Kitz Forum
Broadband Related => ISPs => Topic started by: snadge on February 06, 2019, 06:05:06 PM
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My dad wanted to know if John Lewis broadband is reliable, I know they will use the BTw services (provision) like all others, but what are they like for cost and cmr service?
do they still provide Zyxel VMG8924 as the CPE?
thanks in advance
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Their service and reliability will be the same as Plusnet's for a pretty obvious reason!
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Their service and reliability will be the same as Plusnet's for a pretty obvious reason!
my dad isn't with Plusnet.
I know the actual provision will be more or less identical to what he has now (Talk Talk) and informed him of that, I was more wanting to know what the customer service was like and if they still dole out Zyxel routers to cmr's?
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John Lewis re-sell Plusnet broadband. There's a different John Lewis broadband support telephone number but I think it still goes to Plusnet staff.
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John Lewis re-sell Plusnet broadband.
ahh I didn't know that!
thanks for letting me know ejs... ::)
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ahh I didn't know that!
thanks for letting me know ejs... ::)
I'm sure jelv also told you, in his own way ;)
Their service and reliability will be the same as Plusnet's for a pretty obvious reason!
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See attached ::)
It's on the bottom of all their pages.
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I'm with John Lewis, you do get priority in answering calls at the call centre.... :fingers: never been more than a few minutes.
They do supply a Zyxel VMG8924 if you using a Fibre connection.
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If that is the case, are their prices the same as Plusnet's (barring introductory offers)? If so is there any reason not to choose JL in preference to PN?
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Wow - recent reviews don't look good!
https://www.broadband.co.uk/broadband/providers/john-lewis-broadband/reviews/
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No different to most other providers on there, all the ones I looked at were around 3 stars
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thanks for the input guys... really appreciate it.. :)
I will inform my dad, he was thinking of going with Plusnet, but if he gets the 8924 thrown in with JL then he may as well go with them.
is the Zyxel 8924 running stock firmware or JL firmware? if its JL firmware then is the Busybox shell accessible for DSLstats?
thanks
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Stock firmware with a John Lewis Rom-D I believe.
So it simply has their TR-069 settings enabled.
Takes minutes to make it full retail.
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Stock firmware with a John Lewis Rom-D I believe.
Does that mean the GUI is Zyxel and the settings are fixed in by John Lewis? - is the method of changing it to stock simply updating the FW with stock via the GUI? or do you have to do it via JTAG?
thanks
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It's stock firmware, pure Zyxel.
I believe it simply has John Lewis TR-069 details.
Obtaining the Supervisor password and clearing the Rom-D would make it identical to a retail bought unit.
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According to https://www.cable.co.uk/broadband/reviews/john-lewis-broadband/#routerinstallation dated 12/2018 only fibre gets the Zyxel.
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Looking at the link renluop posted shows they provide the VMG8924-B10D.
I'm not familiar with that particular model and how to obtain the Supervisor password.
I don't recall any threads on here with that model.
I'm pretty sure we'd help get it de-JohnLewis'd (lolwut) in no time.
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Looking at the link renluop posted shows they provide the VMG8924-B10D.
I'm not familiar with that particular model and how to obtain the Supervisor password.
I don't recall any threads on here with that model.
Ejs recently spotted that the VMG8924-B10D uses the same kernel module and dsl.phy as the VMG3925 which uses the favoured BCM63168:
https://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,23072.msg391588.html#msg391588
Not confirmed, but points to it being a decent device.
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Looking at the link renluop posted shows they provide the VMG8924-B10D.
I'm not familiar with that particular model and how to obtain the Supervisor password.
I don't recall any threads on here with that model.
I'm pretty sure we'd help get it de-JohnLewis'd (lolwut) in no time.
That's a change; it used to be the B10-A, for which you guys have given me oodles of help in de-JohnLewising recently.
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is the Zyxel 8924 running stock firmware or JL firmware? if its JL firmware then is the Busybox shell accessible for DSLstats?
I've got an ex-John Lewis 8924 and it appears completely stock, and works perfectly with DSLstats. No problem resetting it for my ISP.
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thanks guys
wonder what the differences are between 10A and 10D..? I thought it was locale (i.e. EU vs UK or something)
EDIT: out of interest, is the RJ-11 light on the 8924-B10A supposed to be ORANGE when connected..? mine is, all other lights are green
EDIT2: after a quick look at the B10D manual the RJ-11 light is supposed to be green for VDSL and orange for ADSL... im on VDSL and have an orange light lol
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Is that maybe the wrong way round? Our VMG-8924-B10A shows all green in normal operation on ADSL.
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The D are completely different devices.
The VMG8x24-B10A devices are no longer manufactured.
They were replaced by the VMG8x24-B10D.
The D models of their equivalent A models tend to have very similar (if not identical) specifications to each other.
In most cases the D models are made cheaper than their A equivalent.
The A's usually have a BCM63168 chipset while the D's usually have a budget Broadcom chipset like the BCM63381.
