Speedtouch
Encyclopedia
SpeedTouch is the brand name of a line of networking equipment produced by Alcatel
and Technicolor SA. Before 27 January 2010 Technicolor was known as Thomson SA.
Under the SpeedTouch name Alcatel and Technicolor retail a variety of equipment including ADSL and ADSL2+ modem
s, residential gateway
s, wireless
access equipment, VoIP handsets and SHDSL interconnect equipment. They are a major brand in home and business networking products.
Speedtouch Pro
SpeedTouch USB and SpeedTouch 330
SpeedTouch PC
TG508
ST516
ST536
ST546
TG605
ST610 / ST610i / ST610s / ST610v
ST570
ST580
TG582
ST585
TG587
T576
TG608
ST620
TG670
TG672
TG703
TG712
ST780
TG782
TG784
TG797
TG870
TG872
In 2002 San Diego Supercomputer Center
of the University of California
reported their testing of Alcatel SpeechTouch devices that identified multiple security issues. They said:
Alcatel
Alcatel Mobile Phones is a brand of mobile handsets. It was established in 2004 as a joint venture between Alcatel-Lucent of France and TCL Communication of China....
and Technicolor SA. Before 27 January 2010 Technicolor was known as Thomson SA.
Under the SpeedTouch name Alcatel and Technicolor retail a variety of equipment including ADSL and ADSL2+ modem
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
s, residential gateway
Residential gateway
A residential gateway is a home networking device, used as a gateway to connect devices in the home to the Internet or other WAN.It is an umbrella term, used to cover multi-function networking computer appliances used in homes, which may combine a DSL or cable modem, a firewall, a consumer-grade...
s, wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
access equipment, VoIP handsets and SHDSL interconnect equipment. They are a major brand in home and business networking products.
Single-user modems
SpeedTouch Home- A modem which provides bridged and PPTP connections for Internet connectivity. The modem uses an EthernetEthernetEthernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
cable to connect to a PC, or may be connected to a routerRouterA router is a device that forwards data packets between computer networks, creating an overlay internetwork. A router is connected to two or more data lines from different networks. When a data packet comes in on one of the lines, the router reads the address information in the packet to determine...
that supports PPPoE.
Speedtouch Pro
- Same as the SpeedTouch Home, but with added Point-to-Point ProtocolPoint-to-Point ProtocolIn networking, the Point-to-Point Protocol is a data link protocol commonly used in establishing a direct connection between two networking nodes...
and basic NAT (Network Address TranslationNetwork address translationIn computer networking, network address translation is the process of modifying IP address information in IP packet headers while in transit across a traffic routing device....
) functionality.
SpeedTouch USB and SpeedTouch 330
- A basic ADSL USB modem, without router features and capable of speeds up to 1Mbit up and 7Mbit down. Due to its USB connection it requires drivers to work and is currently not supported well on LinuxLinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
and not at all on intel-powered MacsMacintoshThe Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
or on Windows 95Windows 95Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
and earlier.
SpeedTouch PC
- A PCI extension card ADSL modem. This modem is more or less obsolete and has never been distributed in large numbers.
TG508
- A single ethernet port ADSL2+ gateway with built in firewall.
Multi-user modems with built-in NAT router
ST510 1/4 ports /ST530(+USB)- Widely distributed ADSL modems with built in NAT router, firewallFirewall (computing)A firewall is a device or set of devices designed to permit or deny network transmissions based upon a set of rules and is frequently used to protect networks from unauthorized access while permitting legitimate communications to pass....
and UPnP. The ST510 is available with either 1 or 4 Ethernet ports. The ST530 only provides 1 Ethernet socket, but can also be connected through USB.
ST516
- The first ADSL2+ modem in the SpeedTouch line-up. As with the ST510, this modem has a built in NAT router, firewall and UPnP. Firmware versions R5.3 and up also provide functionalities such as ALG (Application Layer Gateway) for VPN connections, remote management of the webinterface and Dynamic DNSDynamic DNSDynamic DNS or DDNS is a term used for the updating in real time of Internet Domain Name System name servers to keep up to date the active DNS configuration of their configured hostnames, addresses and other information....
. The middle number in the model number "5x6" indicates the number of Ethernet ports available on the modem. Firmware version 6.2.29.2 does not support PPTP (or GRE forwarding) when the ST516 is used in router mode.
ST536
- A multi ethernet and USB port gateway with built in firewall.
ST546
- A four ethernet port gateway with built in firewall.
TG605
- A four ethernet port gateway with built in firewall designed for business use, VLAN support and remote management.
