New modem

I need a new VDSL modem... my old HG612 has died and I'm using my spare one, also a bit elderly. That means I'm without a spare if that dies as well...

It'll be feeding an Asus RT66NU (also a bit elderly, but I've got a spare ) on an 80/20 connection, ISP is IDNet if it makes any difference.

Looking at the DrayTek Vigor 130, any comments, gotchas, better ones?

TIA.

The Vigor 130 is often recommended. I've had one for a year or so and it works flawlessly. Generally requires no configuration, just plug in and switch on.

if you do not want to go down the combine router/modem road, then why not have a look on ebay for another HG612?

I still have my Huawei Echolife HG612 from which I got from ebay when I started having problems for £20. It is now in its box just in case it is needed again.

In reply to a post by billford:

I need a new VDSL modem... my old HG612 has died and I'm using my spare one, also a bit elderly. That means I'm without a spare if that dies as well...

The Zyxel VMG1312-B10A is an option and I bought one to replace my HG612 about 6 months before I gave up VDSL. It worked fine in bridge mode, and is quite small. I had slightly slower sync, although its apparently the same chip as in the HG612.

I never got to the bottom of why my iPhone backing up to iCloud caused a resync with the Zyxel, which went away when I went back to the HG612. Everything else was fine.

I used it with my Asus RT-AX88U router.

In reply to a post by ashdown:

The Vigor 130 is often recommended. I've had one for a year or so and it works flawlessly. Generally requires no configuration, just plug in and switch on.

Thanks, a user's opinion is better than any amount of perusing adverts and spec sheets

Since posting I've also seen it mentioned in a couple of users sigs; I'll get one ordered.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

if you do not want to go down the combine router/modem road, then why not have a look on ebay for another HG612?

I thought about that, but it would likely be about as old as the one I'm using and any electrolytic capacitors etc (which is, I suspect, the problem with mine) equally approaching the wrong end of their bathtub curve.

OTOH they're cheap, so I may go down both routes; two spares is always better than one

In reply to a post by jchamier:

The Zyxel VMG1312-B10A is an option

A bit pricy to use just as a modem, and it wouldn't be much use to me as a spare router because it doesn't do 5GHz... but thanks for the thought.

I have two 130's on active service. Highly recommended especially if used in conjunction with a DrayTek router.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

The Zyxel VMG1312-B10A is an option and I bought one to replace my HG612 about 6 months before I gave up VDSL. It worked fine in bridge mode, and is quite small. I had slightly slower sync, although its apparently the same chip as in the HG612.

Different chips in the 2 devices.

The Zyxel VMG1312-B10A has a Broadcom 63168
The Huawei HG612 uses a much older BCM6368.

My Zyxel 1312-b10a synced about 3Mb higher than my HG612.
It synced higher than any other modem on my line and is a favourite over on the kitz forum.
It's useless as a modem router combo. I only recommend it as a bridge modem.

The BCM63168 is 1 of Broadcoms high end SoCs.

The BCM63138 is their newest and current flagship dsl chipset.

+1
AAISP supplied my VMG1312-B10A with a slightly modified firmware (bug fixes that later went into the mainstream) pre-configured by them in router mode using my (live on Plusnet at the time) HG612 as the modem. (The strange reason given when I queried why being that was to correspond with my existing historical setup ).

I didn't like its WiFi so after a bit swapped it out for my ASUS RT-N66U.

A while later when my HG612 died I changed the Zyxel to modem mode (not easy at the time) as the instructions were basically how to convert it from modem/router to router! Even the definition of "bridge mode" meant the incoming WAN signal was from modem rather than a phone line! Then fed it into the ASUS.

I found an immediate increase of 3Mbps from around 50Mbps on the HG612.

Another vote for the Zyxel VMG1312-B10A.

I picked one up off a well known auction site when my HG612 started whining for £20, brand new.

I was sync'd at around 73/74Mbps with my HG612 @4db SNR. DLM kept trying 3db and reverting back to 4db.

I'm now getting pretty much full line speed on the Zyxel - 110days uptime.

I'm using it as a modem - no routing.

Edited by wolvesmad (Mon 05-Oct-20 09:13:30)

The Zyxel VMG8924-B10 does 5GHz.

In reply to a post by billford:

I'll get one ordered.

Arrived about half an hour ago (Amazon Prime), but according to their order tracking page it's still sitting in the Swindon warehouse and will arrive by 9pm

Looks a lot prettier than the HG612, but we've had a lot of disconnects (leccy cuts and BT/OR work in the cabinet) over the last few days so I'll leave it for a day or so on the off-chance that the DLM is feeling grumpy.