New UPC 100mb Thomson TWG870UIR Router

lucernarian

And of course the Thomson can't even be used as a modem by itself. Ignoring the kludge that people use to turn off some of the routing features.

vibe666

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

And of course the Thomson can't even be used as a modem by itself. Ignoring the kludge that people use to turn off some of the routing features.

the sad thing is, that out of the box, it can but UPC decided for some reason to disable the bridge mode option in their modified version of the firmware on it.

Supercell

I'm at the end of my tether with this router and its reboots any time anything wireless or wired tries to connect to the network, can I buy an alternative cable modem that will work, or does it have to be one with custom UPC firmware on it?

Snake Plisken

Jonathan wrote: »

I can't believe UPC are still persisting with this piece of crap router.

They are losing revenue from customers who are unwilling to move away from their reliable Scientific Atlanta modems.

Provide a DOCSIS 3.0 modem and everyone is happy.

Has anyone asked them the question? Do upc use this piece of crap in holland for example or do they have an alternative? Might send them a tweet to see if I get any update from them.

vibe666

Supercell wrote: »

I'm at the end of my tether with this router and its reboots any time anything wireless or wired tries to connect to the network, can I buy an alternative cable modem that will work, or does it have to be one with custom UPC firmware on it?

unfortunately you have to use the one that UPC give you as your login is tied to the MAC address of the cable modem/router making the connection.

Snake Plisken wrote: »

Has anyone asked them the question? Do upc use this piece of crap in holland for example or do they have an alternative? Might send them a tweet to see if I get any update from them.

no alternative here i'm afraid. also, at least up until very recently this is the same one they give out to all UPC territories with 50mbps+ connections.

BUT, i just noticed something on the UPC NL site, that there is a wireless *option* on their 120mbps product offering a Sitecom WL-351 wireless router which doesn't seem to have a built in cable modem, so it begs the question WHAT standalone cable modem are they actually using if they are offering a broadband router as a wireless *option*?

EDIT: and I also just noticed that UPC PL have rolled out 150mbps! :eek:

Jonathan

Some links from the Dutch UPC forum which may be of use:

Thomson FW 1.38
Thomson Guest Wifi

Cisco EPC3208

Cisco EPC3212
Cisco EPC3212
Cisco EPC3212


They seem to be using two different Cisco modems, and there is a new Thomson firmware on the way which might solve the guest wifi issue.

Monotype

UPC acknowledged this in an email so they said to ring them up to talk to them about it or they'll replace it if they do not find a solution.


On another topic - Does UPC's usage caps apply by the calendar month or by the billing month?

digitaldr

Calendar month.

BulliteShot

If it is calendar month, I don't get charged for bandwidth overage.

vibe666

BulliteShot wrote: »

If it is calendar month, I don't get charged for bandwidth overage.

going by past history of people's experiences here, you'll get bumped up to the next highest package with a higher cap (supposedly after 3 warnings) if you go over your cap.

if you're on a package with the highest cap, they'll put you on a higher hidden package which is usually double the cost of whatever the current highest one was with double the cap, but the same speed.

BulliteShot

Maybe, but i'm paying no extra for the 100 Mbps.

What I was implying is that my billing date is the 7th. By the 6th of each month, I will have used 500GB including the previous month. (which is exactly my limit) Therefore, if UPC bills by calendar month I would be using 600GB per month (the extra 7 days which I always account for), when I am actually only downloading 500 GB per month.

So I think they bill by billing month, not calendar month based on my experiences.

vibe666

BulliteShot wrote: »

Maybe, but i'm paying no extra for the 100 Mbps.

What I was implying is that my billing date is the 7th. By the 6th of each month, I will have used 500GB including the previous month. (which is exactly my limit) Therefore, if UPC bills by calendar month I would be using 600GB per month (the extra 7 days which I always account for), when I am actually only downloading 500 GB per month.

So I think they bill by billing month, not calendar month based on my experiences.

whether or not you get penalised for going over the limits seems to depend on what area you live in and what overall usage is like in that area. if they're not oversubscribed on your network segment you'll most likely never hear from them, but if you're in a busy area (Tyrellstown in Dublin springs to mind) they'll pounce on you right away.

there's also a bit of a buffer between the limit and their triggers for contacting you. when the limit was 250gb i could get away with anything lower than 260gb without getting a letter, but the one time i went over 260gb they mailed me a warning letter.

GEO147

Just got the 50mb service today and it is running very well. The one thing I cant seem to figure out is where i get to see all my wired/ethernet devices. I am trying to figure out what my ip is for my XBOX360 and cant find it anywhere. I can see the DHCP clients though

paddyk

GEO147 wrote: »

Just got the 50mb service today and it is running very well. The one thing I cant seem to figure out is where i get to see all my wired/ethernet devices. I am trying to figure out what my ip is for my XBOX360 and cant find it anywhere. I can see the DHCP clients though

If I'm understanding you right, Go to Network...... Computers and you should see the Mac address and the IP address assigned.

