[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]
On 22/04/16 20:02, Simon Waters wrote:I first went with the Plusnet 'free' router when I first got Fibre, and Openreach have supplied me their modem. Both are horrible bits of chinese electronics, and in the end I've substituted the Plusnet box with a tp-link router which works flawlessly, with stock firmware. The former cost me Â5 p/p and latter ~Â30 from eBuyer. You -can- do it all manually by hand, but when the cost is relatively nominal, why would you?! The fibre modem functions as an ethernet bridge device, but obviously needs electronic trickery to interface to the phone line .. its not an RJ45 signalling protocol :). Obviously you'll need something that satisfies the BT/UK standards if that's what you're connecting to (VDSL). I've had mixed fortunes with *wrt firmwares. It seems you need a particular router with particular firmware to get it to work reliably, BUT that said, I have a d-link router I'm using as a combi wireless access point with switch (WAN port as LAN switch port). I did contemplate updating the new TP-link router, but as the stock firmware currently does what I need (I haven't get figured out port forwarding which I require for the home VPN and temporary SSH access) but that should be trivial enough. If you're really daring, I did unpack a squashfs of a 3G router I have, which had no internationalisation of its time formats, and drove me bats with its US time format. This isn't for the faint of heart either, but totally doable with linux tools, and plenty of googling (the source packages often aren't the latest, and some un-bodging of the latest firmware files is sometimes necessary) Nothing that dd and other hex tools can't handle .. but for ~Â30 .. that's about 3 hours of my time even at "mate's rates" !! Finally, unless you're running an RPi the power implications of running a PC as your home router is not insignificant if you pay electricity costs. This was a decision I took >10 years ago when electricity was about half what it is now. Of course if you're running a box anyway this is a non-argument, but something that should be duly considered with our high energy costs! Ok, think thats more than 2c, but hope some of it may help :] Regards, Michael. |
-- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq