Trouble connecting D7800 to Belong

[Moosedownunder]

Recently connected to NBN using Belong as my service provider. I believe we have FTTN (Fibre to the Node). The system was originally connected using the Belong 4353 Modem and we were getting speeds of 22+Mbps download and 6+Mbps upload in peak time. Not bad I believe for an FTTN. I tried connecting the Nighthawk and failed until I released I needed to change the settings to Telstra and no logon or password. So I got it to work eventually but I was only getting speeds of 17+Mbps download and 4-5Mbps upload in peak time. I contacted Netgear support and they changed a couple of internal settings but this achieved very little. I cannot remember what settings they changed.

My issue is not just the upload/download speeds; obviously I would like to keep the 22+/6+ range. But I run a smart light system using Lifx globes; 27 in fact and hoping for more. The Belong 4353 is hopeless; it will only take about 13 lights at best.

We had an outage a few days back due to torrential rain (yes I live in South East Queensland near Ipswich. Contacted Belong apparently they need the 4353 connected to do any testing. That's great because now the D7800 when used doesn't connect. 

Someone said to leave the Belong set up to get the speeds and set the D7800 as the WiFi router using WPS. I have no idea how to achieve this. Has anyone out there had this experience or similar and can you tell me how to do this. Any ideas about weather it will achieve the outcomes I want? Or has anyone got some better suggestions to achieve both the smart lights setup and the reasonable speeds?

[antinode]

> [...] the Belong 4353 Modem [...]

   That's a modem+router, not a simple modem.

> [...] The Belong 4353 is hopeless; it will only take about 13 lights
> at best.

   What happens when you try to connect more?  Does it shout, "No
more!  No more!", or what?

> [...] now the D7800 when used doesn't connect.

   Not a very detailed description of anything.  As usual, showing
actual actions (commands) with their actual results (error messages, LED
indicators, ...) can be more helpful than vague descriptions or
interpretations.  I have no idea what the proper DSL modem settings
might be for your service.  Nor what your current settings might be.

> Someone said to leave the Belong set up to get the speeds and set the
> D7800 as the WiFi router using WPS.

   That got scrambled somewhere.  What might make some sense would be to
configure the Belong 4353 as a modem only ('bridge mode"), and connect
one of its LAN Ethernet ports to the WAN/Internet Ethernet port on the
D7800.  That would not involve WPS.  I know approximately nothing about
the Belong 4353, so I don't know if it has such a modem-only/bridge
mode, so one of us might need to do some research on that possibility.
(I nominate you.)  If it is possible, then:

   Visit http://netgear.com/support , put in your model number, and look
for Documentation.  Get the User Manual.  Read.  Look for "Set Up the
Modem Router for Cable or Fiber Service".

[Moosedownunder]

Antinode
Love your sarcasm.
I'm 65, obviously didn't grow up with computers and computer jargon like you seem to have. I know how to turn a computer on and use it. I'm probably a little better than most people my age. But I know little about modems, routers WiFi, WPS and the like.
Maybe there is someone out there that gets a little less pleasure out of your sort of attitude that might actually be brought up properly and wants to help someone in need.

[michaelkenward]

---

@Moosedownunder wrote:

Someone said to leave the Belong set up to get the speeds and set the D7800 as the WiFi router using WPS.

---

Not sure where WPS comes into this, unless it is to connect the lights, but if you want to use the D7800 as a router, then you need to disable the modem bit of your Belong 4353. 

This might help on that front:

belong 4353 bridge mode - Google Search – belong 4353 bridge mode

An alternative strategy is to use the D7800 as a wireless access point. But this still relies on the Belong 4353 to act as the router, which may mean that you still hit the limit for the number of lights you can use.

You never did say why the Belong has problems with your lights.

There's not much useful information in this bit:

The Belong 4353 is hopeless; it will only take about 13 lights at best.

What happens when you add more?

Not knowing how many other wifi things you have around, I have no idea if this is useful:

How many clients can you connect wirelessly to a NETGEAR router? | Answer | NETGEAR Support

Oh, and the people who know most about the D7800  hang out here:

DSL Modems & Routers

[Moosedownunder]

michaelkenward

Thank you for your response. Sorry I haven't got back to this sooner, been  bit of a week.

A little more research suggests the D7800 has the capability of 32 wifi clients per channel, 2 channels (2.5ghz and 5ghz) suggests a prbable 64 in total. I can't find an equivalent spec for the Belong modem but given my experience it is a lot lower, I was able to connect 13 lights. Assumming I already had a couple of other clients attached, the laptop I was using for instance and 2 mobile phones, maybe my wife's samsung tab as well.

When connecting Lifx lights it is suggested by Lifx that the 5ghz channel is disabled and the lights are connected to 2.5 only; I do this. When the belong gets to its limit of wifi clients, trying to connect an additional light you can work through the instructions until it gets to the point of actually connecting, it then just keeps trying to connect without connected. The connection symbol just keeps going around and around. Sorry, that's the best way I can describe it.

We have reverted back to the D7800 and taken the Belong out of the system. I can connect all the lights but now my NBN speed has reduced to 15-16mps download and 4.5-5.0 upload. Not great but I just cannot find a solution.

Thanks for your earlier response, much appreciated.

Regards Moosedownunder