toob users, what router did you get given by them? Just been installed, they left me a Linksys Velop MX4200

[mrk]

I'm wondering if I should just use that since my Asus RT-AC68U is getting on a bit now and does not support WiFi 6 whereas this Linksys does. Previous to this I read that toob supply a Sagemcom router which wasn't great, so looks like they have changed what they supply on new installs, at least in this area anyway. It feels like a good bit of kit,a nd the price of it isn't cheap either at £119 on Amazon with 4 star reviews so just curious if anyone else has been given one and actively uses it?

Thanks.

Edit*
I've decided to try it out for a few days, the config and performance seems the same for wired as the Asus, but wireless is obviously faster. Neat. Will see how stable it remains over a busy week.

 

[mrk]

Hmm I have used Merlin on it in the past, early versions so little buggy here and there, think I even tried Tomato on it at one point but went back to stock once Asus started implementing various features etc over the years that I was using at the time.

Not got a need for it as an access point really though, 4 bed house here, but I guess I could keep it for future use if needs be but given that I'll probably be sticking with toob, the need for it again in future would be zero anyway. I did a house wireless walkaround survey using a hidden mode I discovered in Samsung's OneUI on the phone and it found no weak spots and I was getting 470Mbps at the lowest, 1200 at the maximum. That's with the Velop of course, the Asus stock FW wifi power isn't high enough to reach those sorts of speeds and I'd average around 250 in the areas the Velop gets 470, and the max is around 800Mbps.

 

[mrk]

The main thing I recall firmware hopping back then was I once forgot to note down my port forwards and static IP reservations for various LAN devices so had to spend ages putting them all back one by one dancing around the house getting MAC addresses as the network identifier in the UI wasn't showing details that would determine what that device actually was etc. That was rather annoying and one of the reasons I decided just stick with stock

 

[mrk]

As a side note, I was looking at the hardware they installed in and outside of the house, Adtran kit, both have 10GbE interfaces, so this leads me to assume that toob will be offering faster speeds down the line.

 

[mrk]

Parents received a Linksys Velop MX4200 and it didn't stay plugged in for more than a day.

How come?


Edit*
Out of interest what NICs do people use? I've noticed this in the past but didn't really think much of it but when maxing out 1Gbit, the CPU usage is quite high no thanks to the Realtek 8125 most mobos come with these days using high CPU resources. I don't mind buying a PCI-e NIC that lowers this CPU usage.

That above was just doing a run on speedtest.net...

 

[mrk]

How are you finding it?

I currently have an old(ish) Orbi Mesh AC3000 setup and pondering whether to try whatever toob deliver, the existing Orbi (probably a waste of the speed toob can deliver) or get a newer AX mesh setup.

I think range is my biggest concern going back to a single router based setup

I've been very impressed really. Range doesn't appear to be a problem at all and upstairs my phone speedtest results are:

And whilst downstairs they are up to 840 down and 824 up depending on where I am downstairs. Phone connects on WiFi6 at 1200Mbps, so these speeds seem nominal for that connection rate factoring in the overheads etc.

As for wired, no problems at all, being able to upload at +100MB/s is rather a massive plus lol, have no problems with FTPing those upload speeds to servers that aren't throttled like my http etc, youtube seems to fluctuate depending on how busy it is but I kind of expected that.

 

[mrk]

Yeah VM's wifi is pretty pants tbf, this is very different though and as far as I can tell, is 1:1 to the retail Velop MX4200, just running a toob firmware.

 

[mrk]

Yeah it's a pretty well specced mesh router I gotta say. I'll be getting one again in future even if toob isn't available in the area of a new house etc as I really like it's simplicity and performance.

 

[mrk]

Out of interest, are you able to turn the Linksys unit into AP only mode?

Yes, just enable bridge mode from the internet settings > connection type page:

 

[mrk]

What did you do to enable IPv6? I've checked and internet IPV6 testers say I'm not on ipv6 so probably something I need to enable. Not that it's needed just yet as nothing I access is ipv6 only so little benefit as of yet. I am on the static IP with toob though so maybe this is why ipv6 isn't working from what I read from old ispreview forum posts.

Edit* It's been like 2 months in and yeah same absolutely no problems and the single MX4200 I have has served the entire house and garden without a problem!

 

[mrk]

Yeah I've always had upnp disabled, thank GRC.com from many years ago for that with their SHieldsUp port tests Also I'm not on CGNAT (static IP addon).

I've enabled IPV6 and checked though now, can now see an IPv6 address Not sure why that wasn't working before but hey ho.

Although checking online on sites like https://test-ipv6.com/

Says:

How this test works: Your browser will be instructed to reach a series of URLs. The combination of successes and failures tells a story about how ready you are for when publishers start offering their web sites on IPv6.

