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Author Topic: Billion 8800NL R2 Problem  (Read 2504 times)

tiffy

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Billion 8800NL R2 Problem
« on: September 29, 2018, 05:07:06 PM »

[Moderator note: These posts have been split off from the Getting extra DSL stats from TP-Link modem/routers thread to form a thread in their own right.]

. . . my Billion 8800NL R2 with most recent firmware 2.52.d10 installed in Mar 2018 which has been rock solid has restarted 4 times over the last 5 days - 3 of the restarts occurred within a 1 hour period on Friday afternoon. Billion Support are aware and there is a patch being tested by other customers, but in the meantime I need a stable connection.

On a slightly different tack, the 8800NL R2 is a little dated. Any suggestions for a reasonably priced replacement? I'm on Huawei cabinet about 560 metre away (straight line) from the property.

Thanks

Paul

@BM

Strange, I have been having exactly the same issues with my daughters Billion 8800NL v.2 over the last few weeks, will re-boot at least once a day (random times), I remotely monitor DSLStats running on a RPi Zero W so can tell that it is a full router re-boot as opposed to a DLM re-synch., the actual line stats are normal for her PN VDSL2 line, nothing changed.

Just substituted the router PSU yesterday with a suitably rated and connector spare, will take a few days to see if this cures the issue or it is hardware related within the router, time will tell.

So far DLM has not over reacted and re-synch rates, G.Inp profile, interleaving etc. have remained the same, however, I am anxious to resolve the issue before DLM gets upset and imposes line penalties, will replace the router if the replacement PSU does not produce the required results.
Will report longer term PSU replacement results in a few days.

Ref. longer term router replace:
I use a Zyxel VMG1312-B10A on my own line which has an excellent reputation on this forum, most members prefer to use this in bridge mode with a separate router of their choice, I'am quite happy with the "one box" solution for my needs.
« Last Edit: September 30, 2018, 11:40:38 PM by burakkucat »
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BM

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Re: Billion 8800NL R2 Problem
« Reply #1 on: September 29, 2018, 06:02:48 PM »

@tiffy

Before the restarts this week, I'd noticed the Youview box complaining it had lost connection and then reconnecting. At the same time my Ipad browsing would freeze (BBC news website). The router said nothing wrong with the BT connection. Both devices were connected via HomePlugs (wired YV and wireless Ipad) so I suspected the HomePlugs. However, I connected the Ipad to the wifi router and the same occurred. Pinging the router from the Ipad saw loss of packets and YV was down at the same time. Service returned after a minute or so. It's as though the router was busy for a while. This may be connected to the restarts. For my restarts, my work VPN notified me of a problem and then looking at the router I could see the PWR light flashing and then the router restarted.

I'll take a look at the VMG1312-B10A
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tiffy

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Re: Billion 8800NL R2 Problem
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2018, 07:48:46 PM »

@BM

Yes, in my case definately router re-boots, as I said, I can easily tell the difference between a re-synch and a re-boot as DSLStats on the RPi (which is powered from the router USB socket) auto-starts and logs the time of the line re-connection.

Have currently clocked nearly 28 hours of router service since substituting the PSU so fingers crossed...

The PSU is a fairly standard item, supplies 12 V. DC @ up to 1.5 A., the connector is slightly less standard, the centre connector (+ve.) is slightly larger diameter than most, I am currently using the PSU from the supplied "Plusnet One" router which has long since been replaced due to very limited monitoring capabilities. 
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tiffy

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Re: Billion 8800NL R2 Problem
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2018, 12:04:46 PM »

Router has again self re-booted early hours this morning so looks like a PSU fault has been eliminated, will have to look into a replacement before DLM becomes annoyed.
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re0

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Re: Billion 8800NL R2 Problem
« Reply #4 on: October 01, 2018, 12:20:02 AM »

The 8800NL R2 is not THAT dated (I have a first version 8800NL that I use as a modem). Though the 8800NL R2 not the best device in reference to DSL as it uses a BCM63381 chipset (said to be less performant than the BCM63168, which is more preferable).

Just for the record, I have had rebooting issues with the 8800AXL R2. While I know it's not the same device, maybe it can give some comfort that these issues with Billion's devices rebooting are not isolated (they seem to be present across a few different products). I have been in contact with Billion and their engineers have applied a "test" firmware to my device which seems to have done the trick so far. There's no guarantee it will be the resolution, but it was rebooting almost as frequently as a few times a day before. Fortunately, I use an 8800NL (the first version) as the modem so that reboots don't impact the DSL connection. :)

I would request that Billion either supply you with the patched firmware or upload it to your device themselves. Even though you have a consumer product, I do not find it acceptable for you to be left with issues impacting your connectivity. For me it did take a few weeks before they said they would to look into my issue directly by seting up syslog to log issues to their server and giving them remote access to the device. They didn't give that option until it was absolutely clear that logging to my local syslog server was not showing any issues and it was very difficult for me to trace.
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tiffy

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Re: Billion 8800NL R2 Problem
« Reply #5 on: October 01, 2018, 09:21:42 AM »

Thanks to b*cat for moving the post to a new, more relevant area, started out as a comment to "BM's" post but grew arms and legs way off topic as it does.

