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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#2555667 2-Sep-2020 13:51

MikeB4: @grolschie that’s good to hear. I have been hold off transferring to Spark until some positive feedback started to filter through regarding the effectiveness of the updates.

The only issue I'm now facing is with the Mesh unit (replies to SSDP broadcast messages from multicast group member devices are getting blocked). The Smart Modem seems pretty solid (I'm on a beta firmware though).

hio77

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#2555716 2-Sep-2020 15:07

MikeB4: grolschie that’s good to hear. I have been hold off transferring to Spark until some positive feedback started to filter through regarding the effectiveness of the updates.

as grolschie has commented, he's been a gunnipig given complex and different enviroment to shake loose issues.

Latest update on our firmware is all of the issues raised on my list have been resolved along with a ton of extra ones found through the process.

we are progressing through with our vendor and internal teams to complete the required validation and compliance so the firmware can be shipped out to end users.

we also now do know the trigger for the device crashes that were seen, which given the sort of traffic that caused it there will be a mixed batch of customers who are impacted by it (be it possibly not bothered or not even noticed) and a larger proportion that won't even see the fault at all.

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HueyHQ

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#2556131 3-Sep-2020 09:02

I have found that my particular issue with frequent dropouts has been caused by Microsoft OneDrive. I have been able to reproduce the fault consistently - syncing causes entire network to fail with DNS issue; pause syncing and network resumes.

Unbeknownst to me, the MIL had purchased an Office365 subscription and immediately dumped all her files into OneDrive with the 1TB of storage given to her. On rural broadband, that can take some time, and in fact, is still ongoing, although I've now exited her OneDrive app and trying to manage the upload out-of-hours.

On all other computers on the property, I've uninstalled OneDrive - if it causes these kind of issues, we don't need it.

There must be other applications that cause occasional dropouts, but none as voracious as OneDrive.

Gordy7

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#2557719 6-Sep-2020 08:44

HueyHQ:

I have found that my particular issue with frequent dropouts has been caused by Microsoft OneDrive. I have been able to reproduce the fault consistently - syncing causes entire network to fail with DNS issue; pause syncing and network resumes.

Unbeknownst to me, the MIL had purchased an Office365 subscription and immediately dumped all her files into OneDrive with the 1TB of storage given to her. On rural broadband, that can take some time, and in fact, is still ongoing, although I've now exited her OneDrive app and trying to manage the upload out-of-hours.

On all other computers on the property, I've uninstalled OneDrive - if it causes these kind of issues, we don't need it.

There must be other applications that cause occasional dropouts, but none as voracious as OneDrive.

Interested.... Look here on how to control Onedrive priority to reduce bandwidth hogging...

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/onedrive-sync-kills-internet-connection/03d589f0-f5c6-41d2-b282-fee0cd97a84f

Edit: Can happen with any Modem/Router... not just the Smart Modem.

Gordy

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hio77

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#2558127 6-Sep-2020 22:13

HueyHQ:

I have found that my particular issue with frequent dropouts has been caused by Microsoft OneDrive. I have been able to reproduce the fault consistently - syncing causes entire network to fail with DNS issue; pause syncing and network resumes.

Unbeknownst to me, the MIL had purchased an Office365 subscription and immediately dumped all her files into OneDrive with the 1TB of storage given to her. On rural broadband, that can take some time, and in fact, is still ongoing, although I've now exited her OneDrive app and trying to manage the upload out-of-hours.

On all other computers on the property, I've uninstalled OneDrive - if it causes these kind of issues, we don't need it.

There must be other applications that cause occasional dropouts, but none as voracious as OneDrive.

That sounds like upstream contention, which kills any connection.

my parents have a wisp 100/40 connection that i setup for them, with copper failover (power outages, faults etc do happen afterall be it rare)

they had no idea how much their usage had adapted till that day it fell over for a few hours after the 24 hours of battery power ran dry.

Even just logging in remotely to stick a shaper on to control the upstream to something reasonable was EXTREMELY painful - and that's purely console access!

I must admit, i have not personally aggressively tested the smart modem for how it's queuing handles that situation. even the best of devices struggle with it. Given the move to fibre and wireless, it's also typically less of an issue (unless your rural ofcourse)

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baza1

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#2559648 7-Sep-2020 14:02

hio77:

PJ48:

Is the update to the MESH units still slowly rolling out? The firmware on my two units still seems to be unchanged at 1.00.04.

Yes, the rate at which it goes out is outside of my control unfortunately.

What is the id number for the Mesh unit update? I have one unit on 1.00.08 and another on 1.00.04.

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PJ48

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#2559691 7-Sep-2020 15:51

baza1:

What is the id number for the Mesh unit update? I have one unit on 1.00.08 and another on 1.00.04.

Both of mine now show 1.00.08 (previously 1.00.04), so I assume that the larger number is the firmware updated unit.

hio77

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#2560090 8-Sep-2020 09:40

baza1:

What is the id number for the Mesh unit update? I have one unit on 1.00.08 and another on 1.00.04.

1.00.08

Normally units update at about 4am.

I've double checked and the source file is fully updated so it should come down overtime.

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HueyHQ

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#2560370 8-Sep-2020 15:56

Gordy7:

Interested.... Look here on how to control Onedrive priority to reduce bandwidth hogging...

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/onedrive-sync-kills-internet-connection/03d589f0-f5c6-41d2-b282-fee0cd97a84f

Edit: Can happen with any Modem/Router... not just the Smart Modem.

Thanks Gordy. I gave that a go, but no dice. (It may be a coincidence, but after changing the limiting, it was worse! Took out the entire network that only a router reboot fixed.)

I think we will uninstall OneDrive on all devices. Like I said, there are other causes somewhere, but this is by far the worst offender.

grolschie

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#2561753 10-Sep-2020 14:42

hio77:

as grolschie has commented, he's been a gunnipig given complex and different enviroment to shake loose issues.

PCap's sent via PM.

backfiah

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#2566748 17-Sep-2020 11:25

Looking at buying a secondhand spark smart modem since it's a good-quality, affordable AP (plus, less e-waste..). My main concern is not being able to update it on a Vodafone connection --- are there any ways to manually update yet, or anyone here who could help me out? :)

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PJ48

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#2573068 23-Sep-2020 20:28

Since the firmware update to the Smart Mesh units I have been having LOTS of problem connecting my MacBook Pro to the Smart Modem - it will either briefly connect then drop off again, and the wifi emblem will say not connected to internet. Oddly this only occurs when I am in the range of the Smart modem, if I walk through to the other part of the house close to the Smart Mesh, it will instantly connect to the MESH unit with no issues.

hio77

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#2573070 23-Sep-2020 20:32

Should be an update that solves that in the next few days.

#include <std_disclaimer>

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PJ48

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#2573074 23-Sep-2020 20:58

hio77: Should be an update that solves that in the next few days.

Thats a relief - thanks for the info

grolschie

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#2573090 23-Sep-2020 21:24

grolschie:
hio77:

as grolschie has commented, he's been a gunnipig given complex and different enviroment to shake loose issues.

PCap's sent via PM.

The PM's with packet captures sent on Sept 8 are still unread @hio77.

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