UPC 240mb/s + unlimited mobile calls €45

Sam the Sham · 13-01-2015 1:00pm

rahenyrover wrote: »

All this talk of better WiFi from seperate routers has me intrigued. I always (wrongly) just assumed you couldn't get more that 60 or 70 meg over wifi.

Before I pull the trigger on this could I ask some questions?

1. To setup do I simply plug an Ethernet cable from the upc modem to the new router and turn wifi off on the upc modem?

2. Will the Ethernet ports work on both? So in essence by having two would I now have extra Ethernet ports or would I only have the 4 on the new router?

3. Are there any other settings that need to be changed on the UPC modem?

From my limited understanding of this it all sounds like a no brainer but don't want to shell out 100+ only to get no benefit from it due to my lack of knowledge of how to set it up correctly.

Thanks in advance for any help.

A lot depends on what UPC modem you have and what your needs are. The current UPC modems are not "bridgeable" (only the no-longer-used Cisco EPC3925 modem was bridgeable among UPC equipment). This means that when you plug the ethernet cable from the UPC modem to your new router's WAN port, you will be in a configuration called "double NAT" where both the UPC modem and the new router are doing Network Address Translation, when you only want one of them doing it. You can read more about it here.

This is bad if, say, you want to access computers on your home network from outside the home. There are ways around it, as described on that page, but the ideal is to set the UPC modem into "bridge" mode. For some reason, they have disabled that option on current modems.

If you don't care about accessing computers on your home network from outside the home, I don't think it matters much. Others will correct me.

Caliden · 13-01-2015 1:14pm

Sam the Sham wrote: »

A lot depends on what UPC modem you have and what your needs are. The current UPC modems are not "bridgeable" (only the no-longer-used Cisco EPC3925 modem was bridgeable among UPC equipment). This means that when you plug the ethernet cable from the UPC modem to your new router's WAN port, you will be in a configuration called "double NAT" where both the UPC modem and the new router are doing Network Address Translation, when you only want one of them doing it. You can read more about it here.

This is bad if, say, you want to access computers on your home network from outside the home. There are ways around it, as described on that page, but the ideal is to set the UPC modem into "bridge" mode. For some reason, they have disabled that option on current modems.

If you don't care about accessing computers on your home network from outside the home, I don't think it matters much. Others will correct me.

This is what I always wondered. Any time I asked the question about getting increased speeds on wifi the first reply would always be to get the separate modem but never explained why.

rahenyrover · 13-01-2015 1:28pm

Thanks listermint and sam. Much clearer for me no. I have no need to access home computer from outside the house so looks straight forward. Thanks for the help!

bromley52 · 13-01-2015 2:01pm

I have a Thomson UPC router from which I can get 240mb/s wired directly too it. I have attached to it a Netgear N600 with dd-wrt. Previously I had it configured as above with the wireless from the Thomson turned off. I was only able to get a max speed of 140-160mb/s off the Netgear wired. I changed the Thomson to bridge mode hoping that would sort my speed issue on the Netgear but it hasn't. The Netgear is getting a public IP. I even restored the netgear (dd-wrt) to factory but that didn't help either. I had done a few tweaks like slowing down google servers for my chromecast.

Can anyone offer some guidance as to what settings I might need to change to improve things. Thanks for any help.

bk · 13-01-2015 2:26pm

bromley52 wrote: »

Can anyone offer some guidance as to what settings I might need to change to improve things. Thanks for any help.

Well the first thing to do is to confirm that you can get the full speed wired by directly connecting your pc to the UPC router by ethernet.

If that is giving you full speed, then the issue would seem to be with the N600 and you best bet would be to ask on a forum that specialises in this router or the firmware you are using.

ED E · 13-01-2015 2:41pm

bromley52 wrote: »

I have a Thomson UPC router from which I can get 240mb/s wired directly too it. I have attached to it a Netgear N600 with dd-wrt. Previously I had it configured as above with the wireless from the Thomson turned off. I was only able to get a max speed of 140-160mb/s off the Netgear wired. I changed the Thomson to bridge mode hoping that would sort my speed issue on the Netgear but it hasn't. The Netgear is getting a public IP. I even restored the netgear (dd-wrt) to factory but that didn't help either. I had done a few tweaks like slowing down google servers for my chromecast.

