New UPC 100mb Thomson TWG870UIR Router

icetronix

Is it just me or does this router have piss poor wireless?
I don't have drop off issues i simply have incredibly weak signal.
It is so bad that at just 5 feet from the router i lose a signal bar and it keeps dropping at the rate of 1 bar per 5 feet. I have tried all the 13 channels and they all give the same result. Is it the router in general or possibly a dodgy unit?

I should also add, when i plug in my old voyager 2110 and plug it into my soon to be gone eircom connection i get full signal 50 feet away, it also travel through an exterior wall that houses the ESB connection and into the extension with NO signal loss... the Thomson cant even make to the wall FFS.

I will admit i am not very knowledgeable about routers/modems as i have never had an issue with one nor a need for an extensive home network.
So i may not be configuring it correctly, but should i have to do anything other then find the best channel if all i want is for my house mates to be able to browse the web on their laptops?!?!
Looks like i will be taking a trip to maplins and buying some cat6 cables to run around the gaff.

LoGiE

I've found the thompson to be very disappointing especially as it's given out with there top tier product. From the threads on here there appears to be problems with the wireless, no bridgemode, random reboots and disconnections. I'll be making another call to them tomorrow as my router reboots whenever a device attempts to connect to the internet :rolleyes:

tylerdurden94

I am not using this router for wireless access and instead using an Apple Airport Extreme, I turn the wireless off on the Thompson but its somehow magically seems to turn itself on every while, kinda bugs me anyway to stop this from happening?

super_furry

Anyone know if theres any way to boost the wireless range? It drops out after 20 feet!

paddyk

Quick question, On the Thompson, Should RIP (Routing Information Protocol)
be enabled or disabled. I have no idea what it does, only the explanation given in the set up page. I am only concerned about speeds for Xbox gaming not torrenting or even Downloading.

sharkman

Guys , I'm running UPC 50mb and using a Play Max N600 HD Wireless N Dual-Band Modem Router connected to the Thomson with no changes made to settings (bar switching off wireless on Thomson) My laptop has wireless LAN Max. Date Rate (Mbps)150 Mbps (RX) / 150 Mbps (TX) . Should I get faster downloads on the 100mb service . Ive just switched and while I get full speed on
ethernet cable , I'm only getting 45-50 mb's on wireless .

Thanks .

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

rez

paddyk wrote: »

Quick question, On the Thompson, Should RIP (Routing Information Protocol)
be enabled or disabled. I have no idea what it does, only the explanation given in the set up page. I am only concerned about speeds for Xbox gaming not torrenting or even Downloading.

Disable this. It's a routing protocol used to exchange address information between routers, not ever gonna use this on a typical home/broadband connection.

cbr954

I was wondering if anyone has tried putting an airport extreme into bridge mode and turning off the wireless in the Thompson router? Have wireless speeds increased? I have a dual band extreme and would prefer to use that as my router but would settle for better wi fi?

The Machine

I signed up for the 50Mbs broadband and phone package last week. I've got the Thomson 870 up and running but I am having serious issues with it's stability.

On the wireless I get a max download speed on 21Mb/s which seems very poor even without 802.11N hardware on the clients? However I can live with this limitation as if I want the full 50Mb/s I can go with a wired cable into the laptop.

However the issue I can't handle is that each time a device joins the wireless network, one of the following issues nearly always happens:

• The new device connects, but then kicks any other connected devices off the wireless network.
• The new device forces the Thomson router to reboot. Dropping all connections for a couple of minutes!

The devices I would be connecting are a Windows 7 laptop, iPhone 4 (ios5), HTC Legend and sometime a Kindle. So it doesn't sound like a particularly complex set up to me?

I intend using broadband for home working so the stability of the network is crucial for keeping the VPN, IP-Phone, working etc. So very disappointed with the service to date....

If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

roast

The Machine wrote: »

I signed up for the 50Mbs broadband and phone package last week. I've got the Thomson 870 up and running but I am having serious issues with it's stability.

On the wireless I get a max download speed on 21Mb/s which seems very poor even without 802.11N hardware on the clients? However I can live with this limitation as if I want the full 50Mb/s I can go with a wired cable into the laptop.

However the issue I can't handle is that each time a device joins the wireless network, one of the following issues nearly always happens:

• The new device connects, but then kicks any other connected devices off the wireless network.
• The new device forces the Thomson router to reboot. Dropping all connections for a couple of minutes!

The devices I would be connecting are a Windows 7 laptop, iPhone 4 (ios5), HTC Legend and sometime a Kindle. So it doesn't sound like a particularly complex set up to me?

I intend using broadband for home working so the stability of the network is crucial for keeping the VPN, IP-Phone, working etc. So very disappointed with the service to date....

If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

Have you tried changing the Wifi channel? Use Inssider to check what channels are congested.

Monotype

I have the same problem. I posted about it on the previous page. I followed the suggestions - tried changing channels and disabling wireless n but no luck.

I'd ring them up about it but I'm just sick of doing that at this stage over the various problems. I can't 'factory reset' the damn thing as that will enable the free guest accounts that only UPC have the power to disable... and I don't see an updated firmware version to solve it yet (does it update automatically?).

Let us know if you find a solution/UPC finds a solution or if anyone has any other recommendations.

Clover

Have had a lot of problems with this router dropping out and re-syncing intermittently over the past few months , had it replaced with another Thomson but have had the same trouble.

Seems to drop out every now and then when a device connects to it but not every time and not the same device.

Just had it replaced again but this time for a Cisco EPC3925 , hopefully this will solve the problem.

Monotype

Is the Cisco available with the 100Mb?

Clover

Monotype wrote: »

Is the Cisco available with the 100Mb?

Yes it is now.

Jonathan

Clover wrote: »

Yes it is now.

Still no bridging and phone though, right?

Clover

Jonathan wrote: »

Still no bridging and phone though, right?

Has phone , not sure about bridging yet.

Edit: No bridging option.

GEO147

Is most recent firmware still 1.36?

Clover

GEO147 wrote: »

Is most recent firmware still 1.36?

Yes, still 1.36 on the Thomson.

The Machine

roast wrote: »

Have you tried changing the Wifi channel? Use Inssider to check what channels are congested.

Yes used Inssider to move through all the channels and unfortunately made no difference...

Clover wrote: »

Have had a lot of problems with this router dropping out and re-syncing intermittently over the past few months , had it replaced with another Thomson but have had the same trouble.

Seems to drop out every now and then when a device connects to it but not every time and not the same device.

Just had it replaced again but this time for a Cisco EPC3925 , hopefully this will solve the problem.

Might give UPC a call and see if they recommend changing over to the Cisco....

Unpede

I've spent 2 hours with UPC Support on the phone today to get a solution that would allow me to use the Thomson or any other device to work as a modem only, like I had with the Scientific Atlanta modem at 25Mb. Some of the information I got:
- They checked and said that on the Thomson the Passthrough option is locked for them as well and cannot be changed.
- The other option, the Cisco, has the exact same limitation.
- Should I to get a compatible DOCSIS 3.0 modem myself, they won't let me use it.
- Is seems they don't get requests like the one I made so is not an big issue for UPC.

What I don't like is that UPC never mentioned this anywhere AFAIK, and I understand is kind of a technical detail but I'm sure there's quite a good amount of people that would prefer to use their own router. It forces me to reconfigure my home network and some things don't work as they should, even with the DMZ suggestion posted some time back here.
I would really like to use my Airport Extreme instead.
The person on the phone said that if nobody contacts UPC Support for this things and leaves a complain, UPC management is not going to come and read boards.ie, and that's fair enough.
So guys, let's ring UPC!

banie01

Just a quick question on this modem/router.
Will this allow me to use a dyndns client on a linux server(static ip on my network)?
As I'd like remote access, video streaming.
Is the best option for this to put the server in a DMZ and forward the necessary ports?
Or does this setup on this router require some kinda voodoo?

Sorry if the question has already been asked, but after skimming the thread I didn't find anything apart from the DMZ suggestion.
And i just want to be sure i have my bases covered.

SachaJ

Clover wrote: »

Yes it is now.

Can you get the Cisco on the 50MB package? Can you just ass through the signal so I could still use my current WiFi router?

I'd like to bump up to the 50MB package but no way after hearing of the grief with the Thomson

roast

banie01 wrote: »

Just a quick question on this modem/router.
Will this allow me to use a dyndns client on a linux server(static ip on my network)?
As I'd like remote access, video streaming.
Is the best option for this to put the server in a DMZ and forward the necessary ports?
Or does this setup on this router require some kinda voodoo?

Sorry if the question has already been asked, but after skimming the thread I didn't find anything apart from the DMZ suggestion.
And i just want to be sure i have my bases covered.

This modem has the options for dynamic DNS, alternatively you could use the DMZ mode - whichever works best for your setup.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=71665694&postcount=452

banie01

roast wrote: »

This modem has the options for dynamic DNS, alternatively you could use the DMZ mode - whichever works best for your setup.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=71665694&postcount=452

Thanks a million for the info Roast
Appreciate it!

sombaht

SachaJ wrote: »

Can you get the Cisco on the 50MB package? Can you just ass through the signal so I could still use my current WiFi router?

I'd like to bump up to the 50MB package but no way after hearing of the grief with the Thomson

For what its worth I moved to the 50mb package and just received the Cisco EPC3925 router, didn't even have to request it. Maybe they took note of all the complaints re the Thomson unit and decided to just dish out the Ciscos.

Cheers,
sombaht

dkc

insomniac86 wrote: »

i'm just wondering i dont know if im in the right place but i recently got upc 50 meg broadband now im on my laptop and i only seem to be able to get at the best of times 20 meg i rang them up and the person said that because its wireless i can only receive 20 meg as its impossible for a wireless connection to get anymore speed than that without a dongle like transmitter plugged in, something the salesman failed to mention when we applied for it, i was just wondering if this is true about getting a transmitter that it will improve speeds greatly i found a few on maplin the one i wanted to get was this one - Edimax N150 Wireless nano USB Adaptor it says it can reach up to 150 megs but i want to know if i should buy this or if the guy on the phone was talking a load of crap, thanks

Hi Insomniac86,
I just got this Thomson router on a 50MB connection and was disappointed to only get around 22 Mbps on a speed test. I went looking online and discovered that if you have TKIP enabled in your wireless security, you will never get N speeds. I changed mine to AES (had to re-configure the laptop's wireless connection to AES too) and I am now seeing download speeds of around 45 Mbps. Here's the website that had this awesome info:
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-basics/30664-5-ways-to-fix-slow-80211n-speed

Monotype

There's new firmware for the Thomson coming next week. Hopefully this will sort out some issues.

GEO147

Monotype wrote: »

There's new firmware for the Thomson coming next week. Hopefully this will sort out some issues.

Excellent

Colmrenault

Monotype wrote: »

There's new firmware for the Thomson coming next week. Hopefully this will sort out some issues.

Oh that's the best news I've gotten in ages. With the help of god they'll enable the bridging option once and for all, to satisfy the high end users. I've my own ASUS RT-N56U router in the DMZ of the Thompson which works great but I'm dreading the day the thompson modem/router resets itself and forgots all the settings. I'm away from the house a lot and the other users would not be technically minded enough to set it up again correctly.
Highly recommend the RT-N56U by the way, if anyone is looking for a high end router. It can broadcast two WiFi networks simultaneously, 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Plus it has hardware NAT. It's so responsive you just wouldn't believe it and the wifi range is just out of this world. It has 5 antennas. Asus are unbelievablely prompt with firmware upgrades too, not just for bugs but also to add new features and to improve performance.