Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> wrote:
> But the Fritzbox:
>
> - Does not respond reliably to pings from the internet, so useless if
> you need to remotely monitor the reliability of a connection - this is
> essential for proper customer support of ADSL, necessary for FTTC, but
> hopefully should not be necessary for FTTP.
>
> - No capability for LAN-to-LAN VPNs, so again no use for a proper level
> of customer support.
>
> However, the built-in proprietary "Digigal Voice" capability, and WiFi
> mesh capability, those do make it a good one stop solution for an ISP
> with unsophisticated customers. Which I why I am surprised that Zen
> offer it!

FYI it's possible to install OpenWRT on the 7520 and 7530 (not 7530 AX), and
they recently gained VDSL support. So it is possible to install an
alternative, more flexible, OS on them. I think the phone ports aren't
supported, though, and that wouldn't let you use Zen's locked down VOIP
service anyway.

Theo
(considering them as an upgrade from a BT Homehub 5a)

On 09/05/2023 10:28, David Rance wrote:

> I noticed that they offered a Fritzbox which made me wonder. Yes, I do
> use VPN as well as running the mail server and a web server. However I
> would want continue using my Vigor 2860. Although not listed as usable
> with full fibre (I suppose because it has been superseded by a newer
> model) I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work as long as I connect
> to WAN2 from the ONT. VOIP? I haven't really started to think about that
> yet. I suppose I should!

Different model but I have a 2920n formerly connected to ADSL2+ from Zen
through a Vigour modem and just hooked that into the Fibre ONT(?) on
Wan2, left Wan1 with the same account settings plugged into the modem to
keep ADSL connected with fail-over set for Wan2.
As soon as Zen switched from ADSL to Fibre everything just switched
seamlessly, 12 hours before Zen told me it had been connected.

I too have a permanent VPN connection (from home to the office) so
didn't want to ditch the Draytek. Only down side is the firewall speed
of my Draytek tops out at around 90Mbps downstream so it can't realise
anywhere close to the full potential of the "Full Fibre 300" package
downstream but is still good for 50Mbps upstream for VPN.
(No doubt the reason these older models are not listed as suitable for
full fibre)

:)

As for the Zen supplied FritzBox, that too was very usefull and works
for VoIP and as a network switch... Let me try and describe how I have
it being used.

I re-wired the "incoming" BT multi-pair copper back from the wall socket
to the telephone auto-dialer on the intruder alarm panel then simply
plugged in a standard supplied "telephone to adsl" patch lead between
the ADSL socket on the BT wall/face plate and the POTS VoIP port on the
Fritz Box and set up a couple of VoIP accounts within FritzBox
specifying Voip over network.

Now when the alarm is triggered the auto dialer DTMF dialing comes "OUT"
of the old BT ADSL wall/Face plate, "INTO" the FritzBox POTS port which
then dials out through the LAN, (via Draytek) and out into the big wide
world without any detectable delay.

I also have a Gigaset VoIP box plugged into the LAN and was worried
there might be some sort of conflict but no. The Alarm dials out
perfectly just as it did when going through BT copper, and the Gigaset
still gives 2 lines in/out without any issues.

It was a pleasant suprise when it worked perfectly first time.
:)