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Replacing a sky hub for a TP Link TD-W8980 - All done but a little issue...

  • 16-03-2015 12:55AM
    #1
    Access
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,359 ✭✭✭


    Info: Sky BB customer - non fibre - 2.75MB constant

    Basically i wanted to swap my sky hub for a new TP Link TD-W8980 - main reason is that we have fairly thick walls in our old house and the sky hub is just not getting the wifi out to some of the rooms where as the TP link is showing good coverage everywhere in the house - that coupled with the way better parental controls and wifi time spending kids limiting capabilities of the tp and it was a winner in my eyes.

    I followed the info in the thread HERE and got the TP link up and runing fine online but i found i was not getting the constant 2.75MB i normally get from my usual sky hub. Im only getting around 1.5MB???

    I would love to use the TP full time and retire the sky hub but what am i missing that im not getting the full 2.75MB? could it be a setting somewhere?

    Failing this, i would love to use the sky hub for the incoming internet and dhcp server duties, but use the TP for the wifi signal handling around the house.

    Any ideas? Thanks.


Comments

  • #2
    durtybit
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 384 ✭✭durtybit


    Interference with other wireless broadcasts ? Google inssider and check if anything is on the same channel. Otherwise try changing the channel


  • #3
    Access
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,359 ✭✭✭Access


    durtybit wrote: »
    Interference with other wireless broadcasts ? Google inssider and check if anything is on the same channel. Otherwise try changing the channel

    Wouldnt say its a wifi interference issue as they are on different channels and the speedtest was done on a wired connection to the TP link router.


  • #4
    durtybit
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 384 ✭✭durtybit


    Access wrote: »
    Wouldnt say its a wifi interference issue as they are on different channels and the speedtest was done on a wired connection to the TP link router.

    Sorry I skimmed over the post. So the issue is you are using ethernet plugs and with the new router you are getting slower response though the ethernet plugs? What do you get when your hooked direct to the router?


  • #5
    Access
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,359 ✭✭✭Access


    durtybit wrote: »
    Sorry I skimmed over the post. So the issue is you are using ethernet plugs and with the new router you are getting slower response though the ethernet plugs? What do you get when your hooked direct to the router?

    Think you skimmed over the post again... :) Not using ethernet plugs at all.

    Sky hub router = 2.75mb
    Tp link router = 1.5mb

    When each is tested by plugging directly into phone line


  • #6
    kaizersoze
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,043 ✭✭✭kaizersoze


    The speeds you quoted, are they what the modem is syncing at (viewable in the modem settings) or speed test results?


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  • #7
    Access
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,359 ✭✭✭Access


    kaizersoze wrote: »
    The speeds you quoted, are they what the modem is syncing at (viewable in the modem settings) or speed test results?

    Just checked again and its showing down speed of about 3100 on the sky hub... And then swapped to phone line to the tp link and after it booted it showed down stream of about 1900


  • #8
    ED E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,094 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    Access wrote: »
    Just checked again and its showing down speed of about 3100 on the sky hub... And then swapped to phone line to the tp link and after it booted it showed down stream of about 1900

    Are you testing them with the exact same cable in the exact same spot?

    If you are that points to either
    A, the TP has a way higher SNR target (can you see SNR values)
    or B, the TP has a dud modem chip and needs replacing.


  • #9
    Access
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,359 ✭✭✭Access


    Ah... The cable from phone socket was different in tests. I will retest using same cable and will check the signal to noise ratio too.

    Will report back later.


  • #10
    Access
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,359 ✭✭✭Access


    So i re-ran the tests this evening...

    I used the same cable from phone socket to routers, I used the same ethernet cable from router to laptop and i did the following...

    I took a screen grab of the stats from the sky hub (Picture 1), i then unplugged and replaced the sky hub with the already configured TP link router.

    I booted up and left it for an hour and then took screen grab (Picture 2).

    I then unplugged and replaced the TP link router with the sky hub again, booted up and took screen grab (Picture 3)

    No problems with internet connectivity - but there is still a slower down stream speed with using the TP Link (or so it seems to be less then previous tests - maybe someone can give advice on this) and with the little speed we have i would not rather lose any down stream speed even if the features of the TP link are far superior.

    Just a side note to the pics, i did speedtests on speedtest.net as well and got...

    Sky Hub: Ping 21ms/Down 2.47Mbps/Up 0.36Mbps

    Sky Hub replaced by TP Link: Ping 20ms/Down 2.10Mbps/Up 0.32Mbps

    TP Link replaced by Sky Hub again: Ping 23ms/Down 2.47Mbps/Up 0.36Mbps

    Any idea on why the tp link is slower with the down stream?


  • #11
    mass_debater
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,072 ✭✭✭mass_debater


    Very high attenuation and very low snr margin, are you plugged into the NTU and not an extension socket? Or are you a very long way from exchange


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  • #12
    Access
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,359 ✭✭✭Access


    mass_debater wrote: »
    Very high attenuation and very low snr margin, are you plugged into the NTU and not an extension socket? Or are you a very long way from exchange

    By the NTU i presume you mean the master socket/network termination unit for the incoming line... then yes - short 1 metre cable to the router from that.

    We are on the edge of town - about 2km to the nearest cabinet and about 5km from the exchange.


