Combination Adsl Modem/routers

[PattayaDavid]

I am a current user of TOT ADSL, not a proud user, but user just the same.  Actually, my ADSL speed is ok, that is, when my service is not disrupted which occurs way too often for my liking.  Anyway, when I signed up with TOT, I also bought one of the TOT supplied ADSL modems.  Since I am a notebook user, don't even own a desktop model yet, I am considering buying a wireless ADSL Modem/Router combination unit. I would think that an aftermarket Modem/Router from the likes of D-Link, Lynsink or Belkin would be of better quality than the one that I own made by XAVi Technologies, would you agree?  

Would I get better connections with less service disruption with a modem upgrade?

I am primarily interested in the D-Link model DSL-2640T.  I am aware that the transfer speed of wireless 802/G is slower than a wired connection.  Of those out there who use a wireless modem or modem/router combination, I would like to hear about what hardware you are using and the quality of wireless services you have experienced versus a typical wired connection.

Pattaya David

[monty]

In my place, pretty much everything is from D-link and am quite happy with it.

I have a Xavi router lying around somewhere, the LAN port is fried by a lightning strike, but the USB port is still working.

All in all I was pretty happy with the Xavi, handled not so good phone lines OK, probably on the same level as the d-link. Only things were that it got quite hot, normally not so good in the long term, and port forwarding was a PITA to set-up...

[nick2k]

I bought my dlink dsl-2640t at pantip 2 weeks ago. paid 2000 baht for it. saw one place that had the dlink dsl-g604t for 900 baht. ..maybe used.

I don't have TOT adsl, have TRUE adsl.

I went through an odd experience getting my unit to work. first, I had to setup everything using the default adsl modem I got from TRUE. the setup involved the installation of their navigator software. it seems there is some proprietary issue here because I couldn't get the navigator software to initially work with my dlink unit.

after I got the whole setup working with the default modem and software, I immediately changed the password for the TRUE adsl service to something other than default.

when I finished doing this, I disconnected the default adsl modem, and software. connected my new dlink unit, configured it, and everything worked.

working now.

[paveet]

I personally would stay a very long way from D-Link products, they crash often, they forget their configurations and revert to factory defaults, they restart themselves randomly, blah blah I've seen them. I'd put D-Link on the levels of Billion, Huawei or Compex.

Besides that, I've had very good experiences with Linksys, 3Com and Zyxel products. The most stable consumer level adsl equipment combination I've seen is Zyxel 600 series in Bridge mode and Linksys WRT54GL with either DD-WRT or Tomato firmware being the router.

Pavee

Edited April 26, 2007 by paveet

[Veazer]

I think the quality of dlink products varies significantly from product to product and what region the product was purchased.

I have a d-link DGL-4300 "gaming" router and think it's fantastic. It does a great job at traffic prioritization and more, I have no complaints other than some weird naming schemes used for the admin stuff.

I also bought a Dlink G604T modem/router and had loads of issues with it - slow, lockups, etc. The D-link singapore website which handles the Thai models only had the original firmware, no upgrades, but other dlink sites around the world offered newer firmware. I found this post here talking about what firmwares work on this model. I tried many and found the V3.00B01T02.EU-A.20060720 firmware intended for the G624T to be far more stable and faster than the original firmware. I would have returned the router if i only had the original firmware to use, but I'm quite happy with it after finding the better firmware. Since then, I opened it up and saw that the motherboard was actually an EU model anyway. For the money, it's a great deal imho. It seems like many places are dumping them at lower prices due to problems without knowing there's an easy fix available.

I think a Linksys linux model like the WRT54GL with alternative firmware (+ an ADSL modem) is better overall if you need to do advanced router setup like QOS and port triggering, but you're going to pay much more for it as well. If you can find a g604t for 900 baht like nick2k did I'd go for it, i paid 2200 new. PM me if you need help with a firmware upgrade. My only complaint is that is makes a faint high pitch whine when a ADSL link is established but I have mine hidden under the shelf and I don't notice it.

EDIT: typos

Edited April 27, 2007 by Veazer

[PattayaDavid]

Thanks for your responses. I guess I will look around some more before committing. In my search, it appears that there are differing opinions of the D-Link modems and routers. I saw the D-Link DSL-G604T model at Tukcom in Sri Racha yesterday. I have difficulty in determining the difference between the DSL-G604T and the DSL-2640T models, any clarification is appreciated.

I will also include the Linksys wireless modem/routers and others in my future searches.

I mostly want to convert from wire to a wireless system. Some of the wireless modem/routers are rated as ADSL, ADSL2 and ADSL2+. I think that I read that the ADSL2 was either the fastest or had the longest range. Which service is used here in Thailand, my guess is just plain ADSL (ADSL1). Lastly, is there any difference in the wireless range between the various manufacturers? I own a two-story house and I also like to sit outside and compute at times. I've seen 802.11(pre N) models sold that supposedly have greater range, but I don't want to have to add additional hardware to my computer as it already has built-in 802.11G.

