sold it because there were incompatibilities
between it and the ATA (Grandstream HT486) I was using at the time.

Ivor

 

[NoNeedToKnow]

In my case I will use the modem in Germany and Switzerland.

Sorry, no knowledge of what's in use in Switzerland, but in Germany
you might need to have Annex B compatibility. I was just looking
at some low cost units for some friends, and happened to notice
the ZyXEL Prestige 660R-61C Compact Router is capable (and costs
under US$ 50... in case you find you want to buy something when
you are in Europe), it can also handle ASDL 2/2+. Enjoy your stay.

 

[Graham]

[snip]

Germany uses Annex B (ADSL over ISDN) which is incompatible with Annex A
(ADSL over analogue POTS) as used in the UK and most other places. A
modem/router designed for Germany won't work elsewhere. There are hardware
differences, not just firmware.

Question: do all German subscribers have ISDN, so the only possibility is
ADSL over ISDN?? If not, presumably you have to find out which is provided
at your chosen location.

 

[Ivor Jones]

[snip]

Germany uses Annex B (ADSL over ISDN) which is
incompatible with Annex A (ADSL over analogue POTS) as
used in the UK and most other places. A modem/router
designed for Germany won't work elsewhere. There are
hardware differences, not just firmware.

Question: do all German subscribers have ISDN, so the
only possibility is ADSL over ISDN?? If not, presumably
you have to find out which is provided at your chosen
location.

Now that I don't know, I'll have to ask a friend who lives there if he
knows.

Ivor

 

[Gundemarie Scholz]

[snip]

Germany uses Annex B (ADSL over ISDN) which is incompatible with Annex A
(ADSL over analogue POTS) as used in the UK and most other places. A
modem/router designed for Germany won't work elsewhere. There are hardware
differences, not just firmware.

Question: do all German subscribers have ISDN, so the only possibility is
ADSL over ISDN?? If not, presumably you have to find out which is provided
at your chosen location.

No, not all German subscribers have ISDN. Deutsche Telekom for a long
time had a strategy though that made it sound as if you can only get
ADSL in a bundle with ISDN.

To translate freely from http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annex_B :
Annex B is designed for digital telephone lines (ADSL over ISDN). ADSL
is located in a high frequency band, the area below is used for
transmission of ISDN or analogue signals (both work as the frequency
area is broader than in Annex A). The bandwidth needed for ISDN is 140
kHz, the banwidth for analogue telephony only around 20 kHz.

Germany is the only country in the world that exclusively uses Annex B
(ie Annex B also for analogue lines aswell as for ADSL connections
without traditional voice telephony (NGN, pure DSL, bitstream)). In the
rest of Europe mostly Annex A gets used, or in countries with a higher
rate of ISDN lines (such as Switzerland, Scandinavia, Belgium, the
Netherlands or Austria) there is a mix of Annex A (on analogue lines and
for pure ADSL/bitstream) and low-range and low-bandwidth Annex B
(exclusively for ISDN lines).


Other random thoughts that might be relevant:

In Germany you have PPP over Ethernet rather than PPP over ATM as in the UK.

The splitter (microfilter) is always provided by the provider. It goes
into the master socket that requires a TAE plug
(http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAE) and provides one RJ-45 socket for the
modem and a new TAE socket where either the ISDN equipment or your
analogue telephone. RJ-11 plugs like UK modems use won't work.

The ADSL modems usually support multiple connections, ie if I attach a
hub to my modem and have a friend who visits me, then we both can
connect at the same time using our individual logins and getting one IP
address each. Bandwidth is shared though then.

Regards,
Gunde

 

[Ivor Jones]

message
[snip]

No, not all German subscribers have ISDN. Deutsche
Telekom for a long time had a strategy though that made it sound as if
you
can only get ADSL in a bundle with ISDN.

To translate freely from
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annex_B : Annex B is designed for digital
telephone lines (ADSL
over ISDN). ADSL is located in a high frequency band, the area below is
used for transmission of ISDN or analogue signals (both
work as the frequency area is broader than in Annex A). The bandwidth
needed
for ISDN is 140 kHz, the banwidth for analogue telephony only around 20
kHz.
Germany is the only country in the world that exclusively
uses Annex B (ie Annex B also for analogue lines aswell
as for ADSL connections without traditional voice telephony (NGN, pure
DSL,
bitstream)). In the rest of Europe mostly Annex A gets
used, or in countries with a higher rate of ISDN lines (such as
Switzerland, Scandinavia,
Belgium, the Netherlands or Austria) there is a mix of
Annex A (on analogue lines and for pure ADSL/bitstream)
and low-range and low-bandwidth Annex B (exclusively for
ISDN lines).

