Best VDSL2 Modem 2018

deFiniLoGy · 21 Jul 2018 at 09:46

Hi everyone,

Planning to upgrade my modem when I move in a couple of weeks.

My next accommodation will be using EE broadband VDSL2, 80/20, so I’m looking for the best VDSL modem in terms of stability and reliability.

I’m eyeing between Draytek and Zxyel, any recommendations?

I intend to use separate modem and routers since I still have an R7000 which serves me very well, so I will disable the wireless network function on the Draytek or Zxyel regardless (and I heard that their wireless performance are horrendous anyways), so I’m purely looking for the model with the most reliable modem chipset...

Thanks in advance!

ChrisD. · 21 Jul 2018 at 09:46

The £15 BT ECI one is fine.

bremen1874 · 21 Jul 2018 at 10:07

deFiniLoGy said:
I will disable the wireless network function on the Draytek or Zxyel regardless (and I heard that their wireless performance are horrendous anyways),

A modem wouldn't have wireless, if it does you've bought a router.

I'd agree that there's little point spending extra when the BT modems (Huawei or ECI) are so cheap, easily available, and work just fine.

Steveocee · 23 Jul 2018 at 05:18

BTOR Huawei HG612 3B if it’s just a modem.
Mega cheap and super reliable.

Doop! · 23 Jul 2018 at 11:45

Sorry to jump in, are the ECI and Huawei BT modems as good as each other?

bremen1874 · 23 Jul 2018 at 11:51

The Huawei can easily be unlocked so you can view the line statistics.

IIRC the Huawei supports G.INP and the ECI doesn’t.

Doop! · 23 Jul 2018 at 12:10

Cool thanks. Moving to a non-cabled area for the first time since the dawn of broadband so it's all new to me!

deFiniLoGy · 23 Jul 2018 at 12:43

bremen1874 said:
The Huawei can easily be unlocked so you can view the line statistics.

IIRC the Huawei supports G.INP and the ECI doesn’t.

Any insight on the Draytek Vigor 130 then? Why is it so expensive compared to the others?

bremen1874 · 23 Jul 2018 at 12:46

The others are only available secondhand.

ChrisD. · 23 Jul 2018 at 12:47

I have the 130. It’s good, but not worth the price.

I bought it as my cab is ECI and the ECI modem is not easy to unlock.

Honestly just get the Huawai.

deFiniLoGy · 23 Jul 2018 at 12:47

ChrisD. said:
I have the 130. It’s good, but not worth the price.

I bought it as my cab is ECI and the ECI modem is not easy to unlock.

Honestly just get the Huawai.

Okay then.

Thanks everyone!

Armageus · 23 Jul 2018 at 12:50

deFiniLoGy said:
Any insight on the Draytek Vigor 130 then? Why is it so expensive compared to the others?

Because Draytek position themselves as a Small Business/Prosumer product rather than a home user product, and consequently charge small business prices

Another alternative if you want to buy new (rather than Openreach modems), would be the Netgear DM200 Modem which can be had for around £30

andy_mk3 · 23 Jul 2018 at 13:05

I picked up my Vigor 130 barely used for £40, well worth it. The BT modems are equally solid though.

pcfarrar · 24 Jul 2018 at 09:16

The ZyXEL VMG 1312-B10A is king of performance as a bridge modem but they are stupidly priced now. They are especially good on long VDSL lines.

joeyjojo · 15 Dec 2018 at 20:22

[necro]

Steveocee said:
BTOR Huawei HG612 3B if it’s just a modem.
Mega cheap and super reliable.

Cheers. My ECI one has started flapping every 24-48 hours so ordered a Huawei one (£10) to see if that fixes it.

Caged · 15 Dec 2018 at 20:31

Armageus said:
Because Draytek position themselves as a Small Business/Prosumer product rather than a home user product, and consequently charge small business prices

Another alternative if you want to buy new (rather than Openreach modems), would be the Netgear DM200 Modem which can be had for around £30

The Vigor 130 (UK stock) can be factory reset and comes back up as a modem - the DM200 when I tested it needs to be configured as modem-only. It also doesn't do baby jumbo frames which the Draytek can.

I'm not going to claim the 130 is good value but in a business setting grabbing a Huawei modem off eBay isn't acceptable, and there are very few alternatives.

RSR · 15 Dec 2018 at 21:19

I've had no problem with the HG612, since BT installed it years ago now. However, I have tested others which have performed better but I always go back to the HG612 as it just seems more stable.

