Getting started with VDSL2

February 16, 2012 Chilling_Silence How-To's / Guides / Tech info

So, I got fed up with the crappy speeds from Slingshot, that and it’d been 8 weeks since I’d heard back from them, even though I knew the Ops Manager was gonna be on holiday (That’s still a long holiday), so now we’d figured out that my second Naked DSL connection was working, I switched away from Slingshot.

I figured, it was time for VDSL2!

Now, I’m signed up with Hosting Direct, I get excellent speeds 24/7, I’m syncing a ton faster, currently 19mbps down and 10mbps up (Was down to around 9.5mbps on ADSL2+ since Slingshot put in the new line) and I’m loving it! I don’t know why they advertise it as 30M down / 10M up, coz its not a guaranteed minimum, nor is it the limit? I know people with them getting over 50mbps download, so it seems kind if odd. They’ve told me they aren’t throttling it or artificially limiting it in any way, which is cool, you get what you pay for!

However, there’s a few “Gotchas” about VDSL2 when coming from ADSL2+ that you might want to be aware of.

The first thing you’ll notice is you’re going to need a new router. No two ways about it, you need one, and it’s going to be expensive. I’m personally steering clear from Thomson still because of the crap job they did of the TG585’s, however their VDSL2 stuff appears to be branded Technicolor, and from what I can see it’s more reliable. Still, I’ve got enough of a bad taste in the mouth to go elsewhere.

I ended up going for the Draytek DV2750. I got mine for $250 (Box was slightly damaged) but you can pick them up from the likes of Ascent if you want, or any other SnapperNet reseller (SnapperNet are the distributor but they don’t sell direct to the public). There are a few others like ZyXEL who do a decent one (I can’t remember the model number) and from what I can tell NetComm are going to be bringing a cheaper model to the game, something very similar to the NB6Plus4Wn that I’ve been recommending (Which is only for ADSL2+).

Now the first thing you’ll want to know is that you’ll be using PPPoE to connect, not PPPoA. Because of this, you don’t have to do Half-bridging or a PPPoA -> PPPoE passthru like I was, just a full bridge works if you want to have a device behind it handle things.

You also need to change the WAN (Internet) VLAN ID to VLAN 10. I’m not 100% sure if this is for all ISP’s or just some of them, but I know its required for HD, and for a couple of others based on what I’ve heard.

Now, you need to specify the user name in the format of “username@adsl.hd.net.nz”. I know it says adsl but its the same for VDSL too, so I just didn’t question it. It works 🙂 just replace “username” with the name you specified during the inline sign up process and you should be fine.

I got asked about my static IP too, that is automatically assigned. It works by assigning an IP address to the user that I authenticate with, so although I ask for my IP via DHCP, it will always be given the same IP address.

Finally, filters. VDSL2 uses different frequencies from ADSL2+, so technically you need proper filters. I have Naked VDSL2, as does everybody I know. However I see that you can get VDSL2 with a phone line so I thought I should mention what the guys at SnapperNet told me. Technically you just need to block out the phone frequencies, so you quite possibly can use ADSL2+ filters. However, you’re probably better off getting the filter installed at the demarcation point in your home so you don’t have to worry about it.

I hope this has been of use to you. In the mean time, I’m off to enjoy my shiney new high speed VDSL2 line! 😀

ADSL2+, Broadband, Hosting Direct, internet, Slingshot,