Thanks,

Pattaya David

[autonomous_unit]

Underneath the veneer of branding, most of these devices are close to identical sample boards from a set of available hardware original equipment manufacturers. Because of that, it is difficult to make any real across the board statements by brand, e.g. you can find D-Link and Linksys models that have essentially identical circuits inside. Likewise, you can find two models from the same brand which have nothing in common but the logo. The model designation will rarely help you sort this out, as even just the little "revision number" on the label may imply an entirely different hardware platform within the same model line!

With all the consumer junk, you pretty much have to accept the risk that it might or might not work well for you at first, and things may or may not improve with software updates before the vendor stops supporting the model. The only exception is these aftermarket firmwares mentioned previously, where open source folks have figured out how to run more modern Linux software on the devices, and you can expect improvements and bug fixes for years to come.

I also have a D-Link DSL-G604t and have started playing with OpenWRT firmware on it, because even the above-mentioned firmware from the newer model in Italy still has some instabilities for me on my TOT ADSL line. I have had this thing for almost three years now and, and get frustated enough to investigate firmware options about once every six months. It is a trade-off though.. the wireless function seems hopeless with the open source firmware, so while my ADSL performance seems more stable now, including some QoS support, I don't have wireless at all. I have not seen any well-supported ADSL+WiFi+ethernet switch routers that can run open firmware. If I buy a new device for wireless, I am no worse off then if I bought an ADSL modem and separate wireless router, except I paid too much for my modem.

I think you either need to plan ahead and buy exactly what you want for open source use, or just stick with cheap devices where you can accept the need to discard and replace more frequently.

[Veazer]

...I also have a D-Link DSL-G604t and have started playing with OpenWRT firmware on it, because even the above-mentioned firmware from the newer model in Italy still has some instabilities for me on my TOT ADSL line...

What kind of instabilities are you getting? Recently I started getting lots of disconnects and horrific downstream SNR but it seems to be heat related - opening the case has [mostly] brought things back to normal. I'd like to stick a little heatsink on the hot chips inside and see if the helps things out, a fan would be nice too. The processor and wifi card both get very hot.

Have you tried the RouterTech firmware? I tried it a few months back and was really impressed with the feature set, but I found it much more difficult to get the WAN connection configured correctly and in the end my speeds seem to have gone down a bit. Bummer, because it is pretty impressive other than that. IIRC you cannot establish connections between wireless and non-wireless connection on the router with this firmware.

You can get more info here:

http://www.routertech.org/viewtopic.php?p=16210#16210

and here (translated):

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/t...d.php?t=1342075

I think the first link is more up to date, the second seems to be release candidate.

Removal of this firmware is different from the other d-link firmware. Here's the instructions from the author:

For remove this firmware you will use an other tool with new firmware because the var mtd are different

1: install in corrupted image mode this firmware

http://www.esnips.com/doc/b7fa31a2-2f06-46...L-G604T_v.5.rar

(Only for restore the variable mtd for your firmware)

2: install with web interface your prefered v3 firmware ;-)

3: clean your cache browser

4: login in the web interface and restore (if you have) your backup config.

[PattayaDavid]

Does anyone know if Netgear products are sold in Thailand? I've read some favorable reviews on the Netgear DG834G combo modem/router.

[autonomous_unit]

What kind of instabilities are you getting?

It's difficult to explain as it is more of a QoS issue than anything else, and I am doing a bit of guesswork. I've always had very good signal-to-noise and attenuation figured here, because our lines are recently installed. But I would see the WAN performance go up and down in fits and starts. I used to blame TOT 100% but I have started to think it is my equipment making matters worse, because it can also become very unresponsive when I try to telnet into the router or load its configuration web page (with D-Link firmware).

With the version 3 D-Link firmware, I've noticed that the RAM usually seems nearly depleted when I telnet into it, whereas with the OpenWRT firmware there is usually 3-4MB free. I wonder whether the DSL-G624t is equipped with more RAM and that this is a problem with running the firmware on the older G604t... Unfortunately, the OpenWRT firmware is not quite finished yet, so the tradeoff for this improvement is that its ethernet driver is a little flaky. I've seen other problems I try to use all its upload bandwidth, as the ethernet driver starts logging errors and I notice TCP connection errors where other mostly idle connections are timing out while the high-bandwidth connection keeps on going.

I've also started paying attention to our electrical power and put some APC brand UPSs into service. It is surprising how many brownouts are occuring in the evenings, e.g. the mains voltage is dropping low enough to trigger the UPS into battery mode for several seconds or even minutes at a time. It is often said that the cheap power supplies for these home routers are under-specified, so perhaps their DC output is also dipping too low if the mains voltage dips...

[nick2k]

Does anyone know if Netgear products are sold in Thailand? I've read some favorable reviews on the Netgear DG834G combo modem/router.

when I was doing my window shopping for a combo adsl/router/wifi, netgear was on my list to check out. I saw that Netgear unit you mentioned. ..being sold at some small shop 4th or 5th floor pantip plaza. price 2800 baht. I didn't try to bargain. I looked all over pantip. I enjoy window shopping for things.