What modem should i buy?

Under the NBN neither modem nor router control the maximum speed. It is set by NBN depending on the max speed you pay for.

If you have a fibre connection, you only need a router, HFC services are converted by the black NBN box to feed routers; FTTN and FTTB need a VDSL modem to convert and trouble can unexpectedly occur here at the moment

NBN is very particular about modems on their lines, and lately has been checking the MAC address of connected units, which is visible to them, to ensure "NBN compliance" (as defined by them, not as stated by the manufacturer) devices are fitted. MAC addresses give away the maker and model. They intend to act on this and at worse will block you. See also https://www.nbnco.com.au/learn/device-compatibility/vdsl2-modems

One safe way to ensure compliance is to use modems supplied by your provider, who have always had them approved. These invariably are combined modem-wireless routers with extra capabilities such as VoIP. All landline phones now run as VoIP. IF you have a service type that doesn't need translating the modem section is preset to disabled. Providers usually preconfigure them for you as NBN standard VDSL is a pain to set up..

(VDSL is an analogue signal, as was ADSL. Routers require a digital signal, hence the conversion by a separate or built-in modem)
 
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robs said:
If you *need* 50, you need it, but it might be worth considering whether you really do.

I'm just in the process of switching from NBN to 4G (because NBN gave me an unreliable connection in wet weather and technicians not interested in sorting it out). I bought a 4G VoLTE router which, with an ALDI SIM installed, replaces both broadband and home phone. Performance varies depending on local reception, but I get between 6 and 20 Mbps which is a big step up from the old ADSL, and it keeps on working when it rains.

There have been some quirks -- my router doesn't let me receive SMSs (no biggie); phone calls have sometimes gone through to voicemail without ringing the phone (disabling voicemail seems to have sorted that). I've only been trying this for a week, so there may be other oddities. I'm pretty happty with it and will soon give my old ISP the bad news.
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I had your problem exactly. Went through 3 NBN ISP's TPG, Belong & My Republic all couldn't have cared less about dropouts in wet weather. TPG sent some guy around who was absolutely hopeless.
Approached local provider On the Net who guaranteed they would sort things out. Cost $10 pm more for unlimited, top speed with local support.
1st drop out, they had NBN around. Testing & diagnosis was a bad internal home phone connection [not used we only have mobile].
Had an electrician friend come in & change wiring around so the Telstra line went straight to where it needed to go for NBN, first.
Never had a drop for the last 2 years + lightening fast speed.
 
Your dead phone line would have interferred with ADSL earlier - perhaps you didn't notice it, but your modem observed the tap when it tested the line at power on. Wet weather drop-outs suggest phone lines for final transmission also. NBN fixed this, not the retail provider.
 
All great feedback, thank you 👍
We will change provider next week . Don’t want to do it right now as we have visitors staying for the the week - don’t want to spend time mucking about in case problems arise
 
seasink said:
Your dead phone line would have interferred with ADSL earlier - perhaps you didn't notice it, but your modem observed the tap when it tested the line at power on. Wet weather drop-outs suggest phone lines for final transmission also. NBN fixed this, not the retail provider.
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It was the retail provider who got action from NBN who correctly diagnosed the problem [the guy did come in my home & tested phone jacks & said he was not supposed to do that?] Really like to local aspect. Speeds 88/35
 
RINGER said:
I had your problem exactly. Went through 3 NBN ISP's TPG, Belong & My Republic all couldn't have cared less about dropouts in wet weather. TPG sent some guy around who was absolutely hopeless.
Approached local provider On the Net who guaranteed they would sort things out. Cost $10 pm more for unlimited, top speed with local support.
1st drop out, they had NBN around. Testing & diagnosis was a bad internal home phone connection [not used we only have mobile].
Had an electrician friend come in & change wiring around so the Telstra line went straight to where it needed to go for NBN, first.
Never had a drop for the last 2 years + lightening fast speed.
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RINGER said:
It was the retail provider who got action from NBN who correctly diagnosed the problem [the guy did come in my home & tested phone jacks & said he was not supposed to do that?] Really like to local aspect.
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The NBNco and other telecommunications providers are only responsible for the network to the network boundary, that is the first connection in your premises, after that the customer is responsible.

