Ah, I see my posts are being sensored/removed on the Draytek UK forums if Draytek don't like the content.
I titled it "Vigor 120 UK Ripoff and national differences" originally. Clearly they don't like being found out.
I asked the question as to why the Vigor 120 sold in the UK (and possibly elsewhere in Europe) is completely different to the ones being sold down under, and the post seems to have 'disappeared'.
After recent discussions with a colleague in New Zealand I realised that their version of the 120 is effectively a dumbed down 2820/2830 with just a single LAN port and single WAN port - it has all the functionality of the main 2820/2830 router with firewall, VPN etc etc etc.
The UK version sold for the same price (or more) is JUST the modem. If you try installing firmware for the NZ version it still only shows the modem, so I believe that although the box is identical, the hardware inside is not.
It seems the UK are once again being ripped off badly. Same money - inferior kit.
Would Draytek care to comment on this rather than hiding under a rock and just removing the post ?
Here's the link to the post - lets see if it disappears again. If it does you know they are censoring stuff they don't want you to know :
http://forum.draytek.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=19490
I am also seriously ticked off that you now have to register to read any FAQs and to download firmware.
This is disgraceful behaviour from Draytek, and I for one will be voting with my feet.
Pretty good kit for the price, but their service is just getting worse and worse.
Update 13/08/2015 - note the forum post has been removed
Yeah, that's very long story. Same happened to me years ago when I argued with them on their forum quoting their own user manual available from their global site which clearly says that Vigor 120 can work both as a pure modem and NAT router. After a while the whole thread was deleted.
ReplyDeleteApparently, it's only the UK where they offer the stripped down version. German version seems to have NAT:
http://www.draytek.de/vigor120v2.html
By the way, they seem to carry on with this policy with their newer model, Vigor 130. The UK version is "not a router, but a true modem": http://www.draytek.co.uk/products/business/vigor-130
...while German version is both modem and router:
http://www.draytek.de/vigor130.html
So, only the UK customers get ripped off. But on the other hand, it's nothing illegal. It's just their regional marketing strategy.
Just for fun I have written a new post at Draytek and a new post here :-)
DeleteBastards.
I forgot to say, I suspected that German and UK models were in fact the same hardware, just the NAT settings were soft-blocked in the latter one. So I tried to upload German firmware into UK model but it changed nothing. The device was working fine but there were no extra settings available in web interface. Apparently, there must be either some real difference in hardware or the router functionality is blocked by some extra parameters in flash which don't get overwritten during firmware upgrade.
ReplyDeleteI planned to dig deeper and make some use of the 4-pin connector on the side, which I suspected was serial port, so in theory it could provide direct access to the system via serial console. Unfortunately, I had to give it up due to lack of time.
Intersting comments - I am not alone then !
DeleteBunch of bastards - well aware of what happens on the forums.....
And lots of misinformatoin etc etc. Like all their crap about IPv6 support in certain routers that never materialised.
The v120 issue really did piss me off though. I wouldn't mind if they sold them as say a basic and a premium model, but what they are doing is disgusting.
AND it is a rip off.
Looks like you can get one on Amazon UK for about GBP 60 whereas the proper router version on Amazon DE is about the same in Euros. So you are currently paying half as much again for a completely inferior product.
I am pretty sure they have different boards - either differently entirely or a chip missing. I'd be tempted to get one of each and open them up and post the photos.