ST610 / ST610i / ST610s / ST610v
- A line of business DSL routers launched in 2003, with optional IPSec and SIP support activated by software keys. Fixed WAN options are ADSL over POTS (ST610), ADSL over ISDN (ST610i), SHDSL (ST610s) and VDSL (ST610v). They are available either with a 4-port 10/100 LAN switch, or with an ATMF-25 LAN or WAN interface (except the 610v)
Wireless modems
TG185- A device that adds wireless transmission capabilities to an existing modem though an ethernet connection.
ST570
- The first wireless modem in the SpeedTouch line. The ST570 features 802.11b wireless networking (11 Mbit/s) and can be secured using WEPWired Equivalent PrivacyWired Equivalent Privacy is a weak security algorithm for IEEE 802.11 wireless networks. Introduced as part of the original 802.11 standard ratified in September 1999, its intention was to provide data confidentiality comparable to that of a traditional wired network...
and MAC filteringMAC filteringIn computer networking, MAC Filtering refers to a security access control method whereby the 48-bit address assigned to each network card is used to determine access to the network....
. The ST570 has 1 Ethernet port.
ST580
- A more advanced wireless modem. The ST580 has 802.11g wireless networking and can be secured with WPAWi-Fi Protected AccessWi-Fi Protected Access and Wi-Fi Protected Access II are two security protocols and security certification programs developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance to secure wireless computer networks...
encryption.
TG582
- The TG582 was introduced in 2010 and offers four ethernet ports and wireless, plus TR-691 capabilities for remote access and management.
ST585
- Similar to the 580, but with added ADSL2+ support and better WPA encryption. Four ethernet ports and wireless antennae. Widely distributed by Tiscali, O2, AOL and PlusNet in the UK. O2 rebrands this as "O2 Wireless Box II", and O2's BeThere subsidiary calls it the "BeBox".
TG587
- A wireless modem designed for streaming multimedia content via 802.11n wireless. It includes four ethernet ports and a built-in firewall.
T576
- Similar to the 585, but with only 1 Ethernet port. Also mainly distributed by AOL UK.
TG608
- A wireless gateway with built in firewall designed for business use, VLAN support and remote management.
ST620
- A four ethernet port gateway with wireless antennae and a built in firewall designed for business use.
TG670
- A gateway aimed at business users with four ethernet ports and 802.11n wireless.
TG672
- A gateway aimed at business users with four ethernet ports and 802.11n wireless. Similar to the TG670, but with multi-line DECT telephony, plus a gigabit LAN port for connection to a corporate network.
TG703
- Four port ADSL2+ gateway with high-speed Internet access and video service together with telephony.
TG712
- Four port ADSL2+ gateway with wireless.
ST780
- ADSL2+ high-speed Internet access and video service together with telephony, wireless with WEP2, 4 Ethernet ports, 2 analog phone ports for internal sip client, 1 pstn connector.
TG782
- ADSL2+ high-speed Internet access and video service together with telephony, wireless with WEP2, 4 Ethernet ports, 2 analog phone ports for internal sip client, 1 pstn connector, NO client usb, but it has a usb host for DECT extension.
TG784
- A wireless modem designed for VoIP and Home Networking Connectivity by LAN, WAN and Wi-Fi. It includes five ethernet ports, a USB 2.0 master and a built-in firewall.
TG797
- A wireless ADSL2+ modem designed for VoIP and Home Networking. It includes four ethernet ports, two USB 2.0 master, Digital Enhanced Cordless TelecommunicationsDigital Enhanced Cordless TelecommunicationsDigital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications , usually known by the acronym DECT, is a digital communication standard, which is primarily used for creating cordless phone systems...
and a built-in firewall.
TG870
- A four ethernet port gateway with wireless antennae, integrated 3G Femto Access Point allowing 8 simultaneous users and a built in firewall designed for multimedia services over a residential network.
TG872
- A four ethernet port gateway with wireless antennae, integrated 3G Femto Access Point allowing 8 simultaneous users and a built in firewall designed for multimedia services over a residential network. Allows remote management.
Criticism
SpeedTouch gateways have been criticized because the algorithm used by the manufacturer to set both the default SSID and the corresponding WEP/WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK passwords was very easily compromised, meaning that wireless access to SpeedTouch models that still use the default password is easily possible.In 2002 San Diego Supercomputer Center
San Diego Supercomputer Center
The San Diego Supercomputer Center is an organized research unit of the University of California, San Diego . Physically, SDSC is located on the east end of Eleanor Roosevelt College on the campus of UCSD....
of the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
reported their testing of Alcatel SpeechTouch devices that identified multiple security issues. They said: