Which broadband provider for VDSL in rural(ish) Canterbury?

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MichaelNZ

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#2692746 14-Apr-2021 15:38

I run an ISP with a lot of rural users. Here is my two cents from my experience:

1. There is no issue with VDSL back haul. Copper backhaul is an ADSL1 issue and I have no clients on ADSL1 and its hardly a thing anymore, thank goodness.

2. I would generally pick VDSL if its available and this is quite often the case now. I have clients with sub-10Mbps connection speeds who are getting VDSL. This is because its a better protocol.

3. If your connection speed is at the low end it will likely work but don't expect it to be solid. I am seeing daily reconnects with my clients at the marginal end.

4. To give it your best shot get equipment which supports G.vector and G.INP. My go to combo is a Draytek DV130 (running 3.8.4.1 firmware!) and a Mikrotik - usually hAPac2 but am just about to start deploying hAPac3's. Anything cheap or Netcomm is a pain in the proverbial.

5. Whether you choose VDSL or wireless is up to you. There are pros and cons with both. Keep in mind RBI could also be an option.

I hope this helps.

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nztim

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#2692835 14-Apr-2021 17:39

MichaelNZ: 4. To give it your best shot get equipment which supports G.vector and G.INP. My go to combo is a Draytek DV130 (running 3.8.4.1 firmware!) and a Mikrotik - usually hAPac2 but am just about to start deploying hAPac3's. Anything cheap or Netcomm is a pain in the proverbial.

5. Whether you choose VDSL or wireless is up to you. There are pros and cons with both. Keep in mind RBI could also be an option.

I hope this helps.

I have found, the netcomm VDSL modem (nf4v and nf18acv to outperform the DV130 on long loop lengths

I have a rural connection on a 1.9km loop outside of levin that was syncing at 17mbit on a DV130 and 20mbit on a NF4V

Both the DV130 and NFxx do bridge mode perfectly- We don’t use any other features on them

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

MichaelNZ

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#2692839 14-Apr-2021 17:44

nztim:

I have found, the netcomm VDSL modem (nf4v and nf18acv to outperform the DV130 on long loop lengths

I have a rural connection on a 1.9km loop outside of levin that was syncing at 17mbit on a DV130 and 20mbit on a NF4V

Both the DV130 and NFxx do bridge mode perfectly- We don’t use any other features on them

I have not compared them for speed because they were bad in other ways so I withdrew them and replaced all my clients where I had deployed them with Mikrotik.

The Mikrotik just work. They also reconnect very quickly which from an ISP's point of view is a must. This means my clients on marginal connections rarely notice. On the other hand the Netcomms were a PITA*. Also, the Mikrotik is good for remote administration, monitoring and software update.

But there is a technical bar on par with Cisco for them, granted.

*One example of many was sending encoded asterisks for their PPPoE password.

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nztim

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#2693050 15-Apr-2021 09:41

MichaelNZ:

I have not compared them for speed because they were bad in other ways so I withdrew them and replaced all my clients where I had deployed them with Mikrotik.

I am interested to know what issues you had with the Netcomm in bridge mode - considering you are using the Mikrotik for PPPoE

I had a very high PSU failure rate with the DV130 (so much so we had boxes of spares)

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

MichaelNZ

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#2693053 15-Apr-2021 09:52

nztim:

I am interested to know what issues you had with the Netcomm in bridge mode - considering you are using the Mikrotik for PPPoE

I never used them in bridge mode - purely as standalone. Issues include fickle and convoluted configuration, Something with IPv6 which I can't recall, the previously mentioned password issue, and their often unwillingness to reconnect to DSL upon disconnect without a hardware restart.

From an ISP's point of view all of the above is a PITA. As soon as I withdrew all the Netcomm I had put out there and replaced it with Mikrotik (and Draytek for DSL clients) my interactions with clients decreased. Now the majority of calls I get are for stuff which has nothing to do with us.

A lot of ISP's give away or loan equipment at no charge so they are under pressure to use the cheapest option. I do neither and look for clients who want something which works as best as it can. So charging $199 for a Mikrotik hAPac3 (for example) is not biggie.

nztim:

I had a very high PSU failure rate with the DV130 (so much so we had boxes of spares)

I have a bunch of them both loaned and owned by clients and have never had a PSU failure so I don't know. I have had one unit faulty which I bought it a batch of used ones I got.

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nztim

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#2693358 15-Apr-2021 18:33

MichaelNZ:

I never used them in bridge mode - purely as standalone. Issues include fickle and convoluted configuration, Something with IPv6 which I can't recall, the previously mentioned password issue, and their often unwillingness to reconnect to DSL upon disconnect without a hardware restart.

From an ISP's point of view all of the above is a PITA. As soon as I withdrew all the Netcomm I had put out there and replaced it with Mikrotik (and Draytek for DSL clients) my interactions with clients decreased. Now the majority of calls I get are for stuff which has nothing to do with us.

A lot of ISP's give away or loan equipment at no charge so they are under pressure to use the cheapest option. I do neither and look for clients who want something which works as best as it can. So charging $199 for a Mikrotik hAPac3 (for example) is not biggie.

I have a bunch of them both loaned and owned by clients and have never had a PSU failure so I don't know. I have had one unit faulty which I bought it a batch of used ones I got.

Yeah I would never use a NF/DV130 as a "router" purely bridge-mode only

Agree with you on the aggressiveness of Mikrotik PPPoE

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

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