I'm thinking about buying a new modem... looking at Netcomm NB6PLUS4W. I have fairly noisy line, and I've read that it uses a broadcom chipset which should work well...

Does anyone have any (reasoned) suggestions as to what else might be good? I'm reluctant to buy Netgear (despite the 834 getting good reports) because they're a s*** brand.

I've had 0 problems with my Billion modem. I'd suggest any billion but before we could suggest a specific model I guess everyone would need to know your requirements.

-Adsl2+
-Do you need VOIP?
-Wireless?
-Ethernet ports?

Me too! I just gave up on my Linksys WAG325N after epic problems and I'm back in the market for a new one.

The WAG325N was awesome, except for those bugs. Something with SNMP support would be good so I can graph shiz.

fark netgear

i like billion
7300 if you dont want to spend cash
7400 series if you got cash to spend

edit: for reso

my lines are old and noisy as and i still sync up at 14000/15000 adsl2
minimal drop outs

That's fantastic news for you Spook, you also think the 7300's don't have any problems as well.

i just go with what i know,
i have no problems with my router so i tell other people to buy the products i like and use and they dont have no problems, so yer, i assume its a good product



last edited by Spook at 12:17:08 16/May/08

Billion ftw.

I have been running a 7404-VGO for a couple of years now. Good support and regular firmware updates. Has built in everything, voip and vpn works a treat. www.oztechnologies.com.au has about the best price around. They come with a Li-Shin inline filter aswell.

the billions aren't so great for noisey lines though.

A speedtouch modem with something else for routing would probably see you get decent speeds mongie.

That's fantastic news for you Spook, you also think the 7300's don't have any problems as well.

I probably should have mentioned more details.

I only want a modem/router... 1 port or 4, I already have the other stuff... If I have to buy one with wireless built in to get a good modem, so be it. I don't want VOIP, I've had it with my current Billion 7402vgp and I don't use it.

Other modems which have been recommended are the TP-Link TD-8810/8840 because they use a broadcom chipset which is good.

I'm not really interested in Billion, because the 7300 isn't "really good" modem, and while it probably works for some people, I have a 7402 and its been nothing but trouble really.

Oh... and just to quantify my statement that I have a bad line... I'm currently syncing at about 800kbit up and down.

WOO GOGO ADSL2+.

I need a 2nd modem for testing, but I'm over the billion so, I plan to buy a new one that I know will work well.

draytek for the bee and neees

If you want real quality then get a Cisco.....they just work, excellent CLI for configuration. I only use cisco at work and can't fault them. But they do cost $$$. I would try a Linksys on the home user side, made by Cisco and I've also had nothing but good experience with Linksys gear. I wouldn't recommend or touch Dlink or Netgear.

The Netgear 834's are meant to be one of the best modems out there for reliability and speeds.

I know nothing about cisco's I wonder how much they actually go for... that would be pimping.

i had a netgear 834 (dg834g) prior to my billion and it was s***

slow sync, not as stable as the billion

searching on whingepool its a bit of a mixed bag, some peeps recommend the netgear, some dont

something with a broadcom chipset maybe?

The top 5 brands in our tests were as follows:
Thomson Speedtouch / Cisco (nothing to pick here - sync rate & line hold near identical)
Dynalink (1046 then 1025)
Netgear
TP-Link

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/938849.html


last edited by Spook at 13:09:20 16/May/08

cisco around $800 without wireless

In that case... probably not. After reading about them a bit, it appears that their ADSL2 hardware is excellent, but not much better than the other good modems.

Whatever you do make sure you get some with plasma display because it has deeper blacks.

kekeke

So what is the deal with Different ADSL2+ modems?

I'm using the speedstream modem supplied by Optus, it is ADSL2+ capable. Do different modems affect your download speeds to the point of scrapping one for another?

What are the problems people have with their modems? Dropping out, slow sync speeds?

I would have thought your sync speed is more dependent on your line quality then your modem, is this not so?

Newer modems are generally better than older modems.

I am of the belief that there is an issue with my Billion. So, I want to replace it with a modem that is also better anyway.

ebay.com.au - Cisco 877 - will set you back a few hundred more but its more future proof than most home routers

atm0-tpg#sh dsl int at 0 | inc dB
Noise Margin: 6.5 dB 15.0 dB
Output Power: 18.5 dBm 12.5 dBm
Attenuation: 13.0 dB 4.0 dB
atm0-tpg#sh dsl int at 0 | inc Speed
Speed (kbps): 0 19696 0 1017
atm0-tpg#

so 4.0dB attenuation and im sync'd at nearly 20mbit with a fax & cordless on the same line - about 1km from the exchange (copper wise, not as the crow flies)
plus they've got every firewall/vpn thing you can possibly imagine beacuse they're full on bgp/ospf etc capable routers

if you want the latest IOS, I know a guy who knows a guy too

+1 vote for the Cisco 877, although the 877M is the one you'd ideally want if you need Annex-M support...

Otherwise, the Draytek routers are also worth a look. I've found them to be stable and fairly feature-rich for a consumer router.

Wouldn't touch Netgear, Netcomm or D-Link. Maybe Linksys, but I had one of those fry on me, too (the DSL chip cooked and wouldn't see sync).

I think the point is, with the consumer brands, its more whats inside that counts.

I'm really looking for a broadcom chipset, and I believe its BC6883 thats in all of these modems I'm mentioning.

I'm going to test with a netgear tonight and see if there's actually any difference between it and my Billion. Then consider what I'm going to buy.

