Is having a VPN worth it?

[Sam Vimes]

Apologies if you've been asked this before but I'm just trying to ensure you're not wasting money unnecessarily.

How do you know your router is at fault?

 

[Buckman]

Apologies if you've been asked this before but I'm just trying to ensure you're not wasting money unnecessarily.

How do you know your router is at fault?

I don't which is why I have unplugged the cheapie UPS unit, just in case that is causing the router to shut down. Unfortunately that could take days before I will really know.

I have since found that that our area will be going full fibre sometime next year so probably best to put everything on hold. It was only by chance I found out from Openreach as I did not think we would ever get FTTP for many years living in a rural village.

Not sure if you can use a FTTC modem/ router for FTTP if we do get FTTP. Do they make routers that can be used for either FTTC or FTTP?

 

[Jcloughie]

I don't which is why I have unplugged the cheapie UPS unit, just in case that is causing the router to shut down. Unfortunately that could take days before I will really know.

I have since found that that our area will be going full fibre sometime next year so probably best to put everything on hold. It was only by chance I found out from Openreach as I did not think we would ever get FTTP for many years living in a rural village.

Not sure if you can use a FTTC modem/ router for FTTP if we do get FTTP. Do they make routers that can be used for either FTTC or FTTP?

We had FTTP. Now we have fibre to the home. Promised 1000 mbps. But speed varries between 200 and 450 with lots of excuses from the supplier. But to test properly I need a 1gb wired network. Occasionally I need to reboot to get the best.

But am I better off over the FTTP, no. Except for escaping Virgin.

My connection provides all we need and more. If I take up gaming I may not be so complacent.

John

 

[otherclive]

We had FTTP. Now we have fibre to the home. Promised 1000 mbps. But speed varries between 200 and 450 with lots of excuses from the supplier. But to test properly I need a 1gb wired network. Occasionally I need to reboot to get the best.

But am I better off over the FTTP, no. Except for escaping Virgin.

My connection provides all we need and more. If I take up gaming I may not be so complacent.

John

We are finding Virgin to be quite fragile and have lost two sets of recordings in 6 months. Problem is any issues are inconsistent so difficult to diagnose even using Virgins own guidance. The other day the remote didn’t function at all well. Changed the batteries and re -paired it with the box. Still no success, so I used my phone as a remote which worked perfectly. In the meantime I had ordered a new FOC remote from Virgin. Then blow me two days I decided to give the remote another try and since then everything has worked and is stable. Quite frustrating.

 

[Jcloughie]

We are finding Virgin to be quite fragile and have lost two sets of recordings in 6 months. Problem is any issues are inconsistent so difficult to diagnose even using Virgins own guidance. The other day the remote didn’t function at all well. Changed the batteries and re -paired it with the box. Still no success, so I used my phone as a remote which worked perfectly. In the meantime I had ordered a new FOC remote from Virgin. Then blow me two days I decided to give the remote another try and since then everything has worked and is stable. Quite frustrating.

I was with them for years, found the kit and technicians to be fine. But hated the so called customer service.

John

 

[Sam Vimes]

I don't which is why I have unplugged the cheapie UPS unit, just in case that is causing the router to shut down. Unfortunately that could take days before I will really know.

I have since found that that our area will be going full fibre sometime next year so probably best to put everything on hold. It was only by chance I found out from Openreach as I did not think we would ever get FTTP for many years living in a rural village.

Not sure if you can use a FTTC modem/ router for FTTP if we do get FTTP. Do they make routers that can be used for either FTTC or FTTP?

I presume that by the router shutting down you mean it gets switched off...loses power. So your right to remove the UPS to see if that's a problem


As for routers that can handle both FTTC and FTTP, I doubt it but then there are many different makes around.

 

[Sam Vimes]

We had FTTP. Now we have fibre to the home. Promised 1000 mbps. But speed varries between 200 and 450 with lots of excuses from the supplier. But to test properly I need a 1gb wired network. Occasionally I need to reboot to get the best.

But am I better off over the FTTP, no. Except for escaping Virgin.

My connection provides all we need and more. If I take up gaming I may not be so complacent.

John

FTTH... Fibre To Home and FTTP....Fibre to Premises are the same thing. Fibre all the way.

 

[Tobes]

I presume that by the router shutting down you mean it gets switched off...loses power. So your right to remove the UPS to see if that's a problem


As for routers that can handle both FTTC and FTTP, I doubt it but then there are many different makes around.

There are. Almost any 3rd party router that has an embedded FTTC modem (VDSL2+) is likely to also have the ability to support FTTP using one of its local ethernet ports as an uplink. TP-link and Netgear both fall in this category.

Having said that, FTTC routers (VDSL2+) are rather less common these days as almost all new broadband services are supported using PON (packet optical network) with an Ethernet handoff (usually Gigabit Ethernet) on the ONT (Optical network terminator) in the home. Network vendors are concentrating on Ethernet devices as they are cheaper and more ubiquitous.

 

[RogerL]

What's the downside of just using the free router supplied by the network provider as part of the initial contract ?

 

[Tobes]

What's the downside of just using the free router supplied by the network provider as part of the initial contract ?

None at all if the device does everything you want and works fine.

 

[Buckman]

What's the downside of just using the free router supplied by the network provider as part of the initial contract ?

They generally work, but are almost outdated by the time they are delivered. Wifi 6 has been around for quite a long time and wifi 7 since 2023. Our 6 month old router is wifi 5 and is the second router supplied by provider as the first one went faulty after about 6 months and kept dropping out.

 

[Sam Vimes]

If you were experiencing drop outs this could well be a fault on the copper/ali lines or even in the cabinet. We used to get frequent drop outs on the old wired system.

Its been known for BT engineers to fix an intermittent or poor quality line by swapping your lines for someone elses. Eventually what goes around comes around - again.

 

[GUMPY]

It's all very well having WiFi 6 network, unless you have updated your devices to match it's wasted.

 

[RogerL]

Having looked at the box, it seems our year-old free router from Vodafone is Wifi 6 and works fine with our 70 Mbps FTTC - but then we're only connecting a desktop PC, a laptop PC, 2 phones and the TV - and never all at the same time.

 

[Buckman]

If you were experiencing drop outs this could well be a fault on the copper/ali lines or even in the cabinet. We used to get frequent drop outs on the old wired system.

Its been known for BT engineers to fix an intermittent or poor quality line by swapping your lines for someone elses. Eventually what goes around comes around - again.

In this case the engineer decided it was the box at fault.

It's all very well having WiFi 6 network, unless you have updated your devices to match it's wasted.

All our devices are Wifi 6 including the TVs.