Eircom eFibre modem alternative

Calvin

Just need an alternative modem that can be used with eircom eFibre as the standard issue one has absolutely terrible range. Are there any alternatives?

TheDriver

maybe try bridging it with a wireless router??

ElNino

There is a thread on this already
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057203432

However as already suggested it would be cheaper just to buy a wireless router and bridge it.

Calvin

ElNino wrote: »

There is a thread on this already
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057203432

However as already suggested it would be cheaper just to buy a wireless router and bridge it.

TheDriver wrote: »

maybe try bridging it with a wireless router??

Would that be difficult to do? Im not an expert when it comes to these and don't want to mess up the internet :pac: would it also give the same speeds?

OneEightSeven

One thing you should know is that you must use a router that is compatible with vectoring and you would need a bit of tech savvy to find a compatible router. If not, bridge mode is the alternative, as suggested above.

Putting your router into bridge mode is pretty straight forward. Perhaps an eircom customer with eFiber can assist you. I'm with Vodafone and I can see the option for bridge mode on my router's configuration page I'm not sure of which one I should select.

captain_boycott

OneEightSeven wrote: »

One thing you should know is that you must use a router that is compatible with vectoring and you would need a bit of tech savvy to find a compatible router. If not, bridge mode is the alternative, as suggested above.

Putting your router into bridge mode is pretty straight forward. Perhaps an eircom customer with eFiber can assist you. I'm with Vodafone and I can see the option for bridge mode on my router's configuration page I'm not sure of which one I should select.

Why would you even bother bridging it! Just buy an access point like the Asus rt n66u or equivalent and plug it in a free port of the eircom router

_Whimsical_

Is it fair to say then that buying home plugs that allow both ethernet and wifi extending are not going to be any good ?
Because that's what I had been planning.:/

Calvin

They are actually pretty damn good. I bought the TP-link WPA4220KIT and it works wonders so far. I get the same speeds when connected to the modem as I do upstairs at the back of my house connected via wifi to the wireless extender. Highly recommend them and if anything goes wrong, their customer service is excellent. They're a bit pricey but well worth it in my opinion.

_Whimsical_

Brilliant, thanks for that reply Calvin. That's hopefully my troubles about to be solved then!

OneEightSeven

Calvin Leong wrote: »

They are actually pretty damn good. I bought the TP-link WPA4220KIT and it works wonders so far. I get the same speeds when connected to the modem as I do upstairs at the back of my house connected via wifi to the wireless extender. Highly recommend them and if anything goes wrong, their customer service is excellent. They're a bit pricey but well worth it in my opinion.

Where did you buy it and how much?

_Whimsical_

They have them on amazon and cheaper on eircom ...29 euro.
http://www.eircom.net/accessories/homeplugs/

OneEightSeven

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

They have them on amazon and cheaper on eircom ...29 euro.
http://www.eircom.net/accessories/homeplugs/

Do you have to be an Eircom customer to buy them?

_Whimsical_

OneEightSeven wrote: »

Do you have to be an Eircom customer to buy them?

I don't know,I guess you'd have to give it a try and see. Better that 40 stag on amazon though.

Calvin

Damn that's a good price...bought both of mine for about €120 for the two

_Whimsical_

Calvin Leong wrote: »

Damn that's a good price...bought both of mine for about €120 for the two

Oh that sucks. Maybe you could return yours and buy them off eircom?
It just seems cruel you have to buy a service and then pay 120 quid to make it usable. I can't help feeling like you should be morally entitled to a return there.

Actually eircom don't sell your version, the seem to sell : http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ECBRGW8/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=computers TP-Link TL-WPA281KIT V3 AV200 . Theyre 40 quid on amazon. Your ones are 55 there.

OneEightSeven

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

They have them on amazon and cheaper on eircom ...29 euro.
http://www.eircom.net/accessories/homeplugs/

I've bought homeplugs before from Dabs.ie and a couple of them malfunctioned, so I might have one or two lying around. I'm just wondering, can I use a normal homeplug of a different brand with the TP-Link wireless extender?

Calvin

I didn't even know eircom had their own store! I bought them from PC world

And you won't be able to use the TP-Link with another brand. They only connect to the TP-Link products.