@re0
Many thanks for the input, very informative, BM had mentioned the possible Billion software issue but I found it hard to believe that this could be the case as no firmware revisions had taken place and the unit had been running for well over a year without issues, thought it much more likely to be a hardware issue, the not uncommon degradation of an electrolytic capacitor for example due to ageing.
Not sure of the actual age of the router, I bought S/H from a forum member for service on my daughters PN VDSL2 line in order to monitor remotely via a RPi Zero W running DSLStats, has worked very well until this issue occured.

Have currently replaced my daughters router with original Plusnet Hub One to re-establish line stability and I am running the Billion on the bench to monitor up time / random re-boots, not line connected as such but will see what happens and take it from there.
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re0

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Re: Billion 8800NL R2 Problem
« Reply #6 on: October 01, 2018, 05:17:37 PM »

Perhaps the device is faulty then if it ran without issues for over a year. Though I imagine the warranty is no longer appicable without proof of purchase and because it is likely outside the 2 year window. There may still be hope but based on your description it may not be a software fix. :(

In reference to the PN Hub One, it is pretty yucky because of its Lantiq chipset. I never had a lot of fun with it on a short-ish line; it was unstable and caused quite a few issues (this even includes the replacement that was sent out, so it is unlikely to be a fault). It may be just fine, and probably better than having the Billion rebooting all the time.
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tiffy

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Re: Billion 8800NL R2 Problem
« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2018, 05:50:58 PM »

@re0

Yes, the Billion router has paid for itself in my estimation having not cost a fortune S/H and worked very well until a few weeks ago, certainly well out of warranty.

The deployment of the PN Hub One is just a temporary measure until I get a replacement organised, with it's limited stats monitoring facilities can't remotely monitor the line performance via RPi / DSLStats.

Have ordered a ZyXEL VMG1312-B10D today on e-bay accepting that it's not in the league of the VMG1312-B10A or some other ZyXEL models but should suffice on my daughters relatively noisy, long line which will never achieve over 40Mbps DS synch on VDSL2 service.

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re0

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Re: Billion 8800NL R2 Problem
« Reply #8 on: October 01, 2018, 06:30:57 PM »

Eh! It'll do fine. B10A has the internal filter and the "better" chipset. But even still, in most cases it would be at most a few Mbps difference between B10A and B10D.

What are the stats for her line? Huawei or not Huawei?
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tiffy

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Re: Billion 8800NL R2 Problem
« Reply #9 on: October 01, 2018, 07:57:23 PM »

Yes, it is a Huawei DSLAM, we have been very lucky in N.I. virtually exclusively Huawei estate, have never seen an ECI cab. anywhere here.

As I said, quite a distance from the PCP/DSLAM cab's, very high density housing area with very high population on the cabinet, with considerable distance from the exchange this makes ADSL a very poor option and has forced virtually every subscriber onto fibre, contention/crosstalk features highly in the equasion I would think.
DS G.Inp does help a lot, vectoring would be even better if it ever arrives here, unlikely at present.

To the best of my knowledge G.Fast has not yet extended to N.I., have certainly never seen any PCP extension pods in my travels locally.
Hypothetical for the line in question anyway, too far away from the PCP..
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re0

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Re: Billion 8800NL R2 Problem
« Reply #10 on: October 01, 2018, 08:36:52 PM »

In reference to G.fast, the ThinkBroadband map here (updated 01/10/2018) shows Antrim having G.fast enabled. Of course there could be other areas that it is being rolled out to, but right now that's all that is enabled.

Sadly, due to the nature of the G.fast frequency usage being higher than and not overlapping or using another method to co-exist in the same frequencies as VDSL2 17a (Openreach opted for 20-116 MHz) it can only really extend to around the mid-300 meter mark before it starts to be slower than VDSL2 17a.
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tiffy

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Re: Billion 8800NL R2 Problem
« Reply #11 on: October 02, 2018, 04:16:53 PM »

@re0

Thanks for the G.Fast information.
Strange that the Antrim / Newtownabbey council district was chosen, would have thought that the Belfast council areas would be first, still, good to know it's actually somewhere in N.I. now.

I actually have cable availability outside my door going back to the NTL infrastructure days, coax to cabinet, VM are currently investing quite a lot in our locality, full FTTP I would imagine, appears to be only in the areas where previous NTL infrastructure does not exist.
Never fancied cable, VDSL2 with DLM is much more fun !

Apologies to moderators for going off topic once again.
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