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Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

Pendragon
Rising Star
Posts: 445
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Registered: ‎07-04-2007

Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

Bit of a long winded post but some of you may find it useful I hope. Now I’m from a long rural line and have been with Force9/Plusnet for years and being at the end of this line become somewhat paranoid about line stats, speed drops and so on so please forgive me for what to some may seem an over the top response to a minor drop in speed.
Some of you may recall I posted a message a few weeks ago asking for a line test (I didn’t know we could do it ourselves Doh!) because of a speed drop and wondering if it was because of this new fangled G.INP being switched on in my cabinet.
Well today I can confirm it [G.INP] was the cause  of the speed drop and the incompatibility with the Openreach ECI Modem.
Last Thursday I bit the bullet and purchased a Billion BiPac 8800NL all in one modem/router from Ebuyer for the princely sum of £62.99, yesterday I set it up and installed it then left it overnight to settle in.
Today I run up ADSL Stats to see if anything had happened overnight and found the following;
Downstream is now 20.000, upstream is 79.9999 and interleaving has dropped from 1135 last night to 16 today and.......... G.INP is Enabled, max attainable speed, well I would be embarrassed to tell you and hope I never have to reach it.
I expect some of you may be wondering what the 8800NL is like in the wild so to speak, well it looks nice, lovely shade of white so ‘her in doors’ (I don’t have one) won’t get miffed at yet another black lump to gather dust.
Can’t be wall mounted so must be placed on a desk, shelf, whatever, cables egress from the lower back (it stands upright) and ventilation is good because of the vertical airflow.
Setup was not bad but caused a few minor problems because I set it up unplugged from the VDSL connection, I didn’t want to upset the DLM system too much by fiddling with settings while connected. Word of warning here if you have poor eyesight like me you might want to download the Quickstart guide from their website to read before you start (or get it from the supplied CD), the booklet supplied is so small that small print has a whole new meaning.
The set up problem was simple but daft, I connected it hard wired to my laptop, started it up and it immediately started Firefox and opened the quick setup page of the unit, fine so far and I just followed the instructions to set up the router. However it got to the section where the system tried to connect to the VDSL line and because I was not plugged in it sort of stalled with no [Apply] or [Save] buttons, however a restart of Firefox took me into the main setup page and I was able to complete the settings from there.
Today after only one night I can report that games are much ‘sharper’, to play and connections seem to respond quicker, WiFi is pretty good a little bit stronger than the old Plusnet router and connect faster, all in all I think money well spent.
Lastly for the tech support at Plusnet, I changed all the passwords to the same ones you set for your supplied router so if at any time you need to log in remotely you can use the same settings that you already have on record (aren’t I good to you).
Any other details anyone needs let me know, regards P.
28 REPLIES 28
Oldjim
Resting Legend
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Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

Since the Billion doesn't have TR069 functionality Plusnet can't access it so whether you use the same access passwords is immaterial
Notwithstanding that - a very useful post for when I buy one - fibre hasn't quite arrived yet  Sad
w23
Pro
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Registered: ‎08-01-2008

Re: Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

You could buy, and use, one now Jim, they also work with 'Ye Olde Worlde' ASDL too.
Call me 'w23'
At any given moment in the universe many things happen. Coincidence is a matter of how close these events are in space, time and relationship.
Opinions expressed in forum posts are those of the poster, others may have different views.
Pendragon
Rising Star
Posts: 445
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Registered: ‎07-04-2007

Re: Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

Hi Oldjim,
long time no chat, I’ve just checked in the user manual and the 8800NL does have this TR-069 client built in but disabled as supplied. There is a whole page dedicated to how to set it up but most of it is over my head I’ll have to read up a bit more before I fiddle with it.
If you are interested in Stats from the unit then it supplies loads even from the built in GUI and DSLstats can supply the rest. It’s not often I talk ‘up’ a unit but this has turned out better than I expected. I see the ‘big brother’ the AXL is not getting so high a recommendation as the NL.
Also I did upgrade to the latest firmware from their website (version: 2.32d.dh14), it have newer Broadcom drivers according to the notes.
Regards, P.
Oldjim
Resting Legend
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Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