Can anyone offer some guidance as to what settings I might need to change to improve things. Thanks for any help.

N600 represents a few models, whats the WNDRXXXX model number?

cerastes · 13-01-2015 3:39pm

When its working, which seems to be most of the time, I'm quite happy with UPC, when it gives a problem, they dont seem to come forward with what the problem was or how or if it was solved. I can kind of see why they might not reveal that kind of information publicly though, Id be a bit happier if they just admitted they were experiencing problems and doing their best to resolve them instead of denying it.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4056170032

Recently I had cause to enquire about my account (I was changing to an unlimited bundle), at the same time I was offered a tv package which I dont have but declined in the end.
Prior to adding any tv package, I was told I could keep my current unlimited calls to local and national landlines, my 400 minutes to UK landlines and add unlimited Irish mobile calls too, Id only months before changed to an anytime world deal for the phone which I got little or no use out of as it excluded mobile calls which I mostly make, but having a PAYG mobile, the phone has now saved me costs on certain calls and from using my credit uneccessarily. I think its a great deal now, I could reduce my mobile credit more than the added cost (a few euro) of changing. In this case Im happy to sign in for another year.
My speedtest isnt great but thats wireless and not plugged in direct which I must test.

Hopefully I havent jinxed myself now but of what Ive read of eircom lately, Im quite happy.

Avada · 13-01-2015 5:21pm

Ordered UPC late last night online, got a text this morning saying the router will arrive tomorrow. Happy out! Im actually pretty happy with my adsl (syncing at 16mbps), but the calls package is very competitive.

bromley52 · 13-01-2015 6:57pm

ED E wrote: »

N600 represents a few models, whats the WNDRXXXX model number?

3700v4.
DD-WRT v24-sp2

ED E · 13-01-2015 7:03pm

bromley52 wrote: »

3700v4.
DD-WRT v24-sp2

With stock firmware its good for 400 WAN to LAN but DDWRT wont use the hardware NAT so might be slower. Give netgears firmware a shot.

bromley52 · 13-01-2015 7:17pm

ED E wrote: »

With stock firmware its good for 400 WAN to LAN but DDWRT wont use the hardware NAT so might be slower. Give netgears firmware a shot.

Think I will try that. Cheers

Twilightning · 13-01-2015 7:26pm

Anyone have any experience with the TC7200-U modem/router from UPC? Was installed today while I was out after we switched to the 240MB bundle and I can only get 5MB/s max via a powerline adapter. Upload seems to be a solid 2.4MB/s as advertised though.

degsie · 13-01-2015 9:02pm

Twilightning wrote: »

Anyone have any experience with the TC7200-U modem/router from UPC? Was installed today while I was out after we switched to the 240MB bundle and I can only get 5MB/s max via a powerline adapter. Upload seems to be a solid 2.4MB/s as advertised though.

That's just the limitation of powerline adapters unfortunately. Run cable if you want to get better speeds!

QikBax · 13-01-2015 9:04pm

bk wrote: »

Sounds like it, I'm getting 200mb/s wireless in the same room with almost exactly the same setup as you!

I'm also using the TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750 and a macbook air (though it only supports 802.11n, not ac like yours, nice).

Remember to set the macbook to use the 5Ghz frequency and on your router, set it to only support 802.11n and 802.11ac on the 5Ghz frequency. Use the 2.4Ghz frequency for all legacy protocols.

Yes, it would be a pity to limit such nice and expensive gear for the sake of a €5 cable!!

Just goes to show, even when you have the best gear, you can still be let down by a small detail. This is why it is so hard for ISPs to guarantee top speeds over wifi.

Still no joy I'm afraid

I switched out the cable for a Cat 6 but it only boosted both Wired & Wireless up by about 5mbs to 95mbs up/24mbs down.

Decided to reset both the Cisco and TP Link and start again to see if I missed anything that might be confusing the issue but same speeds after doing this.

I'll be able to give it a proper go over the weekend but if anyone has any ideas don't be shy.

