Seeking buying advice - new router with Parental Controls

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Seeking buying advice - new router with Parental Controls

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noroad

936 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#2562718 11-Sep-2020 23:23

But it’s fast and shiny!

Futureproofing...?

Well, I have a couple of wifi 6 routers sitting on my desk next to me and apart from having dual 5G radios I'm not noticing much of a difference in real world performance. I think second generation wifi 6 routers with 2.5/5G/10G uplinks and clients that can use the standard will be useful, but right now? Kind of like 5G phones, go for the 2nd generation not this one as first generation is normally populated by rushed to market products.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/09/atts-current-5g-is-slower-than-4g-in-nearly-every-city-tested-by-pcmag/

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Rhinosaur

62 posts

Master Geek

#2566247 16-Sep-2020 21:22

OK so I don't think I bought the right thing. 🤦 I'm sure the AX50 is a great router, but -for whatever reason- I thought I could plug this directly into the fibre box on the wall. I realise now that thing isn't a modem, and so I haven't been able to remove the dodgy Spark modem from the network.

With the new AX50 plugged into the Spark modem, plugged into the fibre box, we're still experiencing frequent drop outs. I can see that the internet light on the AX50 is going out at the same time. So I guess wifi wasn't the issue after all, for some reason the modem is dropping the internet connection.

Anyway, is there some super simple (read: affordable) device I can replace the Spark modem with, and still make use of the new AX50 for wifi/router?

michaelmurfy

meow
13195 posts

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#2566276 16-Sep-2020 22:38

@Rhinosaur You can use the AX50 - https://www.pbtech.co.nz/TPLinkISPSettings#FibreArcherVR300Spark

You need to configure VLAN 10 with PPPoE.

PPPoE username / password can be anything except blank.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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Rhinosaur

62 posts

Master Geek

#2568292 19-Sep-2020 19:43

Hey thanks for that Michael. My settings page looks a little different, but I've had a hunt around and I can't see any mention of VLAN.

liquidcore

187 posts

Master Geek

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#2568293 19-Sep-2020 19:58

Anything under the IPTV settings?

Rhinosaur

62 posts

Master Geek

#2568313 19-Sep-2020 20:06

liquidcore: Anything under the IPTV settings?

Yes, but it's a bit of a mystery to me. :)

liquidcore

187 posts

Master Geek

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#2568316 19-Sep-2020 20:08

Rhinosaur:
liquidcore: Anything under the IPTV settings?

Yes, but it's a bit of a mystery to me. :)

See if this is of any help :)

https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/faq/1585/

Rhinosaur

62 posts

Master Geek

#2568326 19-Sep-2020 20:25

liquidcore:
See if this is of any help :)

https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/faq/1585/

Yes, that's exactly the help I needed. Thank you very much! :)

I used the NZ-UFB setting, and it seems to be working happily.

UncleTomCobbly

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2575732 29-Sep-2020 11:02

Rhinosaur:

With the new AX50 plugged into the Spark modem, plugged into the fibre box, we're still experiencing frequent drop outs. I can see that the internet light on the AX50 is going out at the same time. So I guess wifi wasn't the issue after all, for some reason the modem is dropping the internet connection.

@Rhinosaur, how are you getting on with the AX50?

I bought one a few weeks ago, but ended up returning it. The Parental Controls were great, but it would fall over daily with devices getting a 'no internet connection' error - a router reboot needed to resolve. Judging by the TPlink tech forums, this seems to be a common issue across many of their router models. Hopefully I just got a dodgy unit though.

Rhinosaur

62 posts

Master Geek

#2575752 29-Sep-2020 11:48

Zero dropouts in the 10 days that it's been running. So the connectivity side of things seems to be really good so far. I have to admit I haven't got around to setting up the parental control side of things that I put so much stock in, I was just relieved to have it working. But I'll get to that soon!

Sucks to read about your issues, as that's the primary reason I upgraded to this in the first place.

Rhinosaur

62 posts

Master Geek

#2625494 22-Dec-2020 14:33

I thought I'd better give a brief update to say I'm still very happy with this router.

The parental controls are (almost) exactly what I was hoping for - it would be nice if they weren't buried in a menu (I think it takes 4 button presses to switch a user's internet on or off, so not a big deal I guess), but it has helped immeasurably in getting users ready for school etc...

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