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Use a different modem with SH2?

Casterina — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 18:53:17 GMT

My Fibre 2 is going live next week and was wondering can I use my Vigor 130 modem with the Smart Hub 2 so the SH acts as a router only and not router/modem?

The reason I want to use the Vigor modem as it has more customisations as currently using the Asus AX86U router but will need Digital Voice so forcing to use the SH2 instead

Re: Use a different modem with SH2?

licquorice — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 18:57:18 GMT

You cannot get Digital Voice if you put a modem in front of the hub.

The Hub HAS to be directly connected to line.

Re: Use a different modem with SH2?

Crimliar — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 19:10:02 GMT

With the Draytek Vigor 130 in transparent bridge mode, I would have thought it would work - whatever VLANs and connection detail are passed from the SH2 through the Vigor 130 should mean the connection is no different.

Why you'd do this, I don't know, other than trying to force the SNR there is little advantage to using the Vigor!

Re: Use a different modem with SH2?

licquorice — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 19:20:28 GMT

@Crimliar wrote:

With the Draytek Vigor 130 in transparent bridge mode, I would have thought it would work - whatever VLANs and connection detail are passed from the SH2 through the Vigor 130 should mean the connection is no different.

Worth a try but I'm pretty convinced it won't work.

Why you'd do this, I don't know, other than trying to force the SNR there is little advantage to using the Vigor!

That was my immediate reaction. Not even sure spoofing SNR works on VDSL in any case. I suppose it gives error information which the hub doesn't.

Re: Use a different modem with SH2?

Crimliar — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 19:55:42 GMT

Spoofing the SNR on VDSL2 does work to a degree, but if the cabinet later decides it's too aggressive it'll knock the speeds back down.

Re: Use a different modem with SH2?

Casterina — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 20:01:32 GMT

Yes, I'm using the Vigor to adjust the SNR margin and have been using 3dB for the past few years and it has been stable, with the default 6dB, I get 48Mb and 56MB with 3dB

I will give it a try when the SH2 arrives and if it does work, how do I access the modem 192.168.2.1 through the SH?

Re: Use a different modem with SH2?

licquorice — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 20:08:26 GMT

Change the Draytek address to 192.168.1.1

If you are connected to an Huawei cab, the default snrm is 3dB anyway.

Re: Use a different modem with SH2?

licquorice — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 20:11:02 GMT

You will need to set the SH2 as full fibre FTTP mode to change LAN port 4 to a WAN port.

Re: Use a different modem with SH2?

Crimliar — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 20:17:28 GMT

192.168.1.1 won't work - the modem needs to be on its own subnet!

I'm not sure that without connecting a device directly to the modem (bypassing the SH2) with an ethernet cable you will be able to access the modem directly.

Normally you'd set up a "secondary channel" or a "reverse channel" from the router, but I'm pretty sure the SH2 doesn't have that capability. *I was doing this for about 8 years!

Re: Use a different modem with SH2?

licquorice — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 20:23:58 GMT

@Crimliar wrote:

192.168.1.1 won't work - the modem needs to be on its own subnet!

I'm not sure that without connecting a device directly to the modem (bypassing the SH2) with an ethernet cable you will be able to access the modem directly.

Normally you'd set up a "secondary channel" or a "reverse channel" from the router, but I'm pretty sure the SH2 doesn't have that capability. *I was doing this for about 8 years!

The management page of the modem needs to be on the same subnet as the hub.

The modem itself won't have an IP address, it doesn't operate at the IP layer.

Re: Use a different modem with SH2?

Crimliar — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 07:21:02 GMT

But home routers without issuing "routing rules" commands won't express LAN IP addresses on their WAN port - which is what the modem attaches to.

So set it up on a LAN port as a gateway? Again with low/zero config consumer devices a really bad idea that causes all kinds of issues!

Solution: The modem control WebUI sits outside of the router subnet (this gets complicated if you use a large subnet). Internet data is sent via the gateway address, but control data uses that "reverse" channel to talk to the modem.

So on an Asus router it looks like this:

All internet data still goes the to ISP gateway, it's only that modem WebUI that goes to this address

Re: Use a different modem with SH2?

Crimliar — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 07:24:16 GMT

I created that image for the response, and it's incorrect - the "IP Address is that of the WAN port and could be anything in the subnet - I used to use 192.168.2.10 not 192.168.2.1 which is the modem WebUI address and so would conflict!

Re: Use a different modem with SH2?

licquorice — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 07:28:36 GMT

Don't know about Draytek, but the Huawei hg612 has 2 physical interfaces. One that you connect to the router WAN port and one that you can connect to the router LAN to provide access to the modem gui.

Re: Use a different modem with SH2?

Crimliar — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 07:58:15 GMT

Yup the HG612 has a way more flexible UI, you can indeed set one of its ports to provide access to the modem UI on the router subnet. But if you feel masochistic you can set it up the same way as the Draytek modems and just use a single cable using the same technique as the Draytek. Out of the box, both modems are "plug and play", thanks to the "flexibility" of the HG612 it's quite easy for an inexperienced user to compromise their network if they start playing around with settings - as you do!

*The way spoofing the SNR on routers tends to work is that you sacrifice upload speed for download speed!

Re: Use a different modem with SH2?

TimCurtis — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 08:12:32 GMT

@Casterina

I'm using the SH2 as the front end for Digital Voice only with everything else turned off - firewall ,DHCP, wifi etc - and my Asus DSL AC68U doing it's normal job. Took a bit of effort to get it setup but had help/advice from @licquorice and now it works perfectly well.