Technicolour Smart modem Gen 2 with 3rd Party Wi-Fi Router

[ended909]

Hi Guys,

I have just been transferred from Telstra Broadfband Cable to HFC NBN and I was wondering if I might get some feedback or advice on using a 3rd party wi-fi router.

I have done a bit of research and its probably 6 years since I had my head fully around these technologies 

The system is installed and working and is generally ok but the wi-fi from the TSM is not as good as I would like.

PRE NBN System

My pre NBN system consisted of a Netgear CG3100 cable modem in bridge mode, a D Link DIR-890L AC 3200 wi-fi router, 1 x Netgear  EX6200 acting as a bridge and 1 x EX7000 acting as a second bridge.

The system has worked perfectly with hardly a days outage or concern

Current NBN System

NBN is currently set up as follows

Arris CM8200 NBN connection box, Telstra Smart Modem Gen 2(DJA0231), EX6200 & EX7000 bridges are in and working receiving signals from the TSM

1st question I have is I read somewhere that any router would need to be VDSL this doesn't quite make sense to me as I would have thought that only applied to a modem  so can I use the DIR-890L or do I need a new wi-fi router.

I want to keep the TSM in situ to take benefit of its phone and 4G backup in case of HFC failure.

If I use the 890l what's the process put the 890 into bridge mode and connect it to the TSM via ethernet (Lan to Lan or Lan to DIR 890 Wan) then turn off the wi-fi on the TSM?

Once its bridged the routing is coming from the TSM right? do I need to give the DIR a static IP and then add that IP to port forwarding in the TSM?

Thoughts and suggestions appreciated.

Cheers

[SteveW_52 · Accepted solution]

"I want to keep the TSM in situ to take benefit of its phone and 4G backup in case of HFC failure."

These are the main features that make the SM2's worthwhile. I have the Arcardyan version of the SM2 and am more than happy with the Wi-Fi performance. The Technicolour version I started with on changeover to NBN suffered a Wi-Fi failure early on and was replaced by the LH1000 (I got three so I have ample sparing at present )  others here can probably comment with more hands on experience of the Technicolor SM2 Wi-Fi capability.

Since installing the LH100, I haven't had to do much. Being old school and with share in copper, I se switches to expand my network off the SM2. Only issue i had with Wi-Fi is poor performance of a couple of eBooks on 2.4G, i installed a Telstra Wi-Fi Booster to fix that and have taken advantage of a few ethernet ports at the other end of the house. I use Dual Port 2000 Mbps Ethernet powerline extenders for the link between the SM2 and the Booster, hasn't missed a beat in 9 months, even through F/W updates and other things.

The recent PMF issue with the LH1000 firmware update (they get pushed out n Telstras schedule) was easily fixed.

My suggestion would be to keep all the previous hardware to one side, ready as spares, or connect any bits you need to provide extra access you require but try the SM2 solution for a couple of weeks - there are tweaks that might improve your experience - disable band steering etc. If you are still not happy, then use the SM2 as the core router/dhcp and add the access points/wifi extenders that you need.

[cf4 · Accepted solution]

Any router can be used as the main router on a Telstra NBN HFC connection. The only NBN connections that require a router with a built in VDSL function are NBN FTTN and FTTB connections. The advice that you need a VDSL router is outdated and was correct when most of the new NBN connections used FTTN as the techology.

My preferred set up is to connect the D Link DIR-890L AC3200 directly to the Arris modem and if you need a phone service connect the WAN port of the Telstra modem to a LAN port of the D Link DIR-890L AC3200. If the HFC goes down the Telstra modem could be disconnected and the D Link DIR-890L AC3200's WAN port connected to a LAN port of Telstra modem to provide 4G backup until HFC connection is fixed.

Setup D Link DIR-890L AC3200 as Dynamic IP (DHCP), page 98 of manual. For incoming calls to work SIP ALG will need to be turned off (Page 101 of manual)

You will also need to change the LAN IP address and LAN DHCP server address range of the Telstra or the D Link DIR-890L AC3200 so that both don't use the same subset of 192.168.0.xx. There are instructions for how to change LAN IP address to 192.168.178.1 of the Telstra modem in section 27 of document linked in these post

Telstra Smart Modem Gen 2 Technicolor DJA0231
https://crowdsupport.telstra.com.au/t5/Modems-Hardware/Telstra-Smartmodem-Gen-2-Technicolor-version-...

Telstra Smart Modem Gen 2 LH1000
https://crowdsupport.telstra.com.au/t5/Modems-Hardware/Telstra-Smart-Modem-Gen-2-Arcadyan-version-LH...

Normal Connection

Arris Modem--------(WAN)D Link(LAN)-----(WAN)Telstra Modem-----Phone

                                          WiFi                 Telstra modem LAN IP changed

                                            I                      Example 192.168.178.1)

                              WiFi Extender (1 and 2)

Backup Connection

Telstra Modem(LAN)------(WAN)D Link----WiFi Extender (1 and 2)

The advantage of this setup is that because the D Link is main router you have more control over customized settings.

The other option is to use the Telstra modem as the main modem and D Link as an access point.

Arris Modem----(WAN)Telstra Modem(LAN)-----(LAN)D Link(WiFi)--------Extender (1 and 2)

                                     WiFi Off                               DHCP Off

                          Static Lease for Dlink                  LAN IP changed 

                            Example 192.168.0.50              Example 192.168.0.50

 There is a video here on how to set up the D Link as an access point. Suggest you first log into the Telstra modem and Go to Advanced > Local Network > Devices (Arcadyan) or Advanced > Devices to check which IP addresses are free.

With D Link as Access the only settings required in Telstra modem is to turn off WiFi and set a static lease for the LAN IP address of D Link (Section 8 of Telstra modem unofficial manual) 

[ended909]

Hi SteveW_52,

thanks for the feedback and thoughts.

band steering already turned off, first thing I did.

I'll keep your suggestions in mind

Cheers

[ended909]

Hi cf4,

thanks for the response.

No wonder you are a Supreme Being,  I bow before you.

this is awesome specially the SM2 manual which I have been searching for for days now.

I assume you mean page 68 of the Dlink manual for setting dynamic IP not page 98. 

I'll play with both these setups over the long weekend and see where I end up at.

might have follow up questions as we proceed.

again thanks for your advice and the TSM manual 

cheers

[ended909]

Both options worked a treat and its great increased stability and ranged from my DIR-890L in operation again which has never me me down.

Eventually I'll probably upgrade to WiFi 6 but for the time being in happy chappy.

thanks heaps for your assistance.

cheers