I'll leave that to someone else if you don't mind- to say I'm unfamiliar with telnet grossly exaggerates my knowledge of it

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

ASUSWRT RT-N66U_3.0.0.4 Wed Sep 11 07:34:01 UTC 2013
admin@RT-N66U:/tmp/home/root# sh
admin@RT-N66U:/tmp/home/root# ?
sh: ?: not found
admin@RT-N66U:/tmp/home/root# /?
sh: /?: not found
admin@RT-N66U:/tmp/home/root#.

Its your basic Linux command line. So commands such as PWD or LS or CD work as expected. Since it doesn't have a modem in, there isn't any command or program to run such as xdslcmd on other devices.

You can check the standard interfaces using ifconfig and my configured local IP for the router seems to be on br0 which I assume is bridge0. The PPPoE session is on ppp0 and I have vlan1 and three non configured eth ports.

I'm pretty sure the ability to telnet (or SSH) into the router is so you can check logs, and/or run some advanced software packages. Its almost a NAS with these USB ports

Got home tonight and thought i'd do some more tinkering around.

First idea - Swap the DSL cable provided with the DSLN66U for the DSL cable I had in the Openreach modem

And as if by magic

DSL Driver Version FwVer:5.4.11.21_A_TC3095 HwVer:T14.F7_0.0
DSL Link Status up
DSL Uptime 0 days 0 hours 7 minutes 52 seconds
DSL Modulation ITU G.993.2(VDSL2)
Annex Mode ANNEX_A
SNR Down 5.8 dB
SNR Up 6.0 dB
Line Attenuation Down 0.1 dB
Line Attenuation Up 3.0 dB
Data Rate Down 30144 kbps
Data Rate Up 6725 kbps
MAX Rate Down 40736 kbps
MAX Rate Up 6731 kbps
POWER Down 4.5 dbm
POWER Up 5.1 dbm
CRC Down 0
CRC Up 0

A bit below what I had before but will try a resync at noon tomorrow

As far as I was aware there should be no difference between the DSL cables

In reply to a post by copex:

there is no reason why a one box soulition will not work as well as a modem and router, i have just setup draytek 2860 with two 80/20 connections one using the inbuilt vdsl modem and the second on the Ethernet wan via the openreach modem with no signs of slowdown, even had it at home to test and it worked flawless. though it is just two expensive for a home router.

I agree.

I manage a Draytek 2850 using its VDSL2 modem on a line that gives maximum attainable speed of 103,145kbps down and 3,7622kbps up.

It is currently synced at 79,984 down and 19,998 up.

It's at a remote site so I can't measure clean donwload speed at the moment but I'll have a look and see what it does when I'm next there. I think that when I was there for the install it was getting more than 70Mbps.

When set up correctly on a good line, I know the Cisco 887VA, which I also use, can achieve at least 72Mbps download using its internal modem - see http://hope.mx/cisco-887va-vdsl2-throughput. When I am able to put one of these on a good line I'll test it too.

Access lists, firewalls, NAT and VPNs are the sort of things that hammer all-in-one box peformance. I'm not sure that having an inbuilt modem should be a big issue. The modem will have its own chipset which shouldn't impact on main CPU performance.

While I agree there's somthing to be said for having a router and separate firewall (my configuration of choice) I can't see a router with build in modem is going to be worse for performance that a router with separate modem. Let's face it, router with inbuilt modem is the default way of connecting to ADSL services of various flavours so it can't be all bad.

I've just looked on Amazon. N66U - £72. DSL N66U £136. Gulp!

John

In reply to a post by JHo1:

I've just looked on Amazon. N66U - £72. DSL N66U £136. Gulp!

Get an openreach Huawei HG612 from eBay, and the N66U. Better combination.

In reply to a post by caffn8me:

While I agree there's somthing to be said for having a router and separate firewall (my configuration of choice) I can't see a router with build in modem is going to be worse for performance that a router with separate modem. Let's face it, router with inbuilt modem is the default way of connecting to ADSL services of various flavours so it can't be all bad.

Agreed, but ADSL was quite mature globally when the majority in the UK buy their own routers.

VDSL is a very picky and the UK ANFP protections against flooding legacy ADSL users, and the possible rollout of vectoring is a complex balance. Nobody knows if Openreach will block VDSL modems that don't participate correctly in Vectoring.

Could only find the Asus RT-N56U for £72.

If the RT-N66U is on there for just £72 then it was a bargain and has sold out.

Just updated my firmware ready for FTTC install in February and spotted a note in a mid January firmware release, that they had fixed a bug with PPPoE throughput. So be interesting to see if anyone with FTTP at over 100 Mbps is able to report better performance.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Just updated my firmware ready for FTTC install in February and spotted a note in a mid January firmware release, that they had fixed a bug with PPPoE throughput. So be interesting to see if anyone with FTTP at over 100 Mbps is able to report better performance.

Same comment from the Merlin third party firmware talking about PPPoE hardware acceleration.

Shame Sky don't do FTTP as they're the only big ISP that doesn't use PPPoE.