Modem Advice for new TalkTalk connection

Hi,

I was wondering if someone could offer some advice about modems that are known to work with 17mb TalkTalk broadband? There is no line at the premises so getting reliable information about exactly whet service will be provided has been a bit difficult. The local exchange is FTTC/FTTP enabled and the house is within 500 yards of the exchange, but the on-line checks based on post code report 17mb broadband only. The TT sales people didn't offer any upgrade when ordering. To be honest after nearly ten years on mobile broadband living with 17mb isn't going to be disappointing and it will do the job. Virgin isn't an option either as they never laid cable in the road.

This is the Exchange NDBHI.

I assume that the connection will be some flavour of ADSL on the TT LLU.

I received the TT router today which doesn't look terribly impressive and the property is quite large over four floors, with a number of I beams etc. I took the TT router because one it will allow us to get things up and running and two if I switch it out and issues arise later on with the service it can be reinstalled to eliminate any unsupported equipment get outs for the support team.

Obviously there is going to be the ten day line speed calibration period to contend with and I would like to keep things stable while that process is taking place so I may have to live with the TT router for ten days or so.

I have an Asus RT-U66N running Shibby Tomato and I would really prefer to use it as my primary router and gateway but I have no suitable modem. I'm assuming that there wont be a problem bridging the N66U to the TT router as I haven't tested that as yet. This would do as a temporary solution for the ten days provided it works OK.

My question is which modems would be best suited to the TT service assuming my earlier assumptions are correct?

Draytek Vigor120 ADSL2+
D-link DSL-320T ADSL2+
Anything that should be totally avoided?
Are there any more recent units that offer some form of future proofing for cable?

Should I pull out all the stops to get a new modem in place before they connect me up or should I chill out and see how the TT router performs?

Connection should be Tuesday 23rd.

I hope some of that makes enough sense and gives enough detail. If I should think about other options/solutions I would be interested to know and any tips on getting the best line speed are most welcome. I'm not really up to speed with the advances in broadband such as FTTx.

Thanks in advance.

Simplest is to use the TalkTalk modem/router for the ADSL2+ and then using a wireless access point, the Asus devices with custom firmware usually have a mode allowing you to turn them into an access point rather than router.

As for your line, Biggin Hill has a number of exchange only lines i.e. no cabinet involved. This can be fixed for VDSL2/FTTC but costs more for them to do and as you are in Bromley Borough there is no BDUK project at this time to assist with the gap funding.

In reply to a post by Article61:

My question is which modems would be best suited to the TT service assuming my earlier assumptions are correct?

Draytek Vigor120 ADSL2+
D-link DSL-320T ADSL2+
Anything that should be totally avoided?
Are there any more recent units that offer some form of future proofing for cable?

Should I pull out all the stops to get a new modem in place before they connect me up or should I chill out and see how the TT router performs?

I'd definitely recommend using your own modem/router on TalkTalk as the router they supply isn't the best for wifi coverage - but obviously keep it as a backup for troubleshootiing purposes. I would go for the Draytek Vigor 120 modem and hook that up to the Asus router, in my experience the Draytek 120 synced a meg or two higher than pretty much every other modem on my previous TalkTalk ADSL2+ service. You may also want to consider the newer Draytek 130 which also includes a VDSL2 modem so this can also be used on a FTTC connection should you decide to upgrade to FTTC in future, subject to availability of course.

Large, four floors, I -beams ... no single device will give good wireless coverage there.

Get an 8, 16 or even 24 port Gbit switch and locate in a suitable place. Run Cat5e or Cat6 cable to the router location and to a location on each floor for a Wireless Access Point ... maybe alternating left and right sides of the building on each floor. Add in a couple of cables to other key locations such as study and where the TV will be.

Chose te WAP channels appropriately - working from teh ground up: 5, 13, 1, 9 or 1, 6, 11, 1 _ I prefer and user the former with issues.

@MrSaffron,

That was my initial thought and will probably be the route to take in the short term unless I can get hold of a modem before Tuesday.

I'm not sure what an exchange only line means exactly? It seems a little strange as the exchange is pretty much right at the end of the road and yet they haven't upgraded to FTTC which is a little annoying.

Thanks for the info.

@baby_frogmella,

That in line with my thinking on all counts and anything that can squeeze an extra meg or two is probably worth the effort. Thanks for the heads up on the Draytek 130 I prefer a more future proof option. I think I will try and get one before Tuesday.

Thanks for sharing your TT experience.

