A client in central London has been waiting for several weeks for BT to install a fibre cable into his building. The original request was for a 30Mb circuit on a 100Mb bearer with a 2Mb SDSL backup connection. Thus far only the 2Mb SDSL connection is live, and the client still doesn’t have a date for the main circuit installation.
Aside from these business circuits, the client has also had 2 be* lines installed. Until recently, I was unaware of be* but their circuits offer upto 24Mb download and 2Mb upload for the Be pro service. They provide a rebadged Thompson SpeedTouch 585 ADSL2+ wireless router with a 4 port 100Mb switch, which has been marketed as a ‘bebox’.
The original intention for these be* circuits was for them to be used by non-core business activities, therefore not impacting the 30Mb internet circuit. However, when I received a call yesterday telling me that the 2Mb SDSL circuit had failed, it was these be ADSL lines that were to provide a quick solution.
I gave the bebox the same IP address as the network default gateway, and connected it to the network. I disconnected the business circuit routers so there would be no IP address conflicts. Within seconds, the users had internet connectivity through the bebox.
The only service that has been compromised by this is VPN access to the network. Therefore as a permanent solution, it’s not well suited for organisations reliant on VPN connections.
In short, the be* circuits provided a good backup to the failed BT circuit, and I’ll probably keep one as a standby line for the future.
Posted by Noel 