BT Infinity & FTTx Discussion

Vanhishikha · 21 Mar 2013 at 18:57

Ah okay thanks guys, I love BT to bits, but stuff like this? ugh, so aggravating.

oldbag · 21 Mar 2013 at 22:25

Is there such a thing as a VDSL router, or do you need to get a cable router and plug it into the VSDL modem they provided?

Yamahahahahaha · 22 Mar 2013 at 00:24

oldbag said:
Is there such a thing as a VDSL router, or do you need to get a cable router and plug it into the VSDL modem they provided?

The modem is a PPPoA -> PPPoE bridge. You can plug any 'cable router' into it and set up the PPP authentication to make it work.

If you buy a device with a built in VDSL modem, you can get rid of it completely.

dfarrall · 22 Mar 2013 at 09:24

Bit the bullet and got an n66u. Can somebody give me the low-down on firmware?
Iirc there were a lot of bugs in certain firmwares, how is it now? Should i just wack latest on, or is a slightly older one better?

ezhik · 22 Mar 2013 at 09:47

dfarrall said:
Bit the bullet and got an n66u. Can somebody give me the low-down on firmware?
Iirc there were a lot of bugs in certain firmwares, how is it now? Should i just wack latest on, or is a slightly older one better?

Good choice. Everyone will have their own favourite for various reasons, for me its 'Toastmans Tomato'. You can read all you're likely to need know about this router here SmallNet Builder.

PMKeates · 22 Mar 2013 at 10:46

Finally switched from VM 100 to Sky Fibre Pro, and it is an *enormous* improvement!

DownStream Connection Speed 79744
UpStream Connection Speed 19628

Couldn't expect much better in terms of bandwidth, either. Certainly better than the estimated 56!

Rroff · 22 Mar 2013 at 18:35

dfarrall said:
Bit the bullet and got an n66u. Can somebody give me the low-down on firmware?
Iirc there were a lot of bugs in certain firmwares, how is it now? Should i just wack latest on, or is a slightly older one better?

I'd definitely reccomend moving away from the stock firmware if you make use of the connection for more than casual internet browsing. If you want tons of options and advanced functionality then go for the DDWRT/Tomato type firmwares but be aware some of them can require a bit of extra messing about to get them setup. If your just after performance and stability then the Merlin FW does a good job and can be flashed as if its official firmware with a lot less risk of bricking the device.

dfarrall · 22 Mar 2013 at 18:52

What actual differences do they provide? Had a quick read but cant see any massive improvements. I'm after lots of customisation which the stock seems to do an alright job of tbh but there are some there are some features i would benefit from.

oldbag · 22 Mar 2013 at 19:42

Apparently my ip profile is 50Mbit - I went for Infinity 2 which is supposed to have 72MBit, where did the rest go? Is it distance from exchange?

Rroff · 22 Mar 2013 at 19:47

dfarrall said:
What actual differences do they provide? Had a quick read but cant see any massive improvements. I'm after lots of customisation which the stock seems to do an alright job of tbh but there are some there are some features i would benefit from.

One of the main difference for me was that with 2-3 other people here who do quite a bit of gaming (server list refetching uses a lot of connections) and torrents, etc. the stock firmware was getting a bit overwhelmed requiring daily rebooting even tho it supposedly handles a lot of connections, shoving the Merlin FW on there and its not been an issue since.

dfarrall · 22 Mar 2013 at 19:54

Interesting, i tend to have a lot of connections on the go, not noticed any issues yet but only had it for 6 hours lol.. Will see how it goes i guess and proceed from there!

bremen1874 · 22 Mar 2013 at 20:01

oldbag said:
Apparently my ip profile is 50Mbit - I went for Infinity 2 which is supposed to have 72MBit, where did the rest go? Is it distance from exchange?

It's the distance from a street cabinet (and the quality of the line). You must be a fair distance away.

oldbag · 22 Mar 2013 at 20:35

bremen1874 said:
It's the distance from a street cabinet (and the quality of the line). You must be a fair distance away.

I'm about a 2 min walk from a smallish green box, but you have to walk down some steps to get there.

Ian_Eb · 22 Mar 2013 at 20:45

Argh!

my boss discovered that his cabinet is supposed to go live next week. It estimates 11Mbit for his location (He is in the middle of nowhere)

I am less than a mile from the exchange and in town with no planned date for considering whether to set a date or not to bother :-(

oldbag · 22 Mar 2013 at 21:02

Does the ip profile always stay the same?

Lartyconshayo · 22 Mar 2013 at 21:37

My cabinet is supposedly getting fttc in june 2013. I am a Be customer currently and do not want to go with sky once all handed over. Just wonderibg whether bt or plusnet will be better for unlimited fibre

oldbag · 22 Mar 2013 at 21:45

Heh I'm 2 miles from the exchange

KIA · 23 Mar 2013 at 10:07

oldbag said:
Does the ip profile always stay the same?

It might drop a little as more people are added to the cab and crosstalk kicks in. What is your predicted speed?

oldbag · 23 Mar 2013 at 11:19

50Mbit is the profile.

newbiejim · 23 Mar 2013 at 13:41

My exchange (Cumnock, WSCMN)is on the 'Future Exchanges' list with a provisional timescale of 2013, I noticed what I think was FTTC cabinet upgrades happening in the pic below about two weeks ago. I`m hugely concerned tho that my particular cabinet is omitted (nightmare) and have mailed the openreach address for info tho nothing received as yet. As I understand it the exchange upgrade is funded either wholly or partly by government initiative, would it be reasonable the to infer that cabinet upgrades may not be driven solely by financial factors?, and that my street in small village may well be upgraded?