Telstra Gateway Max 2

Works very well – I was skeptical about these modems at fist since my neighbour had so many issues with them. Turns out he was just unlucky since I've had zero issues from day one. It was pretty easy to set up. Been using it for 2 years and I'm very happy with it. Wireless works great, both 2.4ghz and 5ghz, but 5ghz really needs an extender, as an option since some houses tend to have issues with it. Show details

Not the Gateway but the Telstra Smart Gen 2 – I had one of these with my Telstra plan but they have been comprehensively superseded by the Telstra Smart Modem Gen 2. The Max 2 was okay but the new model, the Telstra Smart Gen 2, is really good. Its best feature is the ability to switch to the mobile network if your home network goes out, as we all know it does on occasions. But, no worry, the… Read more

mobile network then clicks in and you remain on the Internet and this works remarkably seamlessly. While I have certainly had my issues with Telstra, this is a real advance in internet connectivity as the days of being off the net are pretty well gone. The Gen 2 looks fine and connects easily to computers and printers. My internet speed also increased about 10% after installing the new modem.

Make sure you get one of these if you sign up with Telstra and the Gen 2's ability to switch to the mobile network may make it worthwhile to actually change to Telstra to avoid the annoyance of prolonged periods off the net.

Good, Basic modem if you want Plug and Play – Let's be honest here. Any modem supplied by an ISP is designed for Joe Bloggs who knows little about technology. These are not aimed at people that want to tinker. The modems are designed for plug-in and get basic internet connectivity. If you want to tinker or do advanced stuff, then you should already know not to rely on a device supplied… Read more

virtually for free by an ISP.

Now that is said, this Gateway Modem, and the future generations of Telstra Smart Modems, are actually quite capable devices. They are superior to the devices supplied by other ISP's. If you want plug and play, work out of the box, then the Telstra Gateways will do the job. Basic port forwarding and even DDNS? Again, for the basics, these do the job. Easy to navigate interface? Not what these are designed for. They are not designed for people who want to play in the interface, swap cables around a lot or anything like that.

So basically, if you want an all in one solution with ISP (Telstra in this case) support, go for this solution. IF you want to tinker, do advanced networking or push to the bleeding edge of your connections abilities, then buy your own router and put the Telstra one in the cupboard.

It comes down to what you want to do with your internet connection. ISP supplied equipment of any kind is always going to be more basic than what the advanced tinkerers want. For Mum and dad, connecting a PC and a couple of phones to the internet, the Telstra gateway is perfect.

Myriad of issues – This modem is horrible. The Telstra Gateway Max 2, or it's actual model name, the Technicolor TG800VAC is a horrible piece of equipment that is afflicted with many issues. 1. Will reboot itself at random intervals, thus losing any connection. 2. Wifi may or may not work. 3. Wifi will drop out randomly. 4. The first one I received eventually… Read more

ended up not working at all. The power light stayed on a light green colour and factory reset did not work, and a restart did nothing.

I have not modified the replacement. However the first one I received from Telstra I decided to look under the hood of the OpenWRT firmware and noticed that in the messages.log, there were problems related to ddns-scripts module which crashed the modem. I have not been able to get to the root cause of the problem as Telstra don't seem to have any support staff who can help with hardware issues.

0/10 would not recommend in any circumstance. I am resigned to the fact that I will have to purchase another modem independent of Telstra and attempt to set it up myself.

Telstra smart modem gen 2 – I upgraded my old modem for this as I wanted to be able to use Telstra air when out and about. This modem comes with 2 parts to it, which is a bit of a space hogger on my desk. It works the same (not faster or slower) than my old Telstra gateway netgear. However, the whole point of this exercise was for Telstra air which has been a massive let… Read more

down as there is never Telstra air WiFi available when I go out, I am only 8 Kim from Melbourne cbd and it doesn’t pick up a signal even when I’m at local shopping center that has a Telstra store. Telstra air is a good concept but in reality it doesn’t work!!

This is excellent – I get this Telstra smart modem as part of the cable internet package with Telstra. At first, I was very doubtful whether this modem can deliver the speed as promised. However, this modem has exceeded all my Expectation. It bring the internet speed very constantly as promised and very reliable too. I am very happy. And also when the internet… Read more

connection is down, the SIM card take over immediately so I don’t loose any connection at all.

So it is really smart modem.

