Win 98se and WOW as ISP

Anyone using, without problems, Win 98se on a LAN behind a NAT router with
WOW as their ISP? Their FAQ's list Win 2000 as the minimum OS. I sent WOW
support this same question and was told it is possible but they can't
guarantee speeds! Would wire my Desktop 98se into the router and use
wireless for two XP laptops.

Don

"Don/Gen" wrote in message
...
Anyone using, without problems, Win 98se on a LAN behind a NAT router with
WOW as their ISP? Their FAQ's list Win 2000 as the minimum OS. I sent
WOW
support this same question and was told it is possible but they can't
guarantee speeds! Would wire my Desktop 98se into the router and use
wireless for two XP laptops.

Don




The operating system you use to hook up to a LAN is irrelevant
as long as it has Ethernet support. (You can use DOS,if you want)


The only caveat is that *some* ISP's require you to use their software to
activate the account initially...
and the software may only run on Win2k and above.

Don/Gen wrote:

Anyone using, without problems, Win 98se on a LAN behind a NAT
router with WOW as their ISP?

Their FAQ's list Win 2000 as the minimum OS.

... was told it is possible but they can't guarantee speeds!

Be aware of the following:

1) your NAT-router will communicate with the modem (ADSL or cable -
don't know what WOW is). Assuming you set up your router
correctly, it will perform the login into your internet account.

2) once your router has performed the login and obtained an IP
address, it doesn't matter if your operating system is win-95
or anything newer. All pc's will have equal access to the net.

3) They might have said that they can't guarantee speeds because
they are assuming that your win-98 machine is built on win-98-era
hardware (Pentium 1 or 2, etc etc). It might be the case that
a PC circa 1999 might not be able to handle a 6-mbps ethernet
connection at full through-put for long.

I'm pulling some numbers out of the air here, but if your win-98 system
is at least a P2, 500 mhz machine, with 128 mb of ram, then I'd say that
your system would be able to handle the full throughput of a 6-meg ADSL
connection.

Would wire my Desktop 98se into the router and use
wireless for two XP laptops.

That's your choice, but if you have the cables and it's ergonomic for
ya, then I'd plug the laptops into the router because I just trust wires
more than radio waves to give me the best throughput possible.

"98 Guy" wrote in message ...
Don/Gen wrote:

Anyone using, without problems, Win 98se on a LAN behind a NAT
router with WOW as their ISP?

Their FAQ's list Win 2000 as the minimum OS.

... was told it is possible but they can't guarantee speeds!

Be aware of the following:

1) your NAT-router will communicate with the modem (ADSL or cable -
don't know what WOW is). Assuming you set up your router
correctly, it will perform the login into your internet account.

2) once your router has performed the login and obtained an IP
address, it doesn't matter if your operating system is win-95
or anything newer. All pc's will have equal access to the net.

3) They might have said that they can't guarantee speeds because
they are assuming that your win-98 machine is built on win-98-era
hardware (Pentium 1 or 2, etc etc). It might be the case that
a PC circa 1999 might not be able to handle a 6-mbps ethernet
connection at full through-put for long.

I'm pulling some numbers out of the air here, but if your win-98 system
is at least a P2, 500 mhz machine, with 128 mb of ram, then I'd say that
your system would be able to handle the full throughput of a 6-meg ADSL
connection.

Would wire my Desktop 98se into the router and use
wireless for two XP laptops.

That's your choice, but if you have the cables and it's ergonomic for
ya, then I'd plug the laptops into the router because I just trust wires
more than radio waves to give me the best throughput possible.

My ISP (Telstra/Bigpond) used to require a login client software on each
PC.
They then deleted that need and the Cable modem now authenticates.
I have a D-Link router with 4 LAN ports (wired) connecting 2 WinXP and 1
Win98SE computers.
The Win98SE is a 900Mhz AMD Duron with 512Mb memory and sometimes seems
faster than the 2.40Ghz core2 duo WinXP boxes :-)

Sunny wrote:

Anyone using, without problems, Win 98se on a LAN behind a NAT
router with WOW as their ISP?

your NAT-router will communicate with the modem - it will
perform the login into your internet account.

My ISP (Telstra/Bigpond) used to require a login client software
on each PC.

Because once upon a time:

a) NAT routers weren't common, or at least not commonly purchased by
residential internet users. And:

b) Cable or DSL modems didn't have http-accessible configuration
screens (or the smarts to perform their own pppoe log-in).
Resulting in:

c) the necessity to have the end customer install login software
on their own machine, which was necessary for win-98, but XP
came with built-in pppoe login capability.

"98 Guy" wrote in message ...
Sunny wrote:

Anyone using, without problems, Win 98se on a LAN behind a NAT
router with WOW as their ISP?

your NAT-router will communicate with the modem - it will
perform the login into your internet account.

My ISP (Telstra/Bigpond) used to require a login client software
on each PC.

Because once upon a time:

a) NAT routers weren't common, or at least not commonly purchased by
residential internet users. And:

b) Cable or DSL modems didn't have http-accessible configuration
screens (or the smarts to perform their own pppoe log-in).
Resulting in:

c) the necessity to have the end customer install login software
on their own machine, which was necessary for win-98, but XP
came with built-in pppoe login capability.

No. The reason was that the ISP did not want users to be running more than
one machine on the connection, so they required that the login be through a
custom application which identified the machine being used. There's no
evidence that they ever actually tracked the machine details, but they were
using this identification process to support threats of action against users
who might try to connect more than one machine.

