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Broadband Related => Broadband Hardware => Topic started by: grahamb on February 24, 2018, 10:45:56 AM

Title: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: grahamb on February 24, 2018, 10:45:56 AM
Hi to all. I have a new Asus DSL-AC56U coming sometime today. Coming on Monday is a locked Huawei Echolife HG612 3B. Obviously I'll be messing around with the HG612 to unlock and install firmware as described elsewhere on this excellent site and, just as obviously, after successfully(?) doing that, I'll be wanting to pair the two devices to have them working together. The idea is that I use the Asus just as a wireless router for phones and what-have-you and have my PC connected to the HG612 for internet use.

So anyway, firstly, I know I have to connect an ethernet cable from the lan1 port on the HG612 but will that connect to the WAN port on the Asus? Secondly, do I need to be concerned about an IP address clash between the modem and the router? They'll initially both be using 192.168.1.1 but I'm getting the feeling that I shouldn't be concerned about any clash since I'll have my PC connected directly to the HG612 through lan2 and be able to get stats direct from that.

I'm aware that initially I'll be connecting to the Asus for setting up (ISP etc) but will this cause problems for me later on when connecting the modem? Actually, can I avoid problems altogether by just connecting the Asus to the BT ECI modem that is connected to the TG582n that is my current set up?

I hope I've explained what I want to do properly but if I'm missing anything please let me know.  :)
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: skyeci on February 24, 2018, 11:10:29 AM
if you have an hg612 you don't need the dsl (comes with modem) version of the asus. You would have just bought the RT version (so no modem on board)

unlock the hg612 and plug the Asus wan port into port 1 of the modem if the dsl56 supports this. It may not has it has a modem on board.  port 2 of the 612 would be for stats. Your Asus would handle wifi,dhcp,dns and connection to your isp.

If the asus won't work through the 612 you may have to use it as an all in one for everyrhing. the 612 is a dumb modem.

personally I run my modem on 192.168.0.1 and as it's directly connected to a pc for stats the router is on 192.168.1.2 - no clashes as different networks..To enable stats upload the wifi card in the pc is looking at my routers lan.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: grahamb on February 24, 2018, 11:45:46 AM
Thanks for your reply, skyeci.

So, to be clear, and assuming that everything will work as I hope it to,  I won't be able to connect directly to my PC through lan2 of the 612, I'll have to connect it to the Asus?

Also, will changing the IP address of the Asus be simply a matter of going into the WAN settings and just changing the numbers to, say, 192.168.1.254? It occurs to me I'll have to do this anyway in order to change device names connected wirelessly.

Also, I've assumed that connecting the 612 to the Asus via the Asus WAN port bypasses the dsl side of the Asus. Is that not right?

And also, on my current set up, has the lan4 port on the TG582n been re-assigned as a WAN port?

Sorry for the questions, just trying to learn.  :)




Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: Ronski on February 24, 2018, 12:12:53 PM
I have Lan 1 of the HG612 connected to the wan port of my router, and Lan 2 connected to a switch (effectively just one of the network ports on the router in your case) both have different IP addresses for example 192.168.1.1 for the HG612 & 192.168.1.2 for the router.

This means I can access both the router and the modem from any PC in the house, and any PC in the house can access any other easily if required.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: skyeci on February 24, 2018, 12:32:18 PM
depends on your pc. mine has wifi and an Ethernet port so the lan port goes to the modem and the wifi looks at the router lan so it can upload.

this might help http://www.kitz.co.uk/routers/hg612unlock.htm  (halfway down explains the port1 and port 2 etc)

[Moderator edited to fix a couple of typos.]
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: grahamb on February 24, 2018, 12:48:48 PM
I have Lan 1 of the HG612 connected to the wan port of my router, and Lan 2 connected to a switch (effectively just one of the network ports on the router in your case) both have different IP addresses for example 192.168.1.1 for the HG612 & 192.168.1.2 for the router.

