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Don't have TV, want to use 3rd party router and modem

Tzheng
Neighbour

I have the Actiontec T3200M router/modem. I am not sure what components are included in this thing, as there is a coaxial cable, and the DSL lines going into the back. Is this a DSL or cable modem combined with switch/router? If I want to use a 3rd party modem, would it be possible? Or if I cannot use a 3rd party modem, then could I use my own router in conjunction with the actiontec T3200M, also considering that I do not have any TV service.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Nighthawk
Community Power User
Community Power User

The T3200 is a VDSL2 modem with built-in router. The coax port is a MoCA port. It's most often used to provide a connection to an Optik box over a coax connection. The T3200 includes 802.11ac wireless also.

 

To best assess your needs, please answer the following 3 questions:

  1. Are you running into problems with the T3200?
  2. What are you trying to do with your setup / home network?
  3. How many phone lines do you have connected to the modem?

 

If you are using DSL and not fiber, by far the easiest way to use your own router is just connect it to port 1 on the T3200. That's a way a number of us have ours set up. Some have bridged port 1 on the T3200, others have not, without issue. There are a couple limitations which is why your answer to the above question 2 is so important.

 

If you went the 3rd party modem route, they are extremely difficult to find, especially just a modem without a built in router. You'd need extremely specific ones that need to support a few specific features/protocols/configurations. If you had by some unlikely chance found one and run into problems, Telus would not be able to troubleshoot your 3rd party modem. Routers are often much cheaper and easier than a 3rd party modem is.

 


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6 REPLIES 6

Nighthawk
Community Power User
Community Power User

The T3200 is a VDSL2 modem with built-in router. The coax port is a MoCA port. It's most often used to provide a connection to an Optik box over a coax connection. The T3200 includes 802.11ac wireless also.

 

To best assess your needs, please answer the following 3 questions:

  1. Are you running into problems with the T3200?
  2. What are you trying to do with your setup / home network?
  3. How many phone lines do you have connected to the modem?

 

If you are using DSL and not fiber, by far the easiest way to use your own router is just connect it to port 1 on the T3200. That's a way a number of us have ours set up. Some have bridged port 1 on the T3200, others have not, without issue. There are a couple limitations which is why your answer to the above question 2 is so important.

 

If you went the 3rd party modem route, they are extremely difficult to find, especially just a modem without a built in router. You'd need extremely specific ones that need to support a few specific features/protocols/configurations. If you had by some unlikely chance found one and run into problems, Telus would not be able to troubleshoot your 3rd party modem. Routers are often much cheaper and easier than a 3rd party modem is.

 


If you find a post useful, please give the author a "Like" or mark as an accepted solution if it solves your trouble. 🙂

Hi, thanks for reply. I understand what the T3200 is now.

 

1) I believe there are no big issue with the modem right now, just that 1. I would like to have faster wi-fi connection, and 2. I don't enjoy the user controls on the modem configuration page: namely I cannot control and change the public IPv4 (I was able to release my IP and renew to another IP by leaving the modem off overnight - inconvenient at best). 

 

2) I would like to use a 3rd party router for mostly games and streaming media. I am one of two users in my home, and we primarily use for these purposes. I heard good things about certain routers, and their wireless capabilities such as the nighthawk AC1900, or X6S. I am not quite sure what is meant by the "bridged port" you are referring to though. From my limited understanding of networking, modem should translate between analog/digital signal, and router simply determines which packets are set from/go to which nodes, while communicating with other routers (the internet). I am not exactly sure what the benefit of having a 3rd party router would be. Personally, I would enjoy the better wifi capability, and REALLY I want to control the public IP and have a better time with the configuration.

 

3) Right now to the modem, I have 2 DSL lines and the Coax is also connected (but again, we do not use TV... however the Telus rep says we might have a device that is using the Coax connection - he did not specify if this was true).

 

I don't understand much about modems, other than their primary function, and it sounds like it will be very difficult and troublesome to try to get a 3rd party modem. Doesn't seem like it would be worth the effort/potential risk. I think I want to try to just get a 3rd party router instead!

 

 

Nighthawk
Community Power User
Community Power User

1a) Wifi on the T3200 itself is already faster than your DSL connection will be. If you want a bit more priority for bandwidth on your devices, log in to your modem, go under Wireless settings at the top and then look for SmartSteering on the left menu. If you disable that, you will have two wireless networks to use. The 5GHz network on the T3200 is wireless 802.11ac which is faster than the 2.4GHz 802.11n network. Not all devices will work with 5GHz/ac but most newer ones will.

