Options for Domestic Wired Networking / Broadband

[Black Hole]

Hey! It seems there is a CF for the v2: https://github.com/ntadmin/DGND3700v2/wiki

 

[MikeSh]

I'll tell them if they don't sort it I'm taking my business to Virgin...

Do they have cable in your road?
If not you'll still be stuck with openreach

 

[everthewatcher]

I notice the v1 isn't supported by RouterStats Lite, but I presume the CF for it can be configured to capture that sort of info anyway?

I think it can but I've not swapped it back since putting in the V2 when I got one for a neighbour* and wanted to have experience of it for support.

* They wanted the means of turning off WiFi and the '3700 not only has a button for that but it can also be done on a schedule.

 

[everthewatcher]

No FTTC* here, nor any likelihood of it in the foreseeable future, but I was worried the v2 superseded the v1 technically... apparently not - the v2 actually looks like a cost reduction.

It was. It's usual practice for subsequent versions to be cheapened - look at the Linksys WRT54G series for example

Question: Is the v1+CF going to give me all the bells and whistles I am likely to want, or would I be better off splashing the cash on a fully open router with community supported firmware?

Sorry to keep banging on about it but why not try putting the BT kit on it's own subnet to deal with the ADSL/VDSL stuff including line logs then connecting your router of choice to it? I'll admit that I'm not doing anything clever like VPN here.

I have seen a reference on the web (maybe an American page) that "FTTC" means "fiber to the curb".

The aussies use FTTC as fibre to the curb too.

 

[Black Hole]

Do they have cable in your road?

They do

Sorry to keep banging on about it but why not try putting the BT kit on it's own subnet to deal with the ADSL/VDSL stuff including line logs

How do I get line logs out of a BT-HH4? I can't even find a noise margin figure. Even if I could get RouterStats Lite to access the HH4, how would I do that with the HH4 on its own subnet?

See post 134, and there is the annoyance of BT's public WiFi (what, waste my limited bandwidth on piggy-backers?). Even if that were turned off, there is a cost to running two routers with minimal benefit.

What I would like is for the router to gather its own stats log rather than having to leave the PC running, which I imagine will be possible with custom firmware providing access to the operating system (as per HDR-FOX CF).

Unfortunately the 3700v2 CF doesn't look very well supported. It seems somebody managed to port the v1 CF to the v2, but then lost interest because they moved onto a different router. The latest "alpha" is September 2017, and there have been two releases of v1 since then (latest March 2018) and an active community for the v1 (vital, 'cos I will need some help).

If I can assure myself I know how to return to standard, I might have a little look at the v2 CF and see if I can get it to do what I want. If it doesn't, or still feels too restrictive, I will then have to decide whether to take up ETH's offer of a 3700v1 or go for an openWRT supported router.

 

[everthewatcher]

How do I get line logs out of a BT-HH4? I can't even find a noise margin figure. Even if I could get RouterStats Lite to access the HH4, how would I do that with the HH4 on its own subnet?

You can still see the HH4 or whatever on its own subnet. As for RouterStats the earliest HH I've had was the HH5 and the special version for the Type A worked fine.

In brief, the SH1 here sits at 192.168.100.254 with DHCP enabled (makes it easier to set it up on an isolated machine should I need to) . The router sits at 192.168.1.1, its WAN port is connected to the SH1 with its Internet IP Address set to be obtained dynamically from the ISP, which here is the SH1. I can still see the SH1 at 192.168.100.254 from a machine on 192.168.1.nnn [Edit] - I just did to see what settings I had.

IPv6 is another matter which I've not gone into, but with Connection Type on the router set to Auto Detect it goes to Passthrough which works fine.

 

[Black Hole]

I don't understand why I would bother. Had the HH4 gave me a significantly better line rate, it might have been worth considering.

Meanwhile, I've stuck 10m of Cat5 between the 3700v2 and the ADSL port, and it made no detectable difference to the line rate at all.

 

[prpr]

Meanwhile, I've stuck 10m of Cat5 between the 3700v2 and the ADSL port, and it made no detectable difference to the line rate at all.

Didn't I say that in post #66?

 

[Black Hole]

Don't you like independent confirmation? I thought that was all part of the scientific method.

This is all leading up to me relocating my "IT hub" to an upstairs equipment cabinet, where the WiFi and DECT will have best range and from where I can fan out services such as Cat5 and UHF.

 

[everthewatcher]

I don't understand why I would bother. Had the HH4 gave me a significantly better line rate, it might have been worth considering.

In my case it was a carry-over from when VM only offered a modem so you had to supply your own router.

It also stops any possibility of BT (or any other ISP) snooping on your network:

BT cheerfully admits snooping on customer LANs

For the good of the customers, of course

www.theregister.co.uk

 

[Black Hole]

Again, eliminating the BT HomeHub entirely avoids this issue (by closing any back doors).

 

[prpr]

Most of my loss of about 2Mb over the last 5 years is down to interference from the bl@@dy neighbours.
When there's a power cut, their stuff goes off, mine doesn't and the noise margin has a large step up. I was at home once and happened to catch it. As all their kit restarted when the power came back, the noise margin gradually stepped back down.

Graph from recent power cut(s):



That's about a 4 dB improvement without everybody else's interference.

 

[Black Hole]

@##!!£$%%%!!!!!

 

[Black Hole]

If I can assure myself I know how to return to standard, I might have a little look at the v2 CF and see if I can get it to do what I want. If it doesn't, or still feels too restrictive, I will then have to decide whether to take up ETH's offer of a 3700v1 or go for an openWRT supported router.

Sod's Law innit. The openWRT "supported" list includes BT HomeHub3 and BT HomeHub5... but not BT HomeHub4 (which I have)

 

[Black Hole]

Ugh!

 

[Black Hole]

...but today it's faster than usual! SpeedSmart reports 4.2 down and 1.5 up, SpeedChecker reports 3.7 down and 1.5 up.

 

[MikeSh]

What are we looking at?

 

[Black Hole]

Theses are the line stats gathered from the ADSL modem using RouterStats running on the PC. RouterStats is configured with the admin login to the router/modem so it can periodically query the line interface and plot graphs of the connection up and downlink speeds and their respective noise margins.

The noise margin sets the fallback mode for the ADSL protocol: the higher the noise margin, the cleaner the signal and the greater the bandwidth the ADSL can make use of.

Today's chart (post 156) shows an unusually good receive noise margin (for me), which is why the speed tests show better than my typical 3Mbps (or less). Yesterday's chart (post 155) shows a cluster of drop-outs which gave me a period of Internet black-out.

 

[MikeSh]

Given the higher than usual traffic on the networks at present and the time of day of your 07-Apr dropouts, could they just be system overloads.

 

[Black Hole]

I could understand the Internet not being very responsive during high demand, but those parameters are for my personal connection between my modem and the line card at the exchange. So far as I know, my bit of the line card is my bit of the line card and not shared with anybody - anyone know different?

Presuming that's the case, I don't see how the dropouts on the local line can be blamed on other people's traffic.