Print

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

[jasjeet]

Hi all

Come across a sweet deal on the Netgear R7800.
Can this router connect to Sky fibre via the HG612 modem?
Or would I need to use th Sky SR102 to connect to Sky and then use the R7800 as an access point?

I'm happy to flash custom firmware if needed.

[psychopomp1]

Good news: the Netgear R7800 is a brilliant Qualcomm based 4 stream Mu-Mimo router, its rock solid and the wifi on this beast is the dogs-you-know-what   

Bad news: Out of the box on stock firmware, the R7800 doesn't support DHCP option 60/61 as this is required to use it with Sky when connected to the HG612 modem. However....

The R7800 supports DD-WRT fw, install this and you'll have DHCP option 60 & 61 available. DD-WRT will also give you many other features such as extra 5ghz channels and you can even play with wifi radio power settings 

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=289788

[jasjeet]

Neat, I see we have DD-WRT and Open-WRT.
Any idea if both support option 61?
I couldn't find much on general stability on stock/open-wrt/DD-wrt fw, any insight is welcome.

I'm looking to get one at £130, I think at this price I won't find better? Main concern is 2.4ghz range.
My sync is 32/7mb.

[psychopomp1]

Considering a brand new R7800 is going for ~ £170, then £130 is a good price. You don't have to worry about 2.4ghz range on the R7800, it will be excellent

Not sure about Open WRT,  but DD-WRT generally has more features and it definitely supports option 60/61 and the latest DD-WRT build will be stable.

[jasjeet]

Cool, now we wait for setup time 

[jasjeet]

Holy crap, I got the Netgear today.
The corner of my house that had little to no wifi connectivity is now at FULL speed! Amazing.
This thing blasts the Zyxel 8924 out the park.

I have left the Zyxel 8924 as the router and modem, but am considering switching the Zyxel to the HG612 since my speeds are banded =( DLM will not remove the banding for nearly a year. Banded at the 32.4mb profile. SNR varies a lot though, between 6-7.5dB, the max rate is around 37mbps. That's what I used to sync at a year ago before a line fault. The BTO engineer didn't reset the DLM, and Sky don't care as I'm over the estimate speed of 28mbps.

The Zyxel does get more FECs than the HG612, so I'm not sure if the higher FEC count is preventing me from getting unbanded.

========================================================
       VDSL Port Details       Upstream         Downstream
               Line Rate:      7.223 Mbps       32.398 Mbps
    Actual Net Data Rate:      7.198 Mbps       32.399 Mbps
          Trellis Coding:         ON                ON
              SNR Margin:        6.7 dB            6.8 dB
            Actual Delay:          0 ms              0 ms
          Transmit Power:        2.5 dBm          11.1 dBm
           Receive Power:      -17.5 dBm         -15.3 dBm
              Actual INP:        0.0 symbols      51.0 symbols
       Total Attenuation:        0.0 dB          25.9 dB
Attainable Net Data Rate:      7.629 Mbps       35.792 Mbps
========================================================

[skyeci]

Why not just use the zyxel in modem mode and use your netgear as your router/wifi box

[jasjeet]

Why not just use the zyxel in modem mode and use your netgear as your router/wifi box

Yeah ill probably do that tonight, just stuck it in AP mode since I couldn't wait to test it lol.

[psychopomp1]

Like I said earlier, the R7800 is the bees knees 

I tested the Zyxel a few months ago as a bridge modem and whilst my attainable rate went up by a few meg, the error count increased significantly so i went back to my tried & trusted HG612 almost immediately before the DLM caused me permanent brain damage. In your shoes I would give the HG612 a try, its rock solid and as I like to say....sometimes old is best 

[skyeci]

Depends on your cab type perhaps. On my eci line my zyxel performs much better than the hg612.

Do you know your cab type?

[psychopomp1]

Depends on your cab type perhaps. On my eci line my zyxel performs much better than the hg612.

Do you know your cab type?

Sorry forgot to mention I'm on a Huawei cab. I also tried a Tp Link WD9970 in bridge mode (uses same newer bcm chipset as Zyxel) and again this increased my max vdsl rate to 83 mbps (v 81mbps on HG612) but like the zyxel line errors went through the roof - and this is on a stable fttc line. Luckily the DLM didn't intervene in the short period i had the Tp link connected so no lasting damage was done.

[jasjeet]

I'm on a Huawei cab also.
Maybe I'll switch to the HG612 again.
Unforturtinately damage looks permanent here.

[psychopomp1]

I'm on a Huawei cab also.
Maybe I'll switch to the HG612 again.
Unforturtinately damage looks permanent here.

Don't give up hope! Plug in your HG612 and keep your fingers crossed. You could always 'accidently' smash your car into your FTTC cab...oooooops  That sure as hell will reset your DLM  [provided the guts of the cab have to be replaced]

[skyeci]

if on huawei then  I would go hg612 as my modem and netgear as your router. Then leave well alone in hope that things resolve..

[jasjeet]

Flashed DD-WRT to the R7800
Heres the startup command to connect to sky fibre
killall udhcpc
udhcpc --background -i eth0 -p /var/run/udhcpc.pid -s /tmp/udhcpc -x 0x3d:YOUR_HEX_STRING

To get your hex string, take your sky user/pass in this format:
xxxxxxxxxx@skydsl|password
Convert it here to hex: http://string-functions.com/string-hex.aspx

I went via Telnet to test, telnet root/web portal password
Then run the commands to test. After that worked, i put the command in the startup command in the router page.

Lost about 1dB SNR on the HG612 vs the Zyxel.

Anyone know what the wifi transmit power should be set to? Its at 20dBm at the moment by default.