3rd party BT Infinity modem/router replacements

Hello all,

I am very concerned about the back doors BT has left in its router (Ports 161 & 4567) and as such prefer to install my own 3rd party modem and router.

I have done my own homework and AFAIK as long as the 3rd party modem/router supports VDSL and has a WAN port, it should be able to replace BT's modem and router with a single piece of kit.

Can anyone please confirm if the following modem/router will do the job?

http://www.ebuyer.com/291710-tp-link-450mbps-dual-ba...

Thanks.

Unless I am missing something, that is just a router, not a combined router and VDSL modem. Where does it say otherwise?

Edited by kasg (Fri 14-Sep-12 10:06:06)

Because it is in the "Networking > Wireless > Routers - Fibre / VDSL" category, so I assume it is also a VDSL modem.

Please correct me if I am wrong

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

I am very concerned about the back doors BT has left in its router (Ports 161 & 4567)

Assuming you are talking about the HG612 modem, these ports are only accessible from BT's Management platform via VLAN 301. They are not directly accessible from the internet which uses VLAN 101.

It is a router that will work with a VDSL service. It still needs a modem! You won't get a combined router and VDSL modem for anywhere near that price. And as per post above, you can disable VLAN 301 if it bothers you.

Edited by kasg (Fri 14-Sep-12 10:20:15)

You've overshot my competency, I am afraid

What is VLAN 301 and VLAN101 and where do I read up about them?

Thanks.

Looks just like a router with a wan port to plug the modem into, no mention of a built in modem.

Fritzbox 7390 will handle the VDSL2 side.

Yes that TP-Link is not suitable to replace modem. Datalink protocol would need to list VDSL2 which it does not.

Around the world it is pretty common to supply a VDSL modem. In fact for many countries same used to happen with ADSL, and people bought their own Ethernet router.

Where are you getting all this from anyway? No offence, but it seems odd that you know enough to be concerned about "back doors using ports 161 and 4567" (which I'd never heard of) but not enough to be able to recognise a VDSL modem or anything about VLAN 101 and 301.

P.S. you (and we) will find life a lot easier if you register!

VLANs are a method of providing Layer2 separation - simplistically creating separate connections within an Ethernet network.
A 'VLAN tag' is applied to the Ethernet frame to identify it.

With the BT FTTC service, there are effectively 2 connections, one (VLAN101) connects the modem to the internet via the ISP.
The other (VLAN301) connects the modem to BT management platform. These 2 connections operate separately from each other.

A search for 'VLAN tagging' or similar will return countless results.