Spark Launches new Inhome Experience - Spark Smart Modem & Spark Smart Mesh

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark Launches new Inhome Experience - Spark Smart Modem & Spark Smart Mesh

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Lizard Networks

#2489354 22-May-2020 12:31

Just turn dhcp off, plug in to a lan port and your done.

Messing with bridging etc is complications you don't need.

Remember it's not a supported setup :)

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PJ48

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#2489458 22-May-2020 13:42

hio77: Just turn dhcp off, plug in to a lan port and your done.

Messing with bridging etc is complications you don't need.

Remember it's not a supported setup :)

Ah... so the network cable needs to be plugged into the LAN port on the Smart modem and not the WAN port - is that correct? And do I need to disable NAT as well as DHCP?

grolschie

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#2489466 22-May-2020 13:54

PJ48:

hio77: Just turn dhcp off, plug in to a lan port and your done.

Messing with bridging etc is complications you don't need.

Remember it's not a supported setup :)

Ah... so the network cable needs to be plugged into the LAN port on the Smart modem and not the WAN port - is that correct? And do I need to disable NAT as well as DHCP?

I'm thinking that this probably should have been on a separate thread (or PM) as everyone subscribed to this thread will be getting notifications.

PJ48

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#2489511 22-May-2020 15:45

grolschie:

I'm thinking that this probably should have been on a separate thread (or PM) as everyone subscribed to this thread will be getting notifications.

I would have thought this was useful information to people other than just me. Anyway thanks @hio77 as I have now got the Smart modem and 2 Smart Mesh units running as wired APs with the ER-X taking over routing duties by following his and Timbosans instructions. Sadly it has not fixed my Solar system as it is still not communicating.

hio77

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#2489687 22-May-2020 16:35

PJ48:

I would have thought this was useful information to people other than just me. Anyway thanks @hio77 as I have now got the Smart modem and 2 Smart Mesh units running as wired APs with the ER-X taking over routing duties by following his and Timbosans instructions. Sadly it has not fixed my Solar system as it is still not communicating.

That's progress, and more inline with something i'd be keen to understand more on.

I do agree questestions on utilizing the device in an unsupported way detracts from this thread, however you may be bringing up a relevant example.

Can you please answer the following:

1. what is the network topology from solar system to your edge router? (including mesh hops and backhaul type please.)

2. What communication methodology is used by the solar system. (TCP, UDP, Broadcast, MQTT etc the more detail the better.)

3. Did the solar system work just connected normally?

4. have you double checked your configuration on the solar system.

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

PJ48

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#2489754 22-May-2020 17:54

hio77:

PJ48:

I would have thought this was useful information to people other than just me. Anyway thanks @hio77 as I have now got the Smart modem and 2 Smart Mesh units running as wired APs with the ER-X taking over routing duties by following his and Timbosans instructions. Sadly it has not fixed my Solar system as it is still not communicating.

That's progress, and more inline with something i'd be keen to understand more on.

I do agree questestions on utilizing the device in an unsupported way detracts from this thread, however you may be bringing up a relevant example.

Can you please answer the following:

1. what is the network topology from solar system to your edge router? (including mesh hops and backhaul type please.)

2. What communication methodology is used by the solar system. (TCP, UDP, Broadcast, MQTT etc the more detail the better.)

3. Did the solar system work just connected normally?

4. have you double checked your configuration on the solar system.

1. Ethernet cable direct to Lan port on Smart modem, which is itself connected to ER-X by Ethernet. The Solar system has always been connected by ethernet, and never communicated via wifi.

2. I am sorry but I don't know how it communicates as that technical stuff is beyond me - it is a GoodWe inverter system attached to a Panasonic battery system installed and maintained by SolarCity.

3.Th system always used to communicate fine - first plugged into my old airport extreme, then the new Smart Modem.

4. I have reset the PSU on the solar system as per instructions - and there is no wifi to reconfigure. I don't have the technical expertise to know how to interrogate traffic. I can see that the ethernet connection at the Solar system is communicating with flashing green network lights. It is entirely possible that the fault is at Solar City end, but at the moment they deny that is their issue.

hio77

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#2489757 22-May-2020 18:00

PJ48:

1. Ethernet cable direct to Lan port on Smart modem, which is itself connected to ER-X by Ethernet. The Solar system has always been connected by ethernet, and never communicated via wifi.

