Third Party Router

Hi All,

I am looking (possibly) to replace my BT SmartHub, mainly to overcome the 14 day reboot cycle and the remote firmware upgrades.

I know I can google around, but I am keen to know what others might be using on here (tried and tested kind of thing).

I have BT TV so it needs to support multicast, this limits me a lot.

I have no real "need" to change the SmartHub, it does the job well.
Just for a test I have opted out of BTWiFi and I am keen to see if this disables the 14 day reboots as others have mentioned on the BT forums.

So the Smart Hub still does the 14 day reboot?
I have yet to get to the 14 days due to either a firmware upgrade that required a reboot or for some reason the hub needed rebooting.

It won't be the BT Wi-Fi, due to we have always had that disabled since the ADSLx days and our HH4 had always did the 14 day reboot.

You might of already said in another post, but what connection if it for ,FTTP or FTTC and what package?

I have also been thinking about this for a while now, all I have to hand is a FRITZ!Box 3390.

But I am not too sure if it can handle my whole connection which if FFTP Infinity 4.

It would be nice if it could due to it was very fast compared to the HH4 that we was using at the time for our ADSL 2+ connection.

Paul

Edited by PaulKirby (Thu 05-Jan-17 12:05:30)

If you've got money to burn then the Billion 8900AX, Tplink VR2600 or Netgear D7800 are all superb routers - all are 4x4 mu-mimo and the Billion and the tplink are both Broadcom chipset based.

Otherwise the Tplink VR900 and Billion 8800NL are excellent cheaper models though are only 3x3.

Whatever you do, stay away from Asus combined modem/routers as they are very unstable especially on vdsl2 lines.

I concur about the Billion 8800NL - I've been using it for a couple of years and it's rock solid!

In reply to a post by WelshWArrior:

I concur about the Billion 8800NL - I've been using it for a couple of years and it's rock solid!

+1 for the Billion 8800NL also

Although I now use it on my TTB connection,

I use the Smart hub 6 on my infinity. I haven't noticed the 14 day thing but it must do as the current connection time is 12 Days, 16 Hours 30 Mins 59 Secs

On my Billion I am on 26 days. That's since I replaced the TTB free router with the BIllion so it's not dropped at all.

Another vote for the Billion 8800 NL.
I've used mine on long ADSL lines and VDSL and they are excellent. I initially bought them so I could tweak the SNRM on the ADSL lines but they have also proven to be reliable on the VDSL lines too and have had no difficulty with a connection that syncs at full 80/20 and hold sync for months at a time.

BT TV - HG612 flashed with the modded firmware as the modem and my Billion 7800N as the router work with no problems for my BT TV, highly stable setup, the modem has been up for 360 days now... I reboot the router once in a while, maybe every 3 months.

To configure the Billion for BT TV ( multicast protocol) read this: https://community.bt.com/t5/YouView-Boxes/Using-a-3r...

In reply to a post by craski:

Another vote for the Billion 8800 NL.
I've used mine on long ADSL lines and VDSL and they are excellent. I initially bought them so I could tweak the SNRM on the ADSL lines but they have also proven to be reliable on the VDSL lines too and have had no difficulty with a connection that syncs at full 80/20 and hold sync for months at a time.

Nice bit of info mate - thanks

And I can but agree with you. I'm looking at mine now as it's downloading away It might only have 100mbps ports but on 80/20 is more needed? I don't transfer around home so I don't think so. It can be a pain to set up IPv6 on ( I failed at that) but my ISP does not do that yet so no probs here.

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

Hi All,

I am looking (possibly) to replace my BT SmartHub, mainly to overcome the 14 day reboot cycle and the remote firmware upgrades.

I know I can google around, but I am keen to know what others might be using on here (tried and tested kind of thing).

I have BT TV so it needs to support multicast, this limits me a lot.

I have no real "need" to change the SmartHub, it does the job well.
Just for a test I have opted out of BTWiFi and I am keen to see if this disables the 14 day reboots as others have mentioned on the BT forums.

