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T3200M Modem drops Ethernet Connection and WiFi Experience is Poor

AfterMath
Advisor

Is anyone experiencing poor performance with their T3200M TELUS modem?

 

My Mac desktop has an ethernet cable (supplied by TELUS) connected directly to the T3200M modem that is literally 40 cm away. Anytime that I establish a network connection via ethernet, I can be sure that within an hour the ethernet connection has failed and I must resort to connecting via WiFi.

I've reset the modem, ensured that the firmware is up to date, changed the channels on the modem, changed the ethernet cable into the various ports in the back of the modem, etc. I'm beginning to think that my modem is a dud.

I've contacted TELUS and a tech 'reset' the modem and did some other magic... and the ethernet connection worked for about an hour. Then it died.

 

I've also noticed that the WiFi signal does not seem to permeate the walls of my house like previous modems that I've owned. It is very poor - on both 2.4 and 5 GHz.

 

If you've had similar issues, I'd like to know. What I really want to know is how to fix it or do I simply ask TELUS for a new modem and go through the hassle of setting up all my devices over again? Sigh.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

hologram123
Advisor

How long has this been going on for? If it is for the last 2-3 weeks, there have been some issues with the latest firmware upgrade. Make sure you do the reset properly;

 

-Press down on the reset button in the back for 10 seconds

-As soon as the lights change colour, release, and unplug the modem for 5 seconds

-Plug the modem back in - when the lights come back on - reboot 2 more times (unplug, plug back in, lights come on, unplug, plug back in)

-wait about 10 minutes then check your speeds on telus.com/myaccount speed test

 

This SHOULD fix the small issue's you've been experiencing lately.

 

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21 REPLIES 21

Nighthawk
Community Power User
Community Power User

I've never experienced issues like this with the T3200 and my Mac. I normally have it hardwired (modem > gigabit switch > Mac) and it's been extremely stable for me. Wifi has been fine anywhere in my place as well though my place isn't huge. The T3200 is located in a closet (where the wiring comes in) and the wifi coverage in my place has been quite good. 5GHz has shorter range as it's more easily impacted by walls. The denser the walls the more the signal will weaken.


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rc
Rockstar

Does the disconnect happen while you use the MAC or about a hour after you stop using the system? If the latter, then I would speculate a ethernet auto negotiation fail. If that is the case then you will have to disable auto speed negotiation on the MAC.

Thanks, @rc. It is the latter. I've never heard of 'disabling auto speed negotiation'. I'll have to look it up with Mac Support. I'll give it a whirl and respond. Funny that no TELUS tech suggested that solution. Here goes...

It could also be related to power saving features ... the NIC in the MAC goes to sleep after an hour and disconnects and then doesn't wake properly to reconnect.  Perhaps you can turn off any power saving features related to the network on the MAC.

hologram123
Advisor

How long has this been going on for? If it is for the last 2-3 weeks, there have been some issues with the latest firmware upgrade. Make sure you do the reset properly;

 

-Press down on the reset button in the back for 10 seconds

-As soon as the lights change colour, release, and unplug the modem for 5 seconds

-Plug the modem back in - when the lights come back on - reboot 2 more times (unplug, plug back in, lights come on, unplug, plug back in)

-wait about 10 minutes then check your speeds on telus.com/myaccount speed test

 

This SHOULD fix the small issue's you've been experiencing lately.

 

@hologram123

Any chance of getting a legit firmware upgrade? Putting up with this for 2-3 weeks is not sustainable for those that work out of their homes and need reliable internet connection. By my understanding, there hasn't been a firmware upgrade since mid-February? 

Hey @brantoneb !

I completely understand where you're coming from. 

I am going to let my team know about these issues. The factory reset is supposed to be a permanent fix, so thank you for letting me know that it does come back. I have not had a customer report this to me yet. 

Will keep you posted.

Thanks, @hologram123. The factory reset has appeared to work. Regrettably, all of my personalized settings have now (as expected) disappeared and I'm back to square one. There's got to be a better way. Thanks, again.

