Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[roseway]

I've found that (here at least) WiFi works more reliably if the bandwidth is set to 20 MHz. Mine was set to 40 MHz by default. The setting is in Wireless 2.4G --> Advanced.

[roseway]

PS About the delivery reliability, was the carrier Yodel by any chance? It seems to me that they have single handedly destroyed Amazon's service reputation.

[sevenlayermuddle]

I've found that (here at least) WiFi works more reliably if the bandwidth is set to 20 MHz. Mine was set to 40 MHz by default. The setting is in Wireless 2.4G --> Advanced.

Thanks, I saw that setting but it was one of many than meant nothing to me.   I'll try it, if still not right tomorrow.   There's also a new firmware that I can try.

PS About the delivery reliability, was the carrier Yodel by any chance? It seems to me that they have single handedly destroyed Amazon's service reputation.

It was 'Amazon Logistics', which I would assume to be some customised branding of a.n.other courrier.   It arrived in a grubby white van with no visible markings, at least from the perspectives I saw it.   To his credit the driver was polite and professional, despite me being a bit grumpy.

I should confess I have recently been experimenting with a different tactic for Amazon, which is to pay through the nose for delivery by 1pm, even for a low value package.   Thing is, maybe as a quirk of my precise location, it nearly always just misses 1pm.  But if it misses by as much as one minute I submit a cliam for refund of the delivery charge.   And so far, they've always coughed up so I get 'free' delivery, usually before 1:30 

[kitz]

Well Im glad it finally arrived and all is good.

I must admit I thought exactly the same as eric.  Yodel has delivered here at just gone 8pm before now.

>> 'Amazon Logistics'

Could be anyone then, although the grubby white van with no markings implies yodel. 
 
Theres someone down this street that 'works' for Yodel.   Every day at about 10.30/11am one of their green vans spends about 15 mins off-loading parcels at her address.  She then goes out in her own car and delivers some parcels.  She stops at about 3pm to pick up the children from school.   Then she goes out again much later in the evening to do the rest (presumably when hubby gets home so look after the kids).

Saying that for the past few weeks I seem to have seen a new van floating around a fair bit, its a white one which says "Yodel direct" on it.  Ive not really been in though to see if this is a difference/priority service.. or if the white vans have replaced their luminescent ones.

>> so I get 'free' delivery, usually before 1:30   

[GigabitEthernet]

Luckily, we hardly ever get Yodel deliveries from Amazon.

Instead, here in Hampshire, we get deliveries from: DPD (the best courier by far, except maybe UPS - because they deliver Apple packages - but they don't deliver Amazon parcels), Royal Mail (never had any issues with them), Parcelforce and City Link (the worst courier that ever walked - drove (?) - on this planet, except, of course, Yodel).

[kitz]

>> DPD (the best courier by far,

Agreed - Love their tracking system.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Have to say my own preference is for Royal Mail and Parcel Force, if only because they have dense networks of depots from which you can collect if you miss the delivery.

The router is doing well, except for one thing... DLM has slapped another 3dB onto my target.

I'm guessing it was a combination of playing with the router yesterday which unavoidable meant three or four resets in the day, then last night we had a power cut too.

This is the second time since Christmas I've been pointlessly 'hit' by DLM.   The first was when Openreach  were working in the village, which caused my noise levels to go haywire for a week until they were done.

I suppose I can console myself that if all fails, the Billion has SNR adjustment on its GUI.   I'm resisting as I'm convinced that 'fighting' DLM can make matters worse,  but I may have to give in...   

[kitz]

>> 'm guessing it was a combination of playing with the router yesterday which unavoidable meant three or four resets in the day, then last night we had a power cut too.



It certainly wont have helped    I hope that the billion is more stable though and it doesnt take as long as usual to get back to your normal figure.

[roseway]

I've happened upon a little curiosity with this router. If you log in by telnet in the normal way, all the regular Broadcom CLI commands are available, and work normally. But if you try ordinary Linux commands (e.g. "ls /bin") you get an "Unrecognized command" response. This is because you're not actually in the Busybox shell - the prompt at this point is ">". If you type "sh" you get taken to the Busybox shell with the normal "#" prompt. All the Broadcom CLI commands work just the same, but you can now also enter Linux commands.

So DSLstats works properly with it in both modes, but if you want to send Linux commands you have to use the second stage of login.

[sevenlayermuddle]

. But if you try ordinary Linux commands (e.g. "ls /bin") you get an "Unrecognized command" response. This is because you're not actually in the Busybox shell - the prompt at this point is ">". If you type "sh" you get taken to the Busybox shell with the normal "#" prompt. All the Broadcom CLI commands work just the same, but you can now also enter Linux commands.

Yes I already discovered that in my attempts to get the stats reset script working.   

Another slight quirk... when I first installed it the security log was showing probes every few minutes, which seemed credible and reassuring to me.  Then on day 2, after fiddling around with various settings, the security log was empty!   This unnerved me, had I somehow disabled the firewall?   

No, I'd updated the firmware from 2.32b to 2.32d.   A search of billion forums revealed other people nervous too, but Billion had simply taken steps to cut down on logging, it now just logs probes over some threshold in a given time window.   Phew.

[roseway]

That's interesting. I've downloaded the updated firmware, but I haven't felt any need to upgrade the router as yet.

[sevenlayermuddle]

I've discovered another feature I really like.  From 'enhancements' in the 2.32c release notes…

4. Support for USB Tethering with Android system; likes Samsung, HTC, Sony/Ericsson etc.

I am not sure how many routers can do that trick.   Buy why does it excite me?

…It excites me because I would like to ditch my current ISP when renewal comes around in the Autumn as they don't appear to offer an fttc product.  But I do not hold them in high esteem and I anticipate that getting a MAC might be a struggle, possibly even leaving me stranded without broadband if they screw up.   I now have a 'plan B' for that scenario, which is comforting.   

Better still, by an unrelated but equally fortuitous twist of events, as of a few weeks ago something changed and I suddenly found myself reliably benefiting from fast 3G coverage at home, with full signal strength indoors & outdoors, even though the mobile provider's website still says 'not a chance'! 

I've not yet tried the Android/USB tether, I'll wait until next time I have a 'data bundle' active.  But the phone works great as a WiFi hotspot which has obvious similarities, and various people on various forums seem to report easy success in the Billion / USB tether. 

[TomT]

Just wondering how you are getting on with this router.

I'm considering the 7800DX. Do you know of you can make changes to the wireless,guest wireless, dhcp and port forwarding without it causing the wan connection to restart?

My current router restarts the wan whenever I change settings.

Thanks

[roseway]

The 7800DXL doesn't restart unless you change the WAN settings.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Just wondering how you are getting on with this router.

I'm considering the 7800DX. Do you know of you can make changes to the wireless,guest wireless, dhcp and port forwarding without it causing the wan connection to restart?

My current router restarts the wan whenever I change settings.

Thanks

As Eric says, wan only restarts when needed - you can freely change other parameters.

I'm getting on very well with it, no regrets.  It works flawlessly and runs nice and cool too.  And so far, not missed a beat - never had a reason for unscheduled reboot or reconnect.

Not the prettiest router, quite big and clunky, but that doesn't bother me.   Wall-mountable too, unlike some.

The only thing I've not got to work is the Android USB tethering mentioned a couple of posts ago, just won't recognise my phone (android Jelly Bean).   But that was never a deal breaker.