TD-W9980 setup

[#1]

Hi, @graemev the W9980 is an old product, whilst many routers can last years flawlessly, they also can become unstable from firmware updates and also increased usage.

You can spend another 2 or 3 months trying to get a solution with your existing setup. If you can afford it, go for a new modem router.

[#2]

@graemev

Apologies if this is a silly question but I assume you have looked for newer firmware for your TD-W9980. The latest seems to be from January 16 so my guess is yes.

I've only had one occasion to contact TP link's support (some years ago) but they were extremely good and fixed the issue.

Before giving up I would ask them.

[#3]

Hi there, how did you get on with your w9980?

I've had nothing but problems with mine when moved over to FTTC and plusnet but never with adsl with plusnet or other providers.

I've tried all sorts of solutions but nothing makes any difference. At the point now of using a new router but I do like the tplink and hate provider supplied kit.

Cheers.

[#4]

I also hate the plusnet supplied kit (although new stuff if different, just one box) .

The "line drops" have become more frequent of late . One curious "issue" I've seen spoken of is; iPhones disconnecting cause the TD-W9980  to drop the line. My daughter (user of iPhone) is going away today, so I'll see if they stop.

The plusnet kit simply lacks sufficient logging to see if the problem occurs , it's designed for "idiots"...I just installed one at my mother-in-laws. She hasn't yet switched  to FTTC , but it happens in a few days and it's supports both ADSL and VDSL . It was dead easy to setup but there is little you can do with it , e.g. monitor using syslog, SNMP etc

I know the iphone points sounds like "folkelore" but I had a IBM thinkpad laptop with wireless-N . It worked great in my office, it worked great in the garden (albet slower) but I kept getting my VPN interrupted . Turned out my router rebooted rather a lot . I considered getting a new router but made a few checks . Turned out the reboots were caused by a bug in the thinkpad. When it attempted to renegotiate from wireless-N back to G it caused the router to reset. Turned off Wireless-N in the thinkpad and the problems went away.

[#5]

I'm pretty sure that if anything like that can cause the router to reset, the bug is with the router.

[#6]

I think it's a case of "six of one ..."   Only the Thinkpad did this, other N devices negotiated down OK . My suspicion was the ThinkPad did not follow the protocol correctly. The router got it's kn****ers in a twist and panicked (not literally) and just restarted. I guess with consumer grade devices it's better to to just go for a clean slate (reboot) rather than leave a bad state for somebody to investigate.

[this would have been a different router BTW ]

[#7]

It really shouldn't matter what any ThinkPad or iPhone does, the router isn't supposed to crash, reboot, or drop the line.

[#8]

So it's the newer kit I have - it's exactly the same as the BT Hub, just rebranded.

Daughter also has an iPhone but not convinced that's the causes though hadn't thought of that before - may also use syslog to see what's happening.

Always loved Tplink kit so I'm loathed to buy something else. Although it's not a true test, I have noticed that using the builtin tests when it has lost connectivity (despite saying connected) it cannot ping the gateway. A restart of the router and all comes back fine, gateway pinging etc.

Should point out I'm no novice either; sys engineer to trade and have been online since the days of 3400 pocket gem fax/modem!

[#9]

I consider TP-Link to be a cheaper manufacturer, with inevitably lower quality, especially for router firmware.

The TD-W9980 was never a high end device, when it was launched it was a fair bit lower priced than most of the other combined VDSL2 modem/routers available at the time. The TD-W9980 does not support vectoring, when it was new TP-Link said they would add vectoring support in a firmware update, but time passed and it never happened, and the 9980 is now found in the end of life section of TP-Link's downloads. The 9980 has not been through Openreach Modem Conformance Testing, nor have any other TP-Link models.

Although they may have less features, I consider most ISP supplied devices are more likely to be better quality and have better and longer support than some of the cheap third-party junk that's available.

[#10]

I've never had the ping gateway succeed(see image) . I just assumed the had ICMP disabled (bit annoying on a gateway)

What I do with syslog, is my nas listens out for all the syslog traffic then only mails me alerts of warnings and higher . I don't believe the plusnet routers have this option (happy to me proved wrong)

[#11]

So, aside from the not very nice BT Hub, what equipment do you suggest?

[#12]

@MartinD They are in a different price bracket to the TP Link products but I like Draytek equipment. I have the 2860 which has been excellent.

If you can’t get your W9980 to be stable it might be worth trying an Openreach modem on the WAN port and see how that goes before doing anything else. That would at least help you to see if your line can keep a stable connection.

[#13]

I made a bunch of changes in my plusnet contract. This resulted in getting the (re-branded) homehub5. However it lacks the ability to setup static routes so I can't use it.

So I need to find a suitable (VDSL) router. I've posted elsewhere on this board but I seen no responses. Any suggestions folks. The wireless part is not a significant feature I need. It's only used by guests who I don't allow in my internal network.

Looking around even a cheap device (TD-W9970) seems to offer static routing. I was looking at DrayTek Vigor 2860N.  Curiously this had lots of reports of setup issues but on the other hand had the all the dials to fiddle with to sort it out. I'm tempted to just try the GBP38 version and replace it if it's rubbish

[#14]

@graemev

Not cheap, but I've been very pleased with my Draytek 2860.

Google "static routes" and Draytek and see if it does what you want.

My guess is it will.

[#15]

@graemev if you don't want wireless and the lack of Gigabit ports isn't a problem then the TD-W9970 is probably worth a punt if it offers the static routing you need. I use one, but just as a modem in front of a Draytek 2830.

As @markhawkin says the 2860 will almost certainly do what you need and they (Drayteks) are pretty good (but not cheap!)