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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8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2464962 18-Apr-2020 16:56

Hey Peter,

Excellent job!!

I've been thinking of mounting my one high as well.

Do you think you have better coverage, same or worse than standard mode of sitting it on a desk etc?

I probably won't do it if signal is not improved, so would be interested in hearing of your experience over the next week or so.

Cheers, Bruce.

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Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

PJ48

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2464981 18-Apr-2020 17:44

kiwibrucie: Hey Peter,

Excellent job!!

I've been thinking of mounting my one high as well.

Do you think you have better coverage, same or worse than standard mode of sitting it on a desk etc?

I probably won't do it if signal is not improved, so would be interested in hearing of your experience over the next week or so.

Cheers, Bruce.

To be honest I have no way of knowing as I have just installed it for the first time. To make matters worse I have paired it with 2 smart mesh units at each end of the house (connected by ethernet) as well, as we have an old house with lathe and plaster walls that historically have caused us a lot of problems with wifi coverage, so I have gone completely overboard. The coverage is now excellent!! It was extremely easy to mount, as I just screwed in 2 large cup hooks and the footplate hangs off them. The natural angle of the unit means that it sits down against the wall further down.

cheers

Peter

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#2465017 18-Apr-2020 18:30

hio77:

the guide is a bit of a hard one, certainly feedback the folk that look after the modem take note of.

what i'd turn the question around on is, what were you wanting to find in there?

At the moment, essentially the things I referred to in my post above:

- how to assign a static IP to some devices on the network

- how to port forward

I like this unit. I would be even happier if it had a better manual, one more Ethernet port so I could connect all the cables I had going into the previous Huawei unit, and winky-blinky activity lights for the wired ports and wifi. I get you can't fix the last two, but it surely shouldn't be beyond spark to post a more detailed technical manual alongside the very, very basic quick start guide currently on the website?

PJ48

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2465056 18-Apr-2020 19:51

WH0A:

hio77:

Use 5ghz wifi where possible, but things like the Surface Pro for example are just older devices, and only have lower mimo chips in them, thus they preform far slower.

Yes, we're using 5GHz on everything that supports it. Noted re Surface Pro.

BTw, Spark tech support got me to try every 2.4GHz channel, but strangely didn't want me to change any 5GHz channels. However, I played with some different channel settings for 5GHz but it made no difference.

I'm not too worried about that difference between devices, it's the slow speed to even the newest devices (e.g. 2 x iPhone 11 Pro) that is the concern with this device wifi.

I can confirm that wifi speeds seem to be consistently constrained compared to ethernet. Even on a Modern MacBook Pro with 3x3 MIMO, I cannot exceed 250-260 Mbps download from nearest Spark server on Wifi, whereas I am getting 700-800 Mbps over ethernet. This occurs when connected to either Smart Mesh or Smart Modem, all on ethernet backhaul. We don't have close competing wifi networks, and these tests have been done while no other download activity going on

Wifi reports connected at RSSI 36 - 45 dBm, Tx rate 1300 Mbps, 802.11ac, MCS 9.

Is it normal for wifi speeds on this device to be that constrained even in an optimal environment?

Peter

PJ48

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2465683 19-Apr-2020 19:47

Actually - having done some reading - it looks like 250 - 300 Mbps is about the maximum I should expect in the real world from a 802.11AC router. So I will stop worrying about it!

nzmatt

42 posts

Geek

#2465877 20-Apr-2020 10:12

Hats off to Spark - I was having problems with my old router, I suspect struggling with the load of too many people . I had decided to go with Grandstream router and AP, then read about this router and thought it was worth a try. I called Spark and was very kindly send a new modem at no charge.

First impression are great WiFI range and speed, great for simple "plug and play" users, but a bit limited for most. Wifi has a stronger signal than the old router, and max speed (I only have 100Mps ) on speed test everywhere in my house. I was planning on buying a mesh unit, but looks like I won;t be needing it.

Big issue I have is some devices are failing to get a DHCP lease when connecting. Its hard to track down why or what devices - PC's and phones are vulnerable, as is my Panasonic Blueray player (That's been given a static IP now). Seems limited to the 5G band, and the Guest network (when I had it turned on) worked just fine on devices that did not work on the main network. Played with a few settings, but it seems random - latest 'tweat' was set 5G wifi to "Prefer channel 64", and I have not seen a problem with DHCP since - related, who knows.

