ZyXel NBG4604 stability issues

I got a ZyXel NBG4604 modem from my ISP (Eclipse) when I upgraded to their FTTC package.

I'm seeing a lot of stability issues with it (it came with the latest firmware I've found on ZyXel's site)

- It will spontaneously restart once or twice a day
- It *seems* to get into a state where throughput drops and becomes wildly variable until I do a cold boot (but this might still be ISP-related)

I'm using it in as passive a mode as I can get, fronting my "real" router, and I have the wifi turned off.

Do others have bad experiences with this kit? I've seen a very few posts suggesting the PSU isn't up to it.

Thanks

Alan

This might sound daft, but what is it for?

From the ZyXel website it isn't a modem at all, but a pure wireless router. You have the wireless turned off and call another router that is fed from it your real one, so it seems to be unnecessary.

I assume you have turned off DHCP in one of the routers and sorted out the IP addresses?

Edit - Ah! I expect you didn't want to bother setting up all the stuff from your ADSLx router which doesn't have a WAN port. I'd bite the bullet and set it up fully and ditch the "real" one unless it has some vital feature the ZyXel doesn't.

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 02-Oct-13 11:36:40)

Is the "real" one not an OpenReach modem? The OP has declared that he has got FTTC after all.

So the ZyXel could be used as a router which is what it is!

I suppose that's a possibility. If so, it would be even better than mixing up bits and bytes.

You too?

Nice to know it isn't just me. (got mine from Clara.net) - they've already replaced it once. I kept the PSU so I have two - the restarts happen with both.

I'm accepting the fact that it's a £40 POS that is given away for a reason.

Asus N65 incoming I think - pricey, but nice.


J

In reply to a post by Brammers:

You too?

Nice to know it isn't just me. (got mine from Clara.net) - they've already replaced it once. I kept the PSU so I have two - the restarts happen with both.

I'm accepting the fact that it's a £40 POS that is given away for a reason.

Asus N65 incoming I think - pricey, but nice.


J

Aha. Yes, glad it's not just me, too.

Mine was £6 from Eclipse - giveaway rubbish.

Did I really call it a modem in the original post? No, it's a router.

Topology is as earlier posters said - the ZyXel is working as a router going into an OpenReach FTTC modem. I've been using mostly because I wanted to run the line with Eclipse-supported kit until I was happy (there is history here).

And an Asus N65 or N66 is on my shpping list too, with DDWRT.

Edited by deleted (Fri 18-Oct-13 22:35:05)

My 4604 finally died - rebooting every 6 minutes if I tried to put traffic through it.

Got a N66U running the latest Merlin firmware.

Fast. Really fast. 5Ghz wireless is interesting ... all those channels and no one is using them! Plus twice the bandwidth of 2.4Ghz.

Haven't done much else with the router yet, but it is early days!

J