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Replacing BT Infinity Modem and Home hub

A friend has just signed up to FTTC, which i will also hopefully be doing sooner or later.

I understand that from BT and many others a seperate modem and router is supplied. Modem normally being something from Huawei if from BT and the router being a home hub (rebadged linksys thing i seem to recall, maybe wrongly).

This is going to be a pain for him and a even bigger pain for me.

Has anyone got any recommendations on replacing this with a single VDSL modem/router device???

Due to the amount of devices i have, and living in a 4 floor home (most devices being on the 3rd and 4th floor and the master socket being on the ground floor) and having everything hardwired at the moment i can forsee issues and me running up and down several flights of stairs everytime the home hub or modem has brain wind. Also wont be fun me having to run more cables from ground floor where master socket is should i ever add more gear on the fourth floor at the back of the house with the master socket at the front of the house.

Any all in one device available see i can shove it say on the second or third floor and run a single cable down to the master socket, rather than several LANs from the ground floor up and make use of my current network cabling?

I hope that made sense could draw a very rough diagram if needed........ Ultimately though question will still be any combined VDSL modem routers on the market for a decent price which anyone has tried with FTTC services???? Even if there is work arounds my experience of BT home hubs is they are poop so ill want to replace it regardless.
 
At the risk of throwing in a red herring (because I'm slightly confused by all this FTTC stuff so may have got the wrong end of the stick), is that really an "all-in-one", a combined modem/router?

I ask because at the tail end of the blurb it says...
"Please Note: This Router does not have a built-in Fibre modem and is designed to be used with Fibre Broadband via an Openreach Modem or compatible Fibre Broadband modem."
:hrmph:
 
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I understand that from BT and many others a seperate modem and router is supplied. Modem normally being something from Huawei if from BT and the router being a home hub (rebadged linksys thing i seem to recall, maybe wrongly).
It will always be an Openreach branded VDSL modem either by Huawei or ECI, supposedly rolled out to match the maker of the MSAN in your local cabinet. (Recently BT have been installing ECI cabinets, not Huawei).

The older BT Home Hubs are rebranded and very customised Thomson routers. I believe the HH3 is the same.

Is your area still lacking in FTTC ? One of the local villages to be activated has passed its activation date with half of the village going live and being able to order yet the other half (has cabinets installed and whirring away) has a date of the end of July :| very strange.

Tom - www.mouselike.org
 
Last edited:
At the risk of throwing in a red herring (because I'm slightly confused by all this FTTC stuff so may have got the wrong end of the stick), is that really an "all-in-one", a combined modem/router?

I ask because at the tail end of the blurb it says...
"Please Note: This Router does not have a built-in Fibre modem and is designed to be used with Fibre Broadband via an Openreach Modem or compatible Fibre Broadband modem."
:hrmph:
I have no personal experience ,as FTTX isn't available where i live as yet, but this post on the billion forums about it would suggest that it is a VSDL modem/router http://www.billion.uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=181 billion http://www.billion.uk.com/product/vdsl.htm The info on the broadband buyer site may be incorrect, thing is though you can connect any router to the openreach modem it would work, although if it's lan switch is only 100mbps you may see some issues when maxing it out so a gb switch or one of the many the router offering 300mbps across the lan will work better, When you think about it, they clearley state: The Billion BiPAC 8200N is an all-in-one VDSL2/Broadband Fiber Router with the latest Wireless-N 802.11n technology, If it was only a router with a 300mb switch then why use VDSL at all in the specs ?
 
Ah well thats a start, looks like there are a few options. Not cheap though which is a shame, at least the homehub and junk Huawei which you cant even read stats from can be junked though :)
 
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Nah not throw it away literally, unless you count never removing it from its box and chucking it in a cupboard. When i finally get FTTC id actually try unlocking it though knowing my luck BT will inspect it if ever returned and bill me some stupid figure for it.

I do wonder why they (meaning every FTTC provider i know of... though i suspect its down to Openreach demanding it) have gone for the separate modem and router solution though. Its bad enough the rubbish ADSL modem/routers some ISPs supply in mass (cough.. Thomson.. cough... rubbish... cough).

To now suddenly be confronted with 2 ugly wall warts supping away at the electricity supply, a further cluttered desk, more dangly wires and lets be honest, cheaply produced locked down multiple items is more than taking the proverbial ;)

Watch the spotty oink on the BT TV adverts and his sleak black Homehub hasnt even got a power cable running to it let alone a network lead and an mismatched white box dangling from it with another RJ11 lead and another power cable LOL

Even worse a load of it has probably already ended up in landfill as i hear the early Modems had overheating issues, and BT replaced them all. :(

The other thing that gets my goat is the so called installation. Which seems to be £50 on average and basically consists of some BT bod turning up to basically fit a redesigned iplate worth all of £5 and plug your modem in. Atleast in the ISDN days when they turned up to fit that silly box to your wall it involved "real" work before you paid through the nose for it. A nice little earner Openreach have there. Cant imagine it pleases suppliers other than BT either.

Sure they have to tinker at the cabinet first also, but if you go to a LLU ADSL2+ supplier from BT they have to tinker in the exchange, but you dont get billed for that, so that extra few minutes work doesnt really factor into the charge either. I suspect if no tinkering at the cabinet was needed before your service goes live some ISP already would have put together a better billion or draytek modem/router/filtered face plate bundle with no install fee.