Other random thoughts that might be relevant:

In Germany you have PPP over Ethernet rather than PPP
over ATM as in the UK.
The splitter (microfilter) is always provided by the
provider. It goes into the master socket that requires a TAE plug
(http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAE) and provides one RJ-45
socket for the modem and a new TAE socket where either
the ISDN equipment or your analogue telephone. RJ-11 plugs like UK
modems use won't
work.
The ADSL modems usually support multiple connections, ie
if I attach a hub to my modem and have a friend who visits me, then we
both can connect at the same time using our individual logins and
getting one IP address each. Bandwidth is shared though
then.
Regards,
Gunde

That's useful information, thanks..!

Ivor

 

[Dennis Ferguson]

[good stuff]

Thanks for this post, it was a model of clarity. There's only one
bit which confuses me:

The splitter (microfilter) is always provided by the provider. It goes
into the master socket that requires a TAE plug
(http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAE) and provides one RJ-45 socket for the
modem and a new TAE socket where either the ISDN equipment or your
analogue telephone. RJ-11 plugs like UK modems use won't work.

Do you know why an RJ-11 plug won't work? RJ-11s are essentially
4-pin RJ-45's, the plugs fit into RJ-45 sockets and connect properly to the
two center pairs, so an RJ-11 "not working" suggests that either German
DSL is placed on one of the outer two pairs or something other than
the connector is the problem. I've also never seen an ADSL modem
with anything other than an RJ-11 socket for the telephone interface,
no matter what the national telephone connector looked like.
Are German modems really different, or do you have to use a magic
cable with an RJ-11 on one end and an RJ-45 on the other?

Dennis Ferguson

 

[hufaunder]

Wow, that I call a detailed post. Makes things much clearer. Thanks.

[snip]

Germany uses Annex B (ADSL over ISDN) which is incompatible with Annex A
(ADSL over analogue POTS) as used in the UK and most other places. A
modem/router designed for Germany won't work elsewhere. There are hardware
differences, not just firmware.

Question: do all German subscribers have ISDN, so the only possibility is
ADSL over ISDN?? If not, presumably you have to find out which is provided
at your chosen location.

No, not all German subscribers have ISDN. Deutsche Telekom for a long
time had a strategy though that made it sound as if you can only get
ADSL in a bundle with ISDN.

To translate freely from http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annex_B :
Annex B is designed for digital telephone lines (ADSL over ISDN). ADSL
is located in a high frequency band, the area below is used for
transmission of ISDN or analogue signals (both work as the frequency
area is broader than in Annex A). The bandwidth needed for ISDN is 140
kHz, the banwidth for analogue telephony only around 20 kHz.

Germany is the only country in the world that exclusively uses Annex B
(ie Annex B also for analogue lines aswell as for ADSL connections
without traditional voice telephony (NGN, pure DSL, bitstream)). In the
rest of Europe mostly Annex A gets used, or in countries with a higher
rate of ISDN lines (such as Switzerland, Scandinavia, Belgium, the
Netherlands or Austria) there is a mix of Annex A (on analogue lines and
for pure ADSL/bitstream) and low-range and low-bandwidth Annex B
(exclusively for ISDN lines).


Other random thoughts that might be relevant:

In Germany you have PPP over Ethernet rather than PPP over ATM as in the UK.

The splitter (microfilter) is always provided by the provider. It goes
into the master socket that requires a TAE plug
(http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAE) and provides one RJ-45 socket for the
modem and a new TAE socket where either the ISDN equipment or your
analogue telephone. RJ-11 plugs like UK modems use won't work.

The ADSL modems usually support multiple connections, ie if I attach a
hub to my modem and have a friend who visits me, then we both can
connect at the same time using our individual logins and getting one IP
address each. Bandwidth is shared though then.

Regards,
Gunde

 

[Fat Kev [Fat B@stard]]

Has Germany got anything that we all have so that we can understand
them!!

