Product Reviews

If you've subscribed to BTopenworld's USB ADSL service, your life will almost certainly have been blighted by the Alcatel SpeedTouch USB modem. This bizarre green, stingray-like device has become infamous for its problematic Mac support. If you're running Mac OS X, you'll have been forced to use beta drivers that are buggy enough to leave the kernal in a permanent state of paranoia.

However, salvation may be at hand in the form of Hermstedt's WebShuttle DSL. Hermstedt bills it as the only ADSL modem dedicated to the Mac, and it shows in every detail, from the design of the case to the implementation of the drivers. The sleek white-and-grey box is in marked contrast to the PC-oriented SpeedTouch USB. And the manual has, as you would expect, exclusively Mac screenshots.

High-speed shuttle

Installing the WebShuttle is a very straightforward procedure. The hardware only requires that you connect one port to a USB socket on your Mac and the other to the ADSL box on your wall. However, it's this simplicity that leads to the only real complaint with the WebShuttle. Like the SpeedTouch, the WebShuttle draws its power from the USB bus, avoiding the need for an external power supply. One of the problems with the SpeedTouch is that it soaks up so much power from the USB bus, it becomes unstable unless it is connected directly to the Mac.

The WebShuttle appears to draw even more power

ADVERTISEMENT

than the SpeedTouch, because we weren't able to connect it to a powered USB hub at all. Our attempts resulted in the WebShuttle's LEDs failing to light and the Mac not being able to detect the modem.

This was quickly resolved by plugging the WebShuttle directly into the back of our Power Mac G4. However, with only two powered USB sockets, and the keyboard plugged into the other, there's no room for the multiplicity of other USB devices we usually connect through a hub. Our solution was to plug a powered hub into the second keyboard USB socket, but this clearly wasn't ideal. We would have liked to see the option for a separate power supply.

Installing and configuring the driver software is straightforward, although we did have to make several attempts before the Mac (running OS X 10.1.5) would see the WebShuttle and allow it to connect. Once installed, the WebShuttle appears in the Internet pane in System Preferences in OS X, and the Modem control panel in Mac OS 9 and below. You then just select it as the device you want to use to connect and use your regular ADSL connection settings.

The colour purple

In use, the WebShuttle DSL has proved extremely stable. Unlike the SpeedTouch, which needs to be manually connected every time you boot your Mac in OS X, it connects automatically at startup. Just as importantly, it stays connected. If you're the kind of user who likes to keep tabs on things by checking LED status indicators, there are five of them, which change colour from purple to yellow, depending on certain circumstances.

During several weeks of testing we haven't experienced a single kernal panic, which frankly is a blessed relief after using BT's preferred USB modem, the SpeedTouch, for a number of months.

We like the Hermstedt WebShuttle DSL a great deal, and it's certainly made a huge improvement to our ADSL experience. If we were able to plug it into a hub rather than use the only free powered USB port on our G4, it would be perfect.