Why I chose Thompson ST516v6 over Siemens SE567 from Telus
By rockia on Mar 17, 2010 with Comments 22
Telus has been my ISP (Internet Service Provider) for a couple years and they are sending me a new modem pretty every time I renew my contract with them. Here are the modem models I have received so far:
- D-Link 300G (Modem only)
- 2Wire 2700 (Modem with Wireless G Router)
- Siemens Gigaset SE567 (Modem with Wireless G Router)
- Thompson ST516v6 (Modem only)
Since I have my own server running at home, one thing that I really need is Port Forwarding. While I was with D-Link 300G, things actually worked out quite good just because it’s only a modem and I assign all my routing job to the router. The only reason that I had to give up on the D-Link modem was because the Telus representative told me that “We (Telus) had a major hardware upgrade and we strongly recommend you to upgrade the modem as well.” Talking about the obvious speed dropping and based on the fact that the upgrade was free, I accepted the offer.
The 2Wire 2700 is a modem with built-in router. Since the 2Wire model supports port forwarding, so everything was running quite smoothly. The only problem is the wireless G is really not what I want so I hooked it up with a D-Link DIR-655 with the 2Wire wireless disabled. If you need the tutorial of setting it up, here is a great post you should read: Connecting Wireless Router to Telus ADSL Gateway Mode.
This is the page of port forwarding setting:
However, I must say that the internal setting page of 2Wire modem/router is extremely slow and unstable. So I didn’t really like it but I had not much choices.
Then Telus started sending out the Siemens Gigaset SE567 modem with router. To be honest, the speed is quite good; yet the port forwarding function was disabled in the manufacture by Telus. This is what I heard from people, but I don’t know if it’s true that the “port forwarding” has never been existed with this device since I can’t get much information from Siemens’ website. If the users are careful enough, they might argue with me that they found “port forwarding” in the setting page:
Yes, this is true because you can redirect the traffic coming from a certain port to a specific IP address in your home network, but a port forwarding is supposedly able to redirect the traffic to a certain port of the computer. If you would like to read some more discussions, you can pay a visit HERE.
I temporarily switched the modem back to the 2Wire to keep my server running. Then I did some further research and found out that they offer a Thompson ST516V6 to all “High Speed Lite” users and Siemens Gigabye SE567 to all “High Speed and High Speed Turbo” users (For more information, you can read it HERE). Upon my call back to Telus, I made a deal with them; I sent back the Siemens SE567 back to them at my cost and they send me a Thompson ST516V6 which is a solo modem to replace the D-Link 300G.
Now with Thompson ST516V6 modem, I am leaving all the wireless routing and port forwarding job to my D-Link DIR-825. This is exactly what I wanted.
Post Note:
I am not sure how much you will need port forwarding at your home; but if you are a web developer who would like to set up a home server for testing purpose or if you are a gamer that would like to play online games through a specific port on your computer, maybe it’s a good idea to give yourself more options in controlling the network traffic. By the first glance of the new users, Telus’ modem with router might be a good deal, but they only comes with wireless G routers and lots of nice features are blocked in the device firmware. I don’t know how long I will stay with Telus, but as long as I do, I will probably not use their modem-router-combo device.
Filed Under: General
Hey,
I’m curious what plan you have. I just moved to TELUS and found that they block a whole bunch of ports such as 25.80,443 etc. so my website, mail server and logmein are all blocked ….
Cheers,
v!c
Yes, they blocked ports like 80, 21, 443 etc for all residential plans, I have to use alternate port in order to host my personal sites and get my personal FTP server running.
Just subscribed to Telus and found that when using WPA with either AES or TKIP mode my iPhone would disconnect itself from the Wifi intermittently (anywhere between 2-10 minutes). Changed the encryption to WEP and there are no issues now. Annoying, but I’ll probably stick with this configuration.
If you stick with WEP, your network will be less secure. I suggest you to go for an additional wireless router to handle the wireless network while your SE567 could work just as a modem. If you don’t need lots of advanced port configuration, SE567 will do the job for you.
Oops, forgot to mention that I have the SE567.
I have a basic questions…
I currently have the Thompson modem (the one mentioned above) and it seems to have been working great as a modem on its own. I got a LinkSys Wireless N Router and hooked it up with the Thompson modem. The wired connection works great (I usually get a speed of 65Mbps), however the wireless connections is decent (usually around 35Mbps). It works well in the house, but at times the connection fails or lags significantly (especially on the other side of the house).
Telus recently sent me the SE567 router/modem combo. I have yet to install it (received it today) but am worried my connection may not be as strong as before, especially on the wired connection to the desktop.
I am not an online gamer or, for that matter, use any of my computers for any special use (i.e. – servers, port forwarding, etc.). I simply use it for everyday use and basic browsing.
So, after that brief synopsis of my situation…
Should I stick with my current situation (LinkSys Wireless N router with Thompson Modem) or switch to the newer Siemens SE567 router/modem combo?