This means I can access both the router and the modem from any PC in the house, and any PC in the house can access any other easily if required.

Has the router address been assigned automatically or is it a modification that you've made yourself?
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: skyeci on February 24, 2018, 01:22:41 PM
you need to set the ip address for  the routers lan network. The wan port ip is assigned by the isp when the router authenticates etc..
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: Ronski on February 24, 2018, 01:35:56 PM
Has the router address been assigned automatically or is it a modification that you've made yourself?

As Skyeci says, set the address in the router for the range you want to use, for simplicity keep the first three digits the same 192.168.1.x

The default address for the HG612 Lan 2 port is 192.168.1.1 so set you router to use 192.168.1.2 (https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1011245/), and set DHCP to issue addresses from 192.168.1.3 (https://www.asus.com/uk/support/FAQ/1011703/)



Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: grahamb on February 24, 2018, 02:54:02 PM
Thanks to you both, makes things somewhat clearer in that respect.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: j0hn on February 24, 2018, 11:15:33 PM
The Asus doesn't have a WAN port.
You need to assign 1 of the LAN ports to be used as a WAN port.
If bought from a retailer and can be returned you would be much better with the RT rather than DSL variant. After using the LAN port as a WAN port, and using another LAN port for stats, you are only left with 2 useable LAN ports.

The DSL model has its own VDSL2 modem and can be used as a single unit. The modem uses a Mediatek chipset that is very poor. OpenReach have removed retransmission
for these modems because of issues they have.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: grahamb on February 24, 2018, 11:17:58 PM
Ok, the Asus arrived this pm, initially couldn't get it to work with the BT supplied modem so had to plug the RJ11 in to set up but after going back to it and changing a few settings, it appears to be working fine in tandem with the modem. Although it is early days and anything can happen in the next half-hour...  :fingers:

I look forward to the big fight with the HG612 next.  :cool:
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: grahamb on February 24, 2018, 11:26:50 PM
The Asus doesn't have a WAN port.


Um, there are six ports along the back - four for connecting devices to (lans), one for sticking your RJ11 into (dsl) and *fanfare* an ewan port, which is how I've connected the modem. Not sure why you think there's no WAN on the device?

Anyway, as you can see from my previous post, it's currently working and doing as well as can be expected.  :)
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: banger on February 25, 2018, 12:53:49 AM
Maybe John is thinking of the DSL-N55U which only has 4 LAN ports on the back?
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: j0hn on February 25, 2018, 01:11:16 AM
Quote
Not sure why you think there's no WAN on the device?

I wrongly assumed that as the higher spec DSL-AC68U, and the lower spec DSL-AC51U, DSL-N55U & DSL-AC750 all have no WAN ports, that the DSL-AC56U didn't have 1 either.
My mistake.

My DSL-AC68U was pretty useless with only 2 LAN ports. It was also missing a couple fearless that the RT variant had. I eventually bought the RT-AC68U.

The modem in them all is useless. Combined with the modem in the HG612 you shouldn't have any problems though.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: grahamb on February 25, 2018, 02:40:29 AM
I ended up going for the ac56 over the 68 due to the fact that there's two usb ports on the 56 rather than the one on the 68 and because I decided that an AC1900 modem/router was a bit of overkill for what I actually needed (as is the 56 truth be told). Plus the fact that Amazon offered the 56 at £80 to Prime users (which I'm not but my daughter is) and since I was in receipt of bonus pay from work, I had to spend it on something, didn't I?  ;)

Also, as an added bonus and quite a surprise to me as well, my S4 mini actually connects to the 5G
band. Virtual champagne all round...  ;D
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: banger on February 25, 2018, 03:04:46 AM
Understood about the Asus routers but the HG612 is a bit long in the tooth now and many on this board have seen better sync performance from ZyXEL devices. A reasonably priced  VMG1312-B10A can be found on Ebay and converted into a modem. My own line the HG612 syncs at 65 mbit where as the ZyXEL syncs at 76 mbit under normal operation. Currently sync'ing at 79999 due to a firmware update.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: grahamb on March 01, 2018, 01:41:04 PM
So anyway, having received the HG612 on Monday, I've messed around with it this morning and successfully managed to unlock it, connect it to the Asus and have an apparently working VDSL connection.  :o