Thanks

Fresh Pots · 13-01-2015 9:05pm

Anyone tried getting 120mb unlimited bb and unlimited landline/mobile calls? That's what I'm going to be asking for tomorrow and just wanna know how much others have got it for. I'm an existing customer.

bk · 14-01-2015 1:10am

QikBax wrote: »

I switched out the cable for a Cat 6 but it only boosted both Wired & Wireless up by about 5mbs to 95mbs up/24mbs down.

First directly connect to the UPC modem with ethernet and check what speed are you getting there.

Also check what speed your macbooks ethernet port supports. Does your macbook have it's own ethernet port or are you using a thunderbird or usb to ethernet adaptor?

USB adaptors in particular can be limited to 10/100 only.

Also if you have more then one Apple device (macs, ipad, iphone) then I'd buy the app sppedy net, which allows you to do speed tests between devices on your network. This allows you to test your network devices without UPC.

tharmor · 14-01-2015 6:44am

Sam the Sham wrote:

A lot depends on what UPC modem you have and what your needs are. The current UPC modems are not "bridgeable" (only the no-longer-used Cisco EPC3925 modem was bridgeable among UPC equipment). This means that when you plug the ethernet cable from the UPC modem to your new router's WAN port, you will be in a configuration called "double NAT" where both the UPC modem and the new router are doing Network Address Translation, when you only want one of them doing it. You can read more about it

Which are the latest routers then ?? Do they support full speed over wifi ? i might get my 3925 changed....

Ste- · 14-01-2015 9:51am

Fresh Pots wrote: »

Anyone tried getting 120mb unlimited bb and unlimited landline/mobile calls? That's what I'm going to be asking for tomorrow and just wanna know how much others have got it for. I'm an existing customer.

I was asked to get this, they quoted me 40 euro a month. I said nah I'd like the €45 p/m for 240mb.

Sam the Sham · 14-01-2015 10:43am

tharmor wrote: »

Which are the latest routers then ?? Do they support full speed over wifi ? i might get my 3925 changed....

If you have a 3925, I'd hold onto it as it's the only modem used by UPC that can easily be put into bridge mode. That's what I've done.

If you've got a 3925, you can buy any decent 802.11n (or, for future proofing, 802.11ac) router. Note: you want just a router, not a router/modem combination, since you already have a modem.

Any decent 802.11n router should give you the full speed of the internet connection over wifi provided you're reasonably close to the router. In my own case, if I'm in the sitting room (which is where the router, a 4th-generation Airport Extreme, is located) and connected on the 802.11n/5Ghz band, I get basically the full 240Mbps. Maybe a little less. If I go into another room, it drops to maybe 100Mbps. If I go upstairs, it drops again to maybe 30Mbps. I use wall ethernet plugs upstairs but even they only give me 50Mbps.

I'm sure there are other things I could do to improve things (repeaters or maybe get a new router or reposition the one I have), but I haven't found the time/energy.

Fresh Pots · 14-01-2015 11:14am

Ste- wrote: »

I was asked to get this, they quoted me 40 euro a month. I said nah I'd like the €45 p/m for 240mb.

Did they give you the 4 months at €25 with that or any discount?

sonofenoch · 14-01-2015 11:24am

Just checked my ethernet port is Realtek RTL8201N – LAN 10/100Mb/s......does this mean I'll never get over 100mb BB and will need a new motherboard?

thefinalstage · 14-01-2015 11:43am

sonofenoch wrote: »

Just checked my ethernet port is Realtek RTL8201N – LAN 10/100Mb/s......does this mean I'll never get over 100mb BB and will need a new motherboard?

It depends on your computer but if you get a gigabit ethernet card you should be good to go.

This one if your computer is REALLY old

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TG-3269-Gigabit-Network-Interface/dp/B000FO6QWM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1421232122&sr=8-2&keywords=gigabit+ethernet+card

This is the one I got.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TG-3468-Gigabit-Express-Network/dp/B001OQSZQ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421232161&sr=8-1&keywords=gigabit+ethernet+card

Ste- · 14-01-2015 12:24pm

Fresh Pots wrote: »

Did they give you the 4 months at €25 with that or any discount?

