Multiple TVs result in "lost internet connection" error

[samiam]

Telus Fibre with Optik TV.  We have 3 of the newer digital boxes.  All connected to a TM3200M 5G WiFi signal.  Speed test looks good, 250Mb/s up and down.  One TV on an HD channel is no problem.  2 sometimes causes glitching, or quality to automatically throttle down so the video gets more blurry,   3 TV's cause all 3 to freeze and show "lost internet" type messages.  Only way to get it back is to shut down two of the boxes and reboot one of them.  This is kind of a deal breaker for me unless someone can suggest some fix that was missed somewhere.  Yes, the optik TV option on the router is enabled.  I tried enabled and disabled but it didn't seem to matter.

[samiam]

One other thing.  Putting a TV on the 2.4Ghz Wifi with the other two on 5Ghz seems to help but it's still glitchy. 

[FuzzyLogic]

Can any of the devices be switched to a wired connection?

Possibly you need a Boost Wi-fi 6 to supplement your T3200M.

[samiam]

Wired connections are not possible.  Telus phone support had me do a bunch of stuff.  They said they are seeing high packet loss pinging the fibre box, so they are sending a tech out.  We did manage to get all 3 TVs working by factory resetting the T3200M router.  I had smart steering disabled and only connected to 5Ghz WiFi.  A reset enabled that which I think is what has improved it.  However, with apparent packet loss, it is probably just doing a better job of masking the root cause.  All 3 TVs should work just as well if not better connected to a 5Ghz only WiFi signal as they would with smart steering, which is a feature that automatically switches the connection between 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz depending on signal strength.  All TVs were getting strong signals from both so it's not a signal strength issue either.

[A-B]

Keep us updated after your tech visit!

[samiam]

I am hoping the tech replaces the T3200M with one of those newer cylindrical routers that handle the newer WiFi standards.  I think my problem was that I had WMM disabled.  The factory reset enabled that and so far all 3 boxes work flawlessly streaming HD content simultaneously.  Although having WMM enabled seems to improve the speed quite a bit, where I always get the max 250mb/s now, it adds about 15ms to the ping time.  A router change should improve that as well.

[FuzzyLogic]

WMM will priortize video traffic over other network traffic (except voice). Normally it should be enabled:

What is Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM)? - Definition from Techopedia

[samiam · Accepted solution]

The Telus tech replaced our T3200M with a separate ethernet router/switch + a cylindrical WiFi radio that supports WiFi 6 (802.11ax).  I don't know the model names/numbers but he said it was all the latest stuff.  Now I get low pings on WiFi, max speedtests up to my plan limit (250mbps symmetrical), and all 3 TVs working simultaneously on HD.  So that was the ultimate solution in this case. 

Enabling WMM on the T3200M also worked but that adds an additional 15ms to the 5Ghz WiFi ping times. The tech said that our T3200M should have had newer firmware than v31.164L.22, which it got back in Aug 2020.  So perhaps forcing an update to the latest firmware might have helped.

The newer hardware doesn't have any WMM settings to deal with to get all 3 TVs working and doesn't increase ping times like the T3200M does when you enable WMM, so that appears to be the best solution in my case. 

[FuzzyLogic]

I have the T3200M with the same version of firmware as yours. I also have the Boost Wi-Fi 6 access point which is likely what you got.

I've disabled Wi-Fi on the T3200M and just use the Boost (connected to the T3200M with MOCA). This works really well and I see pings in the high 'teens.

[samiam]

If you are using the T3200M as a router/switch and connecting a separate WiFi radio then it's probably fine for that.  However, I am of the opinion the built in WiFi radio in the T3200M is too outdated and inadequate to properly handle multiple HDTV streaming over WiFi. 

The android TV boxes we have are called TelusTV-21T which is supposedly the newest stuff.  My suggestion to anyone that has or is getting those boxes and connecting wirelessly is to insist that Telus send them the cylindrical Boost WiFi 6 radio pictured above.  If they won't then I suggest buying your own WiFi 6 Radio.  Any inexpensive WiFi 6 router from BestBuy/Amazon should work fine.  You would just set it up to work as a switch and bypass all the routing functions.  If you already have a T3200M router/switch then there is no need to replace that as long you do not use the built in WiFi for streaming to multiple TelusTV boxes.  Streaming to one box wirelessly is fine but it seems to struggle doing more than that unless you enable WMM, which then increases your ping times.