2. I am sorry but I don't know how it communicates as that technical stuff is beyond me - it is a GoodWe inverter system attached to a Panasonic battery system installed and maintained by SolarCity.

3.Th system always used to communicate fine - first plugged into my old airport extreme, then the new Smart Modem.

4. I have reset the PSU on the solar system as per instructions - and there is no wifi to reconfigure. I don't have the technical expertise to know how to interrogate traffic. I can see that the ethernet connection at the Solar system is communicating with flashing green network lights. It is entirely possible that the fault is at Solar City end, but at the moment they deny that is their issue.

It sounds quite possible that it's actually had a statically assigned ip and your move to ER-X has a different ip range/default gateway assigned - I'd suspect previously it was configured to communicate through the airport, that was likely doing double nat at the time.

you can confirm this by directly connecting it to the ER-X, even if it's temporarily via a long cable.

i am pretty confident in saying it's not related to the smart modem but more so todo with the network rearrangement you have completed to get this working.

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PJ48

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#2489759 22-May-2020 18:11

hio77:

It sounds quite possible that it's actually had a statically assigned ip and your move to ER-X has a different ip range/default gateway assigned - I'd suspect previously it was configured to communicate through the airport, that was likely doing double nat at the time.

you can confirm this by directly connecting it to the ER-X, even if it's temporarily via a long cable.

i am pretty confident in saying it's not related to the smart modem but more so todo with the network rearrangement you have completed to get this working.

Thanks - I will try this.

mAYH3M

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#2489886 23-May-2020 03:16

hio77:

mAYH3M:

Has anyone got a link to the newer firmware as even the Bigpipe one keeps dropping Wifi randomly.

Contacted Bigpipe technical support and they sent me a template response.

bigpipe generally runs the same firmware as Spark (be it with slightly different functionality)

At it's core i suspect you will be seeing the same wifi issues as described here (which we are working on a solution with the vendor)

However, to ensure it's the same...

Can you please describe your setup and the issue you face when the wifi drops. the more detail the better even if it's just "i get explanation mark on the wifi icon"

Just helps me categorize and ensure it's catered by our test conditions.

Default Wifi Setup consists of 2 GWN7610 AP's.

Band Steering - ON

Chanel - 6 & 36 (Zero interference on these channels)(Second GWN AP broadcasts on different fixed channels)

Rest of the WiFi settings - Default

Devices - P30 Pro, iPad (2017), FireTV 4K, Google Home (

The devices get disconnected randomly and connect to the wifi after less than 1 minute.
LAN devices are not effected because I got a GWN AP hooked into LAN that is online when the WiFi on the Smart Modem goes down.
Weird fact is that I can roam between the Smart Modem and my second GWN AP seamlessly and I don't lose connectivity.😄

Initially the devices would get disconnected and had the ! mark next to them for a quite a while.

I sorted that out by issuing static IP's to most of my devices and my system log looked pretty similar to @PJ48

Solid device let down by buggy dnsmaq and patchy WiFi.

BuzzLightyear

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Ultimate Geek

#2489977 23-May-2020 11:03

nzmatt:
I only have the smart modem without the mesh, and did have the DHCP lease problem. I have not noticed DHCP problems since I turned off band steering - probably two weeks ago. This does not mean that much on its own as it is as likely to be coincidence as anything.

I turned off band steering yesterday and will see in a couple of weeks whether that makes any difference. For me wired clients have never had DHCP issues so fingers crossed this will help. As an FYI as soon as a turned band steering off my Mac book renewed its lease no problem which it hasn’t been able to for a couple of days despite a router restart.

hio77

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#2490033 23-May-2020 12:21

mAYH3M:

Default Wifi Setup consists of 2 GWN7610 AP's.