Its OK – it's very slow, compared to NBN. We have unlimited and pay more than what we did before. Everyone told me that telstra is good and expensive, but its absolutely terrible Took a few weeks to set up, it was very hard and had to call the company up several times a week/day.  Show details

Great product – I bought this modem from Telstra with my home internet service, all in all a great modem! I live in a spot that has bad service and the dropouts can be quite frequent but by changing to this modem they became almost non-existent which is great! The connection is good throughout a 3 storey house. It looks good and doesn’t take up too much room which is also a great plus!  Show details

Brilliant family router – We have had and excellent and very stable experience with this - vastly better than the old Netgear it replaced. Reach is good - usable wifi in every room (small house) and very few dropouts. I have reset it a few times but I don't know if it made any difference - it pretty reliable and just sits there quietly going about its business. I would recommend this!  Show details

Very hard to setup – I had major issues setting this up at home. First off the user names given to us by telsta was wrong and the VoIP didn't work too. Had it for two weeks and they needed to send another because it was running extramly slow and still dose and is about the same as dial up so not happy about the move to nbn with this modem  Show details

Great router – Great product, comes with all you need to get a strong and stable connection. Features: 2 x 3.0 fast USB ports 4 x fast GE Ethernet ports 1 DSL port for ADSL2 and VDSL2 The fastestratified Wi-Fi standard there is Easy push button connection to pair wireless devices Dual Band capacity for both 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz Compatible with ADSL, VDSL and NBN Access to the Telstra Air network Well worth the money  Show details

Router that works – We have this router at home and there is no issues. I install a lot of CCTV and alarm systems and have them connected to these routers and they work fantastic. The wifi part of these works great too. The 5G can be a bit ordinary at times tho .  Show details

Unreliable, not user friendly – UNRELIABLE - Recurrent SIGNAL DROP OUTS. Poor coverage in a 3-bedroom house. Close a bedroom door & signal drops or is cut out completely. Paid a premium but because of unreliability and poor Wifi coverage, TELSTRA themselves advised to spend extra money to get the Nighthawk Portable internet. (To make matters worse, Telstra tech who came to… Read more

install was so incompetent, the only thing he managed to connect correctly was the printer.) We spent the next 6 - 9 months spending hours per week on the phone with Telstra’s UNHELPFUL Helpdesk.

The modem itself is POORLY DESIGNED - insufficient ports that are not easily accessed unless you have young nimble and small fingers. The modem itself is big & bulky but does not stand well and there’s no option for mounting e.g. under a desk.

User Friendly – This Gateway was a replacement for a faulty modem I purchased a couple of years earlier which had a dud port and issues from the beginning, but as I was FIFO each time I was home and remember to call I'd wait on hold then line would be tested whilst on phone and offered tech visits never lined up with someone being at home. So after that saga… Read more

this modem appears to be a good one. No recognisable modem issues I can tell, have had a couple of internet dropouts but I'm thinking (hoping) that's the lines and not the modem.

Seems Reliable – Was sent this as a replacement for Telstra's earlier modem which failed. Seems to be reliable and the indicator lights are easy to see. You can tell at a glance if you are having NBN issues. I have FTTP and get good speed out of it, excellent for Netflix and Stan and good general internet download and upload speed. Not the best range and walls… Read more

tend to kill WiFi connections.

I have two Netgear range extenders and connecting them to the modem is a nightmare. The only method that worked for me was to connect each range extender to a laptop via CAT5 and configure them manually.

Once set up though, all is reliable.

The most expensive and worst modem ever – I have owned literally dozens of modems over the years and this is the most expensive I've purchased. It's also, by a very long shot, the worst. Telstra scammed me into buying this piece of junk after a technician told me (falsely, as it turns out) that my previous one had died. A test at my office later revealed this was not true. Day 1,… Read more

the new modem burned at ridiculous speeds and I was a happy camper. This lasted precisely one day, after it returned to well below 10mps (ADSL2).

A year and abit down the track it constantly drops out (a reboot a day is required) and the WiFi signal barely reaches the 10 metres from my study to my kitchen.

This modem is so bad I've had to increase the data on my phone (not Telstra, thank God) so it can fill in the many, many, MANY gaps left by the rubbish sold to me by Telstra.

