@weaver Thanks for posting that link. I had somehow missed that thread.
sorry - am obviously turning up late to the discussion!
I did see this thread
http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,15504.msg293294.html#msg293294Where you tried out the vigor 130 (lantiq) and commented that it wasn't nearly as good as your
'venerable Netgear DG834 v3'
I had the similar experience testing 2 other modems (not vigor) with the lantiq chipset and similar results- the were not as good as my venerable Netgear DG834 v3.
Whilst I don't have anything like the line length (and thus attenuation) to deal with that you do at > 4.3 km
this line has suffered a great deal of fluctuation/instability.
Hence my interest in your posts.
The Billion 7800 was the best modem I found so far for my line.
Noticeably better than 3 other equivalent chipset Broadcom based competitors.
One the one hand I might _hope_ that buying the Billions replacement might live up to the standards set by its exceptional predecessor, I do have my doubts about that.
The B7800N was renowned for the exceptional quality of its analogue circuitry.
As you will probably know, that is the bit that differentiated it from its competitors (which employ the same chipsets (and the same Broadcam supplied binary chipset drivers).
It originally cost £120 new
(with delivery) ... the replacement costs only about half that so I won't hold out unrealistic expectations.
On the other hand the I see that the ZyXEL has been specifically mentioned as having extra care lavished on the implementation of the analogue circuitry - hence my interest.
Yes - I could buy them both, and the possibility of a third contender is intriguing, but that would be a substantial outlay!
So better to ask here.
... and besides that also means that others can potentially share in any learning.
I will await any and all feedback with interest.