Vodafone modem or Draytek Vigor 130

I'm moving shortly from Andrews & Arnold to Vodafone Business FTTC as a failback to a newly installed Virgin Media Business cable installation.

I've seen pretty much everywhere about how poor the included Vodafone modem/router is, which mostly looks to be down to its WiFi capabilities more than anything.

As such, can anyone offer insight into how it works as a simple modem? Is there an advantage into replacing it with a dedicated third party modem such as a Draytek Vigor 130, or in reality will you see no difference in line speed/stability, etc?

Don't recall any modem modes with the Vodafone device i.e. it is an all in one unit

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Don't recall any modem modes with the Vodafone device i.e. it is an all in one unit

Well, I'll be connecting it to a router and disabling wifi.

So you will have double NAT running in that case, since its router component will still be working.

If the aim is to improve wireless coverage, then a wireless access point is what you want to add, or the router you add configured into a wireless access point configuration.

They've sent me 3 over the last year or so.

I'd ditch it and use a 130, that is what I have opted to do. One of my mates uses a vodafone supplied router and it seems dubious at best.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

So you will have double NAT running in that case, since its router component will still be working.

If the aim is to improve wireless coverage, then a wireless access point is what you want to add, or the router you add configured into a wireless access point configuration.

The point of the post was to query the reliability/speed of the supplied modem.

In reply to a post by mbames:

They've sent me 3 over the last year or so.

I'd ditch it and use a 130, that is what I have opted to do. One of my mates uses a vodafone supplied router and it seems dubious at best.

Thanks. That was what I expected; was hoping to not have to spend another £85 though.

And as the supplied modem is built and part of the router with no modem mode that I am aware of, pointing out that adding another router would create a double NAT scenario seems relevant to me.

Feel free to tell to wander off

The Vodafone router can not be configured to work in modem only mode.
Fot Vodafone FTTC I use a 2nd hand Zyxel VMG8924-B10A bought for less than £25 which is rock solid and has a slightly better Wifi range.

Some of the Vodafone backhaul links are clearly overloaded. If you find that happens, it could be prudent to take advantage of the option to cancel the contract in the first month without having to pay an early termination charge.

In reply to a post by ubernick:

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Don't recall any modem modes with the Vodafone device i.e. it is an all in one unit

Well, I'll be connecting it to a router and disabling wifi.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

And as the supplied modem is built and part of the router with no modem mode that I am aware of, pointing out that adding another router would create a double NAT scenario seems relevant to me.

Feel free to tell to wander off

Think he already has a spare router MrS just buying a vigor 130 to use as the VDSL modem part bypassing the vodafone kit completely

In which case yes using the Vigor 130 as modem and your router is fine.

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

Some of the Vodafone backhaul links are clearly overloaded. If you find that happens, it could be prudent to take advantage of the option to cancel the contract in the first month without having to pay an early termination charge.

I'm on one of these links which is overloaded, but not enough for VF to upgrade it. I went though an interesting conversation with one of their customer service guys, and he basically told me the best bet was a leave and use another provider. They would even pay my migration fees. However, I opted for an upgrade to the upto 78service, which seems to work significantly better than the upto 38.

During the day it is speedy and good, and in the evenings you can notice some lag. Single thread speed tests can be pretty nasty, but multi-threaded it seems fine. Not so great for streaming tv....

The CS guy said you should be able to ask your proposed new broadband supplier if they are experiencing backhaul link issues before signing up.... I keep meaning to pop into the Vodafone shop in town and ask them.

I am surprised that you got a better speed in that situation after the upgrade. Fortunately so far I have not suffered from poor back haul. I have the 38Mbps product. My max connection speed is about 48Mbps. I was able to watch Netflix 4K without any problem.

It is was strange, but I work from home during the day where the backhaul is generally fine, so the added upload speed was a bonus.

It almost seems that being on a the faster product you get twice as much of the backhaul capacity cf a upto 38 customer, so when it is at capacity the faster customers still get more throughput than the slower ones.

Here is an example of Vodafone in the evening.... See the really poor single thread test, which then seems to abort.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/15249513556...

Edited by mbames (Sat 28-Apr-18 22:41:18)

I use the Netgear DM200 as a modem, £35 works well and gives a slightly higher speed than the Vodafone router. I've only been live for a week, but can confirm that the Vodafone router syncs lower than a 3rd party one.

The Vodafone CS guys would only give me the password and username if I could give them a Openreach approved router/modem model number. So just make sure you have the list to hand if the Draytek isn't on the approved list.