NF18ACV issues - bad wifi, IPv6 breaking, etc.

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › NF18ACV issues - bad wifi, IPv6 breaking, etc.

deckstarr

16 posts

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#275937 17-Sep-2020 14:22

Hi all,

I've been with Orcon and a few years back I switched from VDSL to Fibre, the move went flawlessly. I've been with Orcon over 5 years, a loyal paying customer.

Recently I've been having a lot of issues with bad wifi, my devices on the otherside of the room, 5m from the router with line of sight just get booted off the WiFi regularly. I've tried everything, full reset, change the channels and power profile, just not working. Sometimes the router just seems to freeze even.

I wanted to swap the router out with a higher spec one and use my own VOIP DECT gateway so did a quick test last night with the VOIP password from the modem, everything worked flawlessly.

This morning I got an angry call I wasn't allowed and they'd disconnect me if I'd keep my own VOIP DECT gateway connected.

So I have a choice to make, break my renewed contract and move to another provider, or use their crap router that I have to reset every week, ask for a new router and still have sucky wifi... Rock and a hard place.

I just want to use my own gear. Which provider supports this?

Anyone here with the same issues? Seems customer satisfaction is something they don't care about.

Cheers,

Deck

KiwiSurfer

1464 posts

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#2566873 17-Sep-2020 14:49

I really dislike the routers Vocus seem to send out. I'm with Slingshot (Orcon's sibling) and they sent out this horrible Netcomm. It's WiFi range was really poor and only worked on 2.4 GHz. Not sure if they're still sending out the same model though. I ended up progressively replacing it with an EdgeRouter and three Unifi APs. I don't mind the Vocus service since I require internet only, I can easily manage my own gear on my end.

If voice service is important to you perhaps consider other provider. Some others do send out pretty decent routers which you can use out of the box with good WiFi performance (including 5 GHz) as well as a voice service. Spark's routers are pretty good from my observation. Others may support your set up.

shk292

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#2566907 17-Sep-2020 15:40

That’s quite an unhelpful response from your ISP. You could move your voice line to another VOIP provider such as Hero then you can use the router and other equipment of your choice.
I’m with slingshot and use my own mesh router and a separate linksys box for (Slingshot) voip, not sure how I got away with that having seen your post

noroad

956 posts

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#2566971 17-Sep-2020 16:15

deckstarr:

Recently I've been having a lot of issues with bad wifi, my devices on the otherside of the room, 5m from the router with line of sight just get booted off the WiFi regularly.

Why don't you just add a mesh wifi platform? Yes you will pay for it yourself rather than using the "free" ISP supplied router but then you can have whatever coverage you want. If you want ISP supplied voice then you need to use the ISP supplied router. If you want to use your own voice platform port the number to 2talk, hero or similar, then you can use whatever you like.

Mesh platforms can be had for as cheap as $218 - https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NETTPL9402/TP-Link-Deco-M4-Whole-Home-Mesh-Wi-Fi-System---2-P You can add more units as required. There is lots of brands and options.

muppet

2571 posts

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#2566983 17-Sep-2020 16:29

@deckstarr Coudl you maybe port your number to 2Talk and use your voip box with them, then change your plan with Orcon to a data only one? I'm sure if you stay with them they'll help you out re the contract break.

I thought most ISPs would let you use your own router - but I do understand why ISPs don't always want to open up their VOIP platforms to every joe with a VOIP stack.

linw

2849 posts

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#2567124 17-Sep-2020 20:12

I've got that router and it works fine here, incl full line speed on 100/20 connection with 5GHz at 10m distance.

Odd that yours doesn't work properly. Thought Orcon would get another one to try.

deckstarr

16 posts

Geek

#2568203 19-Sep-2020 17:16

Hi all,

Solved it by swapping the router out and using only the VOIP from the old router. Had to reconfig the WAN connection on it, remove the VLAN10. Works a charm.

Too bad I have that huge ugly white box sucking power whilst doing nothing but wait for a phone call to come in or go out.

New router is a midrange ASUS, suddenly I have very fast WiFi even on 5GHz everywhere in the house. Didn't realise how crap that Netcomm was. Setup was easy, Orcon was even listed in the list of the new router. Had it up and running in less than 5 minutes.

Thought of using mesh, but I value the lowest latency (games).

Might swap to another VOIP provider but which one does unlimited NZ wide calls for 10-20 bucks a month?

Comparing VOIP vs Mobile, seems there are cheaper deals out there with unlimited data, text, and calls to AU/NZ from 36NZD... Might just kill the landline after my term is over.

Behodar

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#2568204 19-Sep-2020 17:21

KiwiSurfer:

I really dislike the routers Vocus seem to send out. I'm with Slingshot (Orcon's sibling) and they sent out this horrible Netcomm. It's WiFi range was really poor and only worked on 2.4 GHz.

Bingo. The NF18ACV is the absolute worst router I've ever used, by a large margin. I couldn't even get Wi-Fi from the next room. The control panel would 'crash' every time I saved a setting, and the documentation was unclear; I was never able to get IPv6 working even though it supposedly supports it.

To the OP, I'm glad that you sorted it out!