<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">About TD-W9980, I have it, and I was happy with at first, but not so much any more, <br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><span id="gmail-m_-3428497393392234998:1e1.1">TP</span>-LINK dose not publish any fimware updates for it, and the <span id="gmail-m_-3428497393392234998:1e1.2">WRT</span> support is defiantly not for common users.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">I also think that having a modem even as closed source and not WRT supported is not a biggie if you're going to use it in bridge mode.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">my 2c<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br clear="all"></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail-m_-3428497393392234998gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">--<br>Rabin</span></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Thu, 7 Jun 2018 at 12:23, Geoff Shang <<a href="mailto:geoff@quitelikely.com" target="_blank">geoff@quitelikely.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Hi everyone,<br>
<br>
I'm in the market for a VDSL modem, and after looking at various options, <br>
I'm unsure which I should buy. So I thought I'd ask here for <br>
help/recommendations.<br>
<br>
Last year, I posted to the list about ISP recommendations. As part of <br>
that discussion, I was sent a link to a site listing modems compatible <br>
with Israeli service. Until then, I didn't know that buying your own <br>
device was even an option here.<br>
<br>
As previously mentioned, ISP-supplied modems/routers are an issue for me <br>
as a blind person, as many seem to have visual CAPTCHAs which make it <br>
difficult/impossible to log into the interface. And I don't think my <br>
choice of ISP should be determined by whether or not I can log into their <br>
equipment, I'd prefer to choose based on service (like everyone else).<br>
<br>
So I'm now looking to buy a modem. I have a Ubiquiti Edge Router which I <br>
intend to use as the router, so routing/wi-fi component is not important.<br>
<br>
I started looking at options. The things I thought were important were:<br>
<br>
* Good/best modem performance<br>
<br>
* Support for all/most relevant modem connectivity standards<br>
<br>
* Support for open firmware<br>
<br>
When I started looking, I was looking for modem-only devices. The closest <br>
I could find were modem/routers with only one ethernet port.<br>
<br>
The device that seemed to fit the bill was the Netgear DM200. It has 1 <br>
port (albeit 100 MBPS but VDSL connections aren't exceeding that at the <br>
moment anyway), and it appears to be supported by OpenWRT.<br>
<br>
But then I started seeing some bad reviews. In particular, with the <br>
help of Google Translate, I saw some unhappy people on <a href="http://hometheatre.co.il" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">hometheatre.co.il</a>, <br>
which I considered important as I will be using it here.<br>
<br>
The othere 1-port device I found was the Draytech Vigor 130. This is more <br>
expensive, but I don't mind about that if the device is good. It seemed <br>
to generally get better performance reviews than the Netgear. However, <br>
it's not supported by OpenWRT as far as I can see.<br>
<br>
There were a couple of other things that I also saw time and again. Some <br>
people say that Broadcom chips are better than others , though I've also <br>
seem comment that compatibility with the upstream chipset is the most <br>
important. Also, I saw references to things like vectoring and g.imp, <br>
things I know nothing about but which sound important, and g.fast which <br>
seems like it's going to be the next big thing but which nothing much <br>
seems to support yet.<br>
<br>
People also pointed out that there's really no difference between using <br>
a 1-port router in bridged mode and using a 4-port router in bridged <br>
mode. As neither of the above had the Broadcom chips, and since I had <br>
seen quite a few recommendations for the TP Link 9970/9977, I looked into <br>
these.<br>
<br>
The TP Link 9970 and 9977 (9977 is apparently newer) both seem to have the <br>
Broadcom chips and support g.imp. But neither seem to support open <br>
firmware from what I can see. Otheres like the 9980 do support it, but <br>
they don't have Broadcom chips.<br>
<br>
Some people make the argument that if you're using a device in bridged <br>
mode, open firmware is less important, but I'm not sure if I buy that <br>
argument.<br>
<br>
So now I'm a bit confused. I'm starting to lose track of which devices <br>
support what, and I don't really know which of these factors are <br>
specifically important here in Israel and which are more or less <br>
important generally.<br>
<br>
Since I believe that most problems have been solved by others before me, I <br>
thought I'd ask here.<br>
<br>
To repeat, I'm after a good modem. I'm not so concerned about price and I <br>
really don't care about the routing and wi-fi specs as I don't plan on <br>
using them.<br>
<br>
Any advice anyone can provide would be most helpful.<br>
<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
Geoff.<br>
<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div>