  • #13
    ED E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,094 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    You're probably about 5500m of cable or a bit more. Thus the poor speeds overall.

    TP link is dud, either by fault or manufacture. Id return it. On a long line like that a modem will make a significant difference.


  • #14
    mass_debater
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,072 ✭✭✭mass_debater


    ED E wrote: »
    You're probably about 5500m of cable or a bit more. Thus the poor speeds overall.

    TP link is dud, either by fault or manufacture. Id return it. On a long line like that a modem will make a significant difference.

    Billion is the make modem I've seen recommended for long lines. You know of any others ED?


  • #15
    Access
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,359 ✭✭✭Access


    To be honest, im actually happy enough with the speed im getting at the moment (2.5 to 2.75Mbps down) and the houses out our road average 1 - 2Mbps - so im happy enough with what i have.

    Up until about two months ago we were with eircom and we were getting 1Mbps down (but it was always nearer 0.5Mbps most of the time!). The tech who swapped us over to sky (eircom tech believe it or not) told me that we were swapped to a new set of copper lines out to our area, hence the bandwidth increase, so now im much happier.

    I might contact TP link customer service and see will they swap out the unit so.

    OR

    Should i just leave the sky hub as my modem, turn off its wifi and connect it with an ethernet to the TP links LAN/WAN port and let the TP link do all the wifi work for the house?


  • #16
    ED E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,094 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    Billion tend to be good alright. Draytek are pretty serious too, they're always a top suggestion in the SME space. Surprisingly the old Netopia units that eircom used to ship are great with long lines too.


    Access considering you'll probably be on that 3Mb profile(and getting X% of that) for a good few years at the minimum I'd try and eek out as much of it that you can. Might be fine for your own purposes now, but the web only gets "heavier". You could use the sky hub as your router and the TP link as a WLAN AP(check for an "AP Mode" on the TP) and it should work well, but I'd be more inclined to return the TP and get a known good modem with decent wifi all in one. They lads over at Kitz forums would be best to point you towards what'll work best.


  • #17
    Access
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,359 ✭✭✭Access


    ED E wrote: »
    Billion tend to be good alright. Draytek are pretty serious too, they're always a top suggestion in the SME space. Surprisingly the old Netopia units that eircom used to ship are great with long lines too.


    Access considering you'll probably be on that 3Mb profile(and getting X% of that) for a good few years at the minimum I'd try and eek out as much of it that you can. Might be fine for your own purposes now, but the web only gets "heavier". You could use the sky hub as your router and the TP link as a WLAN AP(check for an "AP Mode" on the TP) and it should work well, but I'd be more inclined to return the TP and get a known good modem with decent wifi all in one. They lads over at Kitz forums would be best to point you towards what'll work best.

    Cheers for the info.

    Over the past couple of days i did different configurations of using the sky hub and tp link. But there was always that slower down speed.

    Ill be honest, i would like to use the tp link router as is has a wifi range i just havent seen from any other wifi router i have used and it has the parental setups i want.

    The setup im using that is almost working is... Sky hub plugged into phone socket - handling internet duties only/has dhcp server off/wifi off - and is connented only to tp link w8980 router modem i have via it wan/lan port and this is doing wifi duties/dhcp server.

    Im getting my full down and up speeds and great wifi range, but am finding ip address issues... Ip for my nas for instance has changed when tp was rebooted. Im knowledgeable about tech like this, but its the last few setting on the tp link amd sky hub i need help with to be honest.

    I know a few on here have used this setup of using service provider modem with their own preferred wifi router like this...

    Anyone have experience of the tp link TD-W8980 so i can learn to tweck these last few settings?


  • #18
    ED E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,094 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    You want to add a DHCP reservation for the NAS in the TP Links tables. It should be a simple case of finding out the NAS's MAC and then adding that + the desired IP.

    Also make sure the firewall on the sky is off or you could have issues with double filtering and UPnP.


  • #19
    Access
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,359 ✭✭✭Access


    ED E wrote: »
    You want to add a DHCP reservation for the NAS in the TP Links tables. It should be a simple case of finding out the NAS's MAC and then adding that + the desired IP.

    Also make sure the firewall on the sky is off or you could have issues with double filtering and UPnP.

    Thanks, Got the reservations set for a few items on the network with success and i disabled Upnp on the sky hub.

    I cant see how to turn off the firewall on the sky hub... there is an option to allow a DMZ which i have pointed at the tp links address on the sky hub (192.168.0.3).

    There is also a create firewall rules option which may be what i should be looking at instead maybe?

    Also, would my network still be safe if i did manage to turn of the sky hubs firewall... I take it the tp links firewall would be the main one then and protect my network beyond the router as though the tp was directly connected as the main router?


  • #20
    ED E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,094 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    If you've DMZ'd it youre done. That essentially makes a big hole in the firewall just for the TP, so as long as the TPs firewall is turned on you're safe and wont have any routing issues.


  • #21
    Access
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,359 ✭✭✭Access


    Thanks ED E and the others on here,

    I think im sorted now and i will keep an eye on it to make sure all is running smoothly. The wifi signal out of it is something else... excellent coverage throughout the house... thick walls and all.

    Cheers for the help again!


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