Home Network - Part 2

So that change didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped... turns out the latest firmware for the ASUS RT-AC3200 has a 2.4 GHz bug. It took me a long time to figure out that was the problem.

I noticed the issue on some of my IoT devices and my wife's hand-me-down laptop. I assumed it was a problem with the devices. Basically, I kept getting a bad password error. I ended up trying a lot of different things - laptop driver update, deleting all the network settings, resetting the IoT devices to their default config, changing the SSID, etc.

It wasn't until I realized I was having the problem on my laptop and my iPhone 8 that I started thinking the router was the issue. Originally I had those devices configured to use 5 GHz only, so they never experienced the problem. After a short search, I found this thread: 2.4GHz band issues with RT-AC3200 firmware 3.0.0.4.382_50010. Bingo! That was exactly my problem. I rolled back to an older firmware version and everything has been working like a champ.

On a happier note, I returned my Comcast cable modem, since I had purchased the NETGEAR CM500-1AZNAS. I walked in the retail store, they scanned the label on the modem, and printed a receipt. It took less than 30 seconds. Perfect!

For an upcoming post, I may list all the devices I have connected and note which ones were easy to migrate to the new SSID. (Spoiler Alert - the inexpensive Smart Plugs I bought have some horribly written instructions.)

Home Network

I mentioned I was changing my network at home - getting my own cable modem (NETGEAR CM500-1AZNAS) and trying to decide what to do for wireless. I ended up ordering the ASUS RT-AC3200.

The specs look great and I'm optimistic that I can move it to a slightly more central location. The combination of the two changes should get me great coverage throughout the house. (And, if that's not perfect, I could look at the ASUS mesh networking - AiMesh.)

Also, I'm a fan the WRT software and like the ASUSWRT version as well. You can play around with an on-line demo of the software here.

Hopefully I can get everything moved to the new setup over the week-end. I already announced a scheduled network maintenance/outage for Sunday. Guess folks may have to read a book or something for a few minutes.

Li-Fi

So, I'm gonna have chips for bluetooth, wi-fi, NFC, and Li-Fi in my devices?

"So, will Li-Fi be a competitor to Wi-Fi in the future? 

I highly doubt they will be competing technologies and will most likely be complementary if anything. For instance, you could have a situation where you have Li-Fi overlaid on top of a Wi-Fi network in high density environments such as a conference hall. The Li-Fi can support the dense number of users and wouldn’t interfere with the Wi-Fi network. In terms of home uses, it is unlikely to become commonplace as you would need to have an Ethernet connection to each light and the lights must remain on for communications. Most home users like the ability to use the internet in the dark and that is not possible with Li-Fi."

Li-Fi
1 kbps (infrared light)
1 Gbps (visible light)
224 Gbps theoretical

Wi-Fi
1.3 Gbps (802.11ac, 3 spatial streams, 80 MHz channel, SGI)
10 Gbps theoretical
(802.11ax research in 5 GHz band)

Google OnHub Wireless Router

Interesting...

Google is releasing their own wireless router: OnHub Wireless Router from Google and TP-LINK.

Specs here. Of note, it is 802.15.4 compliant and has Bluetooth. The wireless specs standout as well.

2.4 GHz wireless	802.11b/g/n 3x3 with smart antenna
5 GHz wireless	802.11a/n/ac 3x3 with smart antenna
AUX wireless	802.11a/b/g/n/ac 1x1

AUX wireless?

Google definitely wants to be in your home.

Panera WiFi

Wow, it is bad today. (So bad I couldn't even finish this post while there.)

They must be forcing Dial-up Mode.

Skynet Begins

Internet enabled... crock-pot.

A Solution for Hans

If he decides to move away from Intermod Alley, he could go to West Virginia.

Li-Fi and NLOS Lightwaves

Tangentially related...

Near Line of Sight (NLOS) Lightwave experiments

And Li-Fi:

WarSting

WarSting: A Wi-Fi scanning sword for Hobbits:




Via Slashdot.org

The Joys of Wireless Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting wireless can be hard. Where I am working, we have to deal with loads that vary with the day and with the season. Couple those variables with everything that happens in the air and it can lead to plenty of headaches. I've ordered some pineapples to compensate.

CWNP: 802.11 MAC Headers

A good breakdown of 802.11 MAC headers via Aruba.

Intel Wireless AC 7260 Update

So I was having a problem with my Intel AC 7260 wireless card using the VHT (802.11ac) mode. I would get better performance by forcing it to HT (802.11n). We updated to AOS 6.3.1.13 on the controllers/access points and I am getting much better results on VHT now. I cannot say if the problem is with Intel or Aruba, but clearly the mix was limiting my performance.


New results with VHT

Client connecting to server, TCP port 5001

TCP window size:  512 KByte

------------------------------------------------------------

[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth

[  4]  0.0- 2.0 sec  35.2 MBytes   148 Mbits/sec

[  4]  2.0- 4.0 sec  34.2 MBytes   144 Mbits/sec

[  4]  4.0- 6.0 sec  34.6 MBytes   145 Mbits/sec

[  4]  6.0- 8.0 sec  34.4 MBytes   144 Mbits/sec

[  4]  8.0-10.0 sec  34.8 MBytes   146 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec   173 MBytes   145 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0- 2.0 sec  32.6 MBytes   137 Mbits/sec

[  4]  2.0- 4.0 sec  36.0 MBytes   151 Mbits/sec

[  4]  4.0- 6.0 sec  36.0 MBytes   151 Mbits/sec

[  4]  6.0- 8.0 sec  37.5 MBytes   157 Mbits/sec

[  4]  8.0-10.0 sec  34.0 MBytes   143 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec   177 MBytes   148 Mbits/sec

Old results with VHT

Client connecting to server, TCP port 5001

TCP window size:  512 KByte

------------------------------------------------------------

[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth

[  4]  0.0- 2.0 sec  24.0 MBytes   101 Mbits/sec

[  4]  2.0- 4.0 sec  24.1 MBytes   101 Mbits/sec

[  4]  4.0- 6.0 sec  30.2 MBytes   127 Mbits/sec

[  4]  6.0- 8.0 sec  30.8 MBytes   129 Mbits/sec

[  4]  8.0-10.0 sec  28.1 MBytes   118 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec   137 MBytes   115 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0- 2.0 sec  6.67 MBytes  28.0 Mbits/sec

[  4]  2.0- 4.0 sec  6.87 MBytes  28.8 Mbits/sec

[  4]  4.0- 6.0 sec  4.33 MBytes  18.2 Mbits/sec

[  4]  6.0- 8.0 sec  6.17 MBytes  25.9 Mbits/sec

[  4]  8.0-10.0 sec  6.05 MBytes  25.4 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0-10.1 sec  30.4 MBytes  25.2 Mbits/sec

Speettest.net results are better now, too.

Eduroam

I've recently learned about the Eduroam service and I must say it is a cool idea. Basically, a bunch of schools got together to allow