GEO147

paddyk wrote: »

If I'm understanding you right, Go to Network...... Computers and you should see the Mac address and the IP address assigned.

That only shows the wireless coputers but not the wired. It is the ip addresses of the wired computers that I am looking for (XBOX)

paddyk

GEO147 wrote: »

That only shows the wireless coputers but not the wired. It is the ip addresses of the wired computers that I am looking for (XBOX)

Weird, My wired computers AND wireless show up there, Basically anything connected to the Thompson.

Another way to find out is connect Xbox, Check in Network settings on the Xbox. It should show what IP it is being assigned right then. Would that help?

GEO147

paddyk wrote: »

Weird, My wired computers AND wireless show up there, Basically anything connected to the Thompson.

Another way to find out is connect Xbox, Check in Network settings on the Xbox. It should show what IP it is being assigned right then. Would that help?

Yeah cheers had thought of that but I would like to know why my wired clients are not showing??

vibe666

GEO147 wrote: »

Yeah cheers had thought of that but I would like to know why my wired clients are not showing??

are they set with static IP addresses? normally the only machines that will show up in the DHCP pool are the ones with addresses that are assigned by DHCP. if you have devices set with static IP's then they won't be listed.

i'm not sure about the xbox 360, but by default on the original xbox, it used to have a static IP set by the dashboard, not a dynamic one set by DHCP so if it's the same on the 360 (assuming that's what you have) then that would explain that one at least.

mikerd4

Hi guys,

need some help.

I got the 100Mbs package from UPC installed on Tuesday. I have a few issues but before the engineer arrives tomorrow maybe someone can help?

Firstly the engineer is coming as the fixed line speed is varying massively (4mbs to 92mbs) when speedtested.

My main gripe is the wireless or lack of it. I can connect to the router no problem using wireless devices (iphone/ipad/netbook) but its so slow the devices are giving page errors etc

I had vodafone previously and never had an issue wirelss wise, this is beyond a joke tbh. Ive read about changing channel etc how is this done?
Is there anything I need to ask the engineer tomorrow when he comes out to look at the unit?

digiman

Supercell wrote: »

I'm at the end of my tether with this router and its reboots any time anything wireless or wired tries to connect to the network, can I buy an alternative cable modem that will work, or does it have to be one with custom UPC firmware on it?

Is there a fix to this issue, I have a desktop, ps3, ipad, iphone, samsung gs2 and 2 laptops connected to this but everytime my girlfriend connects with her netbook the modem reboots. I have went through the router menus but do not see any option about upgrading the FW or SW. I rang UPC today and they are going to send out an engineer but I really doubt that will fix the issue.

vibe666

mikerd4 wrote: »

I had vodafone previously and never had an issue wirelss wise, this is beyond a joke tbh. Ive read about changing channel etc how is this done?

download inSSIDer and run it on a laptop and wander round your house spending a minute at each window, (both upstairs and down if you have it) and watch as wireless networks appear on the chart.

you'll get an idea of the quiet spots, channel wise and that's usually your best bet for a stable wireless connection. find a wireless channel with as few (or none if you can) overlaps with other channels and log into your router and change the wireless to the channel you've picked and then see how it is after that.

it can take some experimenting and it's not totally foolproof, but it's a good start and quite often does the trick.

the hard way, if inSSIDer doesn't help is to just to keep trying every channel till one works well for you and stick to that.

unfortunately wifi isn't the only thing using the 2.4ghz spectrum and there is sometimes interference from other non-wifi sources as well.

if you still have no luck, it might be worth investing in some new 5ghz wifi dongles and switching to that (much less congested) frequency as it is also supported on the thompson router.

GEO147

vibe666 wrote: »

are they set with static IP addresses? normally the only machines that will show up in the DHCP pool are the ones with addresses that are assigned by DHCP. if you have devices set with static IP's then they won't be listed.

i'm not sure about the xbox 360, but by default on the original xbox, it used to have a static IP set by the dashboard, not a dynamic one set by DHCP so if it's the same on the 360 (assuming that's what you have) then that would explain that one at least.

Did a factory reset and now all devices are showing in the DHCP list as norma. Thanks for the assistance.

Now I have a couple of other questions:
What are the best settings for xbox live? It says my NAT is open and I dont have any major issues so I am hesitant to open ports or assign Xbox to DMZ. Comments/advice welcome.

