Bring back the BT Voyager 105!

[#1]

It's official. BT stopped making this because Vista doesn't support USB modems. I think it's invaluable. Should Plus Net source more?
[Moderators Note by Daniel (Assos) Duplicate Post Removed]

[#2]

Why anyone would want to use an ADSL modem instead of a router is just beyond me.  Routers are so much easier to set up, a whole order of magnitude safer, more reliable and without the annoying pseudo-dialup connection routine.
Also, I haven't ever come across a router that looks like a cow-pat sitting on your desk. 

[#3]

It's so much easier then setting up any router I've ever used. No power supply, no messing about in some pseudo webpage setting up user names, no port forwarding to enable direct access without a firewall.

[#4]

What percentage of users using a modem do you think are properly secured against intruders?
Routers have a inherent advantage in that they give a far higher level of security out of the box.

[#5]

Rikaitch- seconded! I thought that the Voyager 105 was good too - easy to set up and to use. Had to buy a router when I went onto Vista this year and it was a pain.

[#6]

Poppy: At least one person agrees! I spend each and every day helping people with broadband etc, and the fact of the matter is the 105 is so much easier then routers.

[#7]

The Voyager 105 is nice and simple, like the Speedtouch frog before it but there does come a time for a replacement. With most new PCs coming with Vista (the 105 doesn't work with Intel Macs either) and BT no longer supplying it makes sense to supply something else.

[#8]

Look, get a proper router. You can buy a decent router with firewall, attack prevention, url blocking, port filtering, dmz, vpn - all for less than 60 quid these days.
USB might be easy for joe bloggs but making something easy is no excuse for not making it secure.
Some ISPs do provide good routers with sensible defaults and the user/pass already entered so the user just plugs it in - and the ISP can easily phone arrange RA into it.
Much better solution IMHO !

[#9]

You are obviously an expert and find things easier than me (I am just a standard computer user like many others) and having used both types, I still think the USB Voyager is a nice simple piece of equipment to install.

[#10]

A lot of the router manufacturers are doing a lot of work to make the router setup as simple as can be. The Voyager routers we are supplying at the moment are pretty easy to set up for basic connection. You can then choose if you want to use all the extras or just ignore them.

[#11]

Don't get me wrong, I have a router! It's great, I agree having a hardware firewall is safer, and it's nice to be able have 4 computers connected to one connection. The point is, it's never going to be as easy to setup as the 105.

[#12]

This is purely personal preference, modems like the voyager 105 are pretty simple to set up but then again my previous router was too. All that was needed was to plug it in, browse to the homepage and there was a setup wizard that did the rest.
The BT voyager routers are even easier, on most of them it is simply a case of browsing to voyager.home and then entering your connection details.

[#13]

The free 1-port routers PN are currently shipping are the easiest to set up I've ever seen.  Plug in using the PC's Ethernet port, switch on, browse to a web page or IP address, enter username & password, connect.  Job done.  No software or drivers to install, no pseudo-dialup, Internet connection established before the PC has even booted, infinitely more secure.
Given a free choice I would probably opt for something else, but with a router (a) that simple to set up, and (b) free, there's simply no reason for anyone to risk the insecurity of an ADSL modem.

[#14]

I have to admit, the free router that plus.net provide is excellent, have been using one for the last week while mine was on loan to somebody.  They are easy to set up and don't seem to drop a connection that often.

[#15]

The Voyager 105 is listed in Microsoft's "Windows Vista Hardware Compatibility List" available starting at winqual.microsoft.com as "ALE150-D51 (BT Voyager 105 USB ADSL Modem)". That list has about 30 ADSL modems listed as compatible with Vista x64 (64-bit) and about 80 compatible with Vista x86 (32-bit). I think it is a myth that USB modems are simply not compatible with Vista. In that list, the Voyager 105 is labelled as "unknown" which means Microsoft don't think it works with Vista.
BT may simply think the Voyager 105 is not worth the cost of writing new drivers for Vista, they may have legal problems or technical reasons why it is not practical (lost the specification, perhaps?). But don't blame Vista itself! (Microsoft list this item as made by Askey Computer Corp, so presumably BT didn't design it, just badged it.)
I think it is shabby that a product which was still being sold less than a year ago has not had Vista drivers released. It means that I can't use my Voyager 105 as a standby for troubleshooting broadband problems, for example.