[rescue] DSL Modem question, is it worth getting a Cisco?

[Ron Wickersham]

On Sat, 25 Nov 2006, Peter Porter wrote:

> Somewhat unrelated to the topic of rescue, but I'm hoping someone can
> offer some advice anyway (and these modems seems harder to come by, so
> maybe it is rescue... hmm...)
>
> I have Qwest ADSL service in Colorado with an Actiontec 701-WG modem
> with a block of static IP's.  I've had pretty reliable issues with
> needing to hard reset the modem once or twice a week and high enough
> packet loss to make VOIP irritating at times.  I'm wondering if anyone
> has experience with other perhaps more reliable ADSL modems.  I've seen
> a few from Cisco that look promising (a consumer 678 and higher end
> 827/837), but don't really want to throw my money away on something that
> may not be particularly better than what I have.  Also, it seems
> impossibly difficult to find straightforward information on ADSL hardware...
>
> Does anyone have any experience with these or otherwise helpful
> knowledge?  I'd greatly appreciate it!
>
> Thanks,
> Peter

we've had good results with a Zoom DSL bridge running similarly to you
with a block of static IP's, but no SNMP.    didn't have a good time with
units with NAT, filtering, etc. enhancements, of which many do not have
a bridge mode, so you're stuck using the broken code to get your multiple
addresses out of the box.

i'm also interested to hear people's experience with ADSL modems that
would have full SNMP (reporting the DSL parameters: S/N, transmit power
and line attenuations in both directions).    i can get the traffic
counts for MRTG from the router following, thank you, what i would like
to have SNMP on the ADSL box for is the additional DSL-specific parameters
in order to graph the line conditions over time.

i agree that information is very scarce and data sheets often promise
more than the actual units deliver.

-ron