Set new vodafone router VOX 3 \ THG3000G in modem mode?!?

[Bototski]

New customer here and just waiting for activation day... anyone tried using the new router in modem mode? I got all my network setup on different router so thinking of using the VF router it at some point... if not possible then off to get a modem (possibly draytek vigor 130).

[chazzo]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

You can do a lot with the Draytek console, but as far as I'm aware you can only tell how long it's been since the last rest and not the last a connection was established.

---

Which seems a fairly basic thing to want to know, unless you're recording, say, sync speed every few minutes. And I don't know how you would do that easily, since it seems impervious to RouterStats and the like. I have SNMP working but I can't see that that gives any of the usual figures you'd want from a modem. Do you have a solution? As long as it's running well I couldn't really care about minute-to-minute monitoring, but I wouldn't mind knowing whenever the line resets. Even the Vodafone router can do that.

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Regards PPPoE vs Bridge mode, there's not much in it on the Vigor 130, but there can be times when bridge mode can be faster, handle IPTV better, and *can sometimes* reduce the need for port forwarding.

---

Thanks – that might be useful to know in the future. Up till now I'd imagined they were the same thing 🙂

[vodamidi]

This seems a lot of work to go through in order to get your old router working on Voda. 

So we have to buy a Draytek 130 and ditch the Vodafone one? 

[chazzo]

---

@vodamidi wrote:

This seems a lot of work to go through in order to get your old router working on Voda. 

So we have to buy a Draytek 130 and ditch the Vodafone one? 

Sorry, this thread has drifted a bit from the original post by @Bototski.

The THG3000g seems a capable bit of kit and the simplest answer would be to stick with that. However, there currently seems no way to use it as a modem only. I assume that will become possible in the future, but it may mean "a lot of work" messing with terminal commands or installing alternative firmware.

So yes, if you want to use an existing router you'll need to add a stand-alone VDSL modem: either the DrayTek Vigor 130 (about £85) or an Openreach-badged Huawei HG612 off eBay for much less money. I assume the latter works fine with Vodafone, but don't take my word for that. Setup for the Vigor 130 is actually pretty simple – I just went round the houses – and there is plenty of online advice for the HG612.

Alternatively you could use any third-party router that has a built-in VDSL modem that matches Vodafone's specs. For instance, I have no idea whether Vodafone uses G.fast in those areas where it's available, but the THG3000g supports G.fast (the Vigor 130 doesn't).

Or you could plug another router into the THG3000g and put up with double NAT. I am not the person to advise about that.

[Anonymous]

It's easy to set in the mindset of what was needed to get a decent network when what Vodafone was offering was the VOX 2.5!

The VOX2.5 has all kinds of issues, which the VOX3 may not have!  So if everything else on the VOX3 is working properly it might just be the case that you could use the VOX3 as the modem+router, and if you needed to, add a router to the network via a bridge connection (not the same as running a modem as a bridge).  So the VOX3 would handle all the IP management, DNS, and work as the management hub for all the network protocols, but (if necessary) use the WiFi on the locally bridged device!

*The problems with the VOX2.5 seem to come down to penny-pinching on the hardware and a lack of willingness to bother to even implement common standards.

[thelondonguy]

Anyone else having problems with their router login screen? Mine keeps crashing and i have to log out and back in again to do anything! Such a buggy interface.

Also, I was just wondering, what are the benefits of using third party modem and routers? Is it more reliable, greater wifi coverage, shorter ping time - that kind of thing?

Been thinking about third party hardware but it's quite pricey - modem £80, router - £150, mesh node £160. 

For now i've got a vodafone set up as the master router, a powerline connecting it to an old bt hub6, which extends the wifi. Would be interested to hear of the benefits of 3rd party kit!

[chazzo]

---

@thelondonguy wrote:

Would be interested to hear of the benefits of 3rd party kit!

