So, after what must be double digits in years with VM I've decided to move on.
Several network outages here and there over HFC in the last 12 months have pushed my decision.
FTTP on Openreach has been available for several months, and I'm just around end of contract, so today I've used OTS to IDNet on their 1200/120 subscription (12 months).
I'll post updates for anyone interested in progress, and what a new Openreach install looks like.
Transitioning to Openreach's FTTP service through IDNet appears to be a prudent decision. This move promises enhanced stability, superior customer support, and a more robust internet experience.
Sounds interesting, keep in touch.
It's actually £60/month fixed price for 12 months including VAT, which I'm happy to pay for considering:
* VM's renewal of Gig1 was £57.28 a month then:
* The customer service and reliability should, hopefully, be superior to VM.
Hi Carl
Best of luck with your move.
Don't be a stranger to the forums as your expert help would be sorely missed,
Good man ! I've been with Openreach FTTP (BT) for a few years now and it's good and solid. ONT placed where I asked and the fibre installers were good. The other guys who did the conduit from the Toby was buried quite deep, and they did a neat job. I'd already run the Cat 6 from the comms rack to the ONT site, so just a matter of plugging the cable into the ONT and it was up and running. My own Draytek for the router, and Omada for Wifi.
Hopefully your experience will be just as good :-) Good Luck !
Cheers.
Mine will be over pole since there is one around 3 metres from the house boundry.
I already have an ASUS router being served by a VM HUB 5 in modem mode and a backup 5G Router on the three network as a secondary fall back (Automated on the ASUS).
The only difference from 'Plug & Pay' is iDNET use PPPoE (User Credentials required), which looks straight forward in the ASUS settings.
Static IPv4 address included, but not really needed, is a bonus.
The only difference from 'Plug & Pay' is iDNET use PPPoE (User Credentials required), which looks straight forward in the ASUS settings.
Yes, my BT connection is the same and I already set it up in the Draytek as per the manual. I just connected the ethernet to ONT and bingo, it connected after a reboot. The only difference to the VM connection is the MTU, 1500 on VM verses 1462 on my BT. Also I believe PPPoE is a bit more CPU intensive on the Router.
As for the static IPv4, do you get any IPv6 addressing like BT?
So, I'm starting to learn a new concept, email communication with your ISP!
Openreach will be here on 17/03 for the install.
Eight months on EE FTTP 500/70, not a blink in the service so far.
The EE modem is still in its box. Draytek was setup ready for the ONT and was on line before the OR guy left. Internal network never noticed the difference.
And we get unlimited data on our EE phones. What's not to like?
And in just under an hour the engineer has:
I unplugged the ethernet cable from my existing VM HUB and Asus router, plugged it into the ONT, entered the PPPoE details, then a connection was made instantly.
Speed and pings look good.
I was a little concerned about threads on other forums regarding slow speeds over PPPoE due to overheads and CPU spec in the third party router, however, doing the above test on my RT-AX86U showed hardly anything above 2 - 4% on each core?
I'll monitor things over the next few days, and see how long it takes for VM to cancel and ask for the HUB back.
and then take the faded VM box down? Unlikely to ever come back to coax again ;)
On the RT-AX86U, running latest MERLIN firmware (I have three of these routers, parents etc, but main one for me was replaced by GT-BE98), you can set MTU of 1500 on the WAN as BT network understands the 1508 baby jumbo frame size without fragmentation.....My mum (silver surfer) has that at her address and works fine. Asus stock was 1492 and most people on PPoE set 1492. You can eek a bit more out....
Thanks, do I need to enable 'Jumbo Frame' under 'LAN - Switch Control'?
Well, it looks like OTS may in fact work with VM...
We'll see if they get the final bill £ correct.
Any BQM observations between the two Carl?
VM
iDNET
(Dropped packets is me rebooting several times).
Ta. Chalk and cheese as they say.
Glad I was sitting down... Looks 'OK' so far (Gotta love the 'Hurrah' part).
Justing waiting on returns package (Already received an email with the kit to return, with serial number of the HUB 5).
Curiously, despite several attempts to get returns packaging from VM, both times I left btw, I never received any! It seems it's not uncommon when you read the threads here.
Luckily, I had kept the original delivery boxes for the Hubs, and ended up using the self print Yodel labels.
Looking at the VM app under package details I allegedly am the proud possessor of not just one, but two, Hub 3s. I only have one of course so am already off to a flying start free of complications when it comes to cancelling in the summer.
I didn't get the returns packaging so ordered it from the link. Then received two lots.
Thanks both, ordered just in case.
I didn't get the returns packaging so ordered it from the link. Then received two lots.
LOL, the time I tried the link to order, it didn't work, broken website ..... ;-)