Thank You
Hi Jaku, if you use your computers for special use like servers stuffs (just like what I am doing), you definitely want to stick with Thompson because you will have headache with SE567′s limitation on port forwarding. If you want stronger signal, I might suggest you rather changing your router. Some of the Dual Band routers are getting cheaper and cheaper; you might find those 5GB channel helpful in your situation.
PS: SE567′s wireless signal is not strong neither; trust me, I have tried them both.
Thanks for the speedy reply. I was slightly worried I might not be able to get a response after noticing how old the thread was dated.
I’ve decided to send the SE567 back.
Thanks Again Rockia!
PS: The SE567 feels so… cheap. It almost seems like an empty box.
You are very welcome. I just want to make a correction on my previous reply. It should be 5.0GHz, not 5GB, lol. I personally use Thompson to handle the signal and my router (D-Link DIR-825) handles all the port forwarding and traffic.
Happy Newyear Rockia, i just received my st516v6 from telus and need to connect to dir 825(fw b1 hw 2.0) could u let me no how to configure this setup. i will have one desktop hardwired, ps3 (call of duty blackops)hardwired, and one wireless desktop, i have 2 wireless adapters (dwl g132 fw a2 fw 1.02,or dwa 160 fwb1 fw 2.0)would like to port forward the black ops game,any help would be appreciated. thanks Rick
From the above discussion it seems that port 21 is not mentioned as one of the ports being blocked? Does anyone have success with the SE567 for ftp port forwarding?
I just listed port 80 as an example, I am pretty sure port 21 got blocked by Telus too, and I am using port 5151 to map port 20.
Like I said, SE567 is not good at port forwarding
Recently switched from Shaw to Telus to take advantage of their $15/month Optik inet promotion. Not sure if there’s anything optik about it, it’s just pure adsl, speeds are just below 5mbs. I’m extremely disappointed with their “big brother” port blocking policy. I’d like to ask you guys if someone can recommend another ISP in the Burnaby area, that doesn’t restrict your inet usage. Hard to believe that in a country like Canada in the 21st century if you want to go online it’s a shaw/telus coin toss. In the meantime I reconfigured my httpd to listen on port 8080 and it works fine so far. /Yes I got rid of the zombie telus wifi router and hooked up the Thomson modem, works wonderfully/
And finally – for those of you who are wondering if/how to setup their network with telus:
* telus is probably not a good ISP if you’re a “do it yourself” kinda guy
* try to get info on the net, as contacting telus is an uphill battle – takes 1/2h and 3 redirections just to get to speak with someone who knows the difference between a router and a modem!
Firstly, Telus does have a Wireless-N router. Call up the sales/billing department and ask for the Actiontec, it’s generally only sent out for Optik TV users but if you are wanting to purchase the modem they shouldn’t have much issue with it. It’s also a VDSL2 modem.
Next, and more specifically for TL, If your speeds are below 5mbps on Optik there is either something wrong or you have at least 2 set top boxes turned on while speed testing.
There are various levels of Optik service, going as high as 3 simultaneous HD streams and 1 SD stream with a 25mbps flex highspeed service. And even then with that plan they often leave the throttle set a lot higher than 25mbps if your line supports it to allow you to get 25mbps at the same time as your 4 streams. The Thomson SpeedTouch is a great modem, but it lacks VDSL2 support. The closest thing to a replacement for it Telus currently offers is the Alcatel-Lucent box (sorry, I cannot remember the exact model number for it right now, but Telus reps refer to it as the ALU, it is basically a straight through modem, however it does obtain an IP for itself for the purpose of allowing HDM which Telus has been using lately to auto configure your line to optimal settings on the DSLAM, other than that it still functions the same as the SpeedTouch, even looks very similar)
Telus has on average next day service calls for most areas if there are problems with the connection you are getting, unless you live in a fairly small town, in which case the technicians for that area have set days of the week they will be in your town. If you want a 2 hour appointment window you may have to book a few days in advance as those fill up quickly.
If you are having trouble navigating the IVR maybe you just need to listen to it instead of mashing 0. It is no more complicated than most other IVR systems in use.
In regards to the support reps, Telus has unfortunately shipped a large portion of its level 1 (essentials) workforce off to Manila in the Philippines. They try hard, but are not good at answering any questions beyond the extremely average. If you don’t like this, complain, and support the TWU who are fighting to keep telecommunications jobs in Canada. All modems at Telus are called modems because they all are capable of connecting to a phone line and modulating/demodulating. If you are asking them about how to set up your own personal router, don’t. If you want to add additional hardware to your home network that if your own choice, but Telus will not hand hold you while you setup some other manufacturer’s equipment. They support Windows XP-7 (as far as getting the internet connection working, within reason), Mac OS 9 and X, Outlook Express/Windows Mail/Windows Live Mail/Outlook 2003/2007 (as far as getting your Telus email setup within reason) and a couple other Telus related services.
Now having said that, there are some very smart people who work at Telus, and can and will answer some very technical questions about the Telus services or other general computer related questions. They work in Edmonton, Burnaby, Calgary, and Montreal.