_Whimsical_

OneEightSeven wrote: »

I've bought homeplugs before from Dabs.ie and a couple of them malfunctioned, so I might have one or two lying around. I'm just wondering, can I use a normal homeplug of a different brand with the TP-Link wireless extender?

That I don't know, might be worth ringing their tech support and asking. Also eircom support the plugs they sell so they might be able to tell you.

ED E

OneEightSeven wrote: »

I've bought homeplugs before from Dabs.ie and a couple of them malfunctioned, so I might have one or two lying around. I'm just wondering, can I use a normal homeplug of a different brand with the TP-Link wireless extender?

Is the TP-link a wireless access point? If so it can be used with homeplugs no problem.

ie. Router--homeplug

---

homeplug-Access point

_Whimsical_

Calvin Leong wrote: »

They are actually pretty damn good. I bought the TP-link WPA4220KIT and it works wonders so far. I get the same speeds when connected to the modem as I do upstairs at the back of my house connected via wifi to the wireless extender. Highly recommend them and if anything goes wrong, their customer service is excellent. They're a bit pricey but well worth it in my opinion.

Did you use the push button wps setup for cloning the wifi signal or did you do something else?

Calvin

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

Did you use the push button wps setup for cloning the wifi signal or did you do something else?

I have one set up on wifi clone and the other in a paired network. Both work to the same degree.

OneEightSeven

There's a thread about a WiFi extender on Bargain Alerts: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057231050

_Whimsical_

I got the homeplugs from Eircom and haven't found an improvement in wifi speeds at all unfortunately. I get maybe 40mb on the wired connection to them but I'm averaging around 10mb on wifi with home plugs... a bump of around 3mb.

ED E

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I got the homeplugs from Eircom and haven't found an improvement in wifi speeds at all unfortunately. I get maybe 40mb on the wired connection to them but I'm averaging around 10mb on wifi with home plugs... a bump of around 3mb.

Whats the house like? Old/new? Solid or partition walls? Terraced or detached? Many houses close by?

Calvin

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I got the homeplugs from Eircom and haven't found an improvement in wifi speeds at all unfortunately. I get maybe 40mb on the wired connection to them but I'm averaging around 10mb on wifi with home plugs... a bump of around 3mb.

Are these the TP-Link ones? On mine, my average speed in the house is 16-17mb down connected to the modem and with the plugs, i still get the same speeds on both wifi and wired to the plugs in a weaker area of my house, where as, without the plugs, internet access at the back of the house is practically non-existent.

_Whimsical_

ED E wrote: »

Whats the house like? Old/new? Solid or partition walls? Terraced or detached? Many houses close by?

It's a semi detached house but the neighbours don't have wifi, not even a microwave infact, they're quite elderly.There's maybe 4 wifi networks in my area that I pick up but they're very weak. I think the house is around 40 years old. I never had issues with my old modem, it maxed out almost. My connection was set at 15mb and I consistently got speeds of 13mb with it all over the house.

Calvin Leong wrote: »

Are these the TP-Link ones? On mine, my average speed in the house is 16-17mb down connected to the modem and with the plugs, i still get the same speeds on both wifi and wired to the plugs in a weaker area of my house, where as, without the plugs, internet access at the back of the house is practically non-existent.

Yeah, it's the TP-Link plugs, I think they're a slightly cheaper version of yours. So you do you mean the plugs increased your wifi range in the house but didn't increase your wifi speed? I have several wifi non existent sites in the house now too that I didn't have before I got efibre.
I wonder why they insist on supplying crappy modems.

Calvin

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

Yeah, it's the TP-Link plugs, I think they're a slightly cheaper version of yours. So you do you mean the plugs increased your wifi range in the house but didn't increase your wifi speed? I have several wifi non existent sites in the house now too that I didn't have before I got efibre.
I wonder why they insist on supplying crappy modems.

TP-LINK WPA4220 KIT are the ones that i've got. Yes, the plugs increased the wifi range in the house while maintaining the same speeds. I also had the same issue with eFibre...it's range is absolutely horrible. I've been thinking about finding a replacement modem but opted to try out these plugs instead, and they seem to be doing the job fine.

ED E

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I wonder why they insist on supplying crappy modems.

Arent the only ones. UPC do it too. The vodafone units seem to be ok.

If your old modem did fine and you still have that, USE IT! It can be set up to just do wireless, turn off wifi in the new unit and bobs your uncle.