Anyways im rambling and moaning like an old so and so now :D
 
They will run an extension to another part of the house, as part of the standard installation fee, if you ask for it. So there is some leeway on where you can have the modem.
 
They will run an extension to another part of the house, as part of the standard installation fee, if you ask for it. So there is some leeway on where you can have the modem.

That work they offer i can not understand either.....

You could just unplug extension wiring from you current old faceplate,
IE wires 2 and 5 ala...
face-plate.jpg


and reconnect it via the extension header on the new vdsl faceplate, like...
img0535jn.jpg


If you already have extension cabling in place there shouldnt be any need to run another new one.
 
Sadly not all sockets are wired in the same way. My old house had standard BT sockets but when you removed the faceplate the wiring was a total mess and you definitively would not wish to touch anything without an expert to hand. Heck I don't even know how the BT engineer knew what to do when he put in the first ADSL line all those years ago because everything was mixed up and in unusual places.

I spent a good couple of days without a working phone line after needing to do a trial-and-error session of working out what went where, which followed my first attempt that saw all the wires spring out before I'd had a chance to record their positions. At least the new owner was happy as they took over the only house in the area with good broadband wiring, a point I sold it on :) .
 
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Assuming its not an old star system (which only a few still have and what an engineer would have to replace for FTTC anyway) extension wiring should not be an issue. The only time it becomes an issue between the master socket and the extension faceplate is if it has multiple joins along it (which is wrong to begin with) and the person before also decided not to join the same coloured wires.

In that case its probably better to just rip it out and rewire when it comes to FTTC, even ADSL2+ to gain optimum speeds from extension cabling.

However if thats not an option which wire goes where even with multiple joins or even test if its working properly, is a few minutes job with a good multimeter that does continuity testing. Even less time if you have a set of alligator clips for the extension end ;) Certainly less than it would take in some instances to rewire.

That said though, yes point taken some peoples extension wiring is an utter mess, and some even if you can deduce what goes where (which IMO is easy) then yeah i agree having the engineer run a new extension while he is there is probably the best option.

Why we should all pay a fixed fee for the privileged of their visit though when id guess in most cases they basically just have to screw on the iplate i dunno. I have no doubt will charge more if additional work is needed first, (As an example there seems to be conflicting reports as to if you are charged extra if they have to move the master socket, some say yes others say they did it freely) following that ethos they should also be charging less if they basically have to do nothing.

We have been here before though with new products, when ADSL first came out (from my memory, maybe wrongly) didnt you have to have an engineer visit then also? I suspect give it a year or so and the install and BT visit wont be a requirement for FTTC.

I find it totally bizarre when ever a new broadband product comes out we all have to use equipment BT state. Even if you go with Sky it seems having the Openreach Huawei (or whatever BT decide) is a requirement. Its like the ISDN and early ADSL days, id had thought we could move on from that by now.

PS:
Congrats to you mark on maybe being one of the first to market a home on its broadband potential hehe :D
 
A friend has just signed up to FTTC, which i will also hopefully be doing sooner or later.

I understand that from BT and many others a seperate modem and router is supplied. Modem normally being something from Huawei if from BT and the router being a home hub (rebadged linksys thing i seem to recall, maybe wrongly).

This is going to be a pain for him and a even bigger pain for me.

Has anyone got any recommendations on replacing this with a single VDSL modem/router device???

Two that definitely work are the Draytek Vigor 2750 and the Fritzbox 7390. I know because I have used both and still currently use the fritzbox 7390. Please remember that you are SUPPOSED to use the Openreach modem, but I do not know of anyone who has had the service terminated because they don't.
The two I have mentioned are expensive and the Fritzbox 7390 I currently use is a Router/Modem/Voip/ Dect base station /PSTn line, Integrated software answer machines and software fax machines . Expensive yes, but you get something for your money.
 
Yep in addition to the Billion mentioned earlier ive been reading up on the Draytek and Fritzbox both also seem to be impressive devices. Not cheap as you mention but seem to be good quality.
 
Two that definitely work are the Draytek Vigor 2750 and the Fritzbox 7390. I know because I have used both and still currently use the fritzbox 7390. Please remember that you are SUPPOSED to use the Openreach modem, but I do not know of anyone who has had the service terminated because they don't.
The two I have mentioned are expensive and the Fritzbox 7390 I currently use is a Router/Modem/Voip/ Dect base station /PSTn line, Integrated software answer machines and software fax machines . Expensive yes, but you get something for your money.
Nice choice! I'm running a Draytek 2820n and Fritzbox 7360. The 2820 as ADSL2+, the 7360 for DECT, wifi, answerphone etc, a really nice piece of kit (surprised no ones not done it before). I'm thinking of going to VDSL using the 7360 and retiring the 2820 (or replacing it with 2860n and just keeping the 7360 for voice). My kit is 10m from the NT5E on an extension cable (in the cupboard under the stairs, it's large). I'd just like to upgrade to VDSL, plug one output from a filter into the 7360 data port the other the to voice port and job done; I suspect however BT won't make it this simple. Maybe I'll have to wait a while till they allow this just like they did eventually with ADSL.
 
BT are ditching support for their Fibre modem (as opposed to the Home Hubs), so I dont think they will be chasing you if you use something else.

I just use it as a modem, and have something else plugged in for Wireless, Ethernet use.
 
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