Hello abthomp - I think it is good to have a look around the market for offerings so that you can make an informed decision for your specific requirements. Apologies in advance for two reasons - firstly, I am notoriously known amongst my friends of being incapable of saying anything in less than 25 words or less and secondly, if you are already aware of the following suggestion and information, in case it helps you with your final decision. There are many Wi-Fi extension technologies on the market, each with their respective sweet spots depending on your specific home layout, devices requirements and budget considerations. The Telstra Gen 2 Wi-Fi Booster presents as an impressive competent carrier supplied product as it one of the few newly certified 'Wi-Fi EasyNesh' products available on the market. Some of the retail products using the word 'Mesh' in their marketing don't meet this new Wi-Fi Alliance Standard and use their proprietary technologies to create their own Wi-Fi Mesh independent of the Router. To support this new Open Standard, the Router also has to be certified under the Global W-Fi Alliance Specification alleviating the need to have a dedicated Master Booster, so some Routers may not be capable of future migration. From the previous post by 343GuiltySpark, it appears that the Gen 2 Technicolor variant of the Smart Modem Gen 2 will be upgraded for compliance and is undergoing final certification tests in Australia prior to its firmware update release. The Telstra Smart Modem Arcadyan Gen 2 version is already compliant. 1. If you have a spare or redundant Wi-Fi Router from your pre-NBN days, and you can run a LAN cable from the Gen 2 Smart Modem LAN port to the remote location, it is possible to connect it to the LAN port of the spare Router making it Wi-Fi Access Point thereby extending a transparent Home Wi-Fi Network. This requires pre-setting the spare Router into Bridge Mode (disengages the DHCP function - the Gen 2 Router assigns the IP addresses for all devices and the SSID can be changed to same name and password to provide transparency to the users). Works well and an affordable quick solution where LAN inter-connect cabling is feasible; unopened new Telstra Gateway or used Telstra Frontier Routers sell from $10 to $20 on Gumtree. Telstra CrowdSupport postings also exist on the configuration process for reference. 2. If you see Wi-Fi Extenders that are on the budget end of the market, be aware that these single unit devices are generally Repeaters - incoming signal is received and regenerated at half the throughput, so performance can be below expectations and vary depending on your environment particularly for 5.0 Ghz devices if building penetration is an issue. They may work OK in your environment and devices; refer to section 3 below re speeds. As you move up the scale into higher technical platforms and budgets, other solutions may require a permanent LAN connection to a Master Booster which wirelessly communicates to the Remote Booster/s; these are sold in two or three unit packages. 3. I have only recently become familiar with the new Wi-Fi EasyMesh Architecture and I am impressed for a few reasons. Communication channels between the remote Wi-Fi Access Points and the embedded Software in the Router are set by the Router which not only maintains continual supervision of signal, handover and management but also does this at higher speed throughputs by using later generation Wi-Fi technologies. The Telstra Gen 2 Booster is Wi-Fi EasyMesh compliant, rated at 802.11 AC, 4 x 4 Antennae running at MAX AC2533 ( no slouch - that is maximum 1733 Mbps on 5.0 Ghz and 800 Mbps on 2.4 Ghz). All Wi-Fi speeds are specified in half duplex and have a reasonable element of marketing science fiction in them as the real world of homes and premises is not kind to radio waves, meaning they will be lower than maximum ratings. However having said that , I would expect the Gen 2 Booster to provide a robust connection given its nominal AC2533 rating and look after many people quiet comfortably into the future. In time we will know if the Telstra Gen 2 Booster is stable and works well in the field. If it lives up to its stated performance capabilities and you don't have a spare redundant Wi-Fi Router or wish to experiment with an acquired used router, not in a hurry and it's within budget, I think its a good pick. Cheers.
As you know GuiltySpark... from your excellent help on another thread, I started out wanting the new firmware to fix another issue with this modem - though it probably won't help. But I now have the Smart Gen 2 Booster and it's most frustrating that I now have two problems with the modem not working as intended/advertised - and apparently no way to fix the problem. Can you give me some guidance about how to go about getting the firmware update pushed to me... or installed via remote control from the Telstra end? Or should I seek a replacement - hopefully with up to date firmware or maybe the Arcadyan version of the modem? From repeated experience, I have no confidence that a call to platinum support will result in anything other than being told to go through all the steps already taken and/or being told that I'm imagining things.
