[Expresso]

I had the Extreme service for many months, and had no problems whatsoever.. speeds were ALWAYS consistent at 9.8-9.8mbps (I had the grandfathered plan with 95gb cap). I upgraded to the Extreme Plus (25mbps) internet with the Gateway N modem a few days ago.. first day everything was fine over WiFi (was getting speed test results of up to 45mbps due to speed boost or w/e), but the next day I started having problems.

Firstly, the network would stop working randomly.. I fixed that by going to 192.168.0.1 and changing the channel from Auto to 6. Then I was getting speeds of 2-4 mbps so I called in and they said that's normal over wifi, and they told me to test with an ethernet wire (and i got speed test results of 40+mbps). 2-4mbps on a 25mbps connection over wifi is definitely NOT normal. Anyhow, i got the speeds up to 25mbs by tweaking with the channel settings.

Today I had the same problem.. ran a speed test and was getting speeds of LESS than 1mbps.. wth is going on?

not a chance these speeds can be "normal" just because of wifi.. I thought the Wireless N gateway modem was supposed to be even better in the wifi area? Everything was fine before I upgraded, so it's not a connection issue (the tech support guy even said that the connection looks fine from their end)

 

[metalhawk]

Disable the gateway function to make the box a "dumb modem" and use your own router. Those SMC boxes are known as being absolutely horrible.

 

[bdoyledimou]

+1 to metal hawks comments.. the wireless on the SMC is horrible.

 

[Hokey]

Hmmm, i was going to post a question thread but found my answer first i think!

I'll expand on it a bit i guess.

I'm moving into an apartment and have signed up for Extreme plus. I wasn't sure about using the wifi on the SMC modem to begin with but had a general question on the security abilities of the rogers box itself. Is it similar to other common routers like Dlinks or Linksys or does it work differently? If I add a Dlink 815 to the SMC how does security work then (is it duplicated?). I like using routers for firewalls and recommend this to others, regardless if they need a network capability or not, but most don't want to bother.

Its a shame though to get a certain service you have to rent/buy a piece of crap modem. On that note, i will rent the thing for awhile with the hopes Rogers upgrades this in the near future. Optimistic i know.

 

[hugh]

If you shut off the gateway function, the SMC box will only act as a modem so you would set up security in your router.

 

[rjasonb]

I am encountering the same problem. I "upgraded" to Extreme Plus last week and picked up my SMC modem/router on Saturday. It's dreadful. I need to re-set it 2-3 times a day and the signal is piss poor (I have a large Edwardian house, the modem is in the front room on the 2nd floor out of 3).

It's bloody awful that it seems the only solution is to continue paying $7 a month to use this product as just a modem and then buy my own router.

Can anyone recommend a router? Or at least what I should look for?

 

[hugh]

Have you called Rogers, maybe you'd like to downgrade?

Extreme is mighty fast, did you really think you needed faster downloads?

If you are looking for a Router, I currently like the NetGear 3700.

 

[17671]

The default channel setting for the rouder is known to be congested if many people leave it on the same channel. In my personal humble opinions, people tend to just plug it in out of the box and not configure it. I too had the same problem with dropouts untill I did a Site survey on my area and realized 6 other routers were fighting over the same channel. I changed the wireless channel to something unused and wala, all my problems went away. I still thought the modem was giving me some more problems too so i downgraded to the modem only (i have docsys 2 and will stick with it untill a docsis 3 standalone comes only) and used my own router and have had no problems since.

 

[mr shady]

if its near a hydro pannel can cause issues or for sure if its off a booster/amp

 

[rjasonb]

Thanks Hugh... I upgraded because I have a new tenant who's a download glutton and the 95GB/month wasn't going to cut it anymore. When I went to the higher plan (150GB) they told me I needed to replace the modem/router as well, and the range on this one is pathetic. So it wasn't for speed I traded.

And thanks Paolo--I'll certainly try that first and see, before shelling out another $130 for the recommended router.