Which Wireless ADSL2+ Modem Router?

My ISP (Demon) is about to 'upgrade' me to ADSL2+ and my current
modem/router - Draytek Vigor 2600G - doesn't support this and can't be
upgraded to do so. My understanding is that it ought to continue to
work but perhaps with reduced performance. However, I have seen
reports of problems with various routers following upgrades of the
service to ADSL2+ so I am not assuming it will continue to work.

I'd like to order a new router so that I am prepared but I am finding
the range of available models very confusing. My minimum requirements
are:

wireless
4 ethernet ports
ADSL2+ support

My current router also provides a print server function - it allows a
printer to be connected to it via USB. I would miss that facility. I
do however have a small Linux box already running as a file/music
server so I could probably add print serving functionality to it if
necessary.

I have been pretty happy with the Draytek and my understanding is that
it is well-regarded. My impression is that Draytek tend not to be
great on the wireless front and I must admit that it does tend to lose
the wireless connection regularly (i.e. more than occasionally but I
wouldn't say frequently) when being accessed from an XP laptop and
only comes back by rebooting the router. In practice this hasn't been
a big problem because of usage patterns but ideally I'd like more
solid wireless, otherwise I'd be tempted to stick with Draytek,
despite their relative expense.

I've seen many *general* recommendations for Linksys WAG54GS and
Netgear DG834G but I've also found a significant number of complaints
about them. In particular the Netgear is cropping up regularly as one
that is causing problems for Demon customers with the ADSL2+ upgrade
but looking closer at those, it may have something to do with
distinctions between the v2 model and later ones.

I asked a similar question on uk.comp.homebuilt the other day (I
wasn't aware of the present group - it would have been more
appropriate) and an additional recommendation I got there was a Zyxel
Prestige H660 model. But again it emerged that there are variations
in the basic model - the '-61' version reportedly being less stable
than the '-D1' one - and when I go to ebuyer there are a number of
similar looking and similarly named Zyxel models with different
prices.

I'd be very grateful for any further opinions or advice.

Thanks,

Bob

On Sat, 6 Jun 2009 13:29:19 -0700 (PDT), (E-Mail Removed)
wrote:

>My ISP (Demon) is about to 'upgrade' me to ADSL2+ and my current
>modem/router - Draytek Vigor 2600G - doesn't support this and can't be
>upgraded to do so. My understanding is that it ought to continue to
>work but perhaps with reduced performance. However, I have seen
>reports of problems with various routers following upgrades of the
>service to ADSL2+ so I am not assuming it will continue to work.
>
>I'd like to order a new router so that I am prepared but I am finding
>the range of available models very confusing. My minimum requirements
>are:
>

Well I am going to have to buy a replacement for my Draytek Vigor
2600VG, and I will be getting the 2700G model (£103 from Dabs) because
I have been very impressed with the Draytek compared with either the
3Com or Netgear ones I had previously.

Unfortunately, it got fried this afternoon by a very close lightning
strike (which also took out our microwave oven, and a TV Aerial
booster). So it's a good thing I kept the 3Com as a backup.
--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
90% of all statistics are made up
To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom

Alex Heney wrote:
> On Sat, 6 Jun 2009 13:29:19 -0700 (PDT), (E-Mail Removed)
> wrote:
>
>> My ISP (Demon) is about to 'upgrade' me to ADSL2+ and my current
>> modem/router - Draytek Vigor 2600G - doesn't support this and can't be
>> upgraded to do so. My understanding is that it ought to continue to
>> work but perhaps with reduced performance. However, I have seen
>> reports of problems with various routers following upgrades of the
>> service to ADSL2+ so I am not assuming it will continue to work.
>>
>> I'd like to order a new router so that I am prepared but I am finding
>> the range of available models very confusing. My minimum requirements
>> are:
>>
>
> Well I am going to have to buy a replacement for my Draytek Vigor
> 2600VG, and I will be getting the 2700G model (£103 from Dabs) because
> I have been very impressed with the Draytek compared with either the
> 3Com or Netgear ones I had previously.
>
> Unfortunately, it got fried this afternoon by a very close lightning
> strike (which also took out our microwave oven, and a TV Aerial
> booster). So it's a good thing I kept the 3Com as a backup.

Lightning? Yesterday?

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> I asked a similar question on uk.comp.homebuilt the other day (I
> wasn't aware of the present group - it would have been more
> appropriate) and an additional recommendation I got there was a Zyxel
> Prestige H660 model. But again it emerged that there are variations
> in the basic model - the '-61' version reportedly being less stable
> than the '-D1' one - and when I go to ebuyer there are a number of
> similar looking and similarly named Zyxel models with different
> prices.

The -D1 superseded the -61 years ago. You'd have to be unlucky to end up
with a -61 if you bought new today.

--
<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) ((E-Mail Removed))
11:15:21 up 31 days, 15:37, 1 user, load average: 0.43, 0.31, 0.20
A few flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> Lightning? Yesterday?

