HELP with choosing/setting up a MODEM/ROUTER for slingshot fibre

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › HELP with choosing/setting up a MODEM/ROUTER for slingshot fibre

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shk292

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#1316858 3-Jun-2015 15:32

phantasmNZ:

Yes, but you have to have the SIP capability and analogue phone ports in your router. This pushes the price way up there (looking at one of the higher end Draytek models for example). The voice is simply a SIP endpoint, nothing fancy tbh - but most consumer routers don't include the ATA (Analogue Telephone Adapter) functionality.

IFAIK, the HG659 certainly has the "technical" capability to act as your single router - but you may struggle to make it work that way, as the firmware for this (and other similar devices) is controlled by the ISP and you can't get "generic" ones - so you may find the box is hard coded (so to speak) to only connect to Vodafone SIP servers (disclaimer I've not worked directly with this device so don't know)

That said, stick a decent router directly on to the ONT, and have the old tripleplay cabled to it and next to your phone (or bridged into your house jackpoints) and it's not too major a problem. The tripleplay does OK at the phone job.

You could also consider ditching the analogue phone altogether and get a SIP phone as your primary "fixed" line. Remember your phone doesn't work in a powercut any more anyway - so make sure you have a good reason to stick with the traditional technology

That is what I had expected about the HG659 - it certainly has all the hardware including ports; I will see if it can be configured for Slingshot VOIP. I'm not keen to ditch the phone altogether because we have quite a few around the house and I like the way the UFB router provides connectivity to the existing phone wiring. Cellphones are my reversionary devices for power cuts

So, it looks like the approach most likely to succeed is:
- configure HG659 for SS UFB connection
- configure tripleplay device to do just SIP and plug its WAN port into a HG659 LAN port
- plug existing phone wiring into phone port of tripleplay (this is how it is currently configured anyway)

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Brumfondl

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#1316870 3-Jun-2015 15:58

I just swapped out the Tripleplay 150 for a Netcomm NF4V. It has gigabit ports as opposed to the 100Mbit ports on the Tripleplay and has the ports for the phone as well.

I just copied the settings that were on the TP and everything seems to be working fine, including the phone.

It cost me less than $170 from PB, though that was on special. They seem to have it for about $195 at the moment.

shk292

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#1318168 5-Jun-2015 20:28

I seem to have got so close with the HG659 on Slingshot UFB -
- configured the WAN interface to connect to the internet
- saved the Tripleplay config and extracted the VOIP details including password
- configured every field I could find in the HG659

However, the VOIP line only ever shows "disconnected" and I get a broken dial tone on the handset

Does anyone have any suggestions on this? Would loading the Spark firmware help? Or are both firmwares set up to stop VOIP working on an alternative ISP?

phantasmNZ

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#1318188 5-Jun-2015 21:06

shk292: I seem to have got so close with the HG659 on Slingshot UFB -
- configured the WAN interface to connect to the internet
- saved the Tripleplay config and extracted the VOIP details including password
- configured every field I could find in the HG659

However, the VOIP line only ever shows "disconnected" and I get a broken dial tone on the handset

Does anyone have any suggestions on this? Would loading the Spark firmware help? Or are both firmwares set up to stop VOIP working on an alternative ISP?

possibly, but not necessarily. I would start with trying to get your VoIP line connected using X-Lite or similar SIP client on your PC (or even a smartphone one). This will confirm that you have all the correct details for the SIP connection. I had some trouble when I forgot to set CLID Number to 649xxxxxxx .

shk292

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#1318193 5-Jun-2015 21:34

Well, that sort of works - I can dial out with X-Lite and the dialled phone rings and shows CLID, but I get no audio in the PC headset after the initial ringing. I guess that shows that the VOIP login details are correct anyway

ptblnk

19 posts

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#1335362 1-Jul-2015 20:54

phantasmNZ: The problem, as discussed elsewhere on GZ, is that the TP150 is pretty awful in just about every way (as is the VDSL energy imports modem) - even SS techs agree. I had the same problem when I first switched - I was seeing about 20/20 on wireless, and about 90/20 wired.

Probably the easiest option is to add an access point wired ethernet to the router. This will certainly increase your bandwidth even with a modest AP (the wireless on the TP150 is quite awful). you still end up with the TP150 in control of your network,, limited to about 90mbit throughput due to it having only fast ethernet ports. less than ideal.

You can change the router though - you just need to make really sure that the router you buy to replace it will definitely support using VLAN 10 on the WAN port. I'm using an ASUS RT-AC66U (note that only the RT series actually natively supports VLAN 10 on the WAN, not the DSL series).

The second thing to consider is your phone line - this will be connected to the FXS ports on the TP150. Unfortunately, there's not all that much choice in non-ISP consumer routers which come with an analogue phone port. The actual phone connection over your internet is a pretty much as standard-as-they-come SIP extension - so you have a few options:

If you rarely use your phone, you can install a SIP client on your computer/device (there's the free (ad supported) X-lite which works well
you can buy an "ATA" (analogue telephone adapter) such as the linksys PAP2T (you can find them for about $50 on TradeMe)
you can actually use the TP150 as an ATA itself (which is what I'm doing). You just have to configure the WAN to use "standard" rather than "VMUX" (VLAN)

Make sure you make a backup of your TP150 config before you start - you'll need this if anything goes wrong..! you will also need this for options 1 and 2 to get your SIP registration password - it's stored in plaintext in the XML config file.

after doing this, I've found great improvements - I can often get a few Mb over 100- particularly at night - even over wireless

Can somebody please help. As you mentioned here the wireless on the TP150 is pretty awful I'm trying to use the wireless from my ASUS RTN56U but I'm not sure what settings I need to change on the router for the internet to work. The wireless is working but I cannot connect to the internet.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Jase2985

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#1335434 1-Jul-2015 22:05

so you have both the TP150 and the 55u connected?

can you give a better explanation on how things are connected and how you have set it up?

ptblnk

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#1335441 1-Jul-2015 22:30

Yes both are connected/powered.

ONT - TP150 - N56U
So there is a network cable from WAN port of TP150 to the GE1 port on the ONT
Another network cable from LAN1 port of Asus RT-N56U to LAN1 of the TP150

Wireless internet works on the TP150. Wireless works on the RT-N56U but not wireless internet.

FYI Our phone line is connected to the FXS1 port on the TP150.

Hope that helps

Jase2985

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#1335484 2-Jul-2015 06:16

thats a better start :)

http://event.asus.com/2009/networks/dummy_ui/en/Advanced_OperationMode_Content.html
does it have a menu that looks anything like this? if so plug the network cable into the WAN port and select Access point mode

and http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3853/asus_rt_n56u_dual_band_gigabit_wireless_n_router_review/index5.html
near the bottom :)

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