UPC - Replacing Cisco EPC2425

Anan1

Hi all,

I got UPC 30mb broadband last week, it's running at 28-29mb wired but only from 18 right down to under 3 over wifi. I've read & digested as much info as I can find online, and it seems that the best solution is to replace the 2425 with a UPC Scientific Atlanta modem and buy a good router myself? I've been on to UPC and they're sending me out the modem, and i'm just on the point of ordering an Apple Airport Extreme. Does this sound reasonable? Bear in mind that i've little understanding of, or interest in, modems & routers - I just want fast, stable broadband, and i'd sooner pay a few quid extra than spend a half day trying to make something work.:)

Chaos Marine

Don't waste your money on gimmicky Apple crap. Buy a Netgear router. I hear Maplins are selling an N draft one (G WiFi is what you get from most ISPs as it's as cheap as dirt) for about a hundred euros and that will give you the good performance, particularly if you have an N wireless dongle. Ask for someone who knows networking or computers, they should be able to help you out.

Anan1

Thanks for the advice. I'll be connecting to a workstation and a laptop, both with n wifi, along with an iphone 4. Will a Netgear router be better or easier to setup than the Apple? I'm not too bothered about cost, my main concern is that it work well (ie fast & reliable) straight out of the box.

jor el

Netgear and Linksys seem to be the most recommended routers. Not sure if N will actually bring anything to the table. If any device connected to it is using G, then it's likely that the whole Wifi network will be reduced to G speeds.

Also, you'll probably never get 30Mbps over Wifi, N or G (certainly not G). Even if you're right beside the router, I'd nearly guarantee you won't get that speed. If you get even 20Mbps, you're doing well. I've never seen more than about 5-10Mbps on any of the routers I've had over the years.

If speed is important, then wired is the only way to go.

Anan1

I just ran speedtest there and got 15.4 over wifi, but sometimes it drops down to under 3. If I use the non-wifi modem and a decent router should I be able to at least rely on say 15ish all the time? Or should I just accept the 2425? Thanks for your patience.:)

paddydriver

Hi Anan,

I am very interested in the fact they are giving you a separate cable modem that allows you to use your own router! Did you have to do any convincing or were they fine with it?

I have the phone service running through my 2425 so I am guessing I can just hang that off another cable point and continue phone through that and hook the new modem into my Linksys N router.

Paddy

Anan1

paddydriver wrote: »

Hi Anan,

I am very interested in the fact they are giving you a separate cable modem that allows you to use your own router! Did you have to do any convincing or were they fine with it?

I have the phone service running through my 2425 so I am guessing I can just hang that off another cable point and continue phone through that and hook the new modem into my Linksys N router.

Paddy

I found being put through to a supervisor makes all the difference - it went from 'no we can't' to 'of course we can, would you prefer courier or technician?' Probably helps that I was within the cool-off period and was threatening to leave. I only have tv and bb from UPC myself, so no phone issues.

paddydriver

Thanks,

I will use the "I pay ye guys €150 p/m" line so they better help...

Will let you know how it goes. I have a Linksys WRT610N and it has dual band so don't think issues with dropping off once a G device comes online. I have an N adapter on my WDTV box and in my laptop and can get full speed via wireless when doing a speedtest.

It was not cheap - STG£124 on amazon - but it has some good features and I would really like it to totally replace the UPC 2425 heap.

Anan1

Anything else I need to take heed of, or will I just fire away?

vibe666

i have the scientific atlanta modem myself and it still has two phone ports on it, so you can still use the phone service with it without needing the EPC2425 at all.

under optimal conditions, a 300mbps 802.11n wireless router *should* give you more or less comparable speeds to 100mbps wired ethernet, but it's going to depend on having 100% compatible 802.11n adapters, the range from the router and what obstacles are in the way.

802.11n is a lot better than 802.11g at getting the most out of where it's put, but its not foolproof and you need to be wary of putting 802.11g devices on your 802.11n network as it will severely impact performance unless you guy a router with dual radio's to segregate your g from your n devices.

as much as i hate to endorse an apple product (yes, irrational hatred of all things appley), the airport extreme has actually come out very well in tests in a purely 802.11n environment and would be a good buy if you're planning on staying 'g free' and sticking with n only devices.

other than that, the Linksys WRT610n also does very well and would be the better option in a mixed n & g environment, particularly given it's compatibility with 3rd party firmwares to enhance its features.

I would suggest a dual band setup, putting the 802.11n devices on the 5 GHz network and the 802.11g devices on the 2.4 network. That way they don't interfere with each other. But the reduced range on 5 GHz is an issue.

Anan1

AFAIK I only have n devices - both the wifi cards in the workstation and laptop are n, so they can go on 5GHz with the Airport Extreme. The iphone is n but 2.4 only, but the Airport can handle that without slowing down the laptop & workstation. Phone isn't an issue. All in all, it seems that the extreme would do the job for me?