BTW this split coversation is awkward, we should pick a singular thread :pac:

_Whimsical_

ED E wrote: »

Arent the only ones. UPC do it too. The vodafone units seem to be ok.

If your old modem did fine and you still have that, USE IT! It can be set up to just do wireless, turn off wifi in the new unit and bobs your uncle.

BTW this split coversation is awkward, we should pick a singular thread :pac:

Haha yeah,How about this thread?
I think you're right, it might be worth trying to bridge it. Eircom say they don't support bridging so I'll be relying on the good people of boards to help me with that. Is it difficult do you know ?

ED E

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

Haha yeah,How about this thread?
I think you're right, it might be worth trying to bridge it. Eircom say they don't support bridging so I'll be relying on the good people of boards to help me with that. Is it difficult do you know ?

Nah, dont bridge it. Thats complex. All you need is strong wifi, use the old modem just for that, leave all the complex stuff(routing, firewall, QoS) to the F1000 they sent you.

Whats your old modem? Ill give you a brief set of instructions.

_Whimsical_

ED E wrote: »

Nah, dont bridge it. Thats complex. All you need is strong wifi, use the old modem just for that, leave all the complex stuff(routing, firewall, QoS) to the F1000 they sent you.

Whats your old modem? Ill give you a brief set of instructions.

My old modem I bought back when I got the 15mb wifi from eircom because the zyxel they gave me then was awful too. I have the Billion Bipac 7800n. You might not have heard of it?
If you could give me any pointers at all though I'd be incredibly grateful, as I say though I understand if you aren't familiar with that modem. Thanks for all your help!

ED E

Ahh, the reason why the F1000 seems so **** is that you're used to proper kit! Good job. If youve set that up before then youll be able to login to it yourself.

And somebody has already done the rest

1. First setup the 7800N wireless side eg SSID, security
2. Now disable the DHCP server on the 7800N (don't forget to save your settings)
3. Plug either a ethernet connection to one of the LAN ports on the 7800N from your Sly router or use your homeplug connection (one connects to your sly router, the other to the 7800N LAN port)
4. The 7800N should now work as a dumb wireless hub/switch.

So with this setup everything all IP requests should be done by your Sly router.

From here:
http://www.billion.uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=777#p3583

This means it doesnt have an "AP-Mode" setting, but disabling DHCP does the same thing.

Your F1000 is on 192.168.1.254, so you dont want to use that, or anything else it will assign. Its range is .1 to .200 so if you set the billion to something like 192.168.1.201 it wont conflict.

Also disable the F1000s wifi and just use the much faster billion.

_Whimsical_

ED E wrote: »

Ahh, the reason why the F1000 seems so **** is that you're used to proper kit! Good job. If youve set that up before then youll be able to login to it yourself.

And somebody has already done the rest

From here:
http://www.billion.uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=777#p3583

This means it doesnt have an "AP-Mode" setting, but disabling DHCP does the same thing.

Your F1000 is on 192.168.1.254, so you dont want to use that, or anything else it will assign. Its range is .1 to .200 so if you set the billion to something like 192.168.1.201 it wont conflict.

Also disable the F1000s wifi and just use the much faster billion.

Thanks a million for this!
I gave it a try but I couldn't get it working, I think it might be more my technical limitations than the instructions though! I kept getting a message saying "The details for this account are not compatible with this computer". I'm going to try it again tomorrow in the afternoon and I'll let you know how I get on.
I really appreciate the help!Thanks

jive

Is it possible to get better speeds by bridging? I get 80 wired, 40 wireless using F1000. Range hasnt been an issue for me though

ED E

jive wrote: »

Is it possible to get better speeds by bridging? I get 80 wired, 40 wireless using F1000. Range hasnt been an issue for me though

If you're getting 80 wired and your sync is 90 or 100Mb then the limitation is your network card or patch cable, its only operating at 100Mbps mode which when adjusted for efficiency gives 70-85Mbps.

Bog Standard User

ED E wrote: »

If you're getting 80 wired and your sync is 90 or 100Mb then the limitation is your network card or patch cable, its only operating at 100Mbps mode which when adjusted for efficiency gives 70-85Mbps.

yup if your pc only has a 100mb lan card then 85mb is acutally pretty decent