RJLadd
Premium
join:2009-04-17
Redmond, WA
| reply to RJLadd
Re: Good experience with Syswan technical support
The hardware specs for the Syswan are similar to the Hot Brick LB2 and the Xincom XC-DPG502, although not quite identical. Its possible that they are variants on the same basic hardware design. I skimmed the Hotbrick's manual. The overall firmware capabilities are similar, and there are even one or two of the management interface screens that look similar, although most of them at least visually look fairly different. They could be using variants of the same basic firmware, with different front end HTML.
It turns out that I had an odd (apparently unreleased Alpha) version of the firmware. Syswan provided a new rev, which is significantly better, but I am still seeing occasional, usually brief (less than a minute) DNS failures. On two occasions I've started using a computer in my LAN after several hours away, and discovered that both of the DSL modems seemed to be down. Power cycling the modems made them available again.
At this point, I know for certain that the modems are buggy, and not entirely standards-compliant. I'm still not entirely sure whether all of the problems I'm seeing are with the modems, or at least partly with the router, or in the relationship between the modems and the router. I am more suspicious of the modems than of the router, but the router could still be at fault.
I've packet sniffed the connection between the router and one of the modems, and it looks like the modem sometimes behaves oddly. Since the problem is intermittent, and since my sniffer has a finite buffer (and I have finite time to look at sniffer traces), I still haven't captured clear evidence of what's happening.
I'm not prepared to comment on the overall quality of the Syswan router. This is the first small router I've used, and I can't compare it to other products that I haven't used. If I eventually decide to replace the router, I'll probably look for a small, possibly used, Cisco. I had considered, and might still consider, a pfSense based router, but the hardware platforms I found that support it look to be built in small enough quantities to be relatively expensive.
I'd like to replace the modems, but as far as I can tell, all or nearly all of the available ADSL modems use the same hardware and firmware. Only the color of the plastic and the names are different.
We all know just how bad tech support generally is. The company that makes the modems I'm using, for example, has been completely unhelpful. The only thing I can comment on for certain is that Syswan's tech support has been among the best I have ever seen for any company in a consumer or SOHO market, and better than some companies in the higher end pro market. I've called them several times, and always spoken to the same two people, apparently somewhere in Europe. I don't know if there are any other people in Syswan's tech support department. The person who answers the phone is not very technical, but I quickly get transferred to the second person, who seems quite competent, and has been very helpful.
Tech support of the quality I've been getting from Syswan is such a rare thing that it seemed worth mentioning, which is why I posted my original message in this thread.
AndyMV: I'm afraid that you would not be able to get Syswan products from my source; I got it under somewhat unusual one-of-a-kind circumstances. I don't know if or where their products are available. The company is apparently based in Portland, OR - have you tried calling them? They may be small enough to actually answer their sales phone number, too. Whether or not they are still manufacturing new units is another question I don't know the answer to. |