Well for me I opted out and it did seem to stop it. I was auto opted back in about a month ago and as I said above, I have started to notice the 14 day cycle. SO I have opted out again

In reply to a post by 23Prince:

I'm looking at mine now as it's downloading away It might only have 100mbps ports but on 80/20 is more needed? I don't transfer around home so I don't think so. It can be a pain to set up IPv6 on ( I failed at that) but my ISP does not do that yet so no probs here.

Took me three hours or so on 14 Dec 2016 to get an 8800NL R2 working on AAISP IPv6/IPv4 dualstack. In modem/router mode. Rock solid ever since.

One ethernet port is gigabit. So could feed a gigabit switch if not using it as the WAN port.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 05-Jan-17 17:21:46)

Another vote for the Billion 8800NL. And i can confirm it works fine with BT TV (with a small bit of tweaking).

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by 23Prince:

I'm looking at mine now as it's downloading away It might only have 100mbps ports but on 80/20 is more needed? I don't transfer around home so I don't think so. It can be a pain to set up IPv6 on ( I failed at that) but my ISP does not do that yet so no probs here.

Took me three hours or so on 14 Dec 2016 to get an 8800NL R2 working on AAISP IPv6/IPv4 dualstack. In modem/router mode. Rock solid ever since.

One ethernet port is gigabit. So could feed a gigabit switch if not using it as the WAN port.

I feel silly, I was not aware one was GB, I just plugged it in to be honest and never gave it a second thought!

I recall a friend giving up when he tried it on AAISP - but it's great to hear someone did it

See two BQMs in my sig .

Edit. The 4am'ish spike I think is them trying to test the line, expecting their ZyXel on my end. Maybe I should tell them.

The near-midday one is me doing a router reboot just to see if by any chance that came up with a DLM improvement on my long-standing banding.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 05-Jan-17 20:28:17)

It still reboots and I'm on another hub now...
FTTC BT Infinity 1, 55Mbps.

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions this has helped me out a tonne.
I will have a good look at all the various models and go from there.
Just going to check out the 14 day reboot cycle see if there's anyway to stop it first. The Billion models seem to be the best recommended.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Thu 05-Jan-17 20:36:27)

Hi

The Draytek 2860N works for certain, its not cheap though.

Using this with my BT TV without any problems on the multicast channels.

Just make sure both IGMP Proxy & Snooping are ticked and the latest firmware is used.

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

It still reboots and I'm on another hub now...
FTTC BT Infinity 1, 55Mbps.

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions this has helped me out a tonne.
I will have a good look at all the various models and go from there.
Just going to check out the 14 day reboot cycle see if there's anyway to stop it first. The Billion models seem to be the best recommended.

Well I will try my best from rebooting my Smart Hub and will see if mine reboots after the 14 days, maybe mine will be fine due to in my case it is the ONT does the connecting and is always connected for FVA and the Smart Hub connects over the WAN Port, so maybe the Smart Hub won't reboot after the 14 days for FTTP?

Paul

Yes also the FTTH variant is different as well. It's not a big deal really as I've never actually noticed it reboot after 14 days, I have noticed firmware updates though. BT really need to stop pushing out firmware updates at 8:30PM which last 20 minutes, and right now I get one every few weeks!

I've had no performance issues with the Smarthub in fact it's probably my favourite ISP supplied router, but I do hate how it can just update itself at a whim and BT don't even let us know what the updates do.

The updates are more frustrating than the 14 day rebooting, I know this will settle down soon as it's a new device still.

My real issue with the Billion is the wireless, I am on a top floor apartment now and 2.4Ghz maxes out around 5Mbps during every evening. I actually had turned off 2.4Ghz for around 3 months as it was that useless... There are times it just grinds to a total standstill.

I note the AC version somebody provided which would be a good solution but I'm struggling to justify over £100.

