Intermittent wireless connection problems

[supacharged21]

Ok so I have my apex system running. I am using an at&t 2wire router. I initially setup the apex with a Ethernet wire, and then used the netgear game adapter.

Everything was working fine, and then now my iphone will not connect. What do you think could be causing this? I can still access my apex from my computer wirelessly in the other room, which means my netgear adapter is working?

Sorry I cant be more descriptive, but I know about computer hardware, but not too much about networking. (enough to get this up and running however)

Thanks,
Julian

 

[aquamanic]

What application on your iPhone are you using to connect? Safari? Aquanotes? TankManager?

Have you verified your iPhone Wi-Fi is working correctly? If you are on cellular, you're actually attempting to come back in over the web.

 

[jrpark22000]

Do you have intermittent connection from the iphone or is it always unable to connect?

 

[supacharged21]

I have made connection via aquanotes before using iphone, and connected with both 3g and wireless web. Its not a matter of phone connection. I am thinking it might be an updater issue, but not sure.

I looked in the updater log, and noticed that it cant update wan, but do not know why?




Edit: After thinking about this I went into windows firewall, and added dyndns updater to have access to public in addition to private access. Maybe this will remove some sort of restriction that the program has had to update itself?

 

[aquamanic]

I think I misunderstood your original problem. It's remote (i.e. outside of your house) access to your controller that you're having trouble with? You say it doesn't work on the iPhone but what about from another computer, not on your home network?

You can go to 'whatsmyipaddress.com' and see what your current WAN IP address is, then compare that to what is currently showing in DynDNS. They must be the same.

On the firewall issue, if your router is handling the DynDNS updates, I think it's in front of the firewall and firewall rules will have no effect. If you're using the PC updater client from DynDNS, then that might be a possibility. You can turn off the Windows firewall temporarily then force the updater to do an update. See if that works.

 

[supacharged21]

I will have to try it from another computer outside of the network tomorrow. The WAN IP address's match on dyndns, and from my internet browser.

It is just odd because the iPhone will connect fine one day, then will not the next. (it started working again on way back from dinner tonight) I am 100% it is not my phone connection, and nothing is changed in the app or anything.

When I am logged into the router it recognizes the netgear wireless signal and the apex.

 

[jrpark22000]

Ok, I have a similar problem using Uverse and the 2wire. I have both an AC3 and an APEX both using the same network topology, the AC3 never has a problem . The Apex is always reachable from inside my network, but from the internet it randomly fails to connect.

To try and isolate your problem further, when you notice your Apex is not reachable from the internet, go to a computer on your local network and establish a connection to the Apex. After I do this, I always regain access to the Apex from the internet.

My current workaround is using logmein.com to remote to a computer on my home network, then connecting to the Apex.

Let me know if you see similar. If you match all of the above data points I would like to know what hardware you are using in your home network. If the uverse is the only common hardware we may be onto something.


Just for more info, my Apex can stay unreachable from the internet for anywhere between 15 minutes and 24 hours before it corrects it's own fault.

 

[supacharged21]

Ok, I have a similar problem using Uverse and the 2wire. I have both an AC3 and an APEX both using the same network topology, the AC3 never has a problem . The Apex is always reachable from inside my network, but from the internet it randomly fails to connect.

To try and isolate your problem further, when you notice your Apex is not reachable from the internet, go to a computer on your local network and establish a connection to the Apex. After I do this, I always regain access to the Apex from the internet.

My current workaround is using logmein.com to remote to a computer on my home network, then connecting to the Apex.

Let me know if you see similar. If you match all of the above data points I would like to know what hardware you are using in your home network. If the uverse is the only common hardware we may be onto something.


Just for more info, my Apex can stay unreachable from the internet for anywhere between 15 minutes and 24 hours before it corrects it's own fault.

Current hardware I am using is the

2 wire 3801HGV
Netgear WNCE2001
APEX with static IP

Does the netgear WNCE2001 need to be set to static IP to work properly? :blown:

 

[jrpark22000]

I don't use the netgear, but there should be some references in RC.

For further help we will need some more information to above questions or we are just guessing. We/are you able to test from a computer on the outside of your netwrok today?

 

[supacharged21]

I think I misunderstood your original problem. It's remote (i.e. outside of your house) access to your controller that you're having trouble with? You say it doesn't work on the iPhone but what about from another computer, not on your home network?

You can go to 'whatsmyipaddress.com' and see what your current WAN IP address is, then compare that to what is currently showing in DynDNS. They must be the same.

On the firewall issue, if your router is handling the DynDNS updates, I think it's in front of the firewall and firewall rules will have no effect. If you're using the PC updater client from DynDNS, then that might be a possibility. You can turn off the Windows firewall temporarily then force the updater to do an update. See if that works.

Do you know if it is possible to use the updater via 2 wire routers?

I don't use the netgear, but there should be some references in RC.

For further help we will need some more information to above questions or we are just guessing. We/are you able to test from a computer on the outside of your netwrok today?

I just was able to log in just now from another computer external to my network. That basically lets me know that dyndns is working ok.

I noticed earlier, I had a failed log in via iphone, and then went to apex display and went into net settings and rebooted and then things worked. I tried what you said about logging in via within the network to wake up apex, but that didnt work I dont think?

