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[sheddyian]

Last week my line was switched over from ADSL (1.5mb) to FTTC (predicted 45 - 49 mb).   

My HG612 was connected at the time, it synched but failed to get a connection - it was configured as an ADSL router as per the HG612 Wiki https://wiki.kitz.co.uk/index.php?title=Huawei_HG612

A quick run of dslstats at that point showed it had a 39999 down and 9999 up speed.  Not bad, as I'd signed up to the 40mb Plusnet plan.

For convenience, I plugged in the Plusnet provided Plusnet One Hub, which gave me around 35000 down and 9999 up.

That connection speed was consistent across several reboots.

Yesterday I flashed the HG612 with the most recent Howlingwolf firmware, and did a factory reset.  I changed a few parameters I'd picked up on the Plusnet forum, but most I left alone.

The HG612 is synching again around 39999 down and 9999 up.  The maximum achievable varies between 41000 and 46000.

So, overall not bad.

I'm a bit anxious that some settings I left empty on the HG612, wheras they previously had values in them.  Is there a guide anywhere as to how to configure HG612 optimally for VDSL2?

There's some holes in the bitloading that I need to look at, but that's for another day! 

Thanks

Ian

[Ixel]

There's not much to configure on the HG612 to make VDSL2 optimal really. You can obviously apply your own banding if you should desire but you can't SNRM tweak the downstream on Broadcom chipsets connected as VDSL2 (only Lantiq/Infineon and another chipset can do that). Obviously make sure QoS is disabled on the HG612 if you want to maximise your potential throughput.

[roseway]

In reality, although the HG612 can be configured as a VDSL2 modem/router, it's really a bit underpowered for use as an all-in-one (and of course doesn't have any WiFi capability). The preferred option is to use it as a simple modem in bridge mode, and connect it to a separate router to do everything else. I don't know if the Plusnet hub has a WAN port, but if it does then you could use this as the router, in conjunction with the HG612.

[j0hn]

The HG612 is fully configured as a vdsl2 bridge modem in its default configuration.

The device only needs unlocking for vdsl2, no other changes are necessary like for ADSL services.

If you are unsure of any settings then reset the device via its reset button, unlock it, and then change nothing.

  I changed a few parameters I'd picked up on the Plusnet forum, but most I left alone.

I'm curious what these are, and very dubious that they would have any bearing on the device when used as a bridge modem.

[burakkucat]

If you are unsure of any settings then reset the device via its reset button, unlock it, and then change nothing.

If it has had the most recent of Wolfy's firmware images installed, it only needs a long reset to revert the configuration to the default. No other "unlocking" is required.

It would be interesting to have sight of the "ChipSet Vendor Id:" string, as output by --

xdslcmd info --vendor

Hopefully it will show Broadcom, thus indicating connection through the newer "fibre" cabinet equipped with a Huawei SmartAX MA5603T DSLAM.

[sheddyian]

I'm curious what these are, and very dubious that they would have any bearing on the device when used as a bridge modem.

A quick skim through the settings, and, from memory, I changed :

DSL modulation to ALL
Connection mode : Route (NOT bridge)
WAN 802.1q enable VLAN ID 301
WAN 802.1p enable VLAN ID 5 
LAN : Enabled DHCP server, set preferred address range, favoured DNS server.  Also changed LAN host address to 192.168.1.254 to match previous Plusnet preference.

I wasn't sure what (if anything) the ATM settings should be, and saw no reference to those, so left them blank, ie
ATM VPI/VCI remains blank.

Ian

[sheddyian]

In reality, although the HG612 can be configured as a VDSL2 modem/router, it's really a bit underpowered for use as an all-in-one (and of course doesn't have any WiFi capability). The preferred option is to use it as a simple modem in bridge mode, and connect it to a separate router to do everything else. I don't know if the Plusnet hub has a WAN port, but if it does then you could use this as the router, in conjunction with the HG612.

That's interesting, I will try that.  The Plusnet hub one has a WAN port.  I'm currently using a cheap ALDI repeater / access point as my wifi access point, so could go back to the plusnet hub for wifi.

Thanks

Ian

[sheddyian]

It would be interesting to have sight of the "ChipSet Vendor Id:" string, as output by --

xdslcmd info --vendor

Hopefully it will show Broadcom, thus indicating connection through the newer "fibre" cabinet equipped with a Huawei SmartAX MA5603T DSLAM.

Code: [Select]

# xdslcmd info --vendor
xdslcmd: ADSL driver and PHY status
Status: Showtime
Retrain Reason: 0
Last initialization procedure status:   0
Max:    Upstream rate = 12990 Kbps, Downstream rate = 44112 Kbps
Bearer: 0, Upstream rate = 9999 Kbps, Downstream rate = 39993 Kbps

ChipSet Vendor Id:      BDCM:0xa48c
ChipSet VersionNumber:  0xa48c
ChipSet SerialNumber:
#
BDCM = Broadcom?

Ian

[burakkucat]

BDCM = Broadcom?

Yes, indeed.

[sheddyian]

What benefits do I get from being on a Broadcom chipset cabinet?

And any thoughts as to why I get ~36000 synch on the Plusnet router, and ~40000 on the HG612 - pretty consistently?
The extra speed is a chief reason for wanting to stick with the HG612 

Ian

[burakkucat]

The line-card chip-set is not so relevant, it is just a means to identify the make and model of the DSLAM at which your circuit terminates.

Perhaps it is just best for me to re-phrase the maxim "Four legs good, two legs bad!", from George Orwell's "Animal Farm", as --

Huawei SmartAX MA5603T or Huawei SmartAX MA5616 good. 

ECI Hi-FOCuS Mini-Shelf M41 bad. 

[michty_me]

For convenience, I plugged in the Plusnet provided Plusnet One Hub, which gave me around 35000 down and 9999 up.

That connection speed was consistent across several reboots.

Be careful with the amount you are rebooting it. You don't really want the DLM to kick in and take action.

[sheddyian]

Be careful with the amount you are rebooting it. You don't really want the DLM to kick in and take action.

Good point.  It's not been rebooted that many times, and indeed the reason I was keen to go back to the HG612 was so that my line could be trained against the better performance of that device than the lower-synching Plusnet hub one.
Ian

[sheddyian]

The line-card chip-set is not so relevant, it is just a means to identify the make and model of the DSLAM at which your circuit terminates.

Perhaps it is just best for me to re-phrase the maxim "Four legs good, two legs bad!", from George Orwell's "Animal Farm", as --

Huawei SmartAX MA5603T or Huawei SmartAX MA5616 good. 

ECI Hi-FOCuS Mini-Shelf M41 bad. 

Ah, thanks.  I was aware the ECI cabinets were disliked.  What's the general issue with those?

Ian

[Ixel]

There's been many teething issues for Openreach with the G.INP rollout on ECI DSLAM's. ECI DSLAM's don't even have x dB (e.g. a possible SNRM reduction down to 3 dB for even more downstream speed) because of G.INP not being able to be rolled out. However if you have a good quality line then you can always reduce the downstream SNRM yourself provided you're not banded/capped by DLM (only works with Lantiq/Infineon chipset and one other but not Broadcom). There's also line cards which appear to have different versions, 0xb206 and 0xd086, the latter of which seems to work better for me in my experience.