For reference here is my WiFi environment:

https://s29.postimg.org/4muucspnb/IMG_0041.jpg

I have around 20 devices connected, only one is wired the rest are 5Ghz. The routers hidden inside a built in wardrobe so probably not the best location, but the master socket is here and the only socket nearby is in the wardrobe... I also mean to change this at some point.

Thanks to the person who linked me to the BT forum as I can see a full list of supported routers on there!

I am 99% certain I will change the router, probably at next payday

Well I think the only thing that might be different between the FTTC and FTTP versions of the Smart Hub is the red WAN Label and that's it, I am also certain that the firmware is exactly the same as well.

Basically it just doesn't make any sense in BT creating completely 2 different hubs when it can support ADSLx / Infinity 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Yeah I am also wondering if it is actually doing the 14 day reboot, it might in fact just be rebooting after a firmware update, due to there has been a few of them, I know my one has had 2 or 3 so far.

As for Wi-Fi, I think I am lucky here due to only 5 to 7 show up and most of them are weak signals when in doors, outside I pick up more, so I am glad we have very thick outer walls LOL.

I was looking at those Billion devices as well, but I would need a version that has about 1Gb WAN port for our FTTP connection.

I might stay with what I have so far and I could always try my FRITZ!Box 3390 later on, but I don't think it would be up to the job.

Paul

Went for a netgear D6400 after seeing my friend has 300 days uptime on theirs.

Will let you all know how I get on. I've always been a netgear fanboy.

I also didn't want a box with external antennas.

Will be interested to hear how you get on.

Looking to get a second VDSL modem router to act as backup to or replacement for my cheap 2nd hand ZyXel VMG8924 and the 6400 looks to be a cost effective option.

TP-Link routers don't give enough GUI stats; the ASUS VDSL routers don't seem to be recommended and Billion AC routers a significant price hike up from the 6400.

The absence of external antennas and a small desk footprint make it comparatively wife friendly.as well.

Sorry for hijacking your thread but...

Huawei Echolife HG612 3B. Is it as good as people are saying (once firmware are updated, etc)

Or should I look at a newer model?

I haven't had any trouble with mine in constant use since 2011. But if it did go on the blink I would look at a Billion 8800NL R2 as a direct replacement as a modem bridge, I wouldn't bother with the router or wifi bit on my network.

Edited by deleted (Fri 13-Jan-17 08:28:43)

Nothing wrong with the HG612 perfectly adequate as an FTTC modem,

In reply to a post by hypertony:

Sorry for hijacking your thread but...

Huawei Echolife HG612 3B. Is it as good as people are saying (once firmware are updated, etc)

Or should I look at a newer model?

It is pretty good, although there are plenty of routers with built in modems now

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

It is pretty good, although there are plenty of routers with built in modems now


Yes, but I want to get rid of BT HHv5 and use modem only so I can have the USG fitted and use it to manage my network.

I believe the HG612 is now outdated in terms of performance on Huawei cabinets. Once my banding is removed I expect my new Billion 8800NL R2 to give several Mbps gain over either of mine. A figure confirmed by a ZyXel and a Draytek modem.

All three show a Max Attainable of 6-7Mbps higher than the HG612s.

Having said that, the HG612s have both been rock solid apart from the sudden unexplained introduction of banding a few months ago. That may have been down to the one in use beginning to fail, or to some unknown major one-off or short-term external disruption.

In reply to a post by hypertony:

Yes, but I want to get rid of BT HHv5 and use modem only so I can have the USG fitted and use it to manage my network.

With which statement your hijacking of he thread becomes inappropriate, along with the accompanying "apology".

A new, dedicated, thread would have been much more sensible, about your actual requirement . Far more likely to attract solutions to that than this buried in another thread about HH regular rebooting.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 13-Jan-17 09:54:48)

I did say "adequate" and nothing more.

I can get an extra 2Mbps on my line with an ECI modem and te cabinet is actually Huawei.