What's a good home-based wireless modem?

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#595902 15-Mar-2012 23:32

DrStrangelove:

So any other difference between the TD-8840 and TD8840T other than chipset?

The hardware in a modem/router is generally a chipset (motherboard, cpu, network controller, modem) + ram, nvram, flash ram etc

The non T uses a broadcom chipset, the T is a newer version using a Trendnet chipset. For whatever reason TP Link changed chipset vendor.

Typically the chipset vender supplies a base or reference drivers/firmware that the companies like TP Link, Netcomm (Dynalink), Linksys etc then customise or use to create the software that runs the device.

Broadcom DSL chipsets seem to have the least issues with the line cards in Chorus cabinets/exchanges.

For whatever reason the 8840T does not have a half bridge option, in it's software.

Ragnor

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#595904 15-Mar-2012 23:40

theEd: Putting a modem into half-bridge or passthrough is for when you have a router behind it - so you can't ever use more than one port for anyway. The multiple ports for connecting devices to are on the router.

Pretty much this ^

If you are going to use half bridge or full bridge you want: modem > router > switch > client computers/devices.

The switch of course could be part of the router or a separate network switch, say if you are using a PC to run pfsense for the router instead of a device.

eXDee

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#595918 16-Mar-2012 00:31

DrStrangelove:
No 'current' marketed Linksys routers are supported by Tomato firmware. (E1200, E1500, E2500, E3200, E4200v2)

Tomato hasn't been updated in a while, and even so it lacks features.

You want TomatoUSB, or more importantly, a variation of it such as victek, toastman, dualwan etc as these are also maintained far more frequently than TomatoUSB itself.
I highly suggest toastmans builds. He doesn't include unnecessary programs and they are very stable. He uses them himself for setups with many people sharing the same connection in blocks of flats/apartments or something (like 10-100+)

He also has specific builds for the e4200, e3000 etc. But the standard builds work fine on these devices too i think.

DrStrangelove

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#596166 16-Mar-2012 15:24

Dudes and Dudettes,

Thanks for all your replies, sorry OP I didn't want to 'pinch' your post, but guessing any information is good information[I hope].

Yes, I use Toastmans Tomato fw. It is becoming quite feature rich compared to say standard Linksys fw for example.
I believe the latest fw now has USB 3G support and guessing that works on any supported device that originally may have only supported just file access or maybe a printer(no idea what 3G USB is supported though). There is also good QOS, VLANs and MultiSSID just to name a few things. Plus one can install Optware apps as well. I have a PPTP and OpenVPN server on my E4200v1 which is a boon for Android(PPTP client) and notebook(OpenVPN client) home access to my NAS from out on the Internet.

Interesting, the Tomato crowd seem to have only added support for the Linksys E4200v1 so effectively there is no Tomato fw for any of the current 2011-2012 E series 'blade'(sans ufo) routers.

DD-WRT does have fw for the Linksys E2500... which is nice.

Linksys put a nail in the coffin with the Linksys E4200v2 by using a Marvell chipset, which means no optional fw.
Plus reports I've read indicate the E4200v2(1.2Ghz) may not be any better than the original E4200v1(480MHz)
I did over-clock my E4200v1 at 532Mhz, but no real gains noted and it does run hot anyway, so just put it back to standard.

Thanks Ragnor,

I did what I should have done in the first place and read up on the devices.

The TD-8840T firmware also supports a wider software feature set with QOS, ACL and VLANs.
But guessing if you're using a TD-8840 in half bridge then these features are sulphurous.

I have a Thomson TG585v8 which can do a half bridge, but as you guessed by my stupid questions, I've not attempted to set it up in half-bridge mode. Configuring a Thomson on command line it not as much fun as I thought it would be.

My Thomson indicates an upstream Broadcom interface.

Vendor ID (Local/Remote):TMMB / BDCM

The reason for my interest in the TP-Link TD-8840(T) is curiosity about broadband synchronisation speeds and whether I'd see any benefits from ditching my Thomson TG585v8 (only use it as a modem/NAT/port-forwarder).

So again, if there is broader support for Broadcom chipsets interfacing the exchange, the TD-8840 is probably still a better option.

Off to see if I can buy a TD-8840 now...

Oh and OP, as you may have noted I'm a big fan of modem/router separation as one device does all, doesn't mean that the one device is good at all tasks and that goes double for Linksys all-in-1 modem/routers.

And sorry for hogging your post.

cyril7

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#596176 16-Mar-2012 15:42

Hi, you might want to check out the DM111P I saw one awhile back, its just a stand alone modem (no NAT) and uses a Broadcom chipset, not cheap but might be the go, might be worth the investigation.

