Modem / Router recommendation - giving old one to oldies

wau2 on 21/09/2015 - 20:04

Hi all

Decided to give my modem/router (Billion 7800N) to the oldies so on the hunt for a new one. Their internet is slow (in previous thread) but gives me excuse to get a new one anyway.

Some notes I've gathered.

  • Per adslexchange cable length / distance from exchange is 3.1km (estimated speed of 6000), Keysborough 3173 Exchange
  • Currently on BigPond Elite® Liberty 100GB – ADSL 2+
  • NBN is coming to me. Per nbninfo its a brownfields FTTP with expected completion 11 Nov 2015.

  • Logging onto my modem, i get the following stats:
    DSP Firmware Version A2pB025f.d22k
    DMT Status No Defect
    Operational Mode ADSL2+
    Upstream 1087
    Downstream 21133
    SNR Margin(Upstream) 7.0
    SNR Margin(Downstream) 5.9
    Line Attenuation(Upstream) 8.0
    Line Attenuation(Downstream) 10.5

  • I know NBN is coming and because its presumably FTTP all i need is a router. Hearing stories about how long this could take (months), i would prefer a modem/router that can also act as a router only when i do eventually switch to NBN. Something with a good wireless strength would be preferably as most likely the modem/router will be downstairs where the majority of activity is upstairs (no cable port to upstairs)

Thanks in advance!

Electrical & Electronics

Comments

  • donnot on 21/09/2015 - 23:41
    +3

    Your stats seem to indicate that you're significantly closer to the exchange than the estimated 3.1km of cable suggests…I'd suggest buying something like the TP-Link W8960N as the modem (rock solid ADSL chipset), and an Asus RT-AC68U as the router which will fill your range requirements. You could also go for something with both inbuilt, such as the D-Link 2890AL to save $50 but I am unsure about the range in comparison to the Asus.

    EDIT: MSY have a special on the DIR-868L ($119 down from 179) until tomorrow. Seems to be the 2890AL without the modem

    • ESEMCE on 22/09/2015 - 09:25

      Almost definitely connected to a Tophat enabled RIM cabinet.
      Given that OP is probably only a few hundred metres from the Tophat/"exchange", any modem will be OK.
      I agree, that OP should probably look for a cheap modem (possibly even the parents modem?) and bridge it to a high quality router.

  • ablokedownthepub on 22/09/2015 - 02:27

    I can recomend the TP_LINK archer d7 it is a modem/router with a WAN/LAN port for future NBN. All LAN ports are gigabit and has dual band wireless and would appear to be $169.00 http://staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=archer+d7 and as mentioned above your figures show a connection speed of 21Meg I would suggest www.speedtest.net to check what speeds your are getting.

  • gavt on 22/09/2015 - 09:45

    Any thoughts on the netgear nighthawk series?

    • AlienC on 20/03/2018 - 00:15

      Yes they are great get them.. recommend anything above an R4. I own an R8500 personally never skips a beat.

  • inherentchoice on 25/09/2015 - 12:32

    The D7 is coming down to $134 shipped! For 1 hour only this Sunday night.

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/212714

  • [Deactivated] on 25/09/2015 - 15:11
    -1

    Draytek make excellent modems. Every time I've considered buying a new one, I've compared with the top brands, and found they've cover security issues others hadn't gotten around to.

    I still have their first ADSL1 I bought years ago. I only upgraded because ADSL2 didn't exist at the time. I believe when I was last looking, they had one or two that did both ADSL2 & NBN. But you'll have to check that for yourself.

    I bought mine from www.warcom.com.au

    The one I currently have, the wireless is so good that I can access it with my smartphone from about 20 meters away - and that's without it even having any antennas screwed in!

    I bought high-gain antennas from warcom at the same time, so I could use the internet from the garage. So if you go to that site, check/ask if they have some high-gain antennae for whatever model you look at.

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