The 3rd number in bold points to being 1 of Broadcoms budget chipsets.
The D's also don't have the extra common mode noise filter found in some A's
As mentioned earlier ejs has looked up the VMG8924-B10D and confirmed it has a BCM63168.
We would need to see a picture of the circuit board to tell if the additional noise filter is present.
The fact it has a BCM63168 would be enough for me to use the device.
My ZyXEL devices have an orange light when synced to VDSL2
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thanks for the clarification J0hn.
weird they make some B10D devices with the cheaper/budget BCM63381 chipset and some with the BCM63168, I just read on DevWiki about the third Broadcom digit, if it's a 3 this informs you that it is a budget SoC.
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A friend of mine has just signed up to JL fibre last week, and was sent a VMG-8924-B10A.....
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Looking at the link renluop posted shows they provide the VMG8924-B10D.
Not the case. At the time of writing we still ship the VMG8924-B10A for FTTC. The image they're using looks like a VMG3925 to me.
For ADSL, we ship a Sagemcom 2704n.
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Bob! A commercial decision no doubt to ship the ZyXEL to discerning upmarket JLPers, it's a pity the plebs can't be treated the same though. :o :D
The Hub 1 is a donkey compares with the ZyXEL.
Up 5466 Down 23007 Plusnet Hub 1
Up 5489 Down 26435 ZyXEL vmg8924 B10-A
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I take it you're connected to a Huawei CAB? Probably be less of a difference on an ECI DSLAM. I think it's largely accepted the Broadcom DSL chipset in the ZyXEL is the better of the two. Certainly something we'll consider for any successor to the Hub One.
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Not the case. At the time of writing we still ship the VMG8924-B10A for FTTC. The image they're using looks like a VMG3925 to me.
For ADSL, we ship a Sagemcom 2704n.
Thanks for the clarification.
The image on that page is definitely the VMG8924-B10D which is what made me think JL had switched to the newer model.
I'm assuming they purchased a fair few of the A's and still have plenty stock.
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That 2704n is poor spec wise, no VDSL, no 5Ghz, no Gbit LAN, no USB, single core, old chipset - according to ISPreview (https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/01/isp-plusnet-launch-faster-hub-zero-2704n-broadband-router-full-specs.html) its a Broadcom 6318 SoC, there is a V2 model that has a Broadcom 6328 SoC (6318 + Gbit Ethernet).
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The image on that page is definitely the VMG8924-B10D...
After looking again, I suspect you're right. I think I can spy a VoIP LED on the right.
The image you attached to your post is a VMG3925-B10B. I was thinking of a VMG3925-B10C (pic attached). You can probably see where the confusion came from ;)
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I take it you're connected to a Huawei CAB? Probably be less of a difference on an ECI DSLAM. I think it's largely accepted the Broadcom DSL chipset in the ZyXEL is the better of the two. Certainly something we'll consider for any successor to the Hub One.
Yep, and the ZyXEL does better than the Billion 8800NL v1. On my crosstalk aluminium hobbled connection connection the increase is noticeable.
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Probably be less of a difference on an ECI DSLAM. I think it's largely accepted the Broadcom DSL chipset in the ZyXEL is the better of the two. Certainly something we'll consider for any successor to the Hub One.
Hi Bob. Just FYI and something to bear in mind for those future successors ;)
The VMG8x24-B10A with their BCM63168 chipsets still way out performs the Lantiq VRX-268 based modems on my line which is attatched to an ECI cab.
Even the BCM 63381 based modems* perform better than the VRX-268 based.
*TP-Link TD-W9970 & Zyxel VMG1312-B10D
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Yep, and the ZyXEL does better than the Billion 8800NL v1. On my crosstalk aluminium hobbled connection connection the increase is noticeable.
I suspect that is largely down to the internal noise filter as well as the chipset.
Its why I say the VMG8x24-B10As & VMG1312-B10A vastly outperform and are more stable on the majority of lines.
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I think it’s unforgivable discriminating against users who have slower lines. As if they do not need the same LAN and especially WLAN performance. Cynical penny-pinching.
As if customers who are already being screwed by BTOR need more grief, when they aren’t responsible for their lack of choice.
And do ADSL2 users not need 5GHz? They have neighbours too. Everyone should have this.
They can of course upgrade by buying a good add-on WAP, or better just binning the wireless modem router and getting- guess what, a top-of-the-range range ZyXEL.
Would stay well away from JL on principle if FTTC.
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Not that much profit in their adsl2+ pricing which probably has a lot to do with it.
The router is a freebie and it's not uncommon for most SP's to provide cheaper modem-routers to those on adsl. :/
>>> Would stay well away from JL on principle if FTTC.
Their FTTC users get what is probably one of THE best modems for free. ie a ZyXEL VMG8924 B10-A
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Agree with what Kitz says, I meant that if I were in the market for FTTC service, I would stay away from JL _in a huff_ on account of how they treat ADSL2 users as pond-life. :-)