Hello! I am working on switching my WAN carrier, and I have 2 newly installed point to point T1 circuits to test. I am also getting a new Colocated cabinet for the "hub" end of the circuits. My question is, is there a simple way to test that these are working out?

I have some hardware to use for this purpose, I have a 2811 router with a T1 WIC, and a T1/E1 WIC, installed it for use at the hub end, and for my 2 remote sites I have... 1 each an 1841 router with a T1 DSU/CSU WIC installed.

Basically I figure I can just setup the serial connections for the T1 S/0 interfaces, and then should I create a subnet to test with? I am worried if I put them on my current subnet that things may end up getting stuck in an infinite loop...because my current colocated facility is still online with a router in place and my existing T1s.

Also I've not set one of these up before, do I just setup the encoding and media type on the T1 interfaces, turn on a routing protocol like EIGRP, and plug them in to a switch and then get a machine on either end?