I've looked at my stats, as reported by the modem,and here they are:

Line status:
                                           D/s          U/s
Attainable rate (kbit/s)   62088   25307
SNR margin (dB)            14.3            16.1
Line attenuation (dB)            13.6               0

Stats:
                                 D/s          U/s              
Line rate (kbit/s)   54997    9995                                                             
CRC errors                     35               0    
FEC errors                   7               1    
HEC errors                     13               0    

Could someone run a practised eye over them please and let me know what you think? Hopefully, I given you the required information. (The modem has been running for about an hour at time of those stats.) :)

Also, I've looked at the HG612 overview on the Routers tab and seen the information provided for setting up via ADSL. Do I need to do anything further to configure the HG612 for a VDSL connection? If so, what might I need to change in the Asus settings to accommodate any changes to the modem?

PS @banger - I'm currently watching a VMG 1312 on eBay. Won't want to pay any more than a tenner for it though.  ;)

 
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: jaydub on March 01, 2018, 02:12:52 PM
PS @banger - I'm currently watching a VMG 1312 on eBay. Won't want to pay any more than a tenner for it though.  ;)

Probably a -B10D at that price.  I'd save up and get yourself a 1312-B10A, which has a better Broadcom chip set in it.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: banger on March 01, 2018, 03:45:21 PM
Agreed @jaydub
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: ktz392837 on March 01, 2018, 05:06:02 PM
With the very limited stats I would say your line is probably capable of the full 80/20 product as your snrm is well above the 6db standard (it appears you are on a 55/10 limited speed product) and 13 is a low attenuation indicating a shorter line.

You would need to gather some historic stats from using dslstats for a few days and ideally start uploading to mdws for comments on whether your speed is at risk from too many errors on the line or possible crosstalk interference.

Personally I would stick with the hg612 unless the replacement is a Zyxel B10A model. NOT b10d.

I use a vmg 8924 b10a I swear by it - it keeps the errorred seconds so low on my line.

Nowadays I would try for what i believe is the newer but equivalent 1312 b10a
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: grahamb on March 01, 2018, 06:13:05 PM
Thanks for looking, I'll possibly get around to collating some proper stats at some point.

The Zyxel looks as though it is a model A - I've compared images between both A and D models and it definitely looks more A than D. I messaged the vendor but he/she claims not to know for sure but I'm going to assume that since there's an 's' between 'a' and 'd' on a keyboard, then it's not a typo...  ;)
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: ktz392837 on March 01, 2018, 06:50:45 PM
Surprised if model number is not printed on the label usually on underside of modem.  I would not even connect a D model to my line for 5 minutes - be careful.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: banger on March 01, 2018, 06:59:45 PM
If it is this one https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zyxel-VMG-1312-B10A-VDSL2-Wireless-Modem-Used/222851769636?hash=item33e3002524:g:zh8AAOSwLwBag1qr then that by the picture is an A.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: j0hn on March 01, 2018, 10:24:05 PM
With the very limited stats I would say your line is probably capable of the full 80/20 product as your snrm is well above the 6db standard (it appears you are on a 55/10 limited speed product) and 13 is a low attenuation indicating a shorter line.

The attainable is posted on the line above the snrm

Quote
Line status:
                                           D/s          U/s
Attainable rate (kbit/s)   62088   25307

Seems rather low for the high snrm.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: ktz392837 on March 01, 2018, 10:35:41 PM
Didn't see that! It does seem a very low attainable for that snrm and attenuation.  No idea why that is unless it is some impact of the speed limiting or just the luck of the draw and it is a line that doesn't like the higher speeds.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: burakkucat on March 01, 2018, 10:40:21 PM
I wonder if those statistics were copied from the GUI or are from the output returned by, say, xdslcmd info --stats . . .  :-\
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: j0hn on March 01, 2018, 10:45:52 PM
I've seen similar on other lines, so not necessarily a GUI bug. Have a look at nsmhd on MDWS.

