Solved: 3rd Party Wireless Router for Telus TV/Internet

[CanuckRS]

I don't know if anyone has been trying to figure this out over the years but i finally solved my dilemma.  I've always hated the Actiontec router supplied by telus even after i received the T1200 upgrade that allowed bridging through one of the ports.  I currently have OptikTV and a 100MB fiber plan.  Rather than figuring out how to manually add multicasting support for each port (complicated for anyone who isn't an expert in networking) i found a router that works out of the box to allow you to view TV while using internet/wifi simultaneously and no issues.  The main issue is that when the TV is being watched, multicasting packets flood the wifi band making it unuseable for any attached wifi device.  The wireless router below has 4 LAN ports.  2 are used for TV.  1 for a switch and the last one for a NAS (network attached storage) device.  I am also using wireless on both the 5G and 2.4G bands.

My Solution: I picked up this excellent router (Netgear Nighthawk R7000) also known as a Netgear AC1900. 

https://www.amazon.ca/NETGEAR-AC1900-Nighthawk-Smart-Router/dp/B00F0DD0I6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=146...

Under advanced>setup>wan setup, make sure "disable igmp proxying" is unchecked.

You can probably use other routers, but this is what worked for me so experiment on your own and see what works if you like.  Most people online seem to be stating you need to update your firmware on their router to dd-wrt and then manually changing settings to get all this to work properly.  Complicated to say the least, i don't have the time or energy to fuss with such things.  This just works from the getgo, plain and simple.

I've been using it for 3 weeks now and it's perfect.  I get 100mb/s download speeds on my mobile device using 5G and about 70mb on the regular 2.4G band all while using television and internet simultaneously.  Very happy now.

Enjoy

[WestCoasterBC]

The TP-Link touch p5 has IPTV (multicasting) built into the firmware. http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/Touch-P5.html besides enabling it nothing else to configure. It's my daily driver router at home.

[gurparvaz]

Hi,

So with the nighthawk, is it just plug and play after advanced set up we change, or there something else that needs to be done. Also do we still need to bridge the Actiontec? And what are the instructions for that?

[SCo]

Before I spent hundreds $ on 3rd party router, I would first ask Telus to upgrade the router to T3200m for optik tv. T3200m should be available to anyone with Internet 50 plan or better.

If you like my idea of saving money and still enjoy good internet service, give this post a 

"Like" or "helpful"😊

[Zman2k2]

It's true, you can use a router with IPTV controls to replace the T1200.  If you already have the router, this is much easier than setting an appointment with Telus to replace your setup now.

This thread:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/187-telus-iptv-also-known-optik-tv/240329-successfully-replaced-acti...

Follow post #3, it keeps all the STB's on the same network, so they can share recordings.  Guide, menu, pretty much every suggested setting change is just as fast, if not faster, than the T1200.

I'm using an Asus RT-3100 as my modem/router.

I called Telus to get the Actiontec T3200, and it was going to be around 2.5 weeks before I could see someone.  And I'm running 150/150.

[WESTLOCK420]

I can confirm this works with the R7000, actiontec is now in a box in the basement where it belongs 🙂 

[jaymac10]

I just picked up the Nighthawk AC1900 to replace my garbage T3200M.

Is anyone enabling QoS upstream or downstream? Are there any benefits/drawbacks?

I'm on Optik TV and 150/150 internet.

Thanks,

Jay

[WestCoasterBC]

I never run QoS on my own network.. But I don't have 5 people gaming, using Netflix etc at the same time.

[WESTLOCK420]

I did not need to set up QOS on the router. 

But I have managed netgear switches with 802.1p(multicast) based QOS. 

[jaymac10]

Alright, I removed the T3200M and replaced it with the R7000. Upgraded the firmware. All of the TV's that are hardwired in worked fine. However, I have one wireless box in my bedroom that would not connect to the wifi network using the WAP button.

I looked around forever within the router advanced settings trying to find out how to enable multicasting but couldn't find anything??

I have Deselect "Disable IGMP Proxying" which I thought was all you had to do based on comments in the Telus Forum as well as this forum: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-WiFi-Routers/R7000-cant-get-to-work-with-iptv/td-p/513192... (Interesting to note that this is Enabled on the T3200M)

The only thing I came up with is that I need to set up a VLAN IPTV: https://kb.netgear.com/29911/Configuring-VLAN-IPTV-setup-on-your-Nighthawk-router

After setting up a VLAN IPTV using port 1 and having the Telus 4k PVR box connected to it, my desktop that's hard-lined through port 2 internet stopped working. The router wasn't picking up an IP address. I didn't check to see if the wireless TV box connected or now but I would assume it didn't.