Brian017

How do you go about using an net gear router with the UPC modem? Is it just a case of hooking them up via Ethernet cables and disabling the wireless function on the UPC modem

bonnieprince

@Anan1
i have the same config, scientific atlanta 2203 and airport extreme, works great, i have worked with all kinds of routers over the years and find the airport by far the best, coverage is great, setup is easy.

@Brian017
you can disable the wireless function on the cisco and and connect your own router, dont know if upc still do netgear anymore as there seems to be only two options, the 2203 or the 2425.

bonnieprince

bonnieprince wrote: »

you can disable the wireless function on the cisco and and connect your own router, dont know if upc still do netgear anymore as there seems to be only two options, the 2203 or the 2425.

No they don't, it's either the 2203 as a wired modem or the 2425 as wireless. I recently ordered the 8 meg package and didn't choose wireless, they sent me a 2203.

Brian017

bonnieprince wrote: »

@Anan1
you can disable the wireless function on the cisco and and connect your own router, dont know if upc still do netgear anymore as there seems to be only two options, the 2203 or the 2425.

I have a old netgear DG834G lying around the house. Would this do the job? Is it just a matter of connecting the cisco and netgear via the Ethernet ports?

bonnieprince

that router is a dsl router so has a tel port rather than an ethernet, you would need a cable router and just connect the wan port of the router to the modem ethernet port.
hth.

Brian017

So something like the WPN824 then yeah?

bonnieprince

thats it although netgear support is not great.

Brian017

What router would you recommend then?

bonnieprince

i would recommend apple airport extreme (expensive), linksys (mid-range) or belkin (cheaper but good support).

KeRbDoG

I'm currently using a Netgear WNR3500L/U/v2 with my EPC2425 with the Netgear in the Ciscos DMZ.

While it isn't dual-band N its good enough for me, better throughput than I used to get with my wirelessG router.
It also gives you a gigabit network connections and also allows for USBs hdds to be used as NAS units.
The Netgear is running Tomato Firmware v1.28.9052 MIPSR2-beta23 K26 USB vpn3.6.

I plan to get a dual band N router which can run Tomato in the future but for now it does everything I want.

Don't need to have the EPC2425 in Bridge mode or anything, allows yea to continue to use the phone ports on the Cisco.

bgoz10

I just got UPC last week 15mb..The modem is up in my attic and the speeds are fine but on the downstairs computer its only picking up 3mb. if i turn off the wireless on the cisco and connect it to a netgear dual band N+ router and get a n+ reciever for the computer downstairs will this help??

vibe666

bgoz10 wrote: »

I just got UPC last week 15mb..The modem is up in my attic and the speeds are fine but on the downstairs computer its only picking up 3mb. if i turn off the wireless on the cisco and connect it to a netgear dual band N+ router and get a n+ reciever for the computer downstairs will this help??

*probably*.

sorry, but there's no absolute certainty when you're dealing with wifi, there are just too many variables.

BUT, the cisco is known for being a bit sh1t over wireless and decent wireless n kit should improve that considerably but there's always a chance that it won't be any different, or that it could even be worse, although it is unlikely.

my best advice would be to give it a go, but make sure you are careful taking everything out of the box and make sure that you buy it from somewhere that you can take it back without too much hassle if you still have issues.

chances are it'll all be fine and you'll be much better off, but you never can be 100% sure so better to be safe that sorry.

Anan1

Just to let you all know, I went ahead with this and i'm now getting 28Mb over wifi instead of the 15ish I was getting before. The Airport Extreme was extremely easy to set up, i'd highly recommend it. Thanks to all for the advice.

vibe666

good stuff, glad you got it sorted.

rsynnott

jor el wrote: »

Netgear and Linksys seem to be the most recommended routers. Not sure if N will actually bring anything to the table. If any device connected to it is using G, then it's likely that the whole Wifi network will be reduced to G speeds.

If you have a dual-band device (such as the Apple one) and your client supports 5GHz, this certainly won't happen.

jor el wrote: »

Also, you'll probably never get 30Mbps over Wifi, N or G (certainly not G). Even if you're right beside the router, I'd nearly guarantee you won't get that speed. If you get even 20Mbps, you're doing well. I've never seen more than about 5-10Mbps on any of the routers I've had over the years.

If speed is important, then wired is the only way to go.

I quite happily get about 50Mbit/sec over an Apple Airport Extreme and a Netgear device of some sort (N band in both cases).

PrzemoF

I have apple alergy ;-) and it's a strong one. What model of NetGear, SysLink or Dlink would you suggest to replace EPC2425? I want 11n as 11g is not fast enough for 2 laptops and UPC 30Mb link. I'd prefer Dlink as I have a very good experience with Dlink DSL-2640B, but I'm open minded (just no apple stuff please!!!).