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[mnotgninnep]

Ok, to cut a long story short, I tried a Draytek Vigor 130 modem which didn't like my Huawei cabinet, completely f****d my line, DLM kicked in and lots of other things went wrong. I returned it and after quite a bit of research, bought a TP-Link TD-W9970 with a broadcom chipset and supposedly supporting bridge mode, G.INP and Vectoring. So far so good, the line is stable and things are going well, improving gradually even. Problem is my setup depends on MTU 1508 for my IPv6 tunnel to work. I would expect to be able to ping packets 1472 but can only ping 1464 suggesting the MTU is 1500. In bridge mode, I don't seem to be able to change this MTU. Can I change it or have I bought another dud?

Thanks in advance.

Michael

Code: [Select]

C:\Users\mnotgninnep>ping -n 1 -f www.yahoo.com -4 -l 1464

Pinging atsv2-fp.wg1.b.yahoo.com [87.248.98.8] with 1464 bytes of data:
Reply from 87.248.98.8: bytes=1464 time=29ms TTL=54

Ping statistics for 87.248.98.8:
    Packets: Sent = 1, Received = 1, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 29ms, Maximum = 29ms, Average = 29ms

C:\Users\mnotgninnep>ping -n 1 -f www.yahoo.com -4 -l 1472

Pinging atsv2-fp.wg1.b.yahoo.com [87.248.98.8] with 1472 bytes of data:
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 87.248.98.8:
    Packets: Sent = 1, Received = 0, Lost = 1 (100% loss),

[burakkucat]

Welcome to the Kitz forum, Michael. 

I wouldn't go as far as labelling the TD-W9970 as a "dud". From your tests, it does appear that device is not configurable for a MTU greater than 1500. Essentially you need a device that can support baby jumbo-frames . . . but such a device is a rarity when considering normal domestic consumer-grade hardware.

[mnotgninnep]

Welcome to the Kitz forum, Michael. 

I wouldn't go as far as labelling the TD-W9970 as a "dud". From your tests, it does appear that device is not configurable for a MTU greater than 1500. Essentially you need a device that can support baby jumbo-frames . . . but such a device is a rarity when considering normal domestic consumer-grade hardware.

Yeah, I just got off the TP-Link chat and the rep confirmed what you said, it doesn't support baby jumbo frames. Bother. It's a good stable modem otherwise. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

So... Can anyone suggest a modem that's not too expensive, supports MTU1508, G.INP, Vectoring and has a Broadcom chipset to work with my Huawei street cabinet please?

[j0hn]

There is very very little choice of Broadcom chipset with 1508 mtu bridged PPPoE.

Huawei HG612

or

Zyxel VMG1312-B10A

more info on the Zyxel in the following thread

BCM63168 Modems that Support Baby Jumbo Frames (Bridge Mode)

[johnson]

Of course you can see if you read the thread, but also these both support 1508 in bridge mode with the right firmware:

ZyXEL VMG8324-B10A

ZyXEL VMG8924-B10A

Pretty sure kitz should be getting paid by zyxel at this point.   

[johnson]

So there is a "GPL" package available for the W9970 and I had a look through it, applying the 1508 patches should work fine, bcmxtmrt.c and the relevant Makefile are there.

But from the README included:

5. After building the code, you will get the bootloader and linux kernel image, then you can make rootfs with mksquashfs too, but you can't upgrade these images to your router through web management page.

So I guess some packing magic with the right header is required...

There is a serial port with known pin out:
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/TP-LINK_TD-W9970_v2

Seems you can pick these up for a little over £10 used, maybe I should get one and try, would be nice to have a cheaper option to the zyxels that supports baby jumbo frames. Anyone know if the BCM63381 it uses performs any better than the HG612?

[Weaver]

Welcome Michael!    I too can confirm that the ZyXEL VMG 1312-B10A works beautifully as a straight modem with MTU 1508 provided it is used with our very own johnson’s excellent special build of the firmware.

[mnotgninnep]

Thanks guys for the warm welcome and the advice. I'll have a really good read of that thread and decide what I want to do.

I'm not at all up to modifying the TP-Link firmware myself so will leave that the the experts/enthusiasts.

[johnson]

Can I ask how it syncs compared to the vigor 130? Better I assume as the broadcom huawei combo, but by how much?

[mnotgninnep]

Can I ask how it syncs compared to the vigor 130? Better I assume as the broadcom huawei combo, but by how much?

The Vigor 130 didn't like my line/huawei cabinet at all. I was getting tons of dropped packets/line syncs. My line rate compared with the Plusnet HubOne (BT HH5) dropped from 65Mb down to 48Mb over a week. I've since found lots of posts online of people having issues with the Vigor 130, Plusnet and/or Huawei cabs. Being a Lantiq chipset, it would be better suited to an ECI cab. I've also seem something somewhere about G.INP/Vectoring being a last minute addition to the firmware and apparently disabling it in the web interface fixes stuff.  Of course there's also the possibility I was unlucky and got a faulty unit, but by that point I'd fallen out with it and was running out of time to return it for a full refund. With the TP-Link, everything became stable, but as you can see, I've just found that it doesn't support baby jumbo frames.

Sync rate has recovered somewhat over the last couple of weeks and it's currently syncing at 65Mb down and 20Mb up.

[johnson]

Thanks for the info. Has your attainable increased over the HH5A?

[mnotgninnep]

Thanks for the info. Has your attainable increased over the HH5A?

Hard to say because of the damage the Draytek did to my line sync. I've only gotten interested in exactly how VDSL stuff works since I replaced it. I only replaced it because whenever I downloaded more than a couple of large files at once, it was rebooting. Yeah, not losing sync, actually restarting.

In terms of attainable speed, only now have I got back to where I was before I tried to switch. It also didn't help I had a copper line fault that has also been fixed. Yes I continued with the Draytek after but that still persisted in causing issues. When I first signed up, I was getting ~77Mb. Now my cabinet is full, OR engineer says there are only 3 ports left on the whole thing, and cross talk has done its dirty work bringing my speed down. My line is only ~300m he said.

I suspect I'm going to be better off as things are still settling. Also if I can get this baby jumbo frames thing, I'll see a small increase in speed because I won't be fragmenting and wasting packets.

[mnotgninnep]

Ok, I have options for a
ZyXEL VMG8324-B10A for ~£50 delivered
or a
ZyXEL VMG1312-B10A for ~£50 delivered

Is there any difference either in terms of features, spec or reliability between the two bearing in mind I'm going to be using it as a bridge to a Unifi USG?

If no real difference, I'm leaning to the VMG1312-B10A because of the lay-flat layout of the unit with the cables out the back.

Thanks

[johnson]

Cant speak for everyone, but I guess most would go for the VMG1312, it has a nicer box and internal heatsink, some report it syncs fractionally higher... but these are small things. £50 for either is a little over the odds if you are willing to wait a bit on auctions.

[mnotgninnep]

No B10As on auction at the moment. Lots of B10Ds though and very cheap. Obviously on the info above I'm going to the B10A but what's the difference if you'll excuse my ignorance please?