Click to see Technical Info

---

Test with IPv4 DNS record		ok (0.430s) using ipv4
Test with IPv6 DNS record		bad (0.022s)
Test with Dual Stack DNS record		ok (0.422s) using ipv4
Test for Dual Stack DNS and large packet		ok (0.140s) using ipv4
Test IPv6 large packet		bad (0.029s)
Test if your ISP's DNS server uses IPv6		ok (0.569s) using ipv4
Find IPv4 Service Provider		ok (0.622s) using ipv4 ASN 60377
Find IPv6 Service Provider		bad (0.025s)

 

[mrk]

I'm using Google DNS yeah. Nothing else is changed, I can also see a link local ipv6 address in command prompt > ipconfig so it's getting a 6 address from the router.

 

[mrk]

I'm not on CGNAT remember as I have the static IP address addon from toob, also I tested with toob's DNS servers too and still see the same result! Quite a mystery really lol. I'll try it on another PC in the house to confirm it's not my PC as the website checkers do use the browser too so it could be my Windows Firewall perhaps is set to block this traffic or something.

Edit*
Other PC same result. I can see both local IPV6 address in Windows ipconfig on both machines after a restart, as well as an acttual IPv6 address and a temp IPv6 address so this all seems normal. IPV6test site now shows:

Test with IPv4 DNS record		ok (0.087s) using ipv4
Test with IPv6 DNS record		bad (0.032s)
Test with Dual Stack DNS record		ok (0.068s) using ipv4
Test for Dual Stack DNS and large packet		ok (0.016s) using ipv4
Test IPv6 large packet		bad (0.041s)
Test if your ISP's DNS server uses IPv6		ok (0.057s) using ipv4
Find IPv4 Service Provider		ok (0.213s) using ipv4 ASN 60377
Find IPv6 Service Provider		bad (0.048s)

 

[mrk]

Update:

Interestingly, if I go to check another website, this time to see what DNS servers are being used:

What Is My DNS Server? Check Your DNS Server Address

Find the IP address, country and owner of the DNS server you’re using. Learn how to find your DNS server address as well as your router's DNS address.

www.top10vpn.com

I get the following:

Country	ISP	DNS Server
GB	TOOB	45.13.4.11
GB	TOOB	45.13.4.12
GB	TOOB	2a0e:cb00:700b:2::1
GB	TOOB	2a0e:cb00:700b:2::2

So evidently it is seeing IPV6 and routing since it can detect the IPV6 DNS servers from toob. So it's a bit of a mystery at the moment.

I'm changing the IPV4 DNS anyway to cloudflare (1.1.1.1) as it's faster than even Google's DNS, and cloudflare don't use your data for targeted ads etc so a bonus in that regard.

Edit*

I changed to Cloudflare (primary) and left Google as secondary, DNS check above now shows this, which again indicates it's seen my IPV6 address

Country	ISP	DNS Server
		172.71.177.78
US	CLOUDFLARENET - Cloudflare, Inc.	172.70.84.147
		2400:cb00:378:1024::ac47:b14e

 

[mrk]

toob are scheduled to install at my house next week. For people that already have it, how did they bring the fibre into your premises? Did they channel through your driveway or was it aerial from the distribution pole?

They only use a pole overhead if ground ducting is not possible but that is determined long before orders can be placed. Mine is ground and they dug a thin duct through the grass by the driveway to the front house wall where the media converter box is fitted. Then the fibre goes from the box into the house connecting to the ONT which is where you plug your or their router into.

 

[mrk]

Seems things have improved recently, or maybe it's just my phone from a recent update I don't know, but now even from upstairs the speedtests on the phone are coming back ridiculously fast.

I put this together as a comparison:

Very impressed by that bundled single Velop!

 

[mrk]

It is yeah, my total is £33 a month, which is half of what I was paying VM for their gig1 package so it's still a big saving either way lol.

The Velop seems to have become the bundled router from about a year ago iirc.

 

[mrk]

Technically if the Sagemcom is an issue then you could always buy the Velop off Amazon, it's the MX4200 - But if all's fine then just stick it out I guess The WIFi performance has been the biggest surprise for me, the Asus I had before had 3 large aerials pointing to the sky, this has no such thing, it's my first experience with a mesh based router too so a pleasant surprise for sure.

 

[mrk]

I just have the one Velop downstairs in the middle of the house, it seems to serve the entire house with ease so haven't bothered to add another AP to make a proper mesh really.

 

[mrk]

Have you changed the DNS servers to Google's out of interest? I have Hue lights etc but don't use coming home, all works as fast as it did on VM!

Edit* Just checked my BQM:

Slightly out of alignment with the planned overnight maintenance email they sent which is supposed to be:

Between 2am and 6am on Monday 5th February (for up to 15 minutes)
Between 2am and 6am on Thursday 8th February (for up to 1 hour)

Whatever they did though has ironed out those yellow spikes.