Fat Kev

[snip]

Germany uses Annex B (ADSL over ISDN) which is incompatible with Annex A
(ADSL over analogue POTS) as used in the UK and most other places. A
modem/router designed for Germany won't work elsewhere. There are hardware
differences, not just firmware.

Question: do all German subscribers have ISDN, so the only possibility is
ADSL over ISDN?? If not, presumably you have to find out which is provided
at your chosen location.

No, not all German subscribers have ISDN. Deutsche Telekom for a long
time had a strategy though that made it sound as if you can only get
ADSL in a bundle with ISDN.

To translate freely from http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annex_B :
Annex B is designed for digital telephone lines (ADSL over ISDN). ADSL
is located in a high frequency band, the area below is used for
transmission of ISDN or analogue signals (both work as the frequency
area is broader than in Annex A). The bandwidth needed for ISDN is 140
kHz, the banwidth for analogue telephony only around 20 kHz.

Germany is the only country in the world that exclusively uses Annex B
(ie Annex B also for analogue lines aswell as for ADSL connections
without traditional voice telephony (NGN, pure DSL, bitstream)). In the
rest of Europe mostly Annex A gets used, or in countries with a higher
rate of ISDN lines (such as Switzerland, Scandinavia, Belgium, the
Netherlands or Austria) there is a mix of Annex A (on analogue lines and
for pure ADSL/bitstream) and low-range and low-bandwidth Annex B
(exclusively for ISDN lines).

Other random thoughts that might be relevant:

In Germany you have PPP over Ethernet rather than PPP over ATM as in the UK.

The splitter (microfilter) is always provided by the provider. It goes
into the master socket that requires a TAE plug
(http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAE) and provides one RJ-45 socket for the
modem and a new TAE socket where either the ISDN equipment or your
analogue telephone. RJ-11 plugs like UK modems use won't work.

The ADSL modems usually support multiple connections, ie if I attach a
hub to my modem and have a friend who visits me, then we both can
connect at the same time using our individual logins and getting one IP
address each. Bandwidth is shared though then.

Regards,
Gunde

 

[Gundemarie Scholz]

[good stuff]

Thanks for this post, it was a model of clarity. There's only one
bit which confuses me:

The splitter (microfilter) is always provided by the provider. It
goes into the master socket that requires a TAE plug
(http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAE) and provides one RJ-45 socket
for the modem and a new TAE socket where either the ISDN equipment
or your analogue telephone. RJ-11 plugs like UK modems use won't
work.

Do you know why an RJ-11 plug won't work? RJ-11s are essentially
4-pin RJ-45's, the plugs fit into RJ-45 sockets and connect properly
to the two center pairs, so an RJ-11 "not working" suggests that
either German DSL is placed on one of the outer two pairs or
something other than the connector is the problem.

The modem cable I was provided with here in the UK only uses the center
pair, the other two slot pairs of the plug are empty. But when I fly
over for Christmas I am going to take that cable with me for testing
purposes. I think the only cables with RJ-11 plugs are the ones that
came with my old analogue modems, and I am not sure they would work. I
don't think you even can buy the kind of cables needed for ADSL modems
in the UK in a normal store, last time I looked they explicitly named
the kind of analogue modem they were suitable for. Plus a lot of those
modem cables would have RJ-11 on one side and TAE on the other side to
fit into German phone sockets.

I have to dig through some more web pages to be able to answer your
question sufficiently.

I've also never seen an ADSL modem
with anything other than an RJ-11 socket for the telephone interface,
no matter what the national telephone connector looked like.
Are German modems really different, or do you have to use a magic
cable with an RJ-11 on one end and an RJ-45 on the other?

No, I use normal patch cables for the connection between modem and
splitter. My model has three different sockets, all of which are RJ-45.
A picture can be seen here:
http://arktur.schul-netz.de/wiki/index.php/Bild:Dsl_modem.jpg

Regards,
Gunde

 

[Gundemarie Scholz]

[quoting adjusted]

Gundemarie Scholz wrote: [technical stuff snipped]
Has Germany got anything that we all have so that we can understand
them!!

Does beer count? (o:

Regards,
Gunde

 

[Ivor Jones]

[quoting adjusted]

Gundemarie Scholz wrote: [technical stuff snipped]
Has Germany got anything that we all have so that we
can understand them!!

Does beer count? (o:

Indeed it does, I had some particularly good Schlösser when I was in
Düsseldorf in May

Ivor