 

1b) You will not be able to change your external IPv4 address. That is automatically assigned to your modem by Telus. It is dynamic, so it will eventually change but not that often. A different modem / router will not change how the IP is assigned. A dynamic IP does have a specific lease time and if the modem is still on, it will usually keep the same IP. Releasing and renewing your IP from the modem, will often restart the lease time.

 

2)

  • The Nighthawk routers are overkill. Especially so if there are only 2 users in the home.
  • Streaming media uses minimal bandwidth (3mbps for HD usually) unless you stream 4K which needs much more (up to 25mbps). Having a physical connection to the router is suggested for any device you plan to watch a 4K stream on.
  • Gaming really depends on what you're doing. Ideally for best performance you will want a physical ethernet connection from the router to your gaming PC. Having multiple routers in the home can potentially have an impact on a few games, mainly consoles. PC games are usually no problem. I have my own router connected to my T3200m and I play online games from Steam, Origin and uPlay with no issue. 

3)

  • If you have 2 phone lines it means you have a bonded connection. Both lines are required for it to work.
  • If the technician that installed the modem also connected the coax line, you'll likely have a coax to ethernet adapter somewhere else in the house that one of your devices/computers will be connected to. If you don't, leaving the coax line connected if you have TV service over coax from another provider, could cause problems.

 

If you are not too experienced with networking hardware, start with just the T3200 and work from there. Once comfortable you could then look at a third party router but many users never end up requiring or needing one.


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That is unfortunate that I cannot change my IPv4... Do you know any way to mask my IP then? Say to bypass being blocked on a certain address or service? Is this a capability of the T3200? Also can you explain why wifi could be faster than the DSL connection? (Isn't DSL just the directly demodulated signal? Shouldn't this theoretically be the fastest?) 

 

Unrelated question: I have recently moved locations in my home, and my desktop computer was relocated to a different room from where the router is. I do not want to have a 15m long CAT6E cable running all over the floor, so I am using Wifi on my desktop right now. If I wanted to move my T3200 to the same room as my desktop, would I need to have two DSL lines (one is currently used by our phone) and a Coax in the new room as well, and would it be as simple as just connecting the wires to get it working properly? Telus wants to charge me 100$ to have a technician come install it for me... and if I could do this on my own, then I would obviously prefer to save 100$. Thanks for info! Additional info: I do not have any TV service from any provider. At my home we only have the internet service and phone from Telus. And as far as I'm concerned, there are no devices in my home that use a coax to ethernet adapter... We have one desktop machine, a printer, a TV connected to nothing but HDMI -> PC, and a couple of laptops. 

Nighthawk
Community Power User
Community Power User

Residential providers in general don't allow you to change your external IP address. The only way to mask your IP is to use a VPN and those are separate from the T3200. Even then there is no guarantee. Some VPNs are better than others and some VPNs should be avoided. Most have a cost for their service. If you're trying to access Netflix or something similar from another country, many of those services are blocking VPN users.

 

Wifi does not equal DSL. They are two very different technologies. The DSL connection is the limiting factor on how fast your wifi will be when accessing the internet specifically. The fastest bonded VDSL connection I'm aware of is 100mbps. 802.11n wifi is 300mbps and AC specification is faster than that. Total combined maximum wireless bandwidth on the T3200m is 2.3gbps (~2300mbps).

 

For the PC at the other end of the house, is there a coax outlet in that room? If yes, you could obtain a MoCA to ethernet adapter and connect the PC that way. (Example. Telus might have these also.) The alternative would be a powerline networking kit and those usually work fine but there can be a few tiny limitations.

 

You will not be able to move the modem yourself. The phone jack the modem was installed on will be physically isolated from the rest of the outlets in the house. If you move the modem, yes, the tech would have to come out and need to re-wire parts of your house. Since you have a landline, there will be a physical hardwired line filter (or two) isolating the modem, and the jack it uses, from the rest of the phone jacks. Additionally, depending how your house is wired up, the second phone line may not be active on all phone jacks.

 

The coax connection is only needed if you have a MoCA to ethernet adapter in your house somewhere. If you don't have an adapter you don't need the coax/MoCA line. The internet does NOT enter the home through the coax connection. 


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OK! I think you answered every question that I was asking. Thank you so much for your time and help. I think I can make do with a long CAT6E cable for now then. One day I will probably get Telus to come and redo my modem connections in the new location.