Works Great – The Internet speed is always great and it never disconnects or requires us to restart it. We have multiple devices hooked up to it and working at once and it never slows the speed down. We keep it downstairs and it reaches throughout the house and on multiple floors just fine. Only positive experiences with this device.  Show details

Good with NBN – When we moved we were able to switch to the NBN with Telstra. We stream video and have multiple devices using the Gateway Max 2 and it has performed really well. The only problem we've had with it is that it only has two ethernet ports, other than that it's good.  Show details

Works well. Reliable performance – We received this as a replacement for our old Testra Gateway router, which stopped working while it was within the 2 years warranty period. We have been using it for 4 months by now. It works well, very reliable performance. No issues at all. So far we are very happy with it.  Show details

NBN Modem Great Speeds – I receive 20mbs+ speeds on the Telstra network with my Gateway Max 2. I've only had positive experiences with it since I received it when I went from ADSL2 to NBN FTTN internet and the speeds are great, the reliability is there and there is no problems with it. The installation was smooth and I'm still a happy user.  Show details

Decent on wifi, exceptional with ethernet – With a wifi (wireless) connection, the modem sometimes drops out occasionally, sometimes impacting on browsing and gaming. However, using an ethernet connection (wired) provides a very fast connection to the internet. I would recommend this particular product, for sure - because of the ethernet connection (and wireless connection for devices such as phones, tablets etc).  Show details

It's OK but not great – The 2.4G wireless has a reasonable range but speed is abysmal. The 5G wireless has great speed but is unavailable to anything not in the same room as the modem. Easy to set up and has 4 ports for thernet connection Should be provided with an extender for the 5G  Show details

Speed great, features great – The modem/router combo works well, no crashes, speed to connect is fast, the only issue I have is Telstra refusing to give me the SIP details for the VOIP so I can use my asus router to manage my network and then use this as the modem. But this isn't a fault of the modem. The modem works well, i'd recommend it to any non tech savvy person.  Show details

Average modem – Got this modem as part of my big pond cable package. Wi fi works fine at ground level but seriously lacking over a big property and had to buy a wi fi booster to boost signal. Apart from that does everything that needs doing. No would not recommend to buy but does do the job.  Show details

Decent but not amazing – Plug and play set up for basic function. Wifi range is fairly small and requires a booster even for our modest 3 bed house (brick). Has both 2.4 and 5ghz options and can be fully configured through the admin window. Wifi speeds hit 95mbps on 5ghz (NBN fibre to the premises) and performed better than the previous Telstra router. Cable… Read more

connections are underneath (removable base) and look a bit messy when connected (unit stands upright). The unit is fairly large for it's function and has no aerials.

Overall, a step up from previous gateways but not as good as many options available for purchase. A great option if you get it free!

Good coverage around the house – Free with our Telstra plan. This modem is able to output 4 different wifi networks, so is very handy when guests come over and ask for wifi. The modem is accessible via 10.0.0.138, where you can change passwords and the network settings. Be sure to use a different wifi band as neighbours as it will interfere and make connections slow.  Show details

Decent Router, does everything it needs to do – I received this router when I signed up for cable broadband with Telstra. It is good however we frequently get ongoing connection dropouts and we have to reset the router which disturbs the whole household and can be frustrating. However when its running the wifi is strong and it has a long range and is easy to set up  Show details

Works well – I bought this when setting up cable broadband in my new place. It works fine - I get fast and consistent speeds all throughout the apartment on the 5 GHz frequency setting. Never had any problems with it. I don't use a home phone so can't comment on that side of things.  Show details

Pretty hopeless router – Telstra supplied for NBN. This router is HUGE! But performance is the opposite. Recycling the modem is a disaster as it takes ages to make a connection... drop outs, lack of stability for us too. It's a shame Telstra is resorting to such cheap hardware... they must get lots of complaints! This one is going in the bin as they're not worth $10 on Gumtree :(  Show details

Don't bother with this one! – This router was supplied when we signed up for a NBN plan through Telstra, but since it was first installed there has been ongoing issues with constant dropouts and porting setting disappearing. The router also has very poor range meaning it could not cover our entire house which was a significant issue. Not worth the effort.  Show details

Decent Router, does its job but nothing special – Changed to this from a technicolor router. While it does the job, there's a few things that really annoy me with this router. The first being the design, it is very big, twice or 3 times the side of a normal router. While there is a section on the router that helps with the cable management, if you plan on switching the cables around often, you… Read more

need to take off the bottom part of the router just to change the cables around.

Secondly, the interface is terrible. It feels like its stuck in the past. Having said that, this goes for Telstra's previous routers as well, so rather than this one being worse, it just feels the same as their others, which are terrible.

Overall as the title says, a decent router but nothing special. It does its job. Thats about all, and i guess that has its merit as well.

Good router with poor features – As much as I like how the router looks but it’s interface is in 90s . Making connectivity more easier to setup and start using it . Has to have high speed connection to get streaming content .not all of them are compatible with Telstra routers. Need to have a technician to look at if something goes wrong  Show details

Reliable – Plug and Play almost, easy to set up, never skipped a beat, attractive unit. Fast and efficient. We are not on NBN yet but this unit will work on NBN. Much faster than our last one. Have not had any dropouts to speak of, new home, new area, new equipment. All good so far  Show details