Ask the IT Network Engineer

[Pollushon]

Damn, Optus force you to VoIP through their kit? Secondary setup isn't to difficult. I just picked up one of these as a backup to my VR900....

https://www.tp-link.com/au/home-networking/dsl-modem-router/archer-vr400/

TPlink make some good gear for a good price. This thing has plenty of CPU and ram for vpn, I guess the bonus of a dual setup is you have easy access to vpn and non vpn traffic. The clincher is whether the Optus router allows pass-thru

 

[Immortality]

It's a good bit of kit, bit long in the tooth features and technology wise though. For that money or less you can get something with later protocol support, mesh and smarter WiFi

I've had it many years, I bought it before we even had fibre and used a pass through modem configuration (I have the AC 68u which is a fair bit cheaper than the DSL version). I got sick of issues with cheaper ADSL modems the telco's supply. I probably don't use enough of the features or know how to use em TBH.

 

[Immortality]

OK, here is a good question for some of you. I run a rt68u ASUS router on Merlin firmware. I use a VPN sometimes but not others as I find it can slow down your browsing which can be a pain. Is there a way I can set up my router so that I can leave the VPN running but decide what traffic goes via the VPN and what traffic doesn't?

Thanks

 

[mpower]

Damn, Optus force you to VoIP through their kit? Secondary setup isn't to difficult. I just picked up one of these as a backup to my VR900....

https://www.tp-link.com/au/home-networking/dsl-modem-router/archer-vr400/

TPlink make some good gear for a good price. This thing has plenty of CPU and ram for vpn, I guess the bonus of a dual setup is you have easy access to vpn and non vpn traffic. The clincher is whether the Optus router allows pass-thru

VOIP feels like a waste of time to me, most mobiles these days have unlimited calls so yeah personally no need for it.

For a business, yeah bit more painful.

 

[Pollushon]

OK, here is a good question for some of you. I run a rt68u ASUS router on Merlin firmware. I use a VPN sometimes but not others as I find it can slow down your browsing which can be a pain. Is there a way I can set up my router so that I can leave the VPN running but decide what traffic goes via the VPN and what traffic doesn't?

Thanks

Yep. On the merlin firmware you can enable strict or exclusive mode for this. You use exclusive for particular devices. That said it can be finicky with appliance styled systems and mesh (like plex, roku, Alexa, etc.... ) so the best method is to have two routers. One primary that works like normal, with vpn pass thru for a secondary that strictly operates vpn services

 

[Skylarking]

VOIP feels like a waste of time to me, most mobiles these days have unlimited calls so yeah personally no need for it.

For a business, yeah bit more painful.

Many elderly people don’t want or can’t use mobiles and thus rely on “fixed line”.

I like my mobile but also like old “fixed line” home phones which worked during catastrophe or emergency because the exchanges had battery backup and diesel generators… Now with NBN, be it optical or VDSL, we can’t rely on VOIP phones even with a short power outage let alone a catastrophe or emergency. And mobiles go flat after a day or so as they are hard to charge with no mains power. Not the greatest tech as the bushfires made clear…

Still, I like my mobile so something gained, something lost

 

[Immortality]

I run battery backup on my home network because of that very reason. We are on fibre so no backup if the power goes out unless it is your own private system. Right now I have about 90minutes so can cover a small outage but I really should double it. With solar and it's own battery it would be a mute point.

The only people that call our landline are the inlaws and scammers. Almost seems pointless.

 

[Skylarking]

I run battery backup on my home network because of that very reason. We are on fibre so no backup if the power goes out unless it is your own private system. Right now I have about 90minutes so can cover a small outage but I really should double it. With solar and it's own battery it would be a mute point.

The only people that call our landline are the inlaws and scammers. Almost seems pointless.

Even FTTH needs battery backup system at the far end of the glass cable (node) and often that’s not the case. With VDSl, that’s even more the case as NBN skimped by not including battery backup in most VDSl nodes I’m on VDSL

So even if you are on fibre, before you spend money on increasing your battery capacity, call NBN (or your service provider). I’d request confirmation of the battery backup time frame for the specific node you are connected to. If it can only provide 20 minutes of back up power, increasing your local battery backup capacity won’t help (other than for local power outage that doesn’t impact your node, wherever that is).

Sadly NBN’s solution is to have a mobile phone as backup… but what do you do when the phone battery goes flat and the network is down (as every mobile carrier seems to have skimped on proper power backup systems in there rust to roll out and their view that fixed line was for emergencies)…

Oddly the dumb knuckles at NBN say to back up your files (in the cloud) … but internet and phone system may be down for long periods during catastrophe …

 

[Immortality]

We've had a power outage that lasted just over and hour and we had full internet and phone services during that time so they must have decent backup.

 

[Pollushon]

A mobile is far superior to a powered land line in a catastrophe. Unless you suck at keeping your battery topped up. Then the zombies are going to get you. Fortunately my ebike batteries can keep things charged for a few days. USB powerpacks are cheap enough

As for VoIP landlines, it's easy enough to forward it from the telco to a mobile so you don't need anything on the other end