There were heavy rain storms in the South West, Wales, and the West Midlands
yesterday.



--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

www.paras.org.uk

Mark Carver wrote:
> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
>> Lightning? Yesterday?
>
> There were heavy rain storms in the South West, Wales, and the West
> Midlands yesterday.
>

Blimey. It just drizzled here in t'East Angles.

Its pissing down more realistically today though.

Wait till lightning ACTUALLY STRIKES the incoming phone wire!

What was surprising was how *little* electronics died.

Despite burn marks and blown electrical sockets flying across the room,
I got away with:

one new serial/parallel card (into which the modem was plugged)
Modem replaced under lifetime warranty
HP laserjet with too many faults to be economical to fix (connected to
Serial/parallel card)(wanted more than the _new_ price) so I simply said
'do you expect me to really pay that' and he said 'my only other option
is totally free under 'warranty' and I said 'well if you must' ;-)
Ex rental TV blown beyond economical repair. Binned.
Revox parallel tracking record deck..one IC popped, repaired.

Oh and the house needed a complete rewire and BT had to fit a new phone
line. But they were rented so not my problem. !

Sort of glad I wasn't in the house at the time tho.

Basically qanything 'on standby' popped once the surge got into the mains.


>
>

On Sun, 07 Jun 2009 07:44:33 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Alex Heney wrote:
>> On Sat, 6 Jun 2009 13:29:19 -0700 (PDT), (E-Mail Removed)
>> wrote:
>>
>>> My ISP (Demon) is about to 'upgrade' me to ADSL2+ and my current
>>> modem/router - Draytek Vigor 2600G - doesn't support this and can't be
>>> upgraded to do so. My understanding is that it ought to continue to
>>> work but perhaps with reduced performance. However, I have seen
>>> reports of problems with various routers following upgrades of the
>>> service to ADSL2+ so I am not assuming it will continue to work.
>>>
>>> I'd like to order a new router so that I am prepared but I am finding
>>> the range of available models very confusing. My minimum requirements
>>> are:
>>>
>>
>> Well I am going to have to buy a replacement for my Draytek Vigor
>> 2600VG, and I will be getting the 2700G model (£103 from Dabs) because
>> I have been very impressed with the Draytek compared with either the
>> 3Com or Netgear ones I had previously.
>>
>> Unfortunately, it got fried this afternoon by a very close lightning
>> strike (which also took out our microwave oven, and a TV Aerial
>> booster). So it's a good thing I kept the 3Com as a backup.
>
>Lightning? Yesterday?
>

Yes.

We had a heck of a thunderstorm here (just inside the Brecon beacons
National Park to the North of Merthyr Tydfil) early afternoon.

And we had two strikes within a couple of minutes or so that were less
than a second away. I'd just turned the trip switch on the third
consumer unit back on when the second one hit.

--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
Do witches run spell checkers?
To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom

On Sun, 7 Jun 2009 07:58:12 +0100, "Peter Crosland"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>>>My ISP (Demon) is about to 'upgrade' me to ADSL2+ and my current
>>>modem/router - Draytek Vigor 2600G - doesn't support this and can't be
>>>upgraded to do so. My understanding is that it ought to continue to
>>>work but perhaps with reduced performance. However, I have seen
>>>reports of problems with various routers following upgrades of the
>>>service to ADSL2+ so I am not assuming it will continue to work.
>>>
>>>I'd like to order a new router so that I am prepared but I am finding
>>>the range of available models very confusing. My minimum requirements
>>>are:
>>>
>>
>> Well I am going to have to buy a replacement for my Draytek Vigor
>> 2600VG, and I will be getting the 2700G model (£103 from Dabs) because
>> I have been very impressed with the Draytek compared with either the
>> 3Com or Netgear ones I had previously.
>>
>> Unfortunately, it got fried this afternoon by a very close lightning
>> strike (which also took out our microwave oven, and a TV Aerial
>
>Unless you need the sophisticated features of the Draytek then save yourself
>a bundle with a 2Wire. You should also get a significant sync speed
>improvement as well.
>

The Netgear gave a better synch speed, but it couldn't hold it.

Sorry, but after trying three different models, I'm going back to the
one which gave *me* good performance.

I am on a long line, with attenuation varying from 61 - 64 dB, and I
think that is why the 3Com and Netgear both struggled.
--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
My weight is perfect for my height... which varies.
To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom

Peter Crosland wrote:

>
> Exactly! It is also true that the Drayteks which are excellent kit just do
> not perform well on poor quality lines either in sync speed or the ability
> to keep a connections synced for long periods of time. I will even lend you
> one and it it does not perform better than the Draytek you can keep it FOC!
>

How can a draytek perform better than a draytek?

>
> Regards from Peter Crosland
>
>

>
> But how easy is it to unlock/reconfigure for another ISP? Especially with
> the later firmware.
>


Its easy but a bit of a faff.

http://bt2700hgv.tripod.com/ir1002700HGVbtV6setup.htm

--

WildCardZero