I would expect the attainable to be considerably higher for both lines.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: burakkucat on March 01, 2018, 10:56:04 PM
I've seen similar on other lines, so not necessarily a GUI bug.

I didn't intend to imply that. However I would only use the GUI as the means of configuring the device. Statistics would always be obtained by use of the "xdslcmd info . . ." commands.

Quote
Have a look at nsmhd on MDWS.

I would expect the attainable to be considerably higher for both lines.

Hmm . . . Yes. Puzzling.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: grahamb on March 02, 2018, 07:03:27 AM
If it is this one https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zyxel-VMG-1312-B10A-VDSL2-Wireless-Modem-Used/222851769636?hash=item33e3002524:g:zh8AAOSwLwBag1qr then that by the picture is an A.

Yeah, it was that one. I bid 15 quid for it but it went for 18.  :(
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: grahamb on March 02, 2018, 07:18:28 AM
I wonder if those statistics were copied from the GUI or are from the output returned by, say, xdslcmd info --stats . . .  :-\
I did copy and paste from the GUI. The xdslcmd thing tells me attainable is slightly less at around 61.8.

Out of interest, any idea why the BTw speedchecker tells me, if I follow the instructions, my download speed is over 100 Mbs?  :lol: Although if I leave my anti-virus on, it gives a more realistic speed of 48-50? Other speedtesters report around 52.

Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: jaydub on March 02, 2018, 10:44:32 AM
Yeah, it was that one. I bid 15 quid for it but it went for 18.  :(

I just bought a new one on Fleabay for £50, so £18 was quite a bargain.  I may have paid over the odds but teh second hand ones were going for the mid thirties and i would rather have the additional peace of mind.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: j0hn on March 02, 2018, 05:50:05 PM
I did copy and paste from the GUI. The xdslcmd thing tells me attainable is slightly less at around 61.8.

Out of interest, any idea why the BTw speedchecker tells me, if I follow the instructions, my download speed is over 100 Mbs?  :lol: Although if I leave my anti-virus on, it gives a more realistic speed of 48-50? Other speedtesters report around 52.
The BTw speed tester has issues, particularly with Firefox. It's unreliable and the results cannot be trusted.

Think Broadband have 1 of the best and most reliable speed testers.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: grahamb on March 02, 2018, 06:10:51 PM
I use Chrome but maybe there's issues with that too.

Anyway, I've been busy doing things. Things like downloading and setting up DSLstats, joining MDWS and also joining Think Broadband. If anyone wants to take a shufty, my MDWS username is the same as it is here.  :)
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: banger on March 02, 2018, 07:16:52 PM
BTw test is notoriously unreliable and depends a lot on the power of your CPU and browser.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: burakkucat on March 02, 2018, 07:19:32 PM
Yeah, it was that one. I bid 15 quid for it but it went for 18.  :(

Here's another (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Huawei-EchoLife-HG612-3B-FTTC-VDSL-NTE-Fibre-Modem-NEXT-DAY-DELIVERY/222783820749), advertised for £17-99, as a "Buy it now" item.
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: grahamb on March 02, 2018, 07:26:42 PM
That's a HG612 again, from the same seller that I've already bought one from. Banger and I were discussing a Zyzel VMG1312-B10A.  :)
Title: Re: New Toys. (Asus DSL-AC56U & Huawei HG612)
Post by: burakkucat on March 02, 2018, 07:28:33 PM
That's a HG612 again, from the same seller that I've already bought one from. Banger and I were discussing a Zyzel VMG1312-B10A.  :)

Ah, b*cat is kerfuddled . . . probably due to the lack of food.  :-[