New Spark smart modem 3

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › New Spark smart modem 3

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

279 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3056118 29-Mar-2023 10:28

I am using V3 for 6 months now, and am also facing the issues mentioned in this thread https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=66&topicid=302758

My mobile devices are working without any issues. My laptop and a few other devices identify the network but say 'No internet' and don't connect.

Rmani

Aucklandjafa

398 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3095241 27-Jun-2023 08:09

Gidday, just seeing if anyone knows if you can turn the SM3 into a mesh unit to extend off a fixed-wireless unit? There’s nothing standing out in the settings. The SM3 is Skinny branded if that helps. Cheers

ashtonaut

614 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3095282 27-Jun-2023 10:29

I have successfully extended wifi from one SM to a second using wired backhaul. The main SSID spans both units and works well (possibly not as a genuine ‘mesh’). The guest network does not extend. Check out my post history for more specifics.

Aucklandjafa

398 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3095329 27-Jun-2023 10:36

ashtonaut: I have successfully extended wifi from one SM to a second using wired backhaul. The main SSID spans both units and works well (possibly not as a genuine ‘mesh’). The guest network does not extend. Check out my post history for more specifics.

All good, cheers, won’t have the option of doing Ethernet. Would you know if Spark’s mesh 2 unit would work with the Skinny branded SM2/4G unit by chance?

Bung

6489 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#3095337 27-Jun-2023 10:54

Yes, Mesh 2 works with Modem 2 and Modem 3

sibrit

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3095820 28-Jun-2023 13:53

How would the Smart Modem 3 compare to other RX3500 Wi-Fi routers, such as the Netgear RAX35? I ask as one of the features I like about my current Nighthawk R7000P (AC2300) is the mobile app that I can use to diagnose and manage my network.

Azrorz

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#3125894 11-Sep-2023 10:37

Talkiet:

It's the new generation of the Fibre/DSL Smart Modem 1... I agree the naming/numbering is not ideal :-)

Smart Modem (now known as Spark Modem 1) - Suitable for DSL/Fibre. Still provides excellent FibreMax performance. No 4G/5G capability

Smart Modem 2. Intended just for 4G FWA. Has been deployed in some cases for Fibre in "Wireless while you wait" scenarios, and in isolated instances due to stock issues. WAS NEVER INTENDED to succeed the Smart Modem as the Fibre router of choice.

Smart Modem 5G. Same as the Smart Modem 2 except with a 5G radio for 5G FWA.

Smart Modem 3. Evolutionary replacement for the original Smart Modem 1. Same form factor, same DSL/Fibre only WAN options.

Smart modem 2/5G/3 all support the current Smart Mesh 2 Wifi extenders. The original Smart Modem 1 used a different Smart Mesh wifi extender that is not compatible with the new models.

Cheers - N

Our Smart Modem 1 recently just died at our flat and we got a free Smart Modem 3 replcement.

I spent about 3 hours yesterday trying to connect our old Smart mesh 1 to the Smart modem 3 trying everything under the sun - went over both documentations with a fine tooth comb and couldn't understand why it wouldn't work.

Thanks for validating my sanity by confirming it's not compatible but where on earth did you find that information? Spark don't seem to make mention of it in the documentation.

Unfortunately we have a very large house which does need a mesh so now some of us aren't able to get WiFi in the far end of the house :(

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

BlargHonk

147 posts

Master Geek

#3125895 11-Sep-2023 10:43

Azrorz:

Talkiet:

It's the new generation of the Fibre/DSL Smart Modem 1... I agree the naming/numbering is not ideal :-)

Smart Modem (now known as Spark Modem 1) - Suitable for DSL/Fibre. Still provides excellent FibreMax performance. No 4G/5G capability

Smart Modem 2. Intended just for 4G FWA. Has been deployed in some cases for Fibre in "Wireless while you wait" scenarios, and in isolated instances due to stock issues. WAS NEVER INTENDED to succeed the Smart Modem as the Fibre router of choice.

Smart Modem 5G. Same as the Smart Modem 2 except with a 5G radio for 5G FWA.

Smart Modem 3. Evolutionary replacement for the original Smart Modem 1. Same form factor, same DSL/Fibre only WAN options.