Nope I'm an existing customer tho but I didn't ask about a discount.
I just wanted the aforementioned deal they offered me a few deals but I kept refusing them.

breeno · 14-01-2015 1:44pm

I downgraded from 200mb hoprizon bundle to 120mb. I've been with them one year and was given 6 month @ €30 p/m and the following 6 months at €40p/m. 12 month contract. I literally just said Sky have offered me fibre with a discount and they threw the 6 month discount at me. Happy enough with that.

TheDoc · 14-01-2015 2:52pm

Mine went active this morning.

Rang up last week querying the price increases, had barely finished my question and woman on the phone offered me the 240mb unlimited package, which was the same price as I was paying for 120mb and only off peak unlimited calls.

Was happy out signing up to a enw 12 month contract, I'll never use anyone other then UPC.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4058743019

Absolutely delighted with the results. Granted I've never really had grief with UPC speeds, typically always received whats been advertised. Thats my HTPC connected to the router via ethernet. Ran a speedtest on my upstairs PC which is connected via powerplugs and getting 120mb. Was previously only hitting 50mb.

Who said price increases were a bad thing?

ED E · 14-01-2015 2:53pm

You should be getting more on the upstream there Doc.

TheDoc · 14-01-2015 2:53pm

ED E wrote: »

Its worth noting that Ookla designed their servers for tests up to 100mb, after that they may be unreliable and generally can be overloaded too.

Join samknows for some accurate monitoring if you like.

I was just doing a cleanout of my PC room and found a samknows box. Signed up for it but never plugged it in.

Would it still work if I threw it in later?

TheDoc · 14-01-2015 2:55pm

ED E wrote: »

You should be getting more on the upstream there Doc.

I've always found UPC upload speeds a bit patchy. Granted I was into streaming and youtube content for a while, don't do it anymore and the upload speed being on the low side really hasn't had any tangible impacts on my real time performance.

What upload are people getting as a matter of interest? If it's a massive variance might be arsed getting in touch with them or doing some troubleshooting on my end.

ED E · 14-01-2015 2:56pm

TheDoc wrote: »

I was just doing a cleanout of my PC room and found a samknows box. Signed up for it but never plugged it in.

Would it still work if I threw it in later?

Assuming they havent wiped your account on their end it should. Plug it in and if its working you'll receive an email within a few hours.

TheDoc wrote: »

What upload are people getting as a matter of interest? If it's a massive variance might be arsed getting in touch with them or doing some troubleshooting on my end.

They're doing 10:1 D to U so 120Mb gives 12Mb, 200 gives 20 and 240 gives 24Mb. They might just need to reset your connection at the CMTS so that it re-provisions. Its no biggie, but you may as well have it.

TheDoc · 14-01-2015 2:57pm

ED E wrote: »

Assuming they havent wiped your account on their end it should. Plug it in and if its working you'll receive an email within a few hours.

Cool might do that when I get home. I know when I signed up I was a bit worried about potential interference in might have on performance. Increase to pings and stuff freak me out.

Granted I got this when it first became available to us, guess it's being used enough now for people to ease my fears?

TheDoc · 14-01-2015 2:59pm

ED E wrote: »

They're doing 10:1 D to U so 120Mb gives 12Mb, 200 gives 20 and 240 gives 24Mb. They might just need to reset your connection at the CMTS so that it re-provisions. Its no biggie, but you may as well have it.

UPC Ireland ‏@UPCIreland 9s10 seconds ago
@TheDOC_ This will be increasing to 20mb in the summer. ^LOC

I queried was my 12mb Upload on the lowside.

ED E · 14-01-2015 3:02pm

TheDoc wrote: »

UPC Ireland ‏@UPCIreland 9s10 seconds ago
@TheDOC_ This will be increasing to 20mb in the summer. ^LOC

I queried was my 12mb Upload on the lowside.

Its live for some anyways.

All different users.

sonofenoch · 14-01-2015 3:02pm

thefinalstage wrote: »

It depends on your computer but if you get a gigabit ethernet card you should be good to go.

