my pfsense unit even tho has 16x the ram and 32x the cpu power of my ac68 is smaller and uses less power.

However I do still use the ac68 as a wireless access point and managed switch, but I am not a person bothered by using multiple units, my setups going back have often been like that.

Right now I got

billion 8800nl in bridge mode as my modem
pfsense box as firewall and routing box
ac68 as WAP and gigabit switch
samknows box for ofcom testing but also serves as a gigabit switch.

Size order from smallest to biggest

8800nl
pfsense unit - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01GBHCHDI/
samknows box
ac68

In reply to a post by Ragnarok:

...
I agree PFsense is a great way to go for the ultimate in responsiveness and for a fully fire walled connection going forward especially when 100mbps+ is the norm. but it's ether impractical or too expensive to have a mini pc in a nice router sized box. and your always likely to be running a modem, and maybe a 3rd box for the best wireless performance with this. it's just too impractical for most. Hopefully good 1 box solutions will come when 300mbps + connections become the norm.
...

Personally, I like the "do one thing well" approach. with multiple boxes.

On the pfSense front, at my mother's home I am about to replace an ALIX i386 mini-ITX box (because pfSense are dropping i386 support at 2.4) with a Netgate SG1000. This is tiny - about the size of a pack of cigarettes. LAN and WAN ports, built in serial to USB adapter (access it with RealTerm or similar), plus a USB OTG port. Bought from Amica for £172.80.

I do admit that something as complicated and powerful as a real firewall does need more networking knowledge than the average home user, but most TBB and Kitz users would probably be able to cope.

..although having moved to IDNet my 8800NL R2 is refusing to support IPv6 on the WAN at present :-/

All the ISPs seem to handle things differently. Did you have IPv6 running on Plusnet?

Did you have the Billion with Plusnet or is it IDNet-supplied?

I've just been reading through the IDNet version of the 8800NL R2 setup instructions and they look a complete mess. With very little mention I could see of IPv6. Very confusing usage of the term "bridge mode" and loads of talk about your separate firewall device.

Very confusing altogether. What IPv6 allocation details do they give you. A /48 block, a /64 block or what?

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 06-Jun-17 19:56:06)

I didn't have IPv6 on Plusnet. I agree about the mess of instructions. I can't even find an official config for using a separate modem. I mean it's working..for IPv4 As far as I can tell I'm just supposed to enable IPv6 support for that WAN service and off it goes.

Mind you I've also noticed that I've mysteriously lost 10Mb/s as a result of the migration.

I can't run the advanced BT diagnostics and my openreach modem is locked so I don't know if it's sync speed or something at IDNet's end.

But something this modem has always done is take an age to connect sometimes. In fact sometimes it just seems to fail completely. I think I still have my 7300 around so might give that a try.

Ah ha. Actually the old router is a 6300 and yes, it immediately connects and gets me IPv6.

Speeds are still rubbish though :-/

Edited by Andrue (Tue 06-Jun-17 20:37:27)

Is it an HG612 or an ECI modem?

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 06-Jun-17 20:59:17)

In reply to a post by Andrue:

I can't run the advanced BT diagnostics

I suspect you are on the Zen non-WBC backhaul that IDNet use for connections where it is available. Does samknows show your exchange as Zen LLU?
Edit. Do you mean the TAP2 and TAP 3, or the Further diagnostics?

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 06-Jun-17 21:02:32)

A little tale of me, IDNet and IPv6...

I used to use a Billion 7800 and that connected straight out of the box with IPv6. Then, shortly after the warranty expired, so did the wireless. So I bought an Asus RT-N66U (it was prettier than the Billion... anything was prettier than that Billion ).

But it would not connect using IPv6 and DHCP, and IDNet couldn't see why either. So I put the Billion back, made a note of the IPv6 address it gave me and tried setting up the Asus using that as a fixed address.

I've no idea why, but it worked fine and has done ever since, and allows me to set up an IPv6 BQM as a bonus (IDNet use dynamic for IPv6).

I suspect it's some weird incompatibility in the two implementations of IPv6 between IDNet and Asus, with neither doing anything that is actually incorrect. Might be worth a try if you don't mind fixed addresses.

Nope, no Zen at my exchange. I can run the basic test but when I try to run advanced it just says not available. I also tried the mouselike profile page and it fails to get a profile. I'm wondering if this and the speed are because it's still the day of migration and BT's systems haven't fully sorted themselves out.