[Betatester548]

It’s OK, it synced higher today at just under 50mbps. So, it looks like it’s the best one for my line – Presumably it synced higher due to not having Errored Seconds as of yet.

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[Betatester548]

Still not getting any errored seconds on the TP-Link Archer VR200 (After a few days), which is good.

I’m starting to wonder if it even reports these errors correctly though. Would’ve thought 1-2 errored seconds per day would be typical on most lines.

I remember that this router used to sync at 57mbps downstream (same line) back in 2017, but now it’s around 45mbps. Do you reckon that could be caused by crosstalk?

Still, it seems to be working well so far, and the WiFi actually works properly in bridge mode.

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[Betatester548]

The TP-Link VR200 modem web interface reports packet errors on the downstream (16 so far). I think these are probably just downstream CRC errors (after line sync).

I will probably do an SD card backup of OpenWRT later, to save myself a nightmare reinstall if anything ever goes wrong again

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[Betatester548]

So, these are the stats I recovered from the Archer VR200 using a tool called Stat Grabber:

Lots of CRCs, which always seems to occur on sync up. 24 million FECs so far. These numbers don’t seem to be increasing after sync though.

 

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[Betatester548]

Unfortunately, the OpenWRT device isn’t idiot proof. My dad disconnected the WAN (and LAN connection) which was connected via the USB adapter. Somehow, the drivers got scrambled and uninstalled. And the PPPOE option disappeared completely from the user interface.

So… I reflashed the image to the SD card. That didn’t work. Then I restored the device’s factory defaults, which restored the PPPOE connection option. Then I restored my settings from a backup.

Then, I had to connect another router with an internet connection to the OpenWRT router, so that it had an internet connection (which it needs to download drivers / required files). Then, I was able to reinstall the USB drivers and restore the WAN connection. Phew.

He was only trying to help though, as he was just installing a new case which runs silently (The loud case fan was bothering my brother :D, who said he was going to remove it). Could do without the drama…

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[Betatester548]

I’ve been testing both the Technicolor DWA0120 and TP-Link Archer VR200.

It’s a bit early to say at the moment which is more stable as a modem. But the VR200 is getting no errored seconds so far on the upstream or downstream. But some CRC errors.

The DWA0120 is getting errored seconds on the upstream + upstream CRCs. Errored Seconds indicate a loss of signal apparently for 1 second.

So, the VR200 may be the best choice, particularly as the DLM bases line stats on the number of errored seconds (and resyncs as far as I know).

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[Betatester548]

Seems to be operating quite cool under load at around 33 Celsius. I’ve installed SQM which is working nicely too.

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[Betatester548]

Managed to get it working yesterday, with the TP-Link VR200 running as the VDSL modem.

devices are connecting with dhcp allocated IPs, and can access the Internet.

We’ve tried to change the fan profile on the Pi 4, as the default fan is pretty loud. But the editing the boot config didn’t seem to work for this.

So, we will probably just fit a lower RPM fan.

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[Betatester548]

So, we brought a decent SD card earlier to flash OpenWRT to on the RP 4. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get it to boot when flashed to a USB 2 flash drive (I don’t think the support for USB booting is very good).

Then I installed a driver to get a USB to ethernet adapter to work.

I’ve setup the LAN and WAN connections, but so far no luck connecting to PPPoE with the DSL-N16 in bridge mode:

I will try using the TP-Link VR200 in bridge mode for the WAN later, which I know could connect to other routers.

Tbh, I’m unsure if I will definitely need two network interfaces for the OpenWRT setup.

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[Betatester548]

Yes, it uses a Broadcom (BCM2711) chipset.

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[Betatester548]

It has a quad core 1.5ghz CPU.

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[Betatester548]

So, my dad doesn’t like the design of the Eero…

He has a Raspberry Pi Model 4B which we could flash with OpenWRT. I think I’d need to install the  ‘kmod-usb-net-rtl8152’ package to use it with a USB to ethernet adapter, as the 4B only has 1 LAN port.

Not got much experience of what I’d need to do after that though.

In theory, the Raspberry Pi 4B should be a slightly better as a router than the Eero, as it supports OpenWRT’s SQM (Cake).

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[Betatester548]

Thanks, looks very good. Bit out of our price range though :)

Also if for any reason I still have problems with PPPoE on the Eero, should be able to send it back to Amazon.

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[Betatester548]

So the Eero 6 (1.2ghz quad core) and 6 Pro can do SQM at 1gbps according to the official subreddit:

reddit.com/r/eero/comments/sbp19c/eero_pro_6_sqm_speeds/

This makes sense, as I heard 1ghz CPUs (at least dual core) are required for 1gbps with SQM enabled.

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[Betatester548]

Same for me, where I live we *should* get FTTP at some point in 2024, as the area is classified as white by Project Gigabit, meaning eligible for public subsidy. Or, maybe not until 2026, which is when Openreach is scheduled to upgrade the area.

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