They were eventually dragged screaming into the 21st century, but it was
long after intelligent routers were commonly available.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)

"Jeff Richards" wrote in message
...
"98 Guy" wrote in message ...
Sunny wrote:

Anyone using, without problems, Win 98se on a LAN behind a NAT
router with WOW as their ISP?

your NAT-router will communicate with the modem - it will
perform the login into your internet account.

My ISP (Telstra/Bigpond) used to require a login client software
on each PC.

Because once upon a time:

a) NAT routers weren't common, or at least not commonly purchased by
residential internet users. And:

b) Cable or DSL modems didn't have http-accessible configuration
screens (or the smarts to perform their own pppoe log-in).
Resulting in:

c) the necessity to have the end customer install login software
on their own machine, which was necessary for win-98, but XP
came with built-in pppoe login capability.

No. The reason was that the ISP did not want users to be running more than one
machine on the connection, so they required that the login be through a custom
application which identified the machine being used. There's no evidence that
they ever actually tracked the machine details, but they were using this
identification process to support threats of action against users who might try to
connect more than one machine.

They were eventually dragged screaming into the 21st century, but it was long
after intelligent routers were commonly available.

Hi Jeff,
I'm not sure how effective that would have been at preventing more than one machine
from being connected. We had a few machines connected via ADSL at work years ago,
using a log-on app on the one computer directly connected, and simply used Internet
Connection Sharing (ICS) on that machine to connect the other systems to the
Internet.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Windows, A+
http://dts-l.net/
http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm

"glee" wrote in message
...
"Jeff Richards" wrote in message
...
"98 Guy" wrote in message
...
Sunny wrote:

Anyone using, without problems, Win 98se on a LAN behind a NAT
router with WOW as their ISP?

your NAT-router will communicate with the modem - it will
perform the login into your internet account.

My ISP (Telstra/Bigpond) used to require a login client software
on each PC.

Because once upon a time:

a) NAT routers weren't common, or at least not commonly purchased by
residential internet users. And:

b) Cable or DSL modems didn't have http-accessible configuration
screens (or the smarts to perform their own pppoe log-in).
Resulting in:

c) the necessity to have the end customer install login software
on their own machine, which was necessary for win-98, but XP
came with built-in pppoe login capability.

No. The reason was that the ISP did not want users to be running more
than one machine on the connection, so they required that the login be
through a custom application which identified the machine being used.
There's no evidence that they ever actually tracked the machine
details, but they were using this identification process to support
threats of action against users who might try to connect more than one
machine.

They were eventually dragged screaming into the 21st century, but it
was long after intelligent routers were commonly available.

Hi Jeff,
I'm not sure how effective that would have been at preventing more than
one machine from being connected. We had a few machines connected via
ADSL at work years ago, using a log-on app on the one computer directly
connected, and simply used Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) on that
machine to connect the other systems to the Internet.

Jeff is correct with Telstra/Bigpond ISP, they gave out separate IP
Addresses to each PC.
(Up to 3 additional users at $1 each that gave separate E-Mail as well)
During the changeover period, that negated the logon client requirement,
they inferred that additional PC users would only be able to access E-Mail
and the bigpond account site, which proved to be bull.
As it turned out a router was not even required, because I accessed
everything through a 4 port switch from the cable modem. My router came
later for added security.

It was almost completely ineffective. There may have been a few people who
though they risked being disconnected if caught, but AFAIK it was just part
of a fear campaign that had no teeth. But the login app was so badly written
that it caused endless headaches. I lost track of how many revisions it was
up to before they finally abandoned it.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"glee" wrote in message
...
"Jeff Richards" wrote in message
...
snip

Hi Jeff,
I'm not sure how effective that would have been at preventing more than
one machine from being connected. We had a few machines connected via
ADSL at work years ago, using a log-on app on the one computer directly
connected, and simply used Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) on that
machine to connect the other systems to the Internet.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Windows, A+
http://dts-l.net/
http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm

"Don/Gen" wrote in message
...
Anyone using, without problems, Win 98se on a LAN behind a NAT router with
WOW as their ISP? Their FAQ's list Win 2000 as the minimum OS. I sent
WOW
support this same question and was told it is possible but they can't
guarantee speeds! Would wire my Desktop 98se into the router and use
wireless for two XP laptops.

Don



Dunno the specifics for your case.
Lived in Eastern Virginia and subscribed to Cox cable many years ago (2001).
Had 2 PCs connected to cable internet. One was dual boot NT/98SE. Other
one was ME version. Originally, the installer came out and connected the
modem to the NIC. Installed the software to one PC in 98SE (used DI to
backup prior to his installation). Then, used DI to backup the post
installation. Don't remember how, and what I did, but managed to configure
the preinstallation to work without their software. Noted these settings
for the Netgear NAT router (no built-in hub). This worked as well. Then,
placed a hub between PC and the router. Added the PC. Later, added a
laptop. This worked fine as well. So did the LAN, as I used shared drives.

What was a problem was when I converted one PC to XP. The network
installation was not recognized as I used netbeui protocol. Won't go into
it, but I retained the protocol and got XP to work as well.

Now? Moved to rural TX some 4 years ago. Phone modem. Still got the old
router and hub in the closet. One PC multiboot XP/ME/98SE.
--
Dave