NF18ACV vs NF4V Netcomm

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ageorge

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#252777 11-Jul-2019 11:35

Hi a couple of weeks ago I got a NF4V at a very good price and have been impressed by its exceptional performance on ADSL and wifi.

Its upload speed is double what my previous modems were capable of (in excess of 2 Mbs).

Today a friend who got a special deal and ended up with 2 x NF18ACV gave me one of those.

After firing it up, I find the wireless on 2.4Ghz is weaker than the NF4V but more importantly, its upload is below 1Mbs; it would appear to be inferior than the NF4V (on ADSL).

Its a Trustpower modem with firmware NF18ACV.NC.TP-R6B020.EN I would like to try Netcomm firmware latest is a month old.

Question - is there a method to back up these modems firmwares (not the settings) or is the only way to get from original supplier?

Thanks kindly,

Alistair.

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#2274570 11-Jul-2019 11:57

The only way to get that upload speed on ADSL is with Annex-M, you will need to to enable this on your DSL settings, its normally disabled by default.

ageorge

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#2274581 11-Jul-2019 12:13

noroad:

The only way to get that upload speed on ADSL is with Annex-M, you will need to to enable this on your DSL settings, its normally disabled by default.

Great, that certainly helped; its now 1.6Mbs (Trustpower version of Netcomm firmware) vs NF4V 2.2 (with Netcomm original firmware)

Do you think any point upgrading firmware to Netcomm instead of Trustpower (I dont use Trustpower)?

Build Timestamp:

190211_1947

Latest Netcomm firmware is 10 May.

noroad

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#2274591 11-Jul-2019 12:42

Yes, I would recommend putting the latest non-custom firmware on it https://support.netcommwireless.com/product/nf18acv#Firmware

ageorge

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#2274619 11-Jul-2019 13:57

noroad:

Yes, I would recommend putting the latest non-custom firmware on it https://support.netcommwireless.com/product/nf18acv#Firmware

Unfortunately, the latest firmware seems to have slowed download considerably; from 15-18Mbps to 10, upload remains same at 1.5mbps

Mistenfuru

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#2274622 11-Jul-2019 14:07

From My Experience no matter the firmware Netcomm NF4/8/18 routers all struggle to pull decent ADSL speeds (especially when you're on the lower end of the spectrum)

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ageorge

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#2274647 11-Jul-2019 14:57

New firmware is rubbish IMHO.
They have tried to make it pretty, but its now pretty difficult to navigate and some settings seem to be missing.

I'll revert to December 2018 firmware and hope that brings it back.

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ageorge

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#2274739 11-Jul-2019 17:37

I reverted to 2018 and its lacking some settings and same GUI as latest.

Sadly, the original firmware from Trustpower was best, but with no way of backing it up before trying later, thats a lost option eg firmware version NF18ACV.NC.TP-R6B020.EN was the good one. Dont change from that if you have it.

I dont have a Trustpower account, so no ability to get that firmware.

noroad

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#2274744 11-Jul-2019 17:56

I've highlighted this thread to the local Netcomm guys, they should be able to give you an old gui (non "NC2") firmware version with all the fixes.

noroad

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#2274753 11-Jul-2019 18:18

Apparently the https://support.netcommwireless.com/sites/default/files/NF18ACV-R6B016.zip version has the same DSL driver as that customized Trustpower one.

ageorge

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#2274755 11-Jul-2019 18:20

noroad:

I've highlighted this thread to the local Netcomm guys, they should be able to give you an old gui (non "NC2") firmware version with all the fixes.

Appreciate; daughters are not happy; even wireless is playing up. NF4V had none of these problems; just no 5Ghz.

So in a nutshell; the original plain jane GUI which came with NF18ACV.NC.TP-R6B020.EN/Trustpower worked fine, albeit a little slower in both UP and DOWN ADSL. Netcomm versions 12 & 13 upgrades dont cut with limited wireless and missing functions like Annex-M and a few others. The new user interface is nicer looking, but not as intuitive as the older plain jane.

Thanks for your time.

Alistair.

noroad

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#2274773 11-Jul-2019 18:51

Have you tried the R6B016 generic firmware? By the way the Bxx number is not consistent between the generic and various customised (Trustpower/Vocus/Nova) releases. Funny enough I had this discussion with them last week :-)

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ageorge

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#2275041 12-Jul-2019 08:51

noroad:

Have you tried the R6B016 generic firmware? By the way the Bxx number is not consistent between the generic and various customised (Trustpower/Vocus/Nova) releases. Funny enough I had this discussion with them last week :-)

Yes, its good to see the old interface back with extra settings options.

I have done more tests and find that:

NF18ACV with either version of firmware is throughputting ADSL Ping 16 D17Mbps U1.7Mbps wifi (only relative) 2.4Ghz/-67dbm 5Ghz/-77dbm

NF4V exactly the same throughputs! but wifi 2.4Ghz/-57dbm.

From household reports of 5 users the NF4V is better for them due to the wifi coverage.

So I can only surmise that line conditions or ISP variances led my opinion astray.

Either of these modems are good. I have had worse performance from Huawei and Dlink modems insitu.

Thanks so much for assist.

Regards,

Al.

quickymart

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#2275983 13-Jul-2019 18:13

I was thinking about upgrading my NF4V to an NF18 but after reading this thread (specifically in relation to the wifi issues) I think I'll leave it as it is.

ageorge

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#2276045 13-Jul-2019 18:53

quickymart:

I was thinking about upgrading my NF4V to an NF18 but after reading this thread (specifically in relation to the wifi issues) I think I'll leave it as it is.

Yep, agreed. The only reason I can see for going to the other modem is for more throughput on wifi eg the 5ghz band.

The NF4V has been given a hard time by some users, but Im always skeptical about a few users. I have been delighted with NF4V but cant speak of its UFB performance. Im waiting for my UFB install to finish, and using NF18ACV. Am expecting I will revert back to the NF4V as my girls never complained about it, but they do with the NF18ACV and are unhappy with wifi on this model.

noroad

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#2276072 13-Jul-2019 19:51

ageorge:

Am expecting I will revert back to the NF4V as my girls never complained about it, but they do with the NF18ACV and are unhappy with wifi on this model.

As an FYI, there is a mesh wireless unit coming soon (this year) for the NF18 that should resolve the wifi penetration issues. The mesh unit(s) can connect via cable or wireless back to the NF18 that acts as a wifi controller.

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