This morning I just changed my home Internet broadband service from Cyber Express to i-CABLE. My Cyber Express connection was a 6Mbps PPPoE DLS (PPPoE = Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet, DSL = Digital Subscriber Line) link and I was paying HK$410 (~US$52) per month (yes, expensive!). The new i-CABLE connection is a (theoretical) 10Mbps cable broadband link and I'm paying HK$278 (~US$35) per month. Both services provide unlimited service around the clock so basically my connection is permanent, although my IP address changes periodically (usually once every 1 or 2 weeks). The dynamic IP addressing isn't a problem even though I have an AXIS 2100 Network Camera because I have a ZyXEL Prestige 314 broadband router that supports a feature called "DynDNS". DynDNS is a service that allows me to always access my (private) home network camera at http://webcam.justintom.com even though my home IP address changes. When the Prestige 314 detects a new IP address, it automatically updates name servers at DynDNS.org which hosts my justintom.com domain so that webcam.justintom.com resolves to the new IP. I also have a 1st-generation Apple AirPort Base Station (hooked up to the Prestige 314) that provides 802.11b wireless networking for my (company-owned) Apple PowerBook G4 and Windows 2000 desktop PC (not branded, MSI motherboard and AMD Athlon processor).

Actually, all I wanted to say was that the the switchover from the DSL connection to the cable connection went very smoothly — better than I expected! After the i-CABLE technician came in and installed the Terayon cable modem and hooked it up to the Prestige 314, I telnetted to the Prestige 314 and changed the Internet Access Setup (menu 4) from PPPoE to Ethernet encapsulation and 5 seconds later I was using the new connection!

Here's a photo of my home network setup right now. The UFO-looking thing is the AirPort Base Station, the blue thing just below is the newly installed cable modem, and the white box below that is the DSL modem (NEC ATU-R300, soon to be returned to Cyber Express). The dark gray box on the right is the Prestige 314 broadband router. Not included in the photo is my AXIS 2100 network camera (Linux-based Web server and Ethernet port built in) that's connected via Category-5 cable directly to the Prestige 314. Pretty cool, huh?! ;)