Telecom ditching Technicolor modems?

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#982144 8-Feb-2014 00:11

quickymart: I like the looks of this one.

http://www.netcommwireless.com/product/adsl/nf4v

I'm looking at that one too, it's $205 at PB Tech + about $8 shipping.

ubergeeknz

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Vocus

#982146 8-Feb-2014 00:44

The Netcomm NF4V is a good unit, we've chosen them for VDSL and they'll be used for other connection types too down the line. They've got the Broadcom hardware packet accelerator so they can run linespeed at GbE. The only thing "missing" from this unit IMO is 5Ghz Wi-Fi (and the web gui while functional, isn't so friendly).

Abo

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#982302 8-Feb-2014 15:36

The question that needs to be answered is:

Are these just as garbage as the technicolor ones?

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#982443 8-Feb-2014 21:08

careful how you say that, according to the all mighty chorus techs from visionstream, the technicolors are absolutely godly..

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

plambrechtsen

1948 posts

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#982448 8-Feb-2014 21:19

Here is my personal review and not that of my employer, but thought I would give my review so far of the modem and it looks pretty good :)

Unboxing, box is smaller than a piece of A4 paper:

Cables in the box:

There are two CAT5E cables (Blue and Yellow) used for the WAN (Blue) and LAN (Yellow) good for people who are not sure which cable to plug where.
Also a RJ11 to RJ11 cable for ADSL (Grey) , and a RJ45 to RJ11 for VDSL installs (BlacK) as shown above, and a small enough sized power brick.

The size of the modem in comparison to the TG582N Modem sitting on a standard piece of A4 paper.

But the modem sits upright rather than flat: Notice there are 4 LAN port lights, each port has it's own light.

And the plugs at the back, WAN on the back is a 1GB port, and the 4 LAN ports are 100mb. (I blanked out the S/N + MAC + Wifi Password)

Next post I will post some pics from the Admin UI.

Batman

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#982470 8-Feb-2014 21:53

So if I have a Windows 8.1 problem can I ask for a pace modem? Does it have a Windows 8.1 problem? Or is there going to be a firmware release?

Ps I have no issues with the Technicolor modem in terms of superb Wi-Fi range (father than netgear n600 would you believe it)

AKLWestie

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#982473 8-Feb-2014 22:02

hio77: careful how you say that, according to the all mighty chorus techs from visionstream, the technicolors are absolutely godly..

I got to say I have no problem using the TG589vn in bridge mode. It was up for approximately 170 days till my line was reset (got bumped to 17a for reason, as a bonus).

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

plambrechtsen

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#982479 8-Feb-2014 22:17

Main menu:

And the WAN interface:

ADSL Status: (my ADSL modem is in the roof, so I couldn't get it connected this evening)

Basic Settings and you configure the ADSL Interface options if you desire (but normally shouldn't)

VDSL Interface settings:

And the Fibre / Ethernet settings, where you can set a tagged or untagged interface (which is quite nice I think!). I setup a second interface untagged so I can connect to my local network.

3G Settings. I am not sure of the list of supported devices, and will endeavour to find out. But the Sierra 326 or 885 don't work :(

And then you can select the WAN interface to configure them.

And then the Wifi Settings, I'm sad to say WPS was enabled by default, something I am also going to talk with the product people about:

Advanced Settings, all pretty good stuff in here:

One thing I did notice was under Maintenance, a ADSL test:

I'll plug it into my DSL tomorrow and see how it goes.

plambrechtsen

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#982487 8-Feb-2014 22:32

Just tested wifi and could still get a 3+mb speed test with less than one bar on my s4 in an area of my house where the walk around phone struggles to work and the router and base station are pretty much next to each other. And would say it's only slightly worse than the enterprise grade AP I run for home that has external antennas for a/b/g so considering it has no external antenna that gets a thumbs up from me.

quickymart

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#982488 8-Feb-2014 22:34

What I like about the Netcomm one is it appears to be an all-in-one unit, so instead of needing a DSL modem + router (I'm thinking of my current Netcomm ADSL router here) it's one piece of hardware, which works better for me as space is at a premium at my place.

Edit: also, it appears to support UFB/fibre? Is that right?

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#982489 8-Feb-2014 22:36

not bad, seems to come with all the bells, and manages multiple different connection types separately rather than allocating for what your connecting with.

seems a little better than i was expecting.

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

plambrechtsen

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#982492 8-Feb-2014 22:48

So my final opinion:

Pretty sharp for $149 to get a VDSL Modem: http://www.telecom.co.nz/internet/ultrabroadband/modems/

Pros:

Supports ADSL, VDSL and UFB out of the box.
Nice small form factor.
Good wifi coverage.
Not a bad UI.
Has a USB for Storage or 3G backup
Lets you support a wide range of things on the WAN port (UFB or just WAN Bridging and other QoS options) without being locked down.

Cons:

Not sure of the 3G options (will find this out) but I presume the currently shipping Telecom modems (Huawei E8278 & E3531) are supported.
No command line access to the router (going to find this out too if it's possible to get a username & password for Telnet / SSH Server)
Only 100MB LAN ports rather than GB, but not the end of the world.

So... I personally give it a thumbs up!

Athlonite

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#982517 9-Feb-2014 03:40

quickymart: I like the looks of this one.

http://www.netcommwireless.com/product/adsl/nf4v

Thats the beastie that Orcon are now using with their new VDSL accounts damn nice lookin modem (would of preferred it in black though)

plambrechtsen

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#982713 9-Feb-2014 13:35

Just disconnected my home ADSL router and have comparisons between the three modems:

(Upstream values first, then downstream)

Huawei HG560b:
actual bitrate 1009 14365
attainable bitrate 1009 16992
attenuation 17.1 33.7
loop attenuation 17.6 29.5

Technicolor TG582N:
actual bitrate 1057 14620
attainable bitrate 1057 16268
attenuation 16.8 30
loop attenuation 17.3 30

Cisco 877:
actual bitrate 977 13912
attainable bitrate 977 14928
attenuation 16.4 34.3
loop attenuation 12.8 34.3

So... That's pretty good for the Huawei's (but as usual the Technicolor has the slightly better ADSL connect rates)

I'll see if I can find a colleague with VDSL tomorrow and compare, plus running iperf speed tests through the WAN interface.

eXDee

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#982763 9-Feb-2014 15:34

antoniosk: Is this modem the result of all the crowdsourcing run on this website last year....

Nah this thing doesn't even look like its dual band, which is a worry considering how non functional 2.4ghz can be in any high density urban environment

Speaking of which telecom still have not made an updated statement on that project. Itll be approaching 4 months since any update soon. And the playing field has changed IMO, all the suggestions 6 months ago for USB3 and all sorts of other features are now finding them as standard on many companies CES offerings for this year.

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