Craig Sanders via luv-talk wrote:
On Mon, Dec 16, 2019 at 11:30:09AM +1100, Trent W. Buck wrote:
Just get two separate devices:
* a VDSL modem, that you run in bridge mode and never touch again[0]; and * a router that can run OpenWRT well[1].
PPPoE happens on the OpenWRT router, so will Just Work.
what's the benefit of two devices, when there are lots of vdsl modem/routers with 128MB or 256MB RAM and 800+ Mhz multi-core CPUs that can run openwrt?
I guess I am behind the times, too? Last time I looked, OpenWRT could be *installed on* devices that had DSL modems, but OpenWRT could not actually *drive* the DSL modem. https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_864?datasrt=unsupported%20functi... OK so there's 3 devices that meet all these criteria * on OpenWRT's 8/64MB shortlist (i.e. meets OpenWRT recommended memory requirements) * "Available in 201x" (i.e. you can actually buy it retail, rather than from some dude on ebay) * have DSL hardware * don't list DSL under "unsupported feature" Two of them are "for the German market", so maybe only sold in Germany? https://openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/vr200v https://openwrt.org/toh/arcadyan/arv752dpw One has no wifi, which is probably why I missed it in earlier searches. https://openwrt.org/toh/netgear/dm200 They're all running Lantiq SOCs rather than a better-known QCA or Marvell. Oh that's not even ARMv7, it's still MIPS. https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/hardware/soc/soc.lantiq
That was some of the advice I got when i was looking into getting one in 2018 in preparation for NBN(*). which made no sense at all to me - why have two devices to perform to very closely related functions when there should be no problem running both functions on one device?
it might have made sense when such devices were puny ~100Mhz devices with 16MB or so, but the modern versions are far more powerful.
(*) turns out i didn't need a vdsl modem because FTTC.
I tried to install Aussie Broadband-flavoured FTTC at work literally yesterday. (It failed over the shitty copper between the mini-DSLAM and the modem). The wall has a single 4P2C / RJ11 socket, which feeds into an nbn-branded Netcomm NDD-0300 (owned by nbn), which feeds ethernet over 8p8c / RJ45 to a router (owned by me). i.e. the demarcation is BELOW the modem (which incidentally also means that ALL the GPO's copper wallpoints in the office are now upstream of demarc, sigh.) According to some bloke in the pub, the NDD-0300 is *basically* a VDSL modem, BUT it also sends power over the uplink, so that *I* pay for the electricity to power mini-DSLAM in the pit at the curb. The main consequence of this being that 1. I can't have keep a backup VDSL modem on my parts shelf for low MTTF when the current one dies; and 2. I can't poll the nbn-controlled VDSL modem to keep a log SNR, cross-correlated it with BOM rainfall data, to easily escalate a support ticket from "the internet feels slow" to "the internet IS slow, because the pit is flooded and Telstra have used water-soluble gum insulation since 2008 and you need to send a linesman to go replace it AGAIN". Ahem, \end{rant}. Anyway, for FTTC you (AFAICT) do need a VDSL modem, it's just that it's supplied by and owned by nbnco, not you.