Some may have read the posts when I first joined here on this thread, starting here:
http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,16024.msg336464.html#msg336464 about getting an HG612 to work OK on my old, pretty poor, ADSL line.
No matter what, I could not get the HG612 to work as a modem/router, so in the end I resorted to digging out an old D-Link router left over from when we had cable at our old house and set that up to do PPPoE authentication and routing, with the HG612 configured as a modem only, in bridge mode. That worked fine, so I tidied up all the wiring, got everything running PoE (I have a battery-backed home network, so one home-made UPS runs everything) and with a bit of tweaking managed to improve the ADSL performance, although it was rarely better than 4Mb down, 0.4Mb up, and varied a fair bit from minute to minute, with a typical latency of around 90 to 150ms.
As we've now got FTTC (thanks the BDUK) I switched suppliers (the Phonecoop can't offer FTTC apparently) to PlusNet. All went well, the connection transferred yesterday evening and this morning I started reconfiguring the system to switch from ADSL to VDSL2 (it's a new house, that we're in the process of moving in to, so I'm not around some of the time).
All went well with the HG612, I switched that over from ADSL and ATM to VDSL2 and PTM and it synced up with no problem, showing around 26Mb down and 8Mb up (but the up line is capped to 2Mb, it seems).
I then logged into the old D-Link router and switched the settings on that to do the PPPoE authentication. That's where the problems started. For some odd reason, the old D-Link router would not authenticate. I've checked and double checked the settings, and checked the specs, and there's no logical reason why the D-link shouldn't authenticate with CHAP over PPPoE as far as I can see. I even tried switching everything back to running on multiple "wall wart" power supplies, with direct ethernet cable connections rather than all the in-house wiring, with no luck.
I also tried running the HG612 in modem/router mode, but as before, found that wouldn't work (others have found the same, I believe)
In desperation, I remembered that I had an old Netgear wireless router, from when I first added wifi to our old NTL cable connection at the old house about 15 years ago; it was the replacement for the D-Link when we first switched to wifi. I dug this out, disabled wifi, put in the same settings as I'd used with the D-Link and it worked a treat, authenticating quickly with no hassle at all.
So, the question is, why should the D-Link router work OK with the ADSL connection, but not with the VDSL2 connection? Logically I can't see why it should, as it has no idea how the modem is connecting, all it should care about is being able to establish the authenticated connection. Both routers support the authentication protocol. PlusNet use CHAP, and the D-Link supports that, as does the Netgear. In fact, it looks as if the spec for the old D-Link (that doesn't connect) and the old Netgear (that does connect) are the same, as far as I can see, except the old Netgear has wifi (which is turned off to save power).
I'm not 100% comfortable with running on a 15 year old router, that's been sat unused in a cupboard for at least a decade, so am on the lookout for a non-wifi router, that has a low power consumption (because of our semi-off grid operation) and that will work OK with the HG612 bridged as a VDSL2 modem, if anyone has any ideas. It has to be a non-wifi unit, as it's going into the "server room", which is screened quite effectively, and I already have WAPs around where we need wifi (the house has foil linings everywhere in the walls and ceilings that completely kill wifi)