This one if your computer is REALLY old

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TG-3269-Gigabit-Network-Interface/dp/B000FO6QWM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1421232122&sr=8-2&keywords=gigabit+ethernet+card

This is the one I got.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TG-3468-Gigabit-Express-Network/dp/B001OQSZQ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421232161&sr=8-1&keywords=gigabit+ethernet+card

have 2 spare PCe slots....a very handy and cheap alternative to a new MB

Oat23 · 14-01-2015 7:22pm

My gigabit router arrived today.

I've never seen anything as beautiful as the party happening in my utorrent right now.

x-all-the-things-meme-generator-download-everything-8ede84.jpg

mickeyboymel · 14-01-2015 9:55pm

Just signed up today, how long does it take for the upgrade to kick in?

On a secondary note just bridged my 3295 to an Archer C7 and cannot believe the difference in quality on my current 120 package. Replaced all my switches to Gigabit ones and changed all my cable to CAT5e in readiness. I'm getting 123 down and 12.3 up consistent and at peak time.

sonofenoch · 16-01-2015 4:43pm

sorted with new Gigabit card.....speedtest.net not showing same results as UPC tho

Its Only Ray Parlour · 16-01-2015 4:57pm

I think Speedtest.net's server are limited to 100Mb. Download the 4.4GB .iso file from Heanet and see what speeds you get: http://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/pld-linux/iso/2.0/SRPMS/

TheDoc · 16-01-2015 5:23pm

Its Only Ray Parlour wrote: »

I think Speedtest.net's server are limited to 100Mb. Download the 4.4GB .iso file from Heanet and see what speeds you get: http://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/pld-linux/iso/2.0/SRPMS/

About 23 mb/s on average. fluctuating a few kb up or down.

sonofenoch · 16-01-2015 5:26pm

4.4 gig file maxed out at around 24mb's ....can't complan

bk · 16-01-2015 5:55pm

TheDoc wrote: »

About 23 mb/s on average. fluctuating a few kb up or down.

Do you mean 23 MB/s as in megabytes, rather then bits?

24MB/s = 184Mbs/s a very good speed.

degsie · 16-01-2015 5:59pm

bk wrote: »

Do you mean 23 MB/s as in megabytes, rather then bits?

24MB/s = 184mbs/s a very good speed.

184mbs/s = 184 milli bits per second per second. I think you mean 184Mb/s

bk · 16-01-2015 6:04pm

degsie wrote: »

184mbs/s = 184 milli bits per second per second. I think you mean 184Mb/s

Haha, ok you are strictly right!!

Though in network engineering there is no such thing as millibit per second.

Both Mb/s and mb/s are understood to mean megabit per second.

MB on the other hand is used for storage.

degsie · 17-01-2015 12:46am

bk wrote: »

Haha, ok you are strictly right!!

Though in network engineering there is no such thing as millibit per second.

Both Mb/s and mb/s are understood to mean megabit per second.

MB on the other hand is used for storage.

From my experience working in the industry, you would get eaten alive if you quoted mb/s instead of Mb/s in customer reports etc. It's an industry standard thing, but for non-professional usage I agree mbps=Mbps=mb/s=Mb/s

Calibos · 17-01-2015 1:06am

mickeyboymel wrote: »

Just signed up today, how long does it take for the upgrade to kick in?

On a secondary note just bridged my 3295 to an Archer C7 and cannot believe the difference in quality on my current 120 package. Replaced all my switches to Gigabit ones and changed all my cable to CAT5e in readiness. I'm getting 123 down and 12.3 up consistent and at peak time.

I've been blowin' that trumpet on here for a couple of years now.