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=365722

Cyril

Ragnor

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#596192 16-Mar-2012 16:14

For standalone basic modem that can bridge PPPoA:

There are also Netcomm (formerly Dynalink) options, you can still get Netcomm/Dynalink RTA1320, RTA1320E, RTA1320v6 which use broadcom chipsets and iirc do have half bridge (called IP Extension).

However RTA1320xx tend to run hot (poor case design, no heatsink or fan) and die within a year or use particularly in NZ summer.

I think some of the newer Netcomm single port models like NB6 still use broadcom chipset, have better thermal design and still have the half bridge options, not 100% sure though.

Right now I'd probably just get a Draytek Vigor 120...

For the OP (basic all in one):

TP-Link TD-W8960N imo

wlgspotter

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#596199 16-Mar-2012 16:29

+1 from me on Ragnor's initial recommendation too.

I actually have almost that exact same setup, the TP-Link TD-W8960N as my modem/router connected to a TL-SG1008D (8 port GigE) switch. The SG1008D and SG1005D are similar, except that one has 8 GigE ports and the other has only 5. The TD-W8960N is rock solid!

I connect my GigE devices - iMacs, NAS etc directly to the SG1008D, but have my ATA connected directly to the modem/router.

That way I can get "theoritical" GigE speed to/from my NAS <--> iMAC vv. I say theoritical because actual throughput varies, and in reality I can hardly get anywhere near that GigE speeds - but I didn't bother checking out why. must do some troubleshooting one day!

I am running a D-Link DNS323 running firmware 1.05 on my NAS, however.

Cheers
WlgSpotter.

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Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

Ragnor

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#596212 16-Mar-2012 16:50

wlgspotter:

That way I can get "theoritical" GigE speed to/from my NAS iMAC vv. I say theoritical because actual throughput varies, and in reality I can hardly get anywhere near that GigE speeds - but I didn't bother checking out why. must do some troubleshooting one day!

I am running a D-Link DNS323 running firmware 1.05 on my NAS, however.

1Gb/s = 128 MB/s

A good 7200rpm hard drive like WD Black or Samsung F3 will do ~100MB's for file copies, green or slower drives less.

DNS323 disk read/write speed ~20MB/s at best

Gb = Gigabit, GB is Gigabyte, Mb = Megabit, MB = Megabyte, 8 bits in a byte

wlgspotter

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#596264 16-Mar-2012 19:50

Thanks Ragnor at least I know the bottleneck lies in my DNS323!

techmeister

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#596486 17-Mar-2012 15:06

DrStrangelove: Dudes and Dudettes,

Thanks for all your replies, sorry OP I didn't want to 'pinch' your post, but guessing any information is good information[I hope].

Yes, I use Toastmans Tomato fw. It is becoming quite feature rich compared to say standard Linksys fw for example.
I believe the latest fw now has USB 3G support and guessing that works on any supported device that originally may have only supported just file access or maybe a printer(no idea what 3G USB is supported though). There is also good QOS, VLANs and MultiSSID just to name a few things. Plus one can install Optware apps as well. I have a PPTP and OpenVPN server on my E4200v1 which is a boon for Android(PPTP client) and notebook(OpenVPN client) home access to my NAS from out on the Internet.

Interesting, the Tomato crowd seem to have only added support for the Linksys E4200v1 so effectively there is no Tomato fw for any of the current 2011-2012 E series 'blade'(sans ufo) routers.

DD-WRT does have fw for the Linksys E2500... which is nice.

Linksys put a nail in the coffin with the Linksys E4200v2 by using a Marvell chipset, which means no optional fw.
Plus reports I've read indicate the E4200v2(1.2Ghz) may not be any better than the original E4200v1(480MHz)
I did over-clock my E4200v1 at 532Mhz, but no real gains noted and it does run hot anyway, so just put it back to standard.

Thanks Ragnor,

I did what I should have done in the first place and read up on the devices.

The TD-8840T firmware also supports a wider software feature set with QOS, ACL and VLANs.
But guessing if you're using a TD-8840 in half bridge then these features are sulphurous.

I have a Thomson TG585v8 which can do a half bridge, but as you guessed by my stupid questions, I've not attempted to set it up in half-bridge mode. Configuring a Thomson on command line it not as much fun as I thought it would be.

My Thomson indicates an upstream Broadcom interface.

