acolwill wrote: Detection of unauthorised CPE may result in the following:

I think (at a guess!) you'd have to do something pretty serious/upsetting for them to actually take any sanctions; an unapproved device which is compliant or thereabouts shouldn't cause problems - after all there are millions of 3rd party VDSL devices in use on BT lines pre-SIN498 and none have blown up any MSANs yet However, if you report a line fault and you are using a non-BT approved device, I guess they can refuse to check the line until you put your BT modem back on so always hold onto the original homehub/BT modem that we all received! ( You can buy them on ebay too!)

Any idea on which devices these cover?
I personally have a 2850 at home with a VDSL2 connection from BT, however I also support a handful of clients with the newer 2860 and would prefer not to have to fork out another chunk of hard earned cash!

If you are using a BT VDSL modem then it's fine with any router for compliance

acolwill wrote: I also support a handful of clients with the newer 2860 and would prefer not to have to fork out another chunk of hard earned cash!

If the Vigor 2860 gets certification you won't have to..and in the meantime they continue to work..and if the Vigor 2860 has been working fine for years, why would BT care anyway...

Here's my tuppence worth. I have a 2850 which I've had for nearly three years. At its previous location, I was fortunate enough to have a clean line and a solid 80/20 connection.

At my new address, I'm slightly further from the cabinet (400m estimate). The first month of service was pretty good; sync of 72/20 but started to notice it re-syncing every couple of days. This gradually increased in frequency, until one day Interleaving was enabled by the DLM. Since then, my profile and sync have gradually gone through the floor to the point now where I am lucky to maintain a connection for 3-4 minutes at worst, 3-4 hours at best. I've reverted to an HG612 on WAN2 and I now have a fast and reliable connection again. I've only got to this point after BT being involved to check the line for faults on countless occasions, only to find no fault.

Draytek inform me that this was likely to be because G.inp was being used for error correction, which the 2850 does not, and will not support. VDSL is an 'emerging technology', so tough.

Now, take from this what you will; but Draytek are washing their hands of the situation with the only advice being that my provider disable interleaving, switching me back to a FAST profile. It's my understanding that this isn't actually something they can do, it's automatically handled by DLM. BTOpenreach just point at my non BTOpenreach equipment. If this was a £50 budget brand device, I'd accept that - but we're talking enterprise-grade equipment which in the space of less than 3 years has become little more use to me than a paperweight because it's unapproved/unsupported/ancient. I find that a bitter pill to swallow.

I totally understand the 'emerging technology' excuse, but emptor caveat; buy something unapproved (which essentially everyone on this forum probably has) and risk getting your fingers burnt. I'd be interested to see how this 'approval' (or non-approval, as the case may be) dictates the level of support that an ISP or BTO can provide.

wallacio wrote: Now, take from this what you will; but Draytek are washing their hands of the situation

Washing their hands? That seems a bit unfair. They can't provide infinite forward compatibility for any new technology. The Vigor 2850 chipset does not support G.INP. The Vigor 2860 can, and although it wasn't in earlier firmware, once BT started rolling it out, DrayTek added G.INP "free of charge" for existing users to download new firmware - same with vectoring - provided as a free upgrade because the hardware was capable. Try getting free feature upgrades from Cisco

in the space of less than 3 years has become little more use to me than a paperweight

The VDSL2 specification from BT (a) did not specify/require G.INP, and (b) BT were not using G.INP. It's BT who have moved the goalposts. Technically, BT would argue that you were never supposed to be using 3rd party equipment in the first place so you can't blame them either.

buy something unapproved...and risk getting your fingers burnt.

But you get that there WAS no approval previously and BT could move the goalposts any time they like. Actually, there's nothing to stop them doing that in the future. You risk getting fingers burnt, but until that time you end up with functionality from a product which you presumably didn't get with the free modem.

I'd be interested to see how this 'approval' (or non-approval, as the case may be) dictates the level of support that an ISP or BTO can provide.

I'd guess you can't complain about line problems..or at least they won't make much effort to investigate.