I'm on the Bigpipe 200/200 UFB plan.

Since Bigpipe doesn't require VLAN tagging, I had a network of Apple Airport Extremes around our large house, which were all connected via cat 6 cable.

It was a great setup, except that when Bigpipe went down for maintenance, the Airport Extreme wouldn't reconnect to the Internet unless I manually restarted it. There are times when I'm not around to do that and I have applications at home I need to access.

So I replaced the Airport Extreme that was connected to the ONT with a Bigpipe-supplied HG659. It's been downhill ever since.

Every so often, the modem just stops working. I can't even reach its web UI via a wired PC connected directly to the router, and the only resolution is to unplug it and plug it back in again.

That's a bit of a problem when I need to access files on my NAS while away and no one's around to whip the modem out of its trance.

I don't think my setup is too unorthodox. Since seeing if a factory reset would resolve the issue, I made sure I used Bigpipe's DNS rather than Unotelly. I assigned two internal static IP addresses to devices where I use port forwarding, and opened 3 ports for specific applications I need. I think that's it.

It's possible this unit is just dodgy and that a replacement will resolve it. Hopefully Bigpipe will come through for me there.

I'd be interested to find out how reliable people find the HG659 in general. I know Spark and Vodafone supply it, so presumably it's been well-tested and they have confidence in it.

If a replacement doesn't resolve it, what alternatives would people recommend? I'd like the modem I paid for to stay up, but I'm willing to give it up as a lost cause because I just need something reliable, so would appreciate suggestions.