Anyone know if this problem has a cause/solution?

hio77

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#2465883 20-Apr-2020 10:23

nzmatt:

Big issue I have is some devices are failing to get a DHCP lease when connecting. Its hard to track down why or what devices - PC's and phones are vulnerable, as is my Panasonic Blueray player (That's been given a static IP now). Seems limited to the 5G band, and the Guest network (when I had it turned on) worked just fine on devices that did not work on the main network. Played with a few settings, but it seems random - latest 'tweat' was set 5G wifi to "Prefer channel 64", and I have not seen a problem with DHCP since - related, who knows.

Anyone know if this problem has a cause/solution?

Please DM me your serial number :)

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hio77

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#2465884 20-Apr-2020 10:28

PJ48:

Actually - having done some reading - it looks like 250 - 300 Mbps is about the maximum I should expect in the real world from a 802.11AC router. So I will stop worrying about it!

I went to reply to this last night, but tests don't share great from mobile...

Really depends on your device, if there are legacy devices on the band etc, This was a test i did at peak time so it was a little slow... (Huawei Mate 20 Pro 4x4 AC)

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BuzzLightyear

411 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2465903 20-Apr-2020 10:39

nzmatt:

Hats off to Spark - I was having problems with my old router, I suspect struggling with the load of too many people . I had decided to go with Grandstream router and AP, then read about this router and thought it was worth a try. I called Spark and was very kindly send a new modem at no charge.

First impression are great WiFI range and speed, great for simple "plug and play" users, but a bit limited for most. Wifi has a stronger signal than the old router, and max speed (I only have 100Mps ) on speed test everywhere in my house. I was planning on buying a mesh unit, but looks like I won;t be needing it.

Big issue I have is some devices are failing to get a DHCP lease when connecting. Its hard to track down why or what devices - PC's and phones are vulnerable, as is my Panasonic Blueray player (That's been given a static IP now). Seems limited to the 5G band, and the Guest network (when I had it turned on) worked just fine on devices that did not work on the main network. Played with a few settings, but it seems random - latest 'tweat' was set 5G wifi to "Prefer channel 64", and I have not seen a problem with DHCP since - related, who knows.

Anyone know if this problem has a cause/solution?

As per earlier in this conversation I experience this once a month or so with my modem. Its a bit random by can't renew leases. Like you, Guest network works fine. Can give the device a static, connect it and then put back to DHCP. Also, a reboot generally fixes. I end up doing this about once a month.

PJ48

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2466564 20-Apr-2020 19:28

hio77:

PJ48:

Actually - having done some reading - it looks like 250 - 300 Mbps is about the maximum I should expect in the real world from a 802.11AC router. So I will stop worrying about it!

I went to reply to this last night, but tests don't share great from mobile...

Really depends on your device, if there are legacy devices on the band etc, This was a test i did at peak time so it was a little slow... (Huawei Mate 20 Pro 4x4 AC)

Thanks for that - I have finally worked out why I was getting apparently not so stellar download results!

The nearest Spark Wellington Speedtest server is unable to sustain very fast download speeds - when I swapped to the ChCH server, the speeds instantly went up. The images are the comparative wifi speeds, but ethernet connected speeds also went up from ~600 Mbps to 920 Mbps. Not sure why the Wellington site is so throttled.

cheers

Peter

hio77

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#2466566 20-Apr-2020 19:30

Not throttled, in some cases where unideal network conditions are at play it can happen though.

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myopinion

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Ultimate Geek

#2468401 23-Apr-2020 09:46

Hi guys just got on of these new smart modems. Wifi range is definitely better and the VDSL is slightly faster than the old modem. However I'm located a fair way from the modem at home and the 5GHz coverage is poor. Most of the time the laptop (newish MacBook Pro 15") connects to the 2.4 GHz channel with a strong signal. The problem occurs when the laptop sometimes tries to connect to the 5 GHz channel and I lose internet connection during the changeover. This can last for up to a minute so its not workable.

Any way of forcing a 2.4 GHz connection?

myopinion

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Ultimate Geek

#2468405 23-Apr-2020 09:49

I might have found the solution adding the MAC address to the 2.4 GHz Mac filter only?

hio77

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#2468418 23-Apr-2020 09:57

I'd really recommend a mesh unit in that usecase. but if you really must, turn bandsteering off.

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myopinion

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Ultimate Geek

#2468493 23-Apr-2020 11:21

Thanks for the reply. As I'm the only one having an issue, I've turned on the 2.4GHz guest network and using that. I don't need access to anything other than the internet so this is a good workaround.

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