Incompatible modem

[#1]

Good morning all,

I've been using a Netgear DM200 with Google WiFi routers for a couple of years now and have not had any issues until the last couple of days, when I started to get drop outs which could only be fixed by restating the equipment. I assumed this was a line issue but after speaking with technical support I was told the issue was "incompatible modem". Firstly a massive thank you to technical, I can't imagine any other tech support giving you the actual info to fix something.

I have swapped back to the plusnet hub and this has fixed the problem, but before I buy a new modem I wondered if anyone knew of any changes that had been bought in that would stop a different modem being used, or weather my modem has just given up?

I'm most surprised that everything works for a few hours before giving up, and would have expected a bad modem to have just died.

Many thanks,
Michael.

[#2]

I was told the issue was "incompatible modem"

@mlj91 I'm sorry, that's rubbish! The DM200 will work fine, and as you say, has done for some while. There are a number of threads on the forum relating to using the DM200 and, although it appears that its not the worlds best modem, it is compatible and does work.

I suspect the DM200 is actually failing in some way, although before condemning it completely , it might be worth checking if the firmware is up to date https://www.netgear.com/support/product/DM200.aspx#download

[#3]

@mlj91 I wouldn't believe a word of anything tech support tell you. How can it be an incompatible modem if it has been working for years previously?

 I recently replied on another thread where support had said you cannot use a separate Openreach modem connected to the WAN port on a PlusNet HUB 1 because he hadn't heard of that configuration, complete nonsense of course.

Nothing has changed to stop you using other equipment, there is obviously some other reason for your problem with drop outs. 

I use the Openreach Huawei HG612 3B modem  (still available on Ebay) which can be unlocked to give full stats for the connection. Some say these modems are getting bit old now but they work well and are stable and access to the line stats can be useful for fault diagnosis.

[#4]

How on earth do these agents think up all this sort of rubbish or is it on their crib sheets under 'if the customer is not using our hardware then blame that'.

Maybe it was just dropping the line amd perhaps picking up a different IP address that's fixed the problem?

[#5]

Many thanks for all the responses. I have tried dropping the line and getting a new IP but that hasn't made any difference.

I think the issue is now most likely that the DM200 is on its way out, strangely most places don't sell it anymore.

It looks like the Draytek vigor 130 is the current best solution for a modem, or would anyone recommend something else?

[#6]

@mlj91 

You appear to want to keep your current router rather than get a combined modem/router.

Have you considered the zero cost option? If you switch off the Hub One wireless and convert your router into an Access Point you just connect one of the Hub One LAN outputs to your router and the job is done. If this interests you and you need help with the router configuration just tell us the make and model.

[#7]

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@mlj91 wrote:
It looks like the Draytek vigor 130 is the current best solution for a modem, or would anyone recommend something else?

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Watch this other recent topic to see if anyone comes up with some alternatives - Draytek Vigor 130 - Anything better? 

[#8]

Have you considered the zero cost option? If you switch off the Hub One wireless and convert your router into an Access Point you just connect one of the Hub One LAN outputs to your router and the job is done. If this interests you and you need help with the router configuration just tell us the make and mode

The first post implied it was a Google wifi system. They are a bit picky about being set to AP mode but apparently its possible.

Google seem to call it bridge mode https://support.google.com/wifi/answer/6240987?hl=en-GB

[#9]

Thanks. I think I should be able to run my Google WiFi router without entering bridge mode as double NAT shouldn't cause me any issues.

The only reason for ditching the hub one was because it became noisy (seems quite a common issue)

The vigor 130 looks to be the most reliable option at present, I'll give one a go and run with the WiFi turned off on the hub one for now, shame you can't configure them to be modem only.

[#10]

You will need to change the Google wifi WAN setting to DHCP. Shouldnt need to change the lan subnet since I  think it defaults to 192.168.87.x.

[#11]

A further update to this, I have installed the vigor 130 and set the Google WiFi to Pppoe and entered my username/password but I have the same issue. The connection is up and down every couple of minutes. The modem is set to Pppoe too. Have I missed something that I need to configure on the vigor 130?

The plusnet hub one seems to work fine when installed.

[#12]

@mlj91  I don't have any experience of how the Vigor 130 can be configured but if the Google WiFi is in router mode and handling the PPPoE connection then the Vigor should just be acting as a modem with no ISP connection details. They can't both do PPPoE so I expect that to be at least part of the problem.

[#13]

Thanks, there was nowhere to enter username and password info on the 130 just the option of pppoe or pppoa but I've since found a disabled function for both. Having disabled this I have a connection but I'm getting the same issue as I was with the DM200. The connection works and then drops and recovers itself pretty quickly.

I am at a loss, if the settings were wrong I would have expected no connection but I can go 10 minutes and then have 30 seconds out and 10 more minutes working. Exactly the same as the DM200 did but the plusnet hub one works fine.

[#14]

There isn't an idle timeout on the google wifi is there ? Wan should be set to ' always on'

[#15]

I can't see anything related to that. Under wan you have the option for DHCP, static or PPPOE. Now I've moved to the vigor 130 I've changed the Google WiFi to PPPOE from DHCP as the vigor doesn't appear to handle the PPPOE.

If I run the plusnet hub and the Google WiFi in DHCP ( as i was with the DM200) everything works leaving me to believe it's a modem issue.

My wife tells me the day the problems started coincided with open reach working on our local cabinet, but this would have to be a coincidence as the plusnet hub doesn't have any issues...or is there some kind of plausibility to this?!