We got UPC in about a year after our street/area got all new cables and nodes/cabinet etc For the first 2 months or so we experienced a couple of disconnects an hour it felt like and the speed of our 100mbit connection was between 50-80mbit. The day I installed a spare 120mm PC fan powered off the USB port of my UPC router to cool it was the last day I ever had a disconnect and a few days later when I bridged the EPC3925 router and hand over routing duties to a new Asus router was the last day I ever saw a speedtest that wasn't 105/10 and now 125/12mbit 24/7/365

dublinercheese · 17-01-2015 3:23pm

I recently upgraded to 240 and the speed increase is substantial. I'm seeing sustained downloads of ~28 MB/sec (~230Mbps) if the hosting server is fast enough. Uploads are ~3MB/sec (~22Mbps). Definitely worth the upgrade. I just wish UPC would allow customers to use their own devices. I really want to use my 802.11ac router.

bk · 17-01-2015 4:22pm

dublinercheese wrote: »

I recently upgraded to 240 and the speed increase is substantial. I'm seeing sustained downloads of ~28 MB/sec (~230Mbps) if the hosting server is fast enough. Uploads are ~3MB/sec (~22Mbps). Definitely worth the upgrade. I just wish UPC would allow customers to use their own devices. I really want to use my 802.11ac router.

Of course you can use your own device, I do!

I've a 802.11ac router (Archer C7) hooked up to my UPC modem.

The only issue is that the UPC modems don't tend to have bridge mode by default, though there is normally a work around for this.

Robertr · 17-01-2015 4:24pm

I'm using my own router, just plugged it in to one of the network ports on the horizon box. Didn't change any settings:

Good result on Wifi!

dublinercheese · 17-01-2015 5:16pm

bk wrote: »

Of course you can use your own device, I do!

I've a 802.11ac router (Archer C7) hooked up to my UPC modem.

The only issue is that the UPC modems don't tend to have bridge mode by default, though there is normally a work around for this.

I realize I can plug my own router into the UPC box and use it like an access point. But, I don't want that. I want to use my own router (Asus RT-AC66U). Not only is the hardware much better than the Technicolor box, the software is too. I also have my own modem I would love to use.

At the moment, I don't know of any solutions for working around the Technicolor bridge mode limitation. If you know of any new ones (search the forums for lots of threads on this subject), I'm dying to know. I've pleaded with UPC to send me a box with bridge mode to no avail. The hidden menu for bridge doesn't work either for ds-lite. There is another thread about changing the firmware to the NL version, but no reports on whether that would work here in Ireland.

If you have any other thoughts about enabling bridge mode, I'd love to hear them.

bk · 17-01-2015 5:37pm

dublinercheese wrote: »

I realize I can plug my own router into the UPC box and use it like an access point. But, I don't want that. I want to use my own router (Asus RT-AC66U). Not only is the hardware much better than the Technicolor box, the software is too. I also have my own modem I would love to use.

Well obviously the RT-AC66U can't be used on it's own, as it isn't a DOCSIS modem.

However even without bridge mode, you can still use the Asus as your router.

This is what I do with my Archer C7:

1) Plug it into a port on the UPC modem
2) Set the IP address of the Asus to 192.168.1.1
3) Set the DHCP on the Asus to something like 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.199
4) Plug all of your ethernet devices into the Asus only and not the UPC modem.

Your Asus will act as the router for all the devices n your network now.

It isn't perfect, but for me, it works well so far.

3wayswitch · 17-01-2015 6:14pm

Calibos wrote: »

I've been blowin' that trumpet on here for a couple of years now.

We got UPC in about a year after our street/area got all new cables and nodes/cabinet etc For the first 2 months or so we experienced a couple of disconnects an hour it felt like and the speed of our 100mbit connection was between 50-80mbit. The day I installed a spare 120mm PC fan powered off the USB port of my UPC router to cool it was the last day I ever had a disconnect and a few days later when I bridged the EPC3925 router and hand over routing duties to a new Asus router was the last day I ever saw a speedtest that wasn't 105/10 and now 125/12mbit 24/7/365

My connection was mostly stable at 200/10 but at 240/24 it seems to keep crapping out on me. Given your the second person who recently mentioned using a fan I decided to give it a shot:

Here is my connection half an hour ago:

After taking that speedtest I sat a fan on top of my EPC3925 for half an hour and did another speedtest:

Also tried downloading a 5GB file and it stayed at a constant 31MB/s which is awesome. Still would prefer a slightly stronger Wi-Fi range so I may pick up another router to bridge with my Cisco one. Which Asus one did you get?

UPC 240mb/s + unlimited mobile calls €45

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