@MHC,

Fortunately there is a cloakroom right in the centre of the second floor where the consumer unit is as well as the tails for the CAT5e network cabling. Every room has at least one Ethernet socket except for the basement but I can easily drop a run in if needs be. The N66U gives pretty good all over coverage on 2.4GHz the 5GHz is a lot more sketchy sadly. I think the supplied TT router would struggle to deliver uniform coverage as the antennas are built in.

I already have Gigabit switches and a couple of HP micro servers in the cloakroom (server room) and everything is chugging along nicely so far.

The main thing I'm trying to achieve is a nice clean sync which gives the best speed achievable. I don't really want to upset the process by swapping hardware around mid stream. Which is why I really wanted to get the right modem in place at the get go. Other things have been taking my time so it's all getting a bit close to the wire now.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Thanks to all your combined advice I'm much more confident about the best way forward.

FTTC only runs from street cabinets, not from the exchange. So, if your line goes directly from your house to the exchange without going into a street cabinet on the way then it is "exchange only". Because of regulations BT cannot put FTTC equipment in the exchange - in some places they have built a cabinet near the exchange and rerouted FTTC lines to that but they haven't done that in all.

@ian72,

Thanks for explaining that and it makes sense now. Being this close to the exchange I imagine that the wiring will be direct. There probably aren't enough connections this close by to make it economical for a cabinet installation in the eyes of the bean counters.

The TT sales people seemed pretty confident that we would get good speeds on the service (of course that's their job (pinch 'n salt spring to mind)). If I can get it to max out all should be good and it has to be way better than mobile.

I should probably do some research to find out the best practice for syncing it's not something I have any experience with. Any tips or insight will would be most welcome.

Get the modem as close as possible to the incoming line - provided you do not change it, disconnect it or reboot it several times in quick succession you will NOT suffer.

Install what you have available and then take your time to select your preferred device and then change over.

Minimising internal cabling and hence noise pick up is the key to getting the best service available.

@MHC,

The incoming cable run is about 30' and short of putting a socket in the loft there's not much I can do on that front.

The N66U is configured to do a reboot once a week so I'm not sure how that would effect the sync if I have a Draytek 130 hanging off it? I could always suspend the reboot script for a couple of weeks if needs be.

There are no land line phones to connect.

Servers:
1 x Primary server 24/7
1 x Backup server scheduled backups destination for above
1 x LAB server infrequent use unless I need to figure something out

PC's:
1 x Dual Boot Win/Linux i7 Desktop 24/7 sleep wol frequent remote connections.
1 x Linux Dual Core desktop 24/7 sleep generally used remotely.
The above are on a VLAN and generally don't connect to the WAN unless they require updates etc.

1 x Win i5 tablet wifi and lan which is my primary machine so it's on a lot and continually in and out of sleep.
1 x Win i5 Laptop generally on the lan which is my second machine so it's heavily used but not everyday as a rule.
1 x Raspberry Pi 2 24/7 regular use various tasks often wan related
1 x Old Ubuntu Atom Netbook infrequent use.
A handful of assorted flavours of Android phones and tablets.
1 x iPhone mornings and evenings only soon to be replaced by an Android.

2 x TV's as DLNA clients connected via lan.

2 x Xbox's generally not used for on-line gaming and off most of the time.

1 x Network printer 24/7 on VLAN

2 x Gigabit Switches one in with the servers and the other in the computer room.

I think that's about it for connected devices...not user if any of them will be problematic during the sync period?

Oh and the TT TV box thing is also going to be added to the above. I nearly forgot about that little contraption probably because I don't watch TV. Humm I may need to do a little work on QoS...don't want the TV interfering with the good stuff.

I think I have settled on getting hold of a Draytek Vigor 130 it ticks all the boxes. I will get one ordered and just wire it in once it arrives. The TT unit will do to get things hooked up short term.

Thanks for the pointers.

In reply to a post by Article61:

@MHC,

The incoming cable run is about 30' and short of putting a socket in the loft there's not much I can do on that front.

The N66U is configured to do a reboot once a week so I'm not sure how that would effect the sync if I have a Draytek 130 hanging off it? I could always suspend the reboot script for a couple of weeks if needs be.

Just keep the run away from potential sources of noise - central heating pumps, fridge freezers, plasma TVs &c.

One a week reboot will not do any harm - from my experience with ADSL the best time for a reboot is around an hour after sunrise. If you run Router Stats Lite and monitor the SNR level over a 72 hour period (or 3x24) you will see a cycle where your margin drops over night due to atmospheric interference and then starts to rise around dawn.

If you ever need to work on the modem and do several reboots, the best way is to turn off the power, wait a minute or two, disconnect line. Do your work, power up and wait until fully booted before reconnecting the line.