Here is a bit of interesting info from BT:

Openreach Briefing NGA042/17

This briefing is to inform CPs that we have a number of DSLAMs in the live network that are not properly reporting to the Openreach Dynamic Line Management (DLM) System

A specific modem/firmware combination on end customer devices which have not been approved for use on our network and have not been through our Modem Conformance Tests (MCT) is or appears to be causing an issue in the DSLAMs that means they do not correctly format the data transmitted from the DSLAM to our DLM systems. The DLM system then cannot interpret the data for all lines on that DSLAM.

This is the latest approved vDSL modem list from BT:

ADB Cisco

Vox 2.5

Arcadyan

Brightbox L

Brightbox 2 L

Home Hub 5b L

EE Smart Hub L

AVM

FRITZ!Box 3490

BSKYB

ER110 – Sky Q Hub L

ER – Sky Q Hub L

NR701 – Now TV Hub Two L

SR102 – Sky Hub Two L

Cisco

1921

887VA

897VA

C897VA-K9

CISCO887VA-K9

CISCO887VA-M-K9

CISCO887VA-SEC-K9

C887VAM-K9

C887VA-W-E-K9

C887VAM-W-E-K9

C887VA-V-K9

C887VA-V-W-E-K9

C887VA-CUBE-K9

C887VAG+7-K9

C887VAMG+7-K9

C887VAGW+7-E-K9

C887VA-WD-E-K9

C887VAG-4G-GA-K9

C897VA-M-K9

C897VAW-E-K9

C897VAM-W-E-K9

C897VAG-LTE-GA-k9

C897VAMG-LTE-GA-K9

EHWIC-VA-DSL-A

EHWIC-VA-DSL-M

NIM VA

Draytek

Vigor 2862Ln

Vigor 2860

Vigor 2860vn Plus

Vigor 2860vac

Vigor 2860n

Vigor 2860n Plus

Vigor 2860L

Vigor 2860Ln

Vigor 2860ac

Vigor 2862

Vigor 2760

Vigor 2760vn

Vigor 2760n

Vigor 2762

Vigor 130

Vigor 2862ac

Vigor 2862L

Vigor 2862n

Genesis

mBond

Huawei

HG633

HG635

AR109X

AR129

AR129W

AR129GW-L

AR509G-L-D-H

AR169FVW

AR169FGW-L

AR169FGVW-L

AR169F

AR1220V

Vox 2.5

BT Pico Cells L

Juniper

SRX550M

SRX345

SRX340

SRX320

Kenton

Comtrend VR3030

Comtrend VR3030U

Comtrend VR3036U

Comtrend VR3030/3034

KBR1645 Velocity Lite

1321 Ethernet Access device

1322 Ethernet Access device

1645 Ethernet Access device

One 270 AV2

One 420 AV2

One 425 AV2

One 445 AV2

One 540 AV2

One 540 AV 4G

One 700 AV2

One 1520 AV2

One 1540 AV2

Netgear

D7000

D7000v2

D7800

DM200 – Lantiq

Technicolor

TG589Vac

TG579vac v2

TG588 v2

TG588v v2

TG589vn V3

TG589Vac v1

TG589Vac v2

TG589vac

TG789Vac v1

TG789Vac v2

TG789vac

DGA1430

DGA2231

DWA0120

Virtual Access

GW33110-V

GW6600-V

GW6630-V

GW6640-V

GW6642-V

ZyXEL

VMG8324-B10A

VMG8924-B10A

VMG1312-B10A

VMG1312-B10D

VMG3925–B10B

VMG3025-B10C

Info from here: https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.p...approved-list-of-vdsl-modems-and-routers.html

joeyjojo · 16 Dec 2018 at 09:00

Interesting that the HG612 is not on that list. Dropped support for it?

The DM200 is the last standalone modem AFAICS.

kitfit1 · 16 Dec 2018 at 09:29

joeyjojo said:
Interesting that the HG612 is not on that list. Dropped support for it?

The DM200 is the last standalone modem AFAICS.

The HG612 isn't on the list because OR dropped support for it last year, so there won't be any more firmware updates for it. I had one for about 7 years, but for the last year i had it, it would regularly drop the connection. Bought a Vigor 130 to replace it, DLM has now brought my line speed back to where it used to be. The Vigor 130 is a standalone modem by the way.

unserrer · 7 Jul 2019 at 22:27

Hello all - I've picked up the Zyxel VMG1312 to replace my HG312. I've changed the phone jack (RJ11?) from the HG312 to the Xyxel but I can't seem to get it to work. I've tried to change my login details to my standard BT but to no avail. Any suggestions?