Also, I have a couple of laptops connected wirelessly and my laptop (DELL XPS M1530) is "N" compatable but the fastest speed I am getting is 144mbps, is this normal??
The other laptop can only do wireless "G".

mikerd4

Ing my hair out over it, I never had a single problem with vodafone and the wireless. It just worked all over the house even out on the road. So much so Im borderline ready to ring UPC and tell them to shove their poxy broadband.

Ive switched to channel 2 and thought it was fine and then bang nothing, timeouts, pages not loading fully etc etc all the while my network connection icon is saying I have a minimun 7mbs up to 30mbs (obviously this doesnt tell the truth lol)

Do iphones/ipads support the higher bandwidth?

donutheadhomer

mikerd4 wrote: »

Ing my hair out over it, I never had a single problem with vodafone and the wireless. It just worked all over the house even out on the road. So much so Im borderline ready to ring UPC and tell them to shove their poxy broadband.

Ive switched to channel 2 and thought it was fine and then bang nothing, timeouts, pages not loading fully etc etc all the while my network connection icon is saying I have a minimun 7mbs up to 30mbs (obviously this doesnt tell the truth lol)

Do iphones/ipads support the higher bandwidth?

The iPhone only works on the 2.4ghz frequency not 5ghz If you had no issues with wireless using vf modem why not just bridge using vf modem and turn off wireless on thomson

paulvfr

Dave6195 wrote: »

Anyone else having problems with port forwarding on the Thompson modem? Im trying to set up FTP to access my NAS from anywhere. I can FTP into the drive from within my network locally but cannot connect to the NAS when Im on an outside internet connection? Ive set up port forwarding for the local IP address of the NAS (on ports 20/21) and confirmed from some website that checks your IP and port to see is it open and it is. Is there something else in the Thompson config settinngs that im missing?

Same problem here... worked fine on previous router. I tried something called portqry and result is "filtered"...
Still waiting a reply from UPC....

PrzemoF

I just upgraded to 100/7Mbps. Full speed on cable, but I'm having some problems with wifi. My laptop (with RTL8818 dongle) connects at 150Mbps and after a short time drops to 72MBps. I tried to set band width t o40MHz, but it didn't help. I can't switch to 5Ghz, because the wifi dongle cannot handle that.
What's you maximum speed over wifi (I got ~5MB/s) and what are the router settings you use if you got more than me?

GEO147

Settings on UPC router are fine as is. You will need to match channels on your pc adapter and set Wireless mode to a/g/n.

I think that should do it as you obviously have N Mode enabled to be getting 72mbps.

Using settings above I get 144mbps because I also have a g client. If you were to set the frequency band in UPC router to 5ghz and use same settings on pc adapter you should get 300mbps

PrzemoF

GEO147 wrote: »

Settings on UPC router are fine as is. You will need to match channels on your pc adapter and set Wireless mode to a/g/n.

I think that should do it as you obviously have N Mode enabled to be getting 72mbps.

Using settings above I get 144mbps because I also have a g client. If you were to set the frequency band in UPC router to 5ghz and use same settings on pc adapter you should get 300mbps

"G" client and 144Mbps? I thought "G" is 54MBps?

I'm not sure what do you mean by "match channels" - I thought that they have to be the same otherwise wifi won't work?

What download speed do you have over wifi?

GEO147

PrzemoF wrote: »

"G" client and 144Mbps? I thought "G" is 54MBps?

I'm not sure what do you mean by "match channels" - I thought that they have to be the same otherwise wifi won't work?

What download speed do you have over wifi?

Yeah so did I but the G client just more than halves the speed that the N client can connect at .

You could be correct in respect of the channels but my wireless car AGN4965 can be a little buggy at the best of times and sometimes I can still connect even if the channels are not exactly the same.

I can get up to 75mbps over wifi and 95mbps wired. My ethernet card is only 100mbps so it maxes out at 95 (even though it is a Dell XPS M1530, couldnt believe it when I realised it):rolleyes:

paulvfr

Dave6195 wrote: »

Anyone else having problems with port forwarding on the Thompson modem? Im trying to set up FTP to access my NAS from anywhere. I can FTP into the drive from within my network locally but cannot connect to the NAS when Im on an outside internet connection? Ive set up port forwarding for the local IP address of the NAS (on ports 20/21) and confirmed from some website that checks your IP and port to see is it open and it is. Is there something else in the Thompson config settinngs that im missing?

Dave, problem sorted sort of.... I had to use my previous UPC router (netgear 54mbps) were everything was working and connect it to the Thomson as per instruction on the forum - thanks guys - the device I had problems with is now connected through that as a gateway and for the porting.
So its either a problem on some settings wrong on the TGW870 or some settings UPC put in the router that is not modifiable by the user.
They are not bothered to reply to my emails either......
To me the Thompson it's a piece of sh1t and made me waste a lot of time.
Hope you can solve your connection problem too.