Vendor ID (Local/Remote):TMMB / BDCM

The reason for my interest in the TP-Link TD-8840(T) is curiosity about broadband synchronisation speeds and whether I'd see any benefits from ditching my Thomson TG585v8 (only use it as a modem/NAT/port-forwarder).

So again, if there is broader support for Broadcom chipsets interfacing the exchange, the TD-8840 is probably still a better option.

Off to see if I can buy a TD-8840 now...

Oh and OP, as you may have noted I'm a big fan of modem/router separation as one device does all, doesn't mean that the one device is good at all tasks and that goes double for Linksys all-in-1 modem/routers.

And sorry for hogging your post.

Just got a couple of TD-8840T's to try, based on the Trend chip.
They seem to be faster than my broadcom based modem.
I am on Slingshot's better network using annex M, the Trend chip is slightly faster downloading and 200Kps faster upload (1.68 Mbps) which is a real bonus.
Unfortunatley they do not do PPP extension/half bridge which was a function built in to the Broadcom chipset.
To get around that I just forwarded all ports to my router, not quite as good but should do the same thing.
It does have Vlan and QoS but I have not tried it.
So the Trend chip is a good one with Slingshot at least.

DrStrangelove

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#596958 19-Mar-2012 02:47

techmeister:

Just got a couple of TD-8840T's to try, based on the Trend chip.
They seem to be faster than my broadcom based modem.
I am on Slingshot's better network using annex M, the Trend chip is slightly faster downloading and 200Kps faster upload (1.68 Mbps) which is a real bonus.
Unfortunatley they do not do PPP extension/half bridge which was a function built in to the Broadcom chipset.
To get around that I just forwarded all ports to my router, not quite as good but should do the same thing.
It does have Vlan and QoS but I have not tried it.
So the Trend chip is a good one with Slingshot at least.

I'm in the process of procuring a TD-8840 (Broadcom) should be arriving in a couple of days.
I have a TG585v8 and a WAG120N, so it'll be interesting to see how the TD-8840 stacks up.
The WAG120N and TG585 both have reliable and stable ADSL2 connections(when used) and now I'm going to do a head to head with all three.

It does appear the the TD-8840T has a richer feature set than the TD-8840.
I'd still like to get a TD-8840 and test it and maybe even do a solid for the boys and then buy a TD-8840T and compare all four.

One reads many reports on different devices and their relationship to the services they do or don't provide.
However as many environments differ in quality of infrastructure and setup, it's not always possible to make direct comparisons relating to ones own environment.

So, in a few days... I'll know.

The funny thing is, I don't need and probably wont use a half bridge setup as my Linksys E4200v1 using Tomato fw has a PPPTP listener on the WAN port and I fear, if one was to setup a half-bridge using the E4200 WAN port, then my PPTP server may 'fail'. PPTP server wasn't the easiest setup in the first place and now I have it, I don't want to loose it.

sidefx

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#598652 22-Mar-2012 13:47

Ragnor: Best bang for buck "all in one" is the TP-Link TD-W8960N

Just wondering, would that likely be an improvement over a Thomson received free from Telecom a couple of years ago? (It's a four port with wifi - not sure of the exact model but can check when I get home)

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Ragnor

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#598762 22-Mar-2012 17:57

sidefx:
Ragnor: Best bang for buck "all in one" is the TP-Link TD-W8960N

Just wondering, would that likely be an improvement over a Thomson received free from Telecom a couple of years ago? (It's a four port with wifi - not sure of the exact model but can check when I get home)

It's pretty much the same thing with less bugs, so depends if you are having issues with the Thomson or not.

If not I wouldn't bother replacing the Thomson.

heavenlywild

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#598766 22-Mar-2012 17:59

OK the Thomson wireless modem seems to have come back to life and is back working. I think it was either interference over a short period of time from neighbours or the modem just decided to throw a fit.

Looks like I will upgrade when it really craps out.

sidefx

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#598847 22-Mar-2012 21:20

Ragnor:
It's pretty much the same thing with less bugs, so depends if you are having issues with the Thomson or not.

If not I wouldn't bother replacing the Thomson.

Not really having issues as such but now that I look at it, it may be a bit older than I thought: It's a TG585v7 with firmware 7.4.2.7. At the time I got it I actually had another modem that was working ok so I stuck with that one. That was around 3-4 years ago.

I only recently started using the Thomson again (better performance on telecom wholesale network since being cabnetised for some reason!)

Is it still not worth upgrading? What about the firmware, is there any way to update that? I can't see any likely methods in the management console but a search for the model seems to suggest it should upgrade automatically - would that only happen while Telecom was my ISP?

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