Smart modem 2/5G/3 all support the current Smart Mesh 2 Wifi extenders. The original Smart Modem 1 used a different Smart Mesh wifi extender that is not compatible with the new models.

Cheers - N

Our Smart Modem 1 recently just died at our flat and we got a free Smart Modem 3 replcement.

I spent about 3 hours yesterday trying to connect our old Smart mesh 1 to the Smart modem 3 trying everything under the sun - went over both documentations with a fine tooth comb and couldn't understand why it wouldn't work.

Thanks for validating my sanity by confirming it's not compatible but where on earth did you find that information? Spark don't seem to make mention of it in the documentation.

Unfortunately we have a very large house which does need a mesh so now some of us aren't able to get WiFi in the far end of the house :(

I would have a chat to your ISP and see if they can give you a discount or something on the newer Smart Mesh 2. It is pretty average that they are not compatible

Nil Einne

469 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3147947 16-Oct-2023 08:19

It seems this router doesn't support white space in the WiFi WPA PSK/Pre-shared key at least the Skinny variant with firmware v1.00.04 build02 "WPA Pre-shared Key can not have space.". I have to say I've used a bunch of not that great ISP provided routers and modems over the years, and a whole host of different devices connecting to the WiFi and this is the first one with such a dumb limitation. Although looking online it seems Asus has decided it's a good idea with some of theirs as well.

Maybe Arcadyan will decide to just limit the PSK to all lowercase next?

ianajmes

130 posts

Master Geek

#3163416 25-Nov-2023 09:03

Naithin: I'm still using the Smart Modem V1, and even after the firmware updates, it still seems to intermittently drop connection by way of restarting itself.

For anyone now using the V3, any similar issues noted so far?

The self-resetting of the modem is rare enough that I've tolerated it so far, but it's still typically around once or twice a day. And every so often it really picks a poor moment to do it. So I really *should* get it replaced. V3 might be the go if people are finding it reliable so far. :)

I have been slightly disappointed with the Smart Modem 3 so much that I actually reverted back to my old modem. I recently upgraded to the Smart Modem 3 as I thought the coverage would be better in our home and yes, out of the box was very impressed, better coverage, faster speeds so packed away the Huawei HG659 and the TP link extenders and all was good for a day until it constantly rebooted, every 8-12 hours. Got a replacement from Spark, held steady for 3 days then constantly rebooting again every 8-12 hours which was pretty inconvenient especially when working at home.
Reinstalled the older Huawei last week and over 7 days up now, no disconnections and even though I have the TP extender back in I'd just rather have the stability over the performance.

Gordy7

1906 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3163442 25-Nov-2023 10:51

I have had good success with my Spark SM3.... Since the beginning of September I have been on Skinny gigabit and now on 2degrees... as far as I know the SM3 has not shown any problems. Here is my SM3 info in case there are different models that have problems.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

Dochart

804 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3163515 25-Nov-2023 13:31

Gordy7:
I have had good success with my Spark SM3.... Since the beginning of September I have been on Skinny gigabit and now on 2degrees... as far as I know the SM3 has not shown any problems. Here is my SM3 info in case there are different models that have problems.

The only issues I have is that I’m running two Spark Smart Modems together (SM3 as main and SM2 as secondary) connected to each other using LAN ports and the issue I have is that I’m unable to edit the settings on SM3 when it’s connected to SM2. It pops up with “Unknown Error so have to factory reset the SM3 and have SM2 unplugged to be able to change the settings on SM3. This can probably be fixed in a future firmware update.

The next issue is that usually around once per day at a random time the wifi on SM2 disconnects and I’m guessing this is a software fault as I’m running this as a secondary router (no issues with wifi disconnecting when I had it set up as Static WAN on SM2). I believe it’s a firmware issue on the SM2 which is causing the wifi to disconnect at a random time each day. This can probably be fixed in a future firmware update,

P.S: my home internet is not on Spark and using different ISP which uses Automatic IP/IPOE. Hopefully one of the Spark devs can see this and see if these issues can be fixed in a future firmware update.

Another issue is that I’m unable to have different wifi channels for each router so if I setup wifi channel on one of the routers it will automatically change to that wifi channel on the second Spark Smart Modem router.