Router

[Hessah]

Anyone using a Billion 7800N modem router? (are routers country specified?!)

And can anyone help me make sense of this from an ISP site:

How Fast Is Internode Easy Naked?

The maximum possible speed of an Easy Naked service will depend on a number of factors. These include whether you are connected via an Agile DSLAM or an Optus Wholesale DSLAM, the length and quality of the copper pair that links your premises to your local telephone exchange, and the type of ADSL modem or router that you are using.

A description of these factors is available on this page, as well as a graph that provides an indication of theoretical maximum speed at various line lengths.

When referring to this information please note:

if connected via an Agile DSLAM, the maximum theoretical speed is 24/1 Mbps using ADSL2+ Annex A. If you have a suitable line and ADSL modem/router, you can select the ADSL2+ Annex M profile which has a maximum theoretical speed of 24/2.5 Mbps. Note however that the default profile continues to be 'high stability'—please refer to this page on the options for changing from the default profile once your service has been established.
if connected via an Optus Wholesale DSLAM, the maximum theoretical speed is 20 Mbps / 820 kbps using ADSL2+ Annex A. The Annex M profile is not available.

What does all the reference to DSLAM mean? Is it essentially saying that the ADSL line can be connected to their own lines, rather than an Optus line which is slower?

[Triumph]

DSLAM allows the effective range of internet service to be extended. In other words, it allows the company to offer better quality service to customers without significant additional infrastructure costs.

It definitely looks like an engineer wrote this, because there's virtually no layman's terms lying around. Either way, it seems like it doesn't matter which hardware (Agile or Optus) you use, as you will have access to ADSL either way, but it seems like Agile is just superior hardware.

[Krowley]

My that all seems pretentious. (The definition, not the above response)
All it says is how factors can affect speed.
Triumph has summed it up fittingly.