I wonder what is going on? Could this be a glitch in the apex unit that has issues with wireless?

 

[RussM]

The wireless adapter itself is not the problem if internal access to the Apex is consistent but external access is not.

The 3800 doesn't seem to like static IP addresses on connected devices, and "forgets" about them after a period of inactivity. Instead, set the Apex to use DHCP and reboot it. Then, in the router, go to the Advanced Settings->Edit Address Allocations page in the router. Locate the Apex in the list of devices, and set it's DHCP mode to DHCP Fixed. Save, then reboot the Apex again. Modify port forwarding as needed to utilize the new IP address.

This way, the router is happy because it is issuing/tracking IP addresses, but the Apex will always be assigned the same IP address.

 

[supacharged21]

The wireless adapter itself is not the problem if internal access to the Apex is consistent but external access is not.

The 3800 doesn't seem to like static IP addresses on connected devices, and "forgets" about them after a period of inactivity. Instead, set the Apex to use DHCP and reboot it. Then, in the router, go to the Advanced Settings->Edit Address Allocations page in the router. Locate the Apex in the list of devices, and set it's DHCP mode to DHCP Fixed. Save, then reboot the Apex again. Modify port forwarding as needed to utilize the new IP address.

This way, the router is happy because it is issuing/tracking IP addresses, but the Apex will always be assigned the same IP address.

Ok I will try this. I am semi new to networking, and learning as I go. What is the difference between static ip and DHCP fixed? Basically your letting the router assign a dhcp ip that is fixed?

 

[supacharged21]

Ok after having connection problems with my phone again today, I again reset the apex, and then connection came back. It is like the there is something going to sleep. (So I am pretty sure its the router like mentioned above)



Following the plan above I....

Set the apex to DHCP.

I am not sure where the advanced settings are that your talking about. ( I see an advanced settings under firewall, but dont think this is the right area.

I am looking for a place to edit address allocations, but only find that under the LAN\Ip address allocation. I am finding the device netgear wireless device, but its set to static IP. (it will not let me change it in the dropdown box.) I am thinking I need to edit this in the Netgear setup first to set to DHCP?


Does this sound right?

 

[RussM]

I am looking for a place to edit address allocations, but only find that under the LAN\Ip address allocation. I am finding the device netgear wireless device, but its set to static IP. (it will not let me change it in the dropdown box.) I am thinking I need to edit this in the Netgear setup first to set to DHCP?

Does this sound right?

Yes.

What is the difference between static ip and DHCP fixed? Basically your letting the router assign a dhcp ip that is fixed?

Normally, the router will assign whatever is the next available address in sequnce from the pool of addresses using DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) DHCP makes basic networking really easy... plug & play. For example, if you router's LAN address is 192.168.1.1, the DHCP address pool typically started at 192.168.1.2. The first device to request an address gets .2, the next device gets .3, etc. But if the first device (which had .2) gets turned of for a while, and another device requests an address, it might be assigned .2, since that address is now available. Normally, there is no guarantee that a device will always get the same address. Not a problem with PCs usually, but when you have a device like the Apex in the picture and corresponding port forwarding rules which depend on the device's IP address being consistent, dynamic address causes problems. This is why the usual best practice is to give the Apex a static/hard-coded IP address. But there is a better way *if* supported by your router... this is called DHCP reservations - dynamic addressing with the advantages of both dynamic and static addressing. The Apex or other device will be assigned an address by the router, but the router will always assign the same pre-allocated/reserved address to that device. In the 2Wire routers, this is called DHCP Fixed.

 

[supacharged21]

Yes.




Normally, the router will assign whatever is the next available address in sequnce from the pool of addresses using DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) DHCP makes basic networking really easy... plug & play. For example, if you router's LAN address is 192.168.1.1, the DHCP address pool typically started at 192.168.1.2. The first device to request an address gets .2, the next device gets .3, etc. But if the first device (which had .2) gets turned of for a while, and another device requests an address, it might be assigned .2, since that address is now available. Normally, there is no guarantee that a device will always get the same address. Not a problem with PCs usually, but when you have a device like the Apex in the picture and corresponding port forwarding rules which depend on the device's IP address being consistent, dynamic address causes problems. This is why the usual best practice is to give the Apex a static/hard-coded IP address. But there is a better way *if* supported by your router... this is called DHCP reservations - dynamic addressing with the advantages of both dynamic and static addressing. The Apex or other device will be assigned an address by the router, but the router will always assign the same pre-allocated/reserved address to that device. In the 2Wire routers, this is called DHCP Fixed.

I dont know why, but I have gone into the netgear setup and it is assigned dhcp, but when I go into 2wire and check it has assigned it a static ip. :sad2:

EDIT:

No matter what I did nothing changed it from having a static ip.
I tried resetting router and clearing list of connected devices and also going through netgear setup a few times.

Why it worked when I used the pushbutton wps connection/setup option is beyond me. (I was originally setting this up with ethernet cord and accessing netgears private ip per option# 2 in their instructions.)

So at this point I have assigned a fixed DHCP mode to my netgear wnc2001 game adapter, assigned apex controller to netgear device. All is working right now, and I am thinking this is the fix I was looking for. Thanks so much RussM and everybody else! I have a much better networking understanding from setting up this apex. :fish1: