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[Ronski]

I'm using an HG612 along with PFsense, some find the Zyxel modems give better performance, on my line DS was better but US was worse, so I went back to the HG612. I'm also on an ECI cab.

[re0]

@sotonsam:

Now there's a sight I am all too familiar with! I am surprised that there are so many of these shells still existing (I guess that just demonstrates its build quality). It will be sad to see them go out of service when G.fast is rolled out.

An HG612 unlocked may be a good if you want to view and collect stats on your line's performance (once unlocked, which is a somewhat easy task with plenty of documentation). You can typically find them used on the bay for under £10 posted. I personally bought a version 1 Billion BiPac 8800NL to use as a modem with PPPoE bridging, and you can almost always pick up used for under £25 as an auction including delivery (sometimes under £20 if you're lucky). I just plug an Ethernet cable into one of the other ports of the router from another NIC on my PC to retrieve the stats from Web UI, Telnet and SSH.

Probably may be better and cheaper options to pick up a modem, but for me the v1 8800NL is stable and has a decent Broadcom chipset. And if my main router dies or has issues, I can use the routing and wireless capabilities on the 8800NL as a fallback.

[sotonsam]

Thanks all.

Have ordered myself a cheap HG612, will see how that works for me. Will be interested to see the stats...so I'll share these once I've got it connected up.

[re0]

Just in preparation for when you receive it, you can find information regarding unlocking the HG612 here on the kitz site: http://www.kitz.co.uk/routers/hg612unlock.htm

I am not sure if it includes all the most up-to-date information and links to resources (since it was lasted updated 03/15), though I can imagine that not much has changed in the way of firmware for this device since then (and if I have missed something then someone will certainly post it here).

[kitz]

You're correct.  Nothing much has changed.  F/w is still the same and the following pages should contain the latest info

http://www.kitz.co.uk/routers/hg612unlock.htm
http://www.kitz.co.uk/routers/hg612hacking.htm

 

[re0]

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I though I'd just update it in reference to what I found out in relation to G.fast in my area.

I spoke to engineer locally who was working at the cabinet (I hope I didn't disturb him too much). From what I have been told, no engineers in my area are trained for G.fast and he is unaware of any plans to roll it out in the near future. So, at least in my case, I imagine it could be near the end of the year at the earliest before any rollout commences. Though, while my dreams of having an ultrafast connection any time soon have been crushed, I am not really surprised that it is not happening soon.

[smallal]

Lack of training could explain why Openreach aren't doing the work in my area.
G.FAST pods are being installed & connected up by Kelly Communications, my local pod was connected to the exchange a few weeks ago.
Unfortunately the engineers couldn't say when the exchange would 'go live', so I'm keeping an eye on the BT Checker (which is showing 'planned' at the moment).

[re0]

Lack of training could explain why Openreach aren't doing the work in my area.
G.FAST pods are being installed & connected up by Kelly Communications, my local pod wad connected to the exchange a few weeks ago.
Unfortunately the engineers couldn't say when the exchange would 'go live', so I'm keeping an eye on the BT Checker (which is showing 'planned' at the moment).

Though I doubt (and I could be wrong) it will be down to lack of training but rather ensuring there is enough capacity in terms of links from the exchange.

At least the cabinets in your area have the pods installed! I haven't seen a single pod here yet.

[sotonsam]

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I though I'd just update it in reference to what I found out in relation to G.fast in my area.

I spoke to engineer locally who was working at the cabinet (I hope I didn't disturb him too much). From what I have been told, no engineers in my area are trained for G.fast and he is unaware of any plans to roll it out in the near future. So, at least in my case, I imagine it could be near the end of the year at the earliest before any rollout commences. Though, while my dreams of having an ultrafast connection any time soon have been crushed, I am not really surprised that it is not happening soon.

It's crazy how backwards the broadband infrastructure is in this country. G.Fast for many will be quite a minimal increase, so having to wait so long just seems crazy. The doors opening for Virgin Media...

[Chrysalis]

That's even if you have g.fast pods, not all FTTC areas will get them.

[re0]

That's even if you have g.fast pods, not all FTTC areas will get them.

Even if you have G.fast pods activated on your cabinet, chances are that if you're further than around 400 meters from the cabinet there will be next to no benefit over VDSL (FTTC) services or it won't be available to you at all.

[Ronski]

I've not noticed any pods in Thanet, and as I'm around 450 meters from my cabinet it won't make any difference anyway, also I'm moving to Virgin.

[re0]

But what about the wonderful pricing of FTTPoD? 

[Ronski]

With no ducts on the estate (well unless they've installed any since it was built), certainly no aggregation nodes, so in excess of 500 meters I considered it not even worthwhile my time enquiring let alone the expense  Good job VM decided to install fibre to my front door, lets just hope its reliable 

[re0]

no network congestion/horrible latency issues then. Otherwise you'll be crawling back to FTTC (assuming you are on it).