09-22-2018
03:28 PM
- last edited on
09-23-2018
05:28 PM
by
RogersMoin
Hi there:
I recently switched from Bell (after over 20 years) to Rogers.
Reason: looking for higher speed (Bell doesn’t have Fiber in my area).
Well, unfortunately I regret my decision and probably only “man stubbornness” prevented me so far to admit my mistake and go back (and of course all the hassle of switching...).
Anyway, after 2 weeks of pain, and readings ( @Datalink on this forum being one of the best), I Finally got this morning the router changed to a Coda 4582 (white box).
The result is better signal strength on 5G ( so covering a wider range).
The current issue is 2.4Ghz signal strength. It is quite lower than the 5G at any location of testing, including at 2 feet from the router (neighbours 2.4 from 20 feet away are stronger than mine from 2 feet away...haha..).
Questions:
1. I read that 2.4G has slower speed but larger range (or stronger signal at the same location). Please confirm.
2. If #1 is correct what is the most likely cause of my reversed situation?
2a...router hardware
2b...firmware
2c...settings
So far I tried to change the Chanel from Auto to ch 1 (my 2 neighbours use ch 6 and 11), but the results were not better, it was actually worse.
ps. So far I am still trying to get Rogers working, instead of eating the humble pie and go back to Bell.
Thank you
imanea
*Edited Labels*
09-22-2018
09:57 PM
- last edited on
09-23-2018
05:29 PM
by
RogersMoin
Just go get a new router. Check redflagdeala there are lots of good ones. Out the coda in bridge mode.
09-22-2018
10:33 PM
- last edited on
09-23-2018
05:29 PM
by
RogersMoin
@Imanea wrote:
Hi there:
I recently switched from Bell (after over 20 years) to Rogers.
Reason: looking for higher speed (Bell doesn’t have Fiber in my area).
Well, unfortunately I regret my decision and probably only “man stubbornness” prevented me so far to admit my mistake and go back (and of course all the hassle of switching...).
Anyway, after 2 weeks of pain, and readings (Datalink on this forum being one of the best), I Finally got this morning the router changed to a Coda 4582 (white box).
The result is better signal strength on 5G ( so covering a wider range).
The current issue is 2.4Ghz signal strength. It is quite lower than the 5G at any location of testing, including at 2 feet from the router (neighbours 2.4 from 20 feet away are stronger than mine from 2 feet away...haha..).
Questions:
1. I read that 2.4G has slower speed but larger range (or stronger signal at the same location). Please confirm.
2. If #1 is correct what is the most likely cause of my reversed situation?
2a...router hardware
2b...firmware
2c...settings
So far I tried to change the Chanel from Auto to ch 1 (my 2 neighbours use ch 6 and 11), but the results were not better, it was actually worse.
ps. So far I am still trying to get Rogers working, instead of eating the humble pie and go back to Bell.
Thank you
imanea
The whole '2.4GHz has longer range but slower speeds' thing is... true in uncluttered environments, sure. If you are in a rural property, absolutely. If you are in an apartment/condo, then that was absolutely not true - 2.4GHz is just so insanely busy that 5GHz offered both higher speed and comparable/higher range.
That's changed somewhat in the last year or two with Bell/Rogers now supplying a lot of dual band routers and offering 'wireless TV' products based on 5GHz. 5GHz band is more cluttered than it used to be...
My suggestion is the same as the person above's: go out there, get yourself a good router (at least as good as your neighbour's - this is probably why their signal strength is better than yours, put the CODA-4582 in bridge mode (one advantage of Rogers vs Bell - a nice, clean bridge mode) and never look back.
09-22-2018
11:48 PM
- last edited on
09-23-2018
05:29 PM
by
RogersMoin
Agreed with above. True bridge mode on your CODA coupled with a decent router (like the ASUS RT-AC68U or TP-LINK Archer C9 or one of the Netgear Nighthawks) will get you uber reliable and stable internet, a better experience than what you have now, and a far better experience than Bell non-fibre). Take the advice of many, spend the $100-$160 and never look back.
09-23-2018
09:27 AM
- last edited on
09-23-2018
05:29 PM
by
RogersMoin
Thank you for the suggestions offered so far, basically to buy another router and disable (aka bridge) Coda.
#1. I am not in a condo. Woodbridge, houses...
#2 I have a long backyard were I need/want to have signal, at least 2.4G for some browsing...Bell was covering all that with it's own single router. Both my neighbours have single Rogers routers (one Coda, and one Cgn??).
#3 Since I spent time reading and trying to understand how this works, plus trying to cover both house and outdoor, I still hope to get some opinions and advice on my original questions about why this completely reversed situation?
Regarrs
Imanea
09-23-2018
10:27 AM
- last edited on
09-24-2018
08:03 AM
by
RogersCilio
Rogers 1gb router WiFi signal very poor
Anyone have any suggestions on how I can improve my WiFi signal?
