After much research into this matter, I would like to offer my 2 cents worth on achieving the optimal Up/Dl speeds with the various currently offered packages, and hardware from TELUS.
The main questions that I’ll try to answer here are the following:
- Will the Actiontec T3200M support a 1.0 Gbps connection
- Will the Actiontec T3200M support 1.5 Gbps connections
- Will the Actiontec T3200M support a single connection at 1.5 Gbps
- What do I have to change/upgrade to get a single 1.5 Gbps connection
- What do I require to support a 2.5 Gbps connection or faster
I’ll only address the 1.0 Gbps fibre connection, and 1.5 Gbps connections with a smattering of the hardware needed to support the 2.5 Gbps, and faster offering that may come down the pipe.
As well this discussion will not address Wi-Fi speed issues, only hardwired fibre connections.
Currently the majority of the 1.0 Gbps installations utilize the Actiontec T3200M a GPON fibre connection. (Gigabit Passive Optical Network). For the average users this is a very well supported connection and installation type. Historically you should see a greater than 920 Mbps data transfer rate both up and down connection utilizing gigabit network cards and switches throughout your setup. TELUS claims the maximum throughput of 940Mbps symmetrically up, and down.
There are as well aa number of installations that utilize what has been referred to as the Trashcan router supplied by TELUS. I will not discuss that device as I have little experience with it. However, like the T3200M, the 1Gbps connection is fully supported on this device.
The 1.5 Gbps is as well supported on these devices. However, not in way you may think.
As the T3200M LAN ports (Yellow) support 1.0 Gbps connections, the fastest single connection to your hardware will be limited to that 1.0 Gbps connection. However, the trick, and key to TELUS’s thinking is that if you have multiple devices connected to your network, then, the aggregate downloads can achieve up to the advertised 1.5 Gbps download speeds utilizing these devices.
I would argue that most people paying for the 1.5Gbps service have it in their minds that without doing any upgrades to there own equipment they should just be able to plug it all in and off you go working correctly.
That scenario is just not the case. Think of it this way. You have a 2” waterline feeding your home. All the pluming throughout your home is 1” piping. You turn on the tap and get great water flow. However, there is no way you can achieve the same flow as if you had a 2” line to your endpoint. Now you can turn on multiple taps throughout the house and achieve the aggregated flow of what would be the 2” waterline, but it takes multiple streams to achieve the maximum flow.
To achieve the maximum flow, you would have to upgrade your pluming to 2” piping throughout your home everywhere.
This is the same case as the 1.5Gbps offering from TELUS. So, what is the solution for achieving a single 1.5Gbps connection? Enter the device known as the “NAH” more technically known as the Arcadyan NH20A, or the Technicolor FXA5000 virtually the same device for all examples here.
This is the future rollout device for consumer residential installations by TELUS for the foreseeable time frame.
This device not only supports a 1.0Gbps TELUS connection, it will also support the 1.5Gbps connection, and will be utilized for the 2.5Gbps connections as well.
In fact, this device is capable of supporting up to a 10Gbps internet connection for futureproofing TELUS envisioned upgrades.
So, how does this address my issues of getting the full throughput of what I’m expecting. Again, lets go back to the waterpipe theory. This device has a 10Gbps LAN port that you can connect to your network at home so long as the rest of your equipment in your environment support faster speeds, these devices are capable of feeding them.
You’ll need a computer with a network card capable of the fastest connection you want to achieve, and if you have multiple devices on your network, all of them will have to support the fastest speed you want to achieve including thing such as switches, Nic’s, etc. Enter some of the upgrades you’ll have to install to get the maximum single connection for any tier of internet you have.
Now let’s take a brief look at the 2.5Gbps internet connection, and even faster future developments.
Enter what’s known as the XGS-PON technology. This is the future for TELUS, at least at this time.
10G-PON (also known as XG-PON or G.987) is a 2010 computer networking standard for data links, capable of delivering shared Internet access rates up to 10 Gbit/s. XGS-PON is a related technology that can deliver upstream and downstream (symmetrical) speeds of up to 10 Gbit/s (gigabits per second), first approved in 2016 as G.9807.1.
Again, the above noted NAH devices will support the XGS-PON right up to and including 10Gbps internet offering from TELUS (in the future). Slight modification of installed hardware to support this. However, I understand that TELUS is rolling out these upgrades already in most new installation of any 1.0Gbps internet or faster deployments.
Again, I hate to be redundant, but everything in one’s network must be able to match the fastest speed you want to achieve. The slowest device, or link will always be the limiting factor here.
If you made it this far. Thank you indulging my ramblings…. Cheers
