Recommendations for a new cable modem
Hi all, TL;DR ===== I'm looking for an Optus-approved cable modem whose Ethernet port I can plug into my WNDR3800 router such that the WNDR3800 is directly exposed to the public IP address, with no private addressing or NAT in the way. Which one, if any, should I choose? Long version ============ Where I live, I'm stuck with Optus cable as my broadband internet (short story is we're too far from the exchange to get ADSL, despite being in the middle of suburban Melbourne), and we're looking at upgrading our plan to something faster. We currently get something like 8-10 Mbit/sec down and 128-256 Kbit/sec up, and we can allegedly upgrade to 20 Mbit/sec down and 2 Mbit/sec up. Trouble is, to do this Optus tell us we need to upgrade our modem. Currently we have a Motorola SB5101, which takes the coax cable in, and spits out a single Ethernet interface that goes into the WAN port on my OpenWRT Netgear WNDR3800 router, and just gives me a public IP address on the router. Below is the approved equipment list from Optus[1]: Manufacturer Model(s) ========================== Motorola SB4100, SB4101, SB4200, SB5100, SB5101 Netgear CG814WG, CVG824G, CG3000 CISCO EMTA2203, DPQ3212, DPQ3925 I note that my modem is already on there, but allegedly (second-hand information) the woman at Optus suggested a Netgear or a CISCO. So having reviewed a couple of the Netgear modems (on the basis thay they're almost certainly cheaper than the CISCOs), I've found that they've got a lot of router smarts in them, and have 4 LAN ports, WiFi, NAT, and all manner of other things that you want in a router, but that I don't want in a modem running proprietary software. I would like to be able to plug a modem's Ethernet port directly into my current router, and have *my* router do all the hard work of NATting and private addressing etc. Does anybody know if any of the modems listed above can do this, while supporting whatever new stuff is required to obtain the 20 Mbit/sec speeds being offered (I don't know enough about cable internet to understand what exactly needs upgrading)? 1. https://www.optus.com.au/shop/Broadband/Offers-&-Extras/Approved-Equipment-L... -- Regards, Matthew Cengia
On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 8:03 PM, Matthew Cengia <mattcen@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all, <snip> Below is the approved equipment list from Optus[1]:
Manufacturer Model(s) ========================== Motorola SB4100, SB4101, SB4200, SB5100, SB5101 Netgear CG814WG, CVG824G, CG3000 CISCO EMTA2203, DPQ3212, DPQ3925
I note that my modem is already on there, but allegedly (second-hand information) the woman at Optus suggested a Netgear or a CISCO.
They might want you to "upgrade" to get all the features rolled in to one device or might like to sell you one themselves who knows . This site http://www.motorola.com/Video-Solutions/US-EN/Products-and-Services/Voice-an... seems to say that the 5101 can do 30Mbs so should be okay without an upgrade of hardware, you might need to update the firmware for the device but it would seem to support the faster speed out of the box, maybe get the cable service upgraded for speed and see if the modem handles it, if not then go shopping for a new modem -- Mark "Pockets" Clohesy Mob Phone: (+61) 406 417 877 Email: hiddensoul@twistedsouls.com G-Talk: mark.clohesy@gmail.com GNU/Linux..Linux Counter #457297 - "I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code" "Linux is user friendly...its just selective about who its friends are"
On 2013-01-22 20:12, Hiddensoul (Mark Clohesy) wrote:
They might want you to "upgrade" to get all the features rolled in to one device or might like to sell you one themselves who knows . This site http://www.motorola.com/Video-Solutions/US-EN/Products-and-Services/Voice-an... seems to say that the 5101 can do 30Mbs so should be okay without an upgrade of hardware, you might need to update the firmware for the device but it would seem to support the faster speed out of the box, maybe get the cable service upgraded for speed and see if the modem handles it, if not then go shopping for a new modem
Thanks for the link Mark, there's a good chance you're right and they're just trying to sell me something for my convenience or so they can make money. There's also the possibility that the person we spoke to had no idea what she was talking about. I'll do more research. If anybody happens to have a SB5101 currently *working* at 20Mb/sec, I'd be very interested to hear from you. -- Regards, Matthew Cengia
On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 8:03 PM, Matthew Cengia <mattcen@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all,
TL;DR =====
I'm looking for an Optus-approved cable modem whose Ethernet port I can plug into my WNDR3800 router such that the WNDR3800 is directly exposed to the public IP address, with no private addressing or NAT in the way. Which one, if any, should I choose?
DPQ3212 I've got mine plugged into my Tomato WRT54GL and it works fine. As for cost, I was able to get Optus to send it out to me for free, when I complained that the 'all in one' Netgear they sent out initially was firmware crippled to stop you from being able to use a proper router. WFM cheers, / Brett
On 2013-01-22 22:05, Brett Pemberton wrote: [...]
DPQ3212
I've got mine plugged into my Tomato WRT54GL and it works fine. As for cost, I was able to get Optus to send it out to me for free, when I complained that the 'all in one' Netgear they sent out initially was firmware crippled to stop you from being able to use a proper router.
Thanks Brett, that helps a lot. Some searches I did dredged up at least one Whirlpool thread indicating that some people had Optus modems (possibly even the same models) locked to bridged mode (i.e. unconfigurable), and others had them locked to NAT mode. Hopefully I'll find myself in your scenario with everything working. As it turns out I was misinformed; the new plan we're looking at should give is *100* Mbps, not just 20, which definitely means the Motorola modem is out of the equation. -- Regards, Matthew Cengia
participants (3)
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Brett Pemberton -
Hiddensoul (Mark Clohesy) -
Matthew Cengia