Our router is in our living room and the speeds are fine when we are in there. Anywhere else in the house is drastically worse. Especially in the bedrooms upstairs were getting 10 download and 2 upload this is unacceptable.
My son games downstairs and the WiFi is so poor I bought a powerline adapter for him and it's still poor.
Any suggestions?
09-23-2018
04:32 PM
- last edited on
09-23-2018
05:30 PM
by
RogersMoin
Ok, so,
1. The community was weekend busy and didn't provide meaningfull answers to my questions.
2. Where am I going with my Rogers setup?
21. Coda improved 5G signal strength. Covers house, and partoal outdoor. Ok.
22. Coda 2.4G is way too weak signal, not covering even the inside. Further comparison of signal strength between the bands of my neighbour Coda, shows also a weakness on the 2.4G relative to 5G. Based on the above, plus low confidence in Rogers supply channel, I will not take the chance to go and exchange myCoda for another Coda. So I will completely write off the 2.4G, and look for an "extender" for the 5G network to make the signal reliable in my backyard.
Sobottom line: could you please recommend some good 5G extenders that work well with Coda?
Thank you
09-23-2018 11:07 PM - edited 09-23-2018 11:08 PM
09-24-2018
07:57 AM
- last edited on
09-24-2018
08:04 AM
by
RogersCilio
@Blazzay wrote:
Rogers 1gb router WiFi signal very poor
Anyone have any suggestions on how I can improve my WiFi signal?
Our router is in our living room and the speeds are fine when we are in there. Anywhere else in the house is drastically worse. Especially in the bedrooms upstairs were getting 10 download and 2 upload this is unacceptable.
My son games downstairs and the WiFi is so poor I bought a powerline adapter for him and it's still poor.
Any suggestions?
Yeah, unfortunately these modems are about on par with your $50-70 3rd party routers..
They work.. but the range/performance is not great for wireless.
All depends on the house.. a small house/apartment, shouldn't be horrible.. but bigger house, etc can start having an issue. Add ontop of what sort of house, might be introducing interference, etc. (IE: many houses now may often use metal studs.. which can impact wireless signals, etc.)
Really your best bet overall, would be getting a much better 3rd party router, which has a much better range, etc.
Or going with something like a MESH network setup. Usually a main wireless unit, which talks with a bunch of paired repeaters though the house, etc.
09-26-2018 12:59 PM
I have the CODA-4582 set up in Bridge mode ( basically in dumb cable modem mode ) sitting in my basement by the demarc
An ASUS AC router connected by cable in the basement, this provides coverage down in the basement.
Another ASUS router ( only as an extender no NAT ) on the main floor for upstairs / outside coverage
Read the sticky on how to "Bridge Mode Setup Guide" by @Gdkitty
09-26-2018 02:08 PM
09-26-2018 03:07 PM - edited 09-26-2018 03:10 PM
The Asus router gives the end user much better control over options required to run numerous devices on the LAN. That includes port forwarding for gaming, Samba for file and print services, wifi beamforming which can bring small but important gains in wifi performance and many others. Running an Asus router with Merlin's Asuswrt give the user additional flexibility in running VPNs and regular WAN traffic. If you run run some of the add-ons, or run a PfSense router or others, you gain additional security features like country blocking and blocklists for malware/spyware sites. Newer wifi routers will support 160 Mhz wide wifi channels which can run faster wifi transfer rates. You would also need a wifi client that can take advantage of those 160 Mhz wide channels and the actual channel space to accomplish that. In a typical neighbourhood that might be difficult to find.
I think the modem is limited to 9 rules for port forwarding and triggering, so, if you happen to run different games that can be problematic.
Any ISP modem is a basic modem which provides basic router functions. When you look outside of those functions, you will see that there are many more functions/capabilities that can be available to the end user.
In terms of the wifi situation, modem/router in the basement is far from ideal, unless of course you happen to get the most use of the wifi in the basement, ei: mancave, or possibly womancave? Some routers have better vertical RF performance due to their antenna construction, so, its possible that multi-floor use is possible. It might not be ideal, but it might work well enough.
09-26-2018 05:19 PM
Thank you Datalink for a knowledgeable and thorough answer as usual.
Basically you disable Coda and use a more expensive router to gain setup options (security +++).
Regarding just signal strength/coverage===>
For me for now I solved the signal strength coverage issue with 2 different networks controlled by 2 different routers, connected by Ethernet cable.
Coda covers full house on 5G, with good speeds (fluctuations of course...).
Asus covers the backyard on 2.4G, lower speeds but signal all the way to the back fence were I am typing now.
Question:
in this configuration from above is the security on 2.4G network an AND between Coda and Asus, or it is just Asus only?
Regards
imanea
09-26-2018 05:29 PM - edited 09-26-2018 05:30 PM
@Imanea, both modem and router should be secure, provided that the modem's and router's wifi is running encrypted. The modem's firewall will provide the network firewall for both modem and router.