It was good of him to help you out, I would say more of the kind of guy he is than the company he works for.
 
RINGER,
Thanks for the info. Along with the rain problems, I have had a number of dealings with NBNCo and sat through two lengthy outages adding up to about 8 weeks, both solved within minutes once the technician turned up. This laxness wasn't simply because my ISP wasn't pushing hard enough. NBN people were dealing directly with me once they knew there was a problem, they just had their own priorities.

FWIW, service here is FTTC. It has been nice having 50MBps performance, but I'm not a NetFlix user or any of that and my total usage has been under 20GB/m for the last couple of years. NBN is overkill for me. I suspect it is for many others too.

Interestingly, traffic volume has gone down quite a lot with 4G, though I've probably increased payload traffic with numerous speed tests, etc. Evidently there's a fair bit of "bulk" in the NBN protocols that gets chalked up to the account holder.

Have fun,

Rob.
 
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Hi.

My own belief is that bandwidth demand is very much over estimated.

I would sign up for the lowest bandwidth service that satisfies your anticipated demand, and retain your hard earned cash in your own pocket. You can always move to an increased bandwidth service if your user experience is not adequate.

As you can see in the below tabulation, the number of users in a household can quickly push up the bandwidth demand from an ISP.

But there is a big assumption in the below figures, they assume that all of the services and all of the users are demanding the bandwidth all at the same time, continuously. For example a single person may not be consuming Netflix or gaming bandwidth if they are participating in a Zoom conference. I think you could aim at say 2/3rd of the computed bandwidth for your real needs.

Like many things a chain is only as good as its weakest link. For a good internet user experience all of the things in the chain need to be matched to the task they are needed to perform. Throwing bandwidth at a problem may not provide the solution that is needed.

As I had posted earlier, my laggy internet experience was resolved very adequately by hard coding the DNS in my router. It would be easy for consumers to subscribe to higher rate bandwidth plans in an attempt to resolve things that are not caused by bandwidth.

The below snippet is very typical of our bandwidth on our Aussie Broadband 25/10 plan. For a FTTC delivery with 1,000 meters of copper to my house, the speed of 7ms is also pretty good.
1650332271795.png


Cheers.

1650331484002.png
 
Interesting result from an FTTC installation. I got 27 Mbps a minute ago from HFC, also on a 25/10 connection. With no need for streaming movies, and no huge uploads, it's more than adequate for this home.
 
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Whippet said:
Hi.

My own belief is that bandwidth demand is very much over estimated.

I would sign up for the lowest bandwidth service that satisfies your anticipated demand, and retain your hard earned cash in your own pocket. You can always move to an increased bandwidth service if your user experience is not adequate.

As you can see in the below tabulation, the number of users in a household can quickly push up the bandwidth demand from an ISP.

But there is a big assumption in the below figures, they assume that all of the services and all of the users are demanding the bandwidth all at the same time, continuously. For example a single person may not be consuming Netflix or gaming bandwidth if they are participating in a Zoom conference. I think you could aim at say 2/3rd of the computed bandwidth for your real needs.

Like many things a chain is only as good as its weakest link. For a good internet user experience all of the things in the chain need to be matched to the task they are needed to perform. Throwing bandwidth at a problem may not provide the solution that is needed.

As I had posted earlier, my laggy internet experience was resolved very adequately by hard coding the DNS in my router. It would be easy for consumers to subscribe to higher rate bandwidth plans in an attempt to resolve things that are not caused by bandwidth.

The below snippet is very typical of our bandwidth on our Aussie Broadband 25/10 plan. For a FTTC delivery with 1,000 meters of copper to my house, the speed of 7ms is also pretty good.
View attachment 203592

Cheers.