I played around with the VLAN IPTV settings in terms on which ports to select and which wifi frequencies to enable. Nothing really worked and it got to the point where whatever setting I had done, my desktop wasn't able to re-connect to the router so I had to do a full reset to the router.

After I did the full rest on the router, something got really funky as the two wired TV's started working again but they were glitchy, pixelating, and freezing! The Netgear Genie was also very slow to respond and would take 15-20 seconds to load just clicking through the various settings screens.

It was getting late so I decided to start up the T3200M again and revert everything back to the way it was. However, I disabled the T3200M wifi and bridged port 1 to the R7000.

I really want to simplify my gear and just have the R7000 running everything. Right now, I've got way too many devices being powered. For example, the wireless box in my bedroom is actually hardwired in using the copper COAX to Cat5 powered switch which then goes to the WEB6000Q extender and finally to the TV box!

$hit is getting out of control all just because there is something wrong with the T3200M WiFi....!

Any suggestions?

After doing some more research it seems as though the Asus RT-AC1900P might be a bit more "plug & play" than the R7000??

[WESTLOCK420]

jaymac10 All of my STBs are hardwired and worked fine just as yours did, but for the wireless boxes Telus should of supplied you with some kind of access point thing just for the wireless STBs. It would have an SSID of something like OptikTV1234567 . This access point just plugs in anywhere on your wired network. 

I did not need to mess around with any VLANs. 

Hope this helps.

[NFtoBC]

@WESTLOCK420

  There are no access point devices offered with the T3200M. Wireless Optik TV boxes connect directly to the T3200M, which was designed to reduce the number of devices Telus needs to supply & set up.

[jaymac10]

Correct, except that the wifi is horrible with the T3200M and couldn't maintain a strong enough signal for one of my wireless boxes. Therefore, Telus set up a extender to provide a second wifi access point for the wireless box to access.

[WESTLOCK420]

Yes you are correct about the T3200M, Mine was the older actiontec. I don't have wireless boxes but my friend does (he also had the older actiontec and STB access point) his wireless boxes worked fine using the access point connected the netgear. 

I would either use all wired boxes or ask telus if they will give you an access point in return for their other stuff back. 

[NFtoBC]

@WESTLOCK420

  I, too, am a believer in using Ethernet whenever possible! I just need more & bigger switches as my network grows.

Wired devices give less problems, and avoid adding to Wi-Fi congestion. It is often well worth the effort as described by @SCo to create a wired network as far as possible in your home.

[jaymac10]

Well, I went to Best Buy yesterday and picked up a Asus AC1900 router to see if that one was a bit more plug and play. After fiddling around with the settings I got my wireless box to connect to it! It took a while for that wireless box to pick up the PVR but it eventually did.

Everything was working fine until I was watching a pre-recorded show on it and it lost the PVR connection. Then a little while later it lost the TV signal. The TV signal eventually came back not long after but the PVR access has not. However, I can go into the PVR menu screen and see what up-coming shows are going to be recorded.

However, I can't access any of the saved shows. Say's I'm not connected to it even though the IP address, Link light is green, and everything else seems fine.

The internet WiFi also seemed to be cutting in and out at times...

My next thought is to hook up the T3200M back up and try to carbon copy all of it's settings over to the Asus.

Depending on how that goes, I may just return both the Netgear and Asus and revert back to the T3200M but disable IPv6 for IPv4 which apparently is the root cause of my Samsung S7 being incredibly slow over WiFi.

[Optic_Issues_2B_Resolved]

Not sure if you guys are all just fanboys or sales men at best buy.

That said I've worked with modems and all the brands you've mentioned for decades. For my optic boxes I use the 3200M I have 3 wired and 3 wireless boxes, all work excellent via the 3200. As for my Wi-Fi I find that the 3200 m handles that as well, however I've unified my wifi on all thr following asus , linksys and tplink router which all connect back to a switch connected to the 3200m .

I get perfect coverage in the house all floors and in my 8000 sq foot lot . Ive tons of treas and cement to go through.

Zero issues and it's the 3200 driving it all. It connects to optic tv boxes wirelessly with ease , and wired with ease. Plus when you call tech support they expect to see it inline.

I've also utilised the switch at the ONT (the white nokia real fibre modem) goes to a second router to create a completely separate work network, which isn't effected by anything on the tv one,

The 3200m is your 1st computer on the Telus network

Your second router to the Nokia is your second computer. That setup has zero tv boxes and it's Wi-Fi works perfectly although since it's for secure communication I'm. The only one on it .and maybe a ip phone line

Obviously I've set my wireless channels accordingly.