Is the router running in full router mode or Access Point mode?
Have a look at the following which is applicable to both the modem and router:
check/set the following 2.4 Ghz wifi parameters:
Wireless Mode: 802.11 n
Channel Bandwidth: 20/40 Mhz, although, for test purposes you could set this to 20 Mhz. In a crowded wifi environment, I would set this for 20 Mhz. It will default to 20 Mhz in a crowded environment.
Wireless channel: AUTO or, to an open channel if one existed, or to the channel that offers the least interference from neighbouring routers and modems as seen with a wifi monitoring application listed below.
WPS Enabled: OFF
Security Mode: WPA-Personal
Auth Mode: WPA2-PSK
Encrypt Mode: AES only
Check/set the following 5 Ghz wifi parameters:
Wireless Mode: 802.11 a/n/ac mixed
Channel Bandwidth: 80 Mhz, although, for test purposes you could set this to 40 Mhz
Wireless channel: 149 to 165 Use this higher channel range as it runs higher transmit power levels.
WPS Enabled: OFF
Security Mode: WPA-Personal
Auth Mode: WPA2-PSK
Encrypt Mode: AES only
If you had to change any parameters, reboot the modem or router after the changes have been saved.
Fwiw, it might be worth checking the wifi environment to see if you can improve the wifi network performance. You can do that by loading one of the following on a laptop and doing a wifi survey around your home. When you move around the home, laptop in hand, stop for two to three minutes for the display to settle out.
Lizard systems wifi scanner
inSSIDer lite (I run a licenced version of this, but the lite version is probably fairly close)
Acrylic
These can be found at the following locations:
inSSIDer Lite: Requires a freebie account set up to use it. That is displayed when you go to download the application.
Lizard Systems wifi scanner:
https://lizardsystems.com/wi-fi-scanner/
A freebie home user licence can be obtained by using the Get Licence link for the Wifi Scanner on the following page:
https://lizardsystems.com/purchase/
Acrylic wifi scanner which is also free:
https://www.acrylicwifi.com/en/
10-17-2018 01:38 PM - edited 10-17-2018 01:40 PM
So what is the advantage for your bridge? The coda modem/router could easily service your basement with your second router for upstairs.
Seems to me you have one piece of equipment (router) that is unnecessary. Remember the CODA-4582 can have all ports enabled even in bridge mode.
10-29-2018 11:08 AM
@KamWest wrote:So what is the advantage for your bridge? The coda modem/router could easily service your basement with your second router for upstairs.
Seems to me you have one piece of equipment (router) that is unnecessary. Remember the CODA-4582 can have all ports enabled even in bridge mode.
I don't look at it that way.
I run 3rd party firmware on my ASUS. (Asuswrt-Merlin)
Which allows me to add more functionality to my router. Added scripts to enhance firewall, an ad blocker that blocks ads at the router and not browser.
I also have VLANS setup for various IoT devices and guests.
Just remember the other three ports on the CODA when in bridge mode, are unprotected and wide open to the internet.
10-29-2018 11:48 AM
So when in bridge mode which I have done in the past I hooked the router into port 4 because it had its own firewall. I hooked the VOIP system into port one which was protected so that all works.
Thanks for that warning.
That said..... I prefer to use just the Rogers Coda modem/router especially with the new MyWifi app that is in development. It allows me to set schedules, cut off internet to a user, rename users, etc etc. I know I can do that on a good router but I have a feeling the MYWifi app is going to be a great thing once it is fully developed.
10-29-2018 02:07 PM - edited 10-29-2018 02:08 PM
@KamWest wrote:
So when in bridge mode which I have done in the past I hooked the router into port 4 because it had its own firewall. I hooked the VOIP system into port one which was protected so that all works.........
@KamWest, am I interpreting your comment correctly that the VOIP phone has its own firewall for self protection? Just want to be sure.
When the modem is in bridge mode, its just a modem. So, no firewall or DHCP on any of the ports, no wifi, etc, etc. Although the modem doesn't offer any "modem based" DHCP services, it acts as a transparent bridge to the CMTS, which assigns IPV4 and IPV6 addresses to the connected devices.
The first two connected devices will receive both IPV4 and IPV6 addresses. The next two devices will receive IPV6 addresses only. In theory you could have a multitude of devices connected which will receive IPV6 addresses only. If one had all four ports filled and you rebooted the modem, I don't know which ports receive both IPV4 and IPV6 addresses, ports 1 & 2 (?) or which ever devices respond first, leaving the remainder with IPV6 addresses only? The modem might not respond to individual devices for IPV4/IPV6 address assignments when they're plugged into the modem individually, so, a modem reboot might be necessary. With two devices only, that shouldn't be a problem. With more than two, the question arises, which devices get their addresses first?