Using DrayTek 2862ac

[#1]

I'm looking to move to Plusnet Full Fibre 500 and currently use a DrayTek 2862ac router (with Sky full fibre) and various other bits of DrayTek kit for my mesh Wi-Fi.  Does anyone have any experience of this or is able to help with compatibility/setup advice?

[#2]

@JohnG3 It's compatible, you just need to set the WAN connection to PPPoE with your PLusnet credentials.

My only concerns would be throughput and wireless speed. The specs for the 2862 show a firewall performance only up to 400Mb so it may limit the speed of a FF500 product. Likewise the wireless is only 802.11ac and so may limit.

What speed was your Sky full fibre ?

[#3]

My current Sky package 145/150 Mbps download, depending which of their stiff you read

[#4]

"stuff", not "stiff"

[#5 · Accepted solution]

You wouldn't notice the limitations of the 2862 at those speeds. As I say, whilst it will work on a FF500 connection, you may not achieve the full speed. I'd take the Plusnet Hub 2 router, try the 2862 and see how it performs. If it appears to be limiting, then revert to the Hub 2

[#6]

That's great - thank you for your help.

All my speed sensitive stuff is wired, so the wi-fi doesn't worry me.
I'll also give the Plusnet router a try when it comes - at least I'll have options 🙂

[#7]

@JohnG3 I've used a few Drayteks myself in the past and I liked the versatility and configuration options. The only problem is that some of the older modesl are a bit limited on throughput. I still have a couple of 2830's gathering dust, that I used without problems when on an 80Mb connection. They maxed out at around 100Mb throughput on my FF900 connection!!

[#8]

@JohnG3 

If you can enable hardware acceleration (some features don't work in conjunction with it) that should help with your 2862ac. 

Some helpful screenshots and instructions at:

https://www.draytek.co.uk/support/guides/kb-hardware-acceleration-tips

[#9]

@markhawkin good find.

If its similar to the h/w offloading on my current Mediatek based router, then that should give good results. With h/w offload enabled I can get around 920Mb download on my connection. With offload disabled its around 250Mb. The main disadvantage of h/w accel/offload is its incompatible with any QoS.

[#10]

The Draytek hardware acceleration is a bit of a mixed bag.

On older hardware you trade functionality (as in the article) for greater throughput.

On newer hardware (I've a 2927) there is very little downside to it.

If you can buy another couple of years of use on hardware that was quite expensive when new it's never a bad thing.