---

This is one for @KeithAlger, but I'll try a few ideas. Historically this has been driven by the wish for:

• better Wi-Fi performance (5GHz, 802.11 AC, more and bigger antennas…)
• guest networks and other Wi-Fi goodies
• better DSL performance (for me, especially with ADSL on long lines)
• better visibility of line stats and LAN users
• remote management and shiny phone apps
• flexibility for unusual or complex networks 
• more or faster Ethernet ports
  
• more security (but you have to take responsibility for your own updates)
• more privacy (your ISP can't snoop around your network)
• all sorts of geeky features: DNS security, SNMP, VPNs, bult-in tunnelling for IPv6… 
• just feeling a need to pimp your router by replacing the ISP's modest box with something that looks like a stealth fighter.

Most networking experts think most ISP-supplied routers are rubbish, which as Keith mentioned earlier is because they cost about £10 and you get what you pay for. They are also fine for most people, the main problems in my experience being poor or outdated Wi-Fi and poor performance on long lines (the BT Home Hub 3 springs to mind). In terms of specs the THG3000g looks a lot better than most, and I wouldn't expect too much extra performance from shelling out another £200.

Sorry to hear that your THG3000g is flaky, though. In the few days I was using mine it seemed fine. Perhaps this is one of the few occasions where getting Vodafone to send a replacement would be a good idea.

Powerline is an ugly idea but I've used it in the past and it worked fine. I guess mesh networking has to be the future but luckily I haven't needed it yet. I guess it depends on how complex your needs are. There was someone on here claiming to have run out of IP addresses (i.e. 256 devices, give or take, on one home network).

[thelondonguy]

@chazzo Why is powerline a bad idea? I just bought those fancy 2000Mbps one to hook up between my two crappy routers! haha!

Another related question. If I get google wifi and hook it up to the vox3 box, and then disable the wifi on the vox 3 and use the google wifi nodes in AP mode, will that work? My intention is to replace the slave router with a mesh node, and connect it to the other mesh node using a 2000Mbps powerline adapters, and then connect the master node to the modem router by normal ethernet.

Have less than 20 devices - just want good wifi! It's very frustrating at the moment! Spent many many hours reading about various network setup options online over the weekend!

[chazzo]

I didn't mean that powerline is necessarily a bad idea for you. If it works, then fine. From an engineering point of view it seems inelegant to send a signal back up the mains wiring and back down to your neighbours, while you might be getting similar interference from their systems. Some years back, I don't think the powerline system I used was all that secure. But, like Wi-Fi, it's probably matured over the years. Throughout this thread I'm talking about a lot of stuff I have no real clue about.

And from my know-nothing perspective your mesh plan sounds fine. How big an area do you have to cover? And how thick are your walls?

You mentioned ping. If latency is a priority it might just be worth finding out what to expect from a mesh network. I've just read that VoIP is best avoided in this case, but that (a) might be codswallop and (b) will presumably depend on the vendor, the number of nodes and so on.

[heymilton1946]

Yes I have trouble with the user interface some screens won't let you exit you have to log out and in again to change screens. Many of the buttons don't work I have read that setting up VPN is at the bottom of the configuration menu which will not open. What is the point of a stsic IP if there is no VPN capability? Despite being told that I can use it in modem mode there is no facility to set that easily. I have a good Netgear Router that works well with other equipment such as WIFI repeaters, this VF one drops the link after a few minutes meaning that the WIFI does not reach the top floor of my house. I am thinking of cancelling.

[jamesmacwhite]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Using the standard firmwear your settings should be similar to:

The one thing to note is that on my setup I have the Vigor Lan settings set up on 192.168.5.X rather than the more common 192.168.2.X

*As I use the mesh facility on the router the merlin option is not available to me.

**The VLAN settings only need to be set on the modem, not on the router!

---

Generally curious why you enabled MPoA, if you don't mind me asking? The modem is in bridge mode regardless of that setting. In the quick start guide, DrayTek themselves even state MPoA is uncommon and should not be needed in the UK as it's rarely used.

Although there is this documentation here, that talks about enabling it for bridge mode, but that's confusing, because MPoA has no bearing on this really: https://www.draytek.co.uk/support/guides/kb-vigor-130-bridge. It's basically configured for passthrough from the start, so I don't know what benefit having MPoA enabled has. I'm wondering if the BT firmware build is basically preconfigured for bridge mode, where as other regions it's not?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