Please keep the thread informed if it remains fixed.

I've heard of a few people where the factory reset works for a couple days, then starts acting up again 😞

I'm back to square one. Modem keeps dropping Ethernet connection!!! If you think something should be stable, it would be the Ethernet cable connection to the T3200M modem. Honestly, I think this particular modem is a piece of junk and has half the wifi range of my old Telus modem. Time for Telus to ask for a refund from Motorola.

 

So is there something I can do, other than resetting my modem to its factory settings. I do this about once a month and frankly, I'm ready to switch to Shaw.

Nighthawk
Community Power User
Community Power User

Telus doesn't use Motorola modems or gateways. If you have a T3200 and ethernet isn't working properly and you're sure none of the other hardware in the house is causing it, contact Telus for a replacement. If you're using ethernet switches, those can go bad as well so check or replace them also. I had one go bad and it still passed data but caused my Optik PVR to pixelate.


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

Ok. So my Ethernet connection to my Mac lasted about a week and my Ethernet connection is dead again. Going to contact Telus to get a new modem.

Just poor hardware should be a little higher quality and having to use those crappy routers that are built in are useless 

Finally decided to get my modem replaced. Technician came by on Sunday and swapped out the old modem for a new one. Immediately, things worked better. It appears I had a POS modem from the start. All's good... for now.

I've been through 3 modems, 9 visits, over 9 months.  The service was installed in January 2019.  It's worse today than it was when I called the first time, in January.  Drops the signal more often, recovers less often and it appears Telus is only guessing.  We've done everything Telus asked us to do, including disconnecting every electronic device attached to the network (devices that help us and give us enjoyment - devices that worked with Bell, Cogeco and Shaw) and still worse.

 

I, too, count on this service to work from home, be productive but, now, working with telus wifi is like wading through mud.  Given that I've had fibre in Ontario from Bell and Cogeco, then Shaw here for years, all working so much more reliably... hard to accept the explanations from Telus. Then, the implied suggestion that I should "school up" on basic radio telecom engineering software protocols to fix it myself, when Telus has (only when prompted) only offered to give me a movie/TV service as comp (for a system I have to rewind every 20 mins to hear the dialogue that cut out) and I'm paying full price, every month.

 

 

@AfterMath I am glad it appeared to work! Unfortunately yes, with a factory reset, it does set to the default settings of the modem. I am sorry I did not mention this in my above post.

Please let me know if you experience issues of this happening again.

@hologram123 : What's the feasibility of getting a "download configs" option? That'd be super sweet such that easier to restore user-settings after reset.

Super awesome / interesting idea @brantoneb ! I really don't know if that is something we can do however. I'm thinking it would be mainly due to security reasons. I can look into it!

Re "downloadable configs" ... strip out the secure stuff (ex: wi-fi password is most obvious one).

Either, beyond point of this thread, moving along ... 

i tried your way of rebooting,it did help a in let me have hard line and wifi. but the connection still keeps dropping every few secs to minutes.  my telus tv , i can watch tv. but no netflix no on demand, and even when i use guide to look at other channels no preview shown .  the wifi cuts out too often, my home camera's wont stay connected at all now.  and even hard line ethernet, won't stay on,  speed test will start off at 150-170mb/s then drop down to 1-5mb/s, upload stays 50ish.  and some times the speed test wont go at all ,saying latensy issues.

 

ben 3 days. many resets modems, and even many command line trials,  ipconfig and netsh commands used them all, it helped me get to the net, but speed way to slow.  m other tv boxes on wifi wont work, iphone rarely getting wifi for a few min.

 

at first ii thought my computer. but other computers same issue, i think it's the modem or the first optical box. 

 

i work weekdays and wife sleeps days, getting telus out here would have to wait till my holidays in 2 weeks, unless they mail out the modems? i can self install.  or they have evening appointments .

 

anyone else having intermittent internet connection with both wifi and wire?  anyone able to fix on your own?