View attachment 203590
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seasink said:
Interesting result from an FTTC installation. I got 27 Mbps a minute ago from HFC, also on a 25/10 connection. With no need for streaming movies, and no huge uploads, it's more than adequate for this home.
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I'm on a similar plan, there is 3 people in this house hold watching YouTube, on demand TV and surfing the net. We find this is more than adequate for our needs. We have FTTP technology.

From my experience the speed of the device being used has a lot to do with how fast the internet is.
 
Hi.

I wish marketers and people would stop talking about speed and start using bandwidth.

If a 1 tonne ute, a 4 tonne light truck and a 40 tonne semi-trailer all were fully loaded with data packets in Melbourne, and if they all drove up to Ballarat at 100kmh, then the speed of delivery of the data packets is identicle.

But the rate of delivery, or throughput, measured in bandwidth is 4 & 40 times greater (not faster), respectively.

To use a more familier automotive analogy, its a bit like saying that a 24V starter motor is "faster" than a 12V starter. When it's the current demand/consumption that is more representative of the rate of delivery measured in kW or HP output.

I'm happier now.

Cheers.
 
But, surely, "mbs", which is the measure people use for "speed", is a actually a measure of the rate of delivery?
As far as I can see, "speed" and "bandwidth" are the same thing. And, after all, there is only one number quoted by the ISP.
After all, the real 'speed' of delivery is approximately the speed of light.

I have, however, noted myself that people are way too focused on that number, particularly when trying to argue that Australia has sub standard service, because other countries have higher numbers. The biggest difference I see when accessing the Net, is the specs of the computer I am using. My high spec laptop will open Chrome with about a dozen tabs, in a few seconds. My cheap desktop takes more than 10x as long, to load up all the pages. Meantime, the company I work for has something around 100+ users, all with at least 1 computer on their desk, and many have two, with constantly in use data connections, and it operates on a single 500mbs connection.
 
Your company benefits from the fact that all those computers are not trying to do the same thing at once. The router will serve each in turn but intermingled. It's no different with electricity supply or even sewers. I remember a student prank where every WC on upper floors on a high rise were flushed in sync, in the hope that something unpleasant might happen below. They weren't synchronised enough.

So far as ethernet connections to a device, like a router, are concerned, the flow of bits is a sequential stream, so bandwidth and speed are the same. The data bytes are transmiited bundled in frames with other information included in the frame such as addressing, MAC address, and check sequences, so file transmissions use more bytes than the file sizes. Frames for different destinations can be mingled by the router unseen by end users.

Routers and computers can time the bits per second. Linux users can see the current counts for throughput at /proc/net/dev. Two readings at a timed interval give you speed. A pretty interface or web page and you have a meter.

Things are different for parallel transmission.

(If you want to be completely anonymous using public wifi, you are sending who you are in each frame - some dealers in illicit substances have forgotten that. The NBN can tell whether your modem-router is a compliant make in the same way)
 
Thank you to everybody for your advise! (y) Went with Exetel and their ZTE modem. Perfect for me as i'm not interested in learning how to set up/fiddle with modems. All cheaper than Optus. Ordered it last Monday night and received the modem yesterday 2PM. Plug and play. Was without internet for a few hours as Optus disconnected over night .
Works well, modem WiFi probably a bit faster than Optus.
 
JoBo said:
Thank you to everybody for your advise! (y) Went with Exetel and their ZTE modem. Perfect for me as i'm not interested in learning how to set up/fiddle with modems. All cheaper than Optus. Ordered it last Monday night and received the modem yesterday 2PM. Plug and play. Was without internet for a few hours as Optus disconnected over night .
Works well, modem WiFi probably a bit faster than Optus.
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Well done.

Out of interest, what bandwidth plan did you choose?

Cheers.
 
50/20, not much price difference but considered your experience that 25/10 would probably be good enough even when grandkids and families are here and using the net?
 
Interestingly, despite a long history in Australia of people trashing the alleged inferiority of our internet, I gather that 50mb plans are the most popular, despite 100mb being freely available to anyone on NBN, and considerably faster still, to most. Gigabit internet wins in the pissing competition, but it turns out that home users don't need it, and not even close! Our internet is, as engineers would say, fit for purpose.
 
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