Queue times. They vary, greatly. Some days you can get through instantly, some days it’s 30-45 minutes. They try their best to keep the proper number of agents staffed for any given moment, going so far as to only hire part time then give their part time workers full time hours when needed.
And since I’m trying to clear some misconceptions here, the port blocking issue… First of all, the ports being blocked are not used by the majority of Telus customers. Secondly, they are being blocked to dramatically reduce the amounts of unsolicited traffic on the Telus network, and keep their users safe. If people liked to run down the middle of the freeway would you cheer them on? Or would you be upset that they are interfering with the normal flow of traffic and want the police to come remove them? This isn’t big brotherly or Orwellian, it is just basic common sense. This is a home residential plan. If you want a different plan that does not block all the crazies from hitting your box with hundreds of packets trying over and over to find vulnerabilities, then Telus offers business plans that may suit your needs. Otherwise, they do not block your surfing, your gaming, your torrenting, your messaging, or any other legal or less than legal activities you may be conducting online. So long as it is not affecting the connection stability of other customers on the Telus network. Most Telus residential plans only offer 1mbps up anyways, which is fine for most tasks, but definitely not sufficient for running a web server etc. Which, mind you, you still can, just not on the default ports, so if you want to run an ftp server for your own personal use when away from home, set it up on port 22 or something, if only you will be using it then this should not be an inconvenience in the least to you. I personally would rather have the obvious packet flooding filtered out before it opens communication with my router not after.
Telus also is much more lenient than at least it’s major competitor when it comes to bandwidth usage. On their upper plans (especially anything with TV) they basically do not have a limit. Which is very nice for those of us who have several TBs of storage and enjoy doing a lot of downloading.
Wow, so this was much longer than I wanted it to be. Sorry for the wall of text. Hope this has been helpful to someone out there.
Has anyone had any problems with the SE567 dropping connections? At my folk’s place my Dad and siblings connect to the SE567 wirelessly, and periodically (every 40 minutes or so) the connection will be dropped, even though the computer(s) still shows it as connected. The only way to rectify the problem is to turn the wireless interface off and then on again on the PC or Mac.
A call to the Telus tech help line was fruitless. They told me that other electronic devices could interfere with it, which only seems plausible if these devices were operating on the same frequency. I had this same problem at my place, and only got around it when I switched to the wireless interface on my Time Capsule.
I’m no expert, but i think some ISPs have service interruption to stop people from uploading/downloading all day while they are at work
Hi Mike, so far I have no problem upload/download from my home server. Well, through different port tho.
ever since telus upgraded the modem from the first DLINK they sent, I have been very frustrated with siemen SE567 with signal dropping during early morning or around 12.30pm and at around dinner time 5-6pm. I believed that is during the peak usage time. I have made various calls to telus and I must agree with some of the writers here that the telus reps from the philippines cannot really help with this issue. I have 2 macs and a desk top. Today, I was thinking of hooking it back to using ethernet again but the idea of having cables running along the floor does not really appeal to me. Most times I can put up with the dropped signal, but during my trading time on the stock exchanges, with streaming quotes, that is when I felt I should cancelled telus and go with shaw. The question is will I be facing the same problem with the wireless connection?
Hi geogina, first of all, you need to make sure it’s the wireless’ problem and not ISP’s. You can test it with direct RJ-45 LAN cable (internet cable) hook up your computer to the router and test. If everything is fine, then you don’t need to switch the ISP. All you need to do is to eliminate the sucky wirelss:
1. get a better wireless router, I recommend dule-band wireless N and I trust Cisco Linksys more.
OR,
2. Get a Powerline adapter, for example, Netgear Powerline,
Telus had sent a Thompson ST516V6. I hooked up Linksys wrt 150N wireless -N home router to it. Not sure why I could not get the wireless networking going for my 2 mac lap top? The 2 mac lap top recognized the ssid but could not get any signal. Can you offer any suggestions? Do I need to register with Telus the ip for the router?
Thanks
I have the Siemens SE567 and called Telus to ask if they have a newer version that supports N wireless, NO luck. Mine does the same thing, it ”hangs” and it ahs to be powercyled and then it works fine – it happens occasionally. I’m thinking of getting a Dual-Band Router N-speed.
What would be the benefit compared to a regular wireless router ?
Does dual band mean that band G and N running in parallel or N and N running in parallel ?
I have 3 laptops running N but Telus does only G, so with the new Dual-band , will I see any speed improvements ?
Normally people will get Wireless N at this era,
, yes I call it era.
Dual Band doesn’t mean Wireless G and N at the same time; this is what normal wireless N routers are capable for.
Dual Band means 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies co-exist at the same time. Bluetooth and most wireless devices (like mouse and keyboards) are on 2.4GHz and these devices might create interference for your 2.4GHz wireless network. If you have a dual band router that can send out 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies signal, and if your laptop are capable for 5GHz wireless N network, then it could be very beneficial.
Just a reminder, NOT all wireless N laptops are both 2.4GHz and 5GHz capable. You better check the wireless card model in your laptops before you purchase the router or else it makes no difference with a single band router.