Netcomm NB6PLUS4W

I think I have that one. It was cheap on umart, and it's fine, never had any problems.

Except I keep forgetting how to "login" to the modem via it's little web page thing there, I never remember the address, it's like a bunch of freaking numbers

I'm just getting TPG Super hooked up now and have been lurking on the Whirlpool forums for a few days reading up on modems (BTW, go there, there's five million "which modem/router for me?" threads to look at).

The favorite for the Broadcom chipset appears to be the Dynalink routers, the RTA1025W especially. What has me torn is reliability and performance. Apparently the Billion 740X routers do better with P2P (torrent) applications, being able to handle more seeds at once, while the Dynalink is more reliable, rarely requiring a reboot. I'd like something I can set to downloading and then walk away from for a couple of weeks. I'd hate to come back and find that it stopped working after a day or so...

Also there's some niche products at this site.

Well my Speedstream Optus modem, Flashed and using with iinet doesn't ever fall down, and it was free when I got optus. It seems to perform similar to optus cable with incoming torrents.
The only thing I worry about is that I'm roughly 2.5Km's from the exchange and get a max sync at 600Kb/s. I've set my iinet account to gamer mode and get 300KB/s max and pings of 10-30 to good servers. (Silly TF2 reports it as 8 sometimes hah)

Something else to add in the mix against the Linksys WAG325N that I had - I've got my old Speedtouch modem plugged in again and I appear to be getting almost 100kbytes/sec faster download speeds, which seems crazy!

I'd recommend a dynalink rta1025w, cheap, excellent router. Sourced one for a friend a while back after reading some reviews, it's given him 0 problems and performs well.

Also, if you are having difficulties with reliability or performance from your current router, I'd recommend chucking it into bridge mode and setting up a little ipcop or clarkconnect box or something, quite a few lower quality products of this category seem to work great as modems but are highly unreliable at layer3 or up.

Do pretty much all those billion ones have decent port forwarding? I am leaning towards them cuz I know 'node prefers them

Yeah, the support port forwarding.

Icewyrm, The reason I was originally thinking about a NetComm is because they own Dynalink, and the NB6Wplus4 is a 1025w.

If you're thinking of going Billion trog I'd recommend only looking at the 740x series and nothing under. The slower processors in the lower models are a problem when using anything that uses a lot of connections (torrents mainly).

Do pretty much all those billion ones have decent port forwarding? I am leaning towards them cuz I know 'node prefers them

yer, they just call it something stupid like "virtual server"

also reso is half right

the 74x series are better, but i have no issues running my torrents 24/7 on a 73x series

Just fyi Spook I am a (currently) happy user of a 7402-M right now :P

Also I believe the 7300 series are still suffering a random problem with high speed drop outs (It may have been fixed with the latest firmware, I haven't tried it). I'm not sure if you would or wouldn't be affected if you're syncing at 16000 Spook. But it is another thing to consider if you're reasonably close to your exchange currently trog.

last edited by reso at 17:01:20 21/May/08

Ok thanks dudez. I don't really torrent at home so don't care too much about that, but I don't really want to have to worry about it sucking ever.

Are there any reasons to get the billion 7401vgpm over the 7300 besides the listed features like wireless and voip if i am just using it as a basic router, or are there reasons to steer clear of either of them.

Also i noticed whirlpool has a line filter/splitter "faq", is that a bit of a wank or can you get into trouble just buying the cheapest from umart?

yer, they just call it something stupid like "virtual server"

Yeah it was a pain to figure out, but once you know how to do it then it's pretty easy. We also found that my friend's Billion router had to be reverted to the low firewall setting or else things just wouldn't work properly.

My advice is generally for people who torrent heavily: get a dumb adsl modem that you can put into bridge mode, then get a proper router that you can slap dd-wrt on and decrease the TCP timeouts (to say: 10 mins) so that your NAT table doesn't get full and hence allow you to torrent properly.

Luckily for some of the ADSL routers you can telnet in and change the timeout settings, but you have to do your research before buying.

i did say you were half right

Those ancient Speedtouch modems are like the best f***ing modems ever. *some* of them can even do Annex M!
Smart f***ers working for Alcatel.

I am thinking of getting an AG310. No wireless cause I have an AP, but has a FXS and FXO ATA built in for voip goodness.

Those ancient Speedtouch modems are like the best f***ing modems ever

I have one of those and its f***ed, randomly goes into stages where it just reboots itself over and over for like 20-40 minutes before returning to normal :(

Nah f*** getting an 877 for home use, and I say this as someone who can get them for cost, ~$300

I hear Billion are good.

f***ing PITA those cisco's eh gimp =D

My config was fine, you must of been doin something wrong :)

They don't have any FXS or FXO ports you realise? And are way overpriced.

sif

Do any of the Billion ones have SNMP support similar to that of the Linksys devices?

Checking out the node ones and they have the Billion 7401VGP-M but it has VOIP which I don't think I want/need. Is there a 74xx series that has wifi but no voip?

sif you don't want voip. it is much cheaper then the land line for calls and your office already has it setup so you can just hook into that.

I don't make work-related phone calls from home and I use my home phone maybe 2-4 times a week to dial up for takeout, a task which I'm happy to perform on my mobile phone, so I don't want to pay extra for something I have no need for!

the billions do support SNMP...

Do any of the Billion ones have SNMP support similar to that of the Linksys devices?

Definitely does. I do a lot of monitoring on mine at the moment. SNMP 1/2/3. I've got a 7401VGP-M.

I have one of these Linksys AG241 for sale if you're not into wireless