Billion Routers?

pctech · Feb 09, 2011, 18:06:29

Was looking at this router http://www.billion.com/product/wireless/BiPAC7800NL-All-in-One-ADSL2-Router-Wireless-N.html as its networking stack includes support for IPv6 but just wondered if anyone had experience of kit manufactured by Billion?

Rik · Feb 09, 2011, 18:07:24

Not personally, Mitch, but most comments I've seen have been complimentary.

DorsetBoy · Feb 09, 2011, 18:16:34

My brush with Billion was a disaster and the support "tech" I spoke to was a complete prat. Others do like them it seems.

pctech · Feb 09, 2011, 18:20:01

I contacted Netgear once (I forget what for now) and their support was pretty dire too.

pctech · Feb 13, 2011, 14:44:57

I've just put in a preorder for a Broadcom based Comtrend one which is IPv6 capable that AAISP are currently taking preorders for and should be with me by the end of the month.

It was 50 quid as opposed to 117 for the billion.

Aaron · Feb 13, 2011, 15:27:57

Funnily I was looking into Billion Routers the other day, specifically 7800N (not NL). The general response is people are very happy with it and had increased their sync by some amount compared to their old routers. It has a Broadcom chipset.

I have been wanting to find a router as good as the 2700HGV (in terms of how well it syncs) so I can replace it, as I find the web interface of the 2700HGV to be a PITA to manage. But £115 is an awful lot to risk.

pctech · Feb 13, 2011, 15:38:04

Full review when I get it.

I anticipate being able to sell the DG834G v4 I have for roughly the amount I paid for it as they are still quite sought after so should cover the cost.

pctech · Feb 13, 2011, 15:39:30

I have to agree though the 2700 is a bit clunky, particularly as the specimen I have has v6 firmware.

stevenrw · Feb 28, 2011, 10:35:13

I've been using the Billion Bipac 7800N for a while now and I find it great. It does have far more features than I will ever use, and there is a regrettable omission of a USB connection for NAS, which ain't good for a £100+ price tag.
I found their support very helpful, and the support I got from Broadband Buyer was also excellent.
Wireless N coverage is much better and you have the option to change the frequency to avoid clashes.
I'd recommend it if you are prepared to spend that sort of money.

pctech · Feb 28, 2011, 12:01:19

Cheers.

Am still waiting to hear from A&A about the router I ordered, if it turns out to be a pile of err hrrrm when it arrives I will probably order thw Billion one.

Najarak · Apr 07, 2011, 20:44:59

I changed from a 2-Wire 2700 a couple of months ago to a Billion Bipac 7800N, easy to set up for ADSL and much faster wireless than the
2-Wire, coverage seems fine.

Having been upgraded today to fibre I simply could not figure out from the manuals how to change from the ADSL port to theEWAN port and change the settings to PPOE. I rang Billion's UK support line and the guy there talked me through it. Now working and how!

Glenn · Apr 07, 2011, 20:51:06

Glenn · Apr 07, 2011, 20:52:59

What was the estimate of your speed before the upgrade? My line is hopefully been upgraded from 2.3mb to an estimated 28mb on Monday.

stevenrw · Apr 07, 2011, 21:16:26

Glad you are also finding the 7800N a sound investment. Unfortunately my pockets are not deep enough for the FTTC service but its reassuring to know that the Bipac 7800N will do the biz speed-wise should I suddenly become flush!

Najarak · Apr 07, 2011, 21:28:19

Glenn,

They estimated 31Mb, the Openreach guy got 38Mb on his gadget, I have tried some of the Speedtest.net servers and get over 37Mb on some of those. I am about 450 metres from the new cabinet as the wire goes.

I could not connect whilst the installer was here, because Miriam had told me that the log in would be the same (@uk.idnet.dsl4) after he had gone I rang Support and they said that the domain had changed to "@idnet.gw6" - same user name.

I knew that I could connect the Cat5 cable to the iMac and that it should work, not with the wrong log in however!

Alls Well That Ends Well

Tacitus · Apr 08, 2011, 07:38:32

I believe one of the reasons people are going for the 7800N, is that is tweakable - you can play around with the target SNR. Looked at one myself but since the 2700 V6 I have seems to be working without problem, I'm inclined to leave well alone

stevenrw · Apr 08, 2011, 13:40:27

Having been using one for about a year now I can say its an excellent, stable piece of kit.
You should check on their website often however, they do seem to do firmware updates quite frequently.
Also I found changing the wireless "n" frequency made a difference of "good" to "excellent" on signal strength immediately.

pctech · Apr 08, 2011, 13:59:02

Think you'll find though the 21CN network kit ignores the tweaks.

I decided not to buy the comtrend router as more important things to spend money on at the min but may look at this one now.

Adrian · Apr 08, 2011, 20:17:46

I have just taken delivery of a Billion 7800N and a mighty fine router its is. I have installed the beta firmware which enables IPv6 and although I have clicked the relevant box and rebooted I still don't seem to have any IPv6 facilities. What am I not doing?

Simon · Apr 08, 2011, 20:26:57

Do IDNet use IPv6?

Adrian · Apr 08, 2011, 20:28:43

As far as I know they do:

"Bring on IPv6

Date: 30 March 2011 | Author: IDNet

We provide all customers with a delegated /48 of native IPv6 address space. This gives you 65,536 subnets, each subnet consisting of 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 native IPv6 addresses. That should keep you going for a while!!
"

Simon · Apr 08, 2011, 20:30:05

That's my theory blown out of the water then.

Adrian · Apr 08, 2011, 20:32:28

I'm just being geeky, but I suppose that at the age of 64 I should be content to just dribble into my Horlicks

Steve · Apr 08, 2011, 20:48:22

I don't whether you have to ask for an IPv6 address from support or not.

Adrian · Apr 08, 2011, 20:57:27

Sorted! When I updated the firmware I should have rebooted with the factory default settings then re-entered my configuration.

As usual, a case of RTFM, or not in my case