Band Steering - ON

Chanel - 6 & 36 (Zero interference on these channels)(Second GWN AP broadcasts on different fixed channels)

Rest of the WiFi settings - Default

Devices - P30 Pro, iPad (2017), FireTV 4K, Google Home (

The devices get disconnected randomly and connect to the wifi after less than 1 minute.
LAN devices are not effected because I got a GWN AP hooked into LAN that is online when the WiFi on the Smart Modem goes down.
Weird fact is that I can roam between the Smart Modem and my second GWN AP seamlessly and I don't lose connectivity.😄

Initially the devices would get disconnected and had the ! mark next to them for a quite a while.
I sorted that out by issuing static IP's to most of my devices and my system log looked pretty similar to @PJ48

Solid device let down by buggy dnsmaq and patchy WiFi.

This sounds like bandsteering, and as your using extra AP's that aren't the same it's not acting as smooth.

Thanks for the description though, I'll replicate this using my E400s in a bit once i've got the existing issues i'm looking at sorted as to not over complicate things.

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

hio77

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#2490034 23-May-2020 12:26

BuzzLightyear:
nzmatt:

I only have the smart modem without the mesh, and did have the DHCP lease problem. I have not noticed DHCP problems since I turned off band steering - probably two weeks ago. This does not mean that much on its own as it is as likely to be coincidence as anything.

I turned off band steering yesterday and will see in a couple of weeks whether that makes any difference. For me wired clients have never had DHCP issues so fingers crossed this will help. As an FYI as soon as a turned band steering off my Mac book renewed its lease no problem which it hasn’t been able to for a couple of days despite a router restart.

Let me know how this goes please.

I've got our vendor working with us on about 3 different issues right now, so working through them as they come up with solutions.

It's a slow process, Whenever you want an issue to happen it doesn't happen! but I have caught the worst of the lot now which is massive to resolving these issues. Again i do apologize for the long delays.

Once I'm nolonger able to replicate them here we will be taking a firmware update through our normal testing process. I'll be seeing if i can share a early build with a few here to shake loose anything before we push it out to everyone though :)

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

mAYH3M

162 posts

Master Geek

#2490388 24-May-2020 10:29

hio77:

mAYH3M:

Default Wifi Setup consists of 2 GWN7610 AP's.

Band Steering - ON

Chanel - 6 & 36 (Zero interference on these channels)(Second GWN AP broadcasts on different fixed channels)

Rest of the WiFi settings - Default

Devices - P30 Pro, iPad (2017), FireTV 4K, Google Home (

The devices get disconnected randomly and connect to the wifi after less than 1 minute.
LAN devices are not effected because I got a GWN AP hooked into LAN that is online when the WiFi on the Smart Modem goes down.
Weird fact is that I can roam between the Smart Modem and my second GWN AP seamlessly and I don't lose connectivity.😄

Initially the devices would get disconnected and had the ! mark next to them for a quite a while.
I sorted that out by issuing static IP's to most of my devices and my system log looked pretty similar to @PJ48

Solid device let down by buggy dnsmaq and patchy WiFi.

This sounds like bandsteering, and as your using extra AP's that aren't the same it's not acting as smooth.

Thanks for the description though, I'll replicate this using my E400s in a bit once i've got the existing issues i'm looking at sorted as to not over complicate things.

Only the device connected to Smart Modem are effected by this issue .Those same devices have no issues while or after they are handed on to the GWN AP which is on the other end of the house.

I might go with the smart modem mesh if the wifi issue is sorted.

mAYH3M

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Master Geek

#2492843 27-May-2020 14:36

mrhaboobi:

So just a question on your set up, does this mean you now have one SSID across the entire house? and i see you have used Ethernet between the two devices, so is this really just working as an access point rather than a wireless mesh?

I think it only works with ethernet backhaul as an AP (with roaming supported) but it does replicate the wifi settings from the primary modem automatically after a quick plug-in and reset.

hio77

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#2492848 27-May-2020 14:42

mAYH3M:

mrhaboobi:

So just a question on your set up, does this mean you now have one SSID across the entire house? and i see you have used Ethernet between the two devices, so is this really just working as an access point rather than a wireless mesh?

I think it only works with ethernet backhaul as an AP (with roaming supported) but it does replicate the wifi settings from the primary modem automatically after a quick plug-in and reset.

It does the same functionality as Mesh wifi, except instead of wifi backhaul, it's ethernet. means you don't have the overhead of using the wifi backhaul

since it acts as a single wifi SSID, same channel, roams seamlessly etc i'd still say it's "Mesh" rather than acting as another AP.

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

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