Upgrading my modem

[Alleycat]

TPG have gratiously offered me a short term upgrade to 200mbps speed, up from my 50mbps plan. But with the old original N300 NF12 router modem, they say I can only (possibly) get better speed with LAN cable connections (not possible).

I have done A speed check through the house and currently  can only get 69/22 best location next to router, to 18.5/13 furthest away. At different times over a period of two months best speed ever obtained on fixed location PC via WiFi was 66/23 worst 12/6

I am thinking of purchasing a pair of TP-Link Deco M9P's to set up a mesh network.

Has anyone else had experience with thse units or have comments on this idea?

[david64]

Hi @Alleycat . When you did the speed tests, did you use the 2.4G or 5G band? The manual indicates there are two bands but the router is described as single band, so maybe it is either 2.4G or 5G at a time.

If you are FTTP connection, the Deco will probaby work, although the manual doesn't say what connection protocols it supports (TPG uses PPPoE). 

If you are on another connection type, you need to be able to set VLAN ID=2. Manual doesn't show how to do this but it does have an IPTV section that some routers use for the Internet VLAN setting.

As to whether to get the Deco, any new router (a single device, multi-band) might give sufficient throughput (the Deco is fairly expensive). The limiting factor to the top speeds on your devices might be the wifi interface in the device. If your PC has an ethernet port, use it to determine your best possible speed.

[Alleycat]

Hi David64

Thanks for the comments

The NT300 NF12 only has 2.4G Band. This modem provided in 2017 by TPG was also discontinued  in 2017 but has the latest 2018 Firmware. Netcomm no longer provide support for this model.

Unfortunately the TPG modem/router is installed in the kitchen/family room, my PC (preferred) is located in spare room at the end of the main passage approx 16m away almost line of sight to router.

I have done TPG speed tests throughout the house at different times, with two different phones, a Samsung Tablet plus the fixed PC. Unfortunately I do not have a laptop with a RJ45 connection to do a direct connection to the router.

Best speed acheived at any time has been 66/23 (Tablet within 3m of router), average would be around 30/20 lowest around 14/10. So I think the router is the problem. Hence the look to upgrade. Will also look into PC Wifi.

Yes I have FTTP. TPLink say "Deco supports five internet connection types: PPPoE, Static IP, Dynamic IP, PPTP, and L2TP. That means Deco can work with most ISPs."

So I think I should be ok on that score.

Apparently TP Link have an App to make the setup of their units simple. From what comments I have seen it seems to work (the App) pretty well.

I was just wondering if anyone else has had any experience going down this path hence the post.

When I get the units I will do another speed test before and after and put up an update to this post.

[david64]

@Alleycat . Here's one:

https://community.tpg.com.au/t5/Modems-and-Devices/Problem-connecting-Huawei-HG659-to-TP-Link-Deco-M...

[Alleycat · Accepted solution]

Thanks again David64,

As I have FTTP I was planning to ditch the old router and connect direct to the modem.

For anyone else interested here are some details.

I have now replaced the original Netcom N300 NF12 with a pair of TP LINK DECO M9P's.

One at the modem, the other in the home office at the end of the main passage ~ 15m away.

Installation was a breeze using the TP LINK DECO App. All you need to make sure is that you have all the correct passwords for your account. Once I had the first one installed  (Unit immediately informed me and did a firmware update) I did a couple of TPG Speed checks.

With the old Router,

1. At my PC (Home Office ) on Wifi using a TP LINK Adapter WN821N (only 2.4G Band) spec's say good for upto 300Mbps I was getting (av) 25/22

2. With a Samsung Tablet 

a. At Router 60/22

b. At the PC location 30/21

c. Furthest Bedroom 42/22

With the first New Router DECO M9

a. At Router138/24

b. At PC 134/23

c. At Bedroom 125/22

3. On the PC (still using same Wifi Adapter) I got 115/23

I then installed the second DECO directly above my PC. Again the DECO App detected the second unit and set it up within minutes. (also did Update of Firmware on this unit).

With  two units, again using the tablet I got

a. At PC 150/23

b. At Bedroom 140/23.

c. On the PC speed went up to 142/23

Today I have connected the PC directly to the DECO via RJ45 cable, Speed check shows speed of 154/23.

One question that did arise was which Speed check can you believe.

Mostly I have used the TPG Custom Speed check (as above) so the above are comparing apples and apples, but In working through the DECO App I have found that you can do a speed check, so I did, to my amazment I got the following results. These were done on my phone .

TPG 38/23

Deco App 265/23 which is above the 200Mbps Plan speed I am on at the moment.

There is a write up in the app about speed checks quoting that their speed check is between the Deco and the Internet as against a client to internet check but as I did this from my phone I still find the difference amazing. If only I were getting the quoted Deco speed.

[david64]

Hi @Alleycat . Regarding speed tests, the best speed is obtained by ethernet computer connected to the main Deco. The TPG speed test should be the closest network-wise. But try other ones. The speed may vary between morning, afternoon, evening.

You can then check delays caused by wifi between your computer and each Deco. Use the following command to check response times to the main Deco:    ping -n 10  <ipaddress>

Do it while cabled to main Deco.  Response times should be 1 ms.

Connect by wifi to main Deco.

Connect by cable to remote Deco.

Connect by wifi to remote Deco.

[Alleycat]

Thanks again David for the advice.

As I said before I do not have a device I can (easily) connect direct to the main Deco. Hence all my checks were via wifi. I realise that there will be some degradation of speed using wifi. I can try your suggestion now that the second Deco is close enough to my PC to use a direct connection. If I get a device I can easily connect to the main Deco I will also try that.

 My comment about different speed results was because I was so surprise by the difference when using the TPG Speed test on the phone as against the Deco App (on phone) Speed test.

Overall I am happy with the improvement in speed, but still a bit disapointed with the inconsistency  in speed during different times of the day.

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