Thanks. Ours is the 2860n+ model.

The 3.8.1_VT2 is more stable for us, but still has some strange disconnects. I too used the OpenReach Modem for a while but noticed some strange 'freezing' every 30 minutes (with 3.8.2.2) or so, almost like the router was rebooting, but it wasn't.

Draytek support wanted me to do anothre reset (which I've done twice already), only this time to manually add the configuration (I think thats what they were saying). That would take me some time, so thought I'd try the downgrade of formware first.

This 2860 doesn't seem to take kindly to firmware upgrades, unlike previous Drayteks I've owned.

Currently the router will stay up for up to 40 hours, then drop the line, oftern twice within 1 hour, then stable for a while again.

How long did it take before the IP Profile returned to normal when you used the OpenReach modem?

It took around 5 days for the first lift from 5 mbps to around 15 mbps and we were fully back up to speed (ours is capped at 40 mbps DL / 2mbps UL) after the line was stable for around 15 days without a disconnection.

That is odd, support did not ask me to reset my configuration, not that it should make much of a difference, maybe because we were completely stable with the openreach modem on WAN2? During my testing I have flashed 3.8.1_VT2 (we cannot go back to 3.7.x without a factory reset) and that did not help with our line and none of the VTx versions were stable. I always take a backup of my configuration before I "have a play" with another version, just in case, my 2710 had a few issues with migration between firmware versions.

The thing that puzzles me is that the VTx versions are supposed to fall back on non vector lines, so why do Draytek publish so many variants?

I'm not sure - its a little confusing - perhaps a more detailed explanation of the different types would be good.

I believe I tried both modem variants on the 3.8.2.2 firmware and it didn't help**. The original reason why I upgraded I seem to remember was the fact the you could log into the router from the WAN side, even when you disallowed all GUI access from the router settings in 3.8.1, which I saw as a security risk.

However, I'll have to put up with that to have some sort of connection which I can (hopefully) rely on.

I too take backup configuration upon each change. Not sure really why resetting then reloading config seems to sort out some issues, but on this occassion it did not. I've done the usual disabling of hardware accelleration.

* - I realised after I typed that, that I tried the two modem codes withing the recommended 3.8.2.2 firmware (574307 and 567517 I think), but I'd not tried the non vector one you mention, as it said those would cope with non vectored lines. I may try this one, but may have to let my line settle first. You get obsessed about keeping the line up for the sake of the IP Profile!

Where does it say whether the line is vectored in the 2860?

I have a case open with Draytek,

will let you know the outcome. I dont see any ppp disconnects, the line appears to be stable, but traffic going through the router is anything but. As an example, the wan connection is showing as being up for 20 hours (the router was rebooted yesterday) but we only get 3 pings successfully received then 3 pings dropped, and it repeats for ever.

rebooting the router doesn't seem to help.

Thanks

That sounds a little like what I describe. The downgrade to 3.8.1 seems to have removed this 'feature' I suspect (early days).

The ppp disconnects I think were masking this I think for me so I didn't notice them until I used the OpenReach modem.

Let keep each other updated of any progress.

In the syslog there is an entry that gives the line status (when running VTx modem code, I have not checked on the STD code), there may be another way to tell too.

<166>Mar 16 20:49:44 FIREWALL: [DSL] G.Vectoring Status: OFF
.....
<166>Mar 16 20:50:07 FIREWALL: WAN 1 is up.

I was seeing that PPP would drop but the line sync would stay stable. In the syslogs PPP was being dropped by the remote end.

<158>Mar 16 21:34:50 FIREWALL: PPP Closed : Remote Terminating (PPPoA)
<166>Mar 16 21:34:50 FIREWALL: WAN1 PPPoE ==> Protocol:LCP(c021) TermReq Identifier:0x03 ##
<166>Mar 16 21:34:50 FIREWALL: WAN 1 is down.