I could but my TG582n actually works fine and does everything I want except a guest wifi unlike the 2704n which doesn't
Re TR069 - I wouldn't enable it as it - potentially - could have security worries
picbits
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Registered: ‎18-01-2013

Re: Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

Guest wifi is possible on the 582n but you need to go through various steps via telnet.
Oldjim
Resting Legend
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Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

agreed and I couldn't be bothered  Embarrassed
deathtrap
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Registered: ‎23-04-2013

Re: Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

Quote from: Oldjim
Since the Billion doesn't have TR069 functionality Plusnet can't access it so

Why would plusnet or any other ISP want to access your own router ? and why would you want or need them to have this access? I can't think of any, But in reality they don't really need tr069 to access a router, there are other methods
Xup
Grafter
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Re: Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

From My Billion8800NL  Wink
jafreer
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Registered: ‎13-10-2012

Re: Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

Very useful post pendragon. I have not yet gone down the route of a combined modem/router but that Billion would definitely be in the running. I like to get user experience on these products because I have been bitten in the past with modem/routers (ADSL ones) that just don't perform as they should and need frequent resets etc.
I will stick with the TG582n router for now (with separate Huawei modem) as it serves the needs so far, and most importantly, it has never 'hanged' and needed to be reset.
AndyH
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Registered: ‎27-10-2012

Re: Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

Quote from: deathtrap
Why would plusnet or any other ISP want to access your own router ? and why would you want or need them to have this access? I can't think of any, But in reality they don't really need tr069 to access a router, there are other methods

Because ISPs are required to continually ensure that all the modems they supply for FTTC are fully compliant with OR requirements. If a new network update is introduced (e.g. vectoring), then ISPs have to be able to ensure that they equipment they've supplied will support this. There may be other ways of doing it, but I think TR-069 is common for being able to make sure firmware is downloaded and updated.
There are examples of some modem features, if enabled, impacting other users on the DSLAM. This is why OR lock down their modems (or at least tried to).
w23
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Re: Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

I'd always assumed that an ISP can only use TR069 on a router they supplied, happy to be corrected if that's wrong.
Call me 'w23'
At any given moment in the universe many things happen. Coincidence is a matter of how close these events are in space, time and relationship.
Opinions expressed in forum posts are those of the poster, others may have different views.
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
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Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

Happy to correct you  Grin Grin
I had a Plusnet supplied DLink which I loaned to a friend on TalkTalk as he thought that the TalkTalk Router was on the blink
I gave him instructions on how to set it up but in fact as soon as he plugged it in TalkTalk took over - set everything up - and it just worked
When I got it back I had to do a hard reset before I could even access it via the web interface
AndyH
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Re: Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

Same goes for newer HomeHubs I think.
It has to be a potential security risk. No doubt some people would argue that it's a backdoor for GCHQ/NSA to do their thing.
deathtrap
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Registered: ‎23-04-2013

Re: Gave up with ECI changed to Billion, results for anyone interested.

Quote from: AndyH
Quote from: deathtrap
Why would plusnet or any other ISP want to access your own router ? and why would you want or need them to have this access? I can't think of any, But in reality they don't really need tr069 to access a router, there are other methods

Because ISPs are required to continually ensure that all the modems they supply for FTTC are fully compliant with OR requirements. If a new network update is introduced (e.g. vectoring), then ISPs have to be able to ensure that they equipment they've supplied will support this. There may be other ways of doing it, but I think TR-069 is common for being able to make sure firmware is downloaded and updated.
But i wasn't making reference to the  ISP's supplied modem/router  So they have no reason to want access other devices , and yes there are other methods to gain access to modem/routers that don't have TR069 this i know because i have see it done ,
Quote from: AndyH
There are examples of some modem features, if enabled, impacting other users on the DSLAM. This is why OR lock down their modems (or at least tried to). an
Really  where are these examples then ?  also i think you will find than anyone enabling an option on a modem that isn't supported by the Dslam will just be ignored by it such as the HG612 (Supplied BTOR modem) it has SRA enabled by default, but BTOR haven't enabled this feature so it's ignored by the Dslam, as for such like causing issues for other subscribers you have proof of this ?  if not then must be more bunkem from you perhaps