SpeedTouch 330

The Speedtouch line of modems, produced by Alcatel/Thomson SA, is a type of basic USB ADSL modem. They are primarily shipped among various broadband providers in the United Kingdom such as Karoo, Orange, Onetel, Tiscali and Tesco.

What now is called the Speedtouch 330 by Thomson used to be the Speedtouch USB while Alcatel still manufactured Speedtouch products. The Speedtouch USB and 330 are in fact the same product, and only differ in appearance: software for one will work on the other.

The standard shipment consists of two Speedtouch UK413 ADSL broadband filters, one 6P2C modular telephone cable, and the modem itself.

The Speedtouch 330 exists both in ISDN and POTS versions (330(i) vs. 330).

The Speedtouch UK website has made the Vista drivers, release 4.1, available on their site by download or CD order on April 2007.

Common Misconceptions

Although the Speedtouch 330 is used for ADSL Broadband Internet, it does not appear on the user's computer as a LAN or High-Speed Internet Connection, but rather as a Dial-up connection. Users must therefore initiate a dial-up connection every time they want to connect in order to get onto the Internet.

The Speedtouch 330 is in fact a very basic modem, as opposed to a router modem. It can only grant connectivity to one computer at a time, and does not have any built-in features such as IP routing, a firewall, NAT, or WLAN Wireless Internet.

Being a USB modem, and not an Ethernet modem, drivers and software must be installed in order for the Speedtouch USB to work. The absence of an Ethernet interface also means that a Local Area Network, or LAN, cannot be built using this modem, even with the use of a USB capable router or a USB Hub. Unless you use a computer capable of performing NAT (Network Address Translation) and configure it to do so, or perform a similar server-based network masquerading technique such as an HTTP or SOCKS proxy, access is limited to one computer.

Compatibility Issues

They are notorious among Linux users, since no mainstream Linux distribution will allow the modem to be used without a dialup script and a non free firmware. There are, however, a number of utilities and articles available assisting Linux users in getting the modem to work. [http://www.squeezedonkey.com/wiki/linux/ USB Modem Manager]

It seems that the only Linux distributions that make installing a speedtouch 330 easy are [http://www.pclinuxos.com/ PCLinuxOS] , which will find the modem during startup and allow you to configure all settings through the GUI, and IPCop; a Linux firewall appliance.

The Speedtouch 330 also does not currently work with the latest generation of Macintosh computers running an Intel processor, as appropriate drivers have not yet been developed (and are unlikely to be developed).

The Speedtouch 330 normally will not work with Windows 98 and below, either. Although it will work on Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows ME, users sometimes have trouble installing the modem. This is because the USB interface was introduced under Windows 98, and does not work as well as it does under more advanced Operating Systems such as Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

Furthermore, the Speedtouch 330 was one of the last DSL modems to be supported by Microsoft Windows Vista, and many ISPs are still having problems with the modem. Kingston Communications' Karoo ISP have faced heavy criticism for their solutions to the compatibility problem, going as far as to saying on the Vista support page "Even with the new drivers, there is only a 50% chance that this will work. Due to this we have stopped selling the Speedtouch 330 modem." There is then a link to their shopping page where it is recommended you simply upgrade your DSL modem to a wireless router. [ [http://www.karoo.co.uk/helpandsupport/vista/ Karoo.co.uk] Karoo's Microsoft Windows Vista Support Page]

ee also

* Speedtouch ADSL modems and related hardware

References

External links

* [http://www.squeezedonkey.com/wiki/linux/ Linux USB Modem Manager]
* [http://www.speedtouch.com/support.htm Official SpeedTouch Website - support page]
* [http://www.speedtouch.co.uk/330.asp Official Speedtouch UK Website - Download Center]
* [http://jadeallen.com/toms/index.asp?DoAction=ReadDay&ID=386 Fast Mirror of Vista Speedtouch drivers (as well as the older beta drivers)] .
* [http://steve-parker.org/speedtouchconf/ Popular script to get the Speedtouch 330 to work under Linux]
* [http://text.dslreports.com/faq/alcatel FAQ by DSLreports]
* [http://www.nubz.org/old/alcatool.html Alcatool]
* [http://www.linux-usb.org/SpeedTouch/ Speedtouch Linux tutorials]
* [http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Alcatel_Speedtouch_modem How to Configure a Speedtouch 330 Modem in Gentoo]
* [http://www.inpc.ro/erori-clicknet-dialup/totul-despre-mdm330 Tips and Tricks, problems, drivers, Speedtouch 330, Clicknet ro ]