Router Upgrade

[Daitwice85]

Hi all,

I've recently joined Vodafone back in April and they have sent me a THG3000 Modem/router.

No real complaints in regards to speed or connection issue, however, I do have a few dead spots around the house in regards to WiFi.

I have been looking at a mesh system but unfortunately the Vodafone router does not offer a modem only mode. I'd rathe not use the mesh system as access points only since I'd be losing the advanced features they offer etc.

I have seen that Vodafone do the Pro Hub? Which has a mesh extender etc.

Is it possible to buy one (eBay/Marketplace) and then enter my pppoe credentials for it to work? Or is there some additional steps/restrictions from a Vodafone point of view.

Thanks

David

[Ripshod]

It doesn't have to be a vodafone router at all. If you get a mesh system that can be configured with one as a router (with WAN PPPoE) then that's all you need. Though will lose easy access to the digital voice service (there's a workaround for this in these forums). 

[Daitwice85]

Yeah I did look at other options but finding it difficult to find a decent mesh system with WAN PPOE capability.

Most of them don't come with the dsl modem built in and suggest that you put your existing router in to modem mode haha.

Was thinking of using the Vodafone one since it has mesh capabilities and also would save the workaround for the "landline".

I have seen that TP-Link do a X73-DSL version so might look at that but costs do shoot up and a limited selection when you want one with dsl.

[Ripshod]

I wrongly assumed you'd be on fttp with a start date in April.

It's always possible to get a cheap openreach dsl modem from ebay (I had Huawei HG612) to use in combo with a cheaper mesh system. That should open up your options somewhat. Let's see what others suggest. 

[Daitwice85]

Sadly I'm still FTTC. Hoping for FTTP soon but they haven't started work on that yet around where I live so could be a while.

I'll take a look at the HG612. Sounds like a good option. That would open up all of the Mesh solutions then as well.

Would be interesting to know if the Vodafone Prom Hub was compatible. I've heard mixed info on it. I've seen a few posts saying that you need a Pro package to get it to work. When asked using "TOBi" chat, the advisor said that it was possible. Although it's likely they didn't fully understand what I was asking and assumed I was talking about a 3rd party modem/router.

[HappyNomad]

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@Daitwice85 wrote:

Sadly I'm still FTTC. Hoping for FTTP soon but they haven't started work on that yet around where I live so could be a while.

I'll take a look at the HG612. Sounds like a good option. That would open up all of the Mesh solutions then as well.

Would be interesting to know if the Vodafone Prom Hub was compatible. I've heard mixed info on it. I've seen a few posts saying that you need a Pro package to get it to work. When asked using "TOBi" chat, the advisor said that it was possible. Although it's likely they didn't fully understand what I was asking and assumed I was talking about a 3rd party modem/router.

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I 'retired' my THG3000 quite some time ago (February 2020)  in favour of a Draytek Vigor 130 modem, with a Linksys mesh (Velop) router and three Velop nodes to get full coverage throughout the house & gardens,

The new kit has delivered all I wanted it to and has worked flawlessly with minimal user interventions over that time - very occasionally, a node drops its connection and needs rebooting but little else.  

The Linksys MR8300 router is a 'traditional' router with four gigabit ethernet ports and looks after a fully populated 8 port switch, wired two smart home hubs and quite a bundle of 2.4 and 5.0 ghz devices throughout the house.  

Initially not cheap but It has more than earned its keep terms of reliability - quite unlike the THG3000.  

[Cynric]

@Daitwice85 May I suggest an alternative, but recognising that it may not be ideal in your circumstances.

Get some PowerLine nodes, TP Link are the ones I have, and extend the network using the house mains. TP Link have devices with both WiFi and Ethernet combined.

[Daitwice85]

I currently use the TP-Link Av600 mini poweline adapter (ethernet only version) and they work great.

I did add in a wireless adapter and saw significant speed drop. It dropped from approx 70mb to 15mb.

I also tried using a wireless Access point wired in with the same result.

I have some blink cameras that requires WiFi and when connected via AP they would not stay connected or would have intermittent connection issues. Tired with several different AP's that I had spare and all had the same result.

When connected directly to the THG3000's WiFi the issue went away.

I made sure that DHCP was disabled and that it wasn't double NAT but it didn't seem to want to play nice haha.

Connecting to the THG3000 isn't ideal as some of the cameras are in a dead spot mentioned in my OP.

I think my best bet might be a dedicated modem and then a triple mesh system as suggested.

But happy for more suggestions 🙂

[Cynric]

@Daitwice85 Oh well, it was only an idea. Were all of your TP Link device the same speed? I remember reading that in a mixed environment they negotiate downward to a common bitrate.

[Daitwice85]

Thank you, I appreciate the input. Everything helps 🙂.

I tried two AP's one was 150mb and one was 300mb.

The WiFi speeds were fine, and ping etc between local devices appear unaffected. It was mainly the internet speed that was an issue. Granded some of the AP's were older but I did repurpose an Archer C9 which has great throughput and I even managed to get 35mb+ through a VPN tunnel using it when I was with BT. So can't quite understand why it's not playing ball with the THG3000 and only seeing 10-15mb without a VPN.