DSL modem replacement to non-whitelisted equipement

[aimjy]

Dear all,

 

To give a bit of background, the only way to have cabled internet home is through a DSL cable. Unfortunately, the cable of the ISP is old which has a terrible uplink (about 2Mbps max, with a lot of lost packets). Thus a few years ago we moved to 2 4G routers, which has a way better internet connectivity, but limited to 150GB of data each, which is not a lot for 4 heavy users.

 

So I was wondering if I could use some load balancing with one 4G routeur to have some decent internet at times, but also the VDSL connection for unlimited internet. However I would like to avoid having to use my ISP's modem for this, as it is really bad (in my opinion) and locks user's out to modify parameters. Proximus (the ISP) does provide some list of the whitelisted modems, but I would rather use some more prosumer equipement which are of course not whitelisted. Thereby my first question, why would other equipement not work with my ISP. The ISP uses PPPoE, so I would assume that other modems using that protocol should be fine? (If you're interested here is the list of whitelisted modems: https://www.edpnet.be/en/support/ordering/internet/learn-about-dsl-technology/which-modems-can-i-use.html )

 

Then my second concern is about the connectivity. So assuming the modem part above works, most of them I found have a RJ45 port for WAN. However the DSL connection has an RJ11 port. Can I simply convert one to the other or is there some more processing involved in this? If yes, would modems be able to know/detect it only has 6 pins to use instead of 8?

Bonus question, if any of you know any equipent who could be able to handle modem + router + load balancing, I would be interested. (Something from ubiquiti, netgear, ...) If this combination does not exist, I will look for the different elements apart.

Thanks all for your time!

[Electronics Wizardy]

THe modem won't really matter here, you just get your own router that does the load balancing here.  Don't get a modem + router combo, they kinda suck.

 

Load balancing is morally just pick a wan port per connection, and you get to be a bit picky about which computers and services use what wan port. Im kinda a sucker for untangle, but a edge router or mikrotik box can do this too.(or basically any small buiness firewall)

 

12 minutes ago, aimjy said:

However the DSL connection has an RJ11 port. Can I simply convert one to the other or is there some more processing involved in this? If yes, would modems be able to know/detect it only has 6 pins to use instead of 8?

You can just plug a rj11 into a rj45, no adapter needed.

 

13 minutes ago, aimjy said:

However I would like to avoid having to use my ISP's modem for this, as it is really bad (in my opinion) and locks user's out to modify parameters.

This relly won't affect you. You don't need to change modem settings really, just have it pass traffic to yoru router.

 

 

IM guuessing you have looked and can't find a better option like a cable provider or wisp.

[Lurick]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

You can just plug a rj11 into a rj45, no adapter needed.

Yes but if the router being plugged into doesn't know how to speak (v/a/etc)DSL then it's pointless.

[aimjy]

Thanks Electric Wizardy & Lurick for your fast answers!

 

After some more in depth reseraching, it seems that my ISP requires the modems to use vectoring. (Which, from my understanding, is some equivalent of noise canceling technique on the DSL cables. Such that cross-talk is less of an issue.)

So I have to find some modem that supports vectoring, and the VDSL2(+) protocol. I'll continue to search for them, but I guess I'll end up with some fritzbox they whitelisted. (If you know some other good ones, please feel free to recommend them!) From there I'll plug them into good main (edge) router for the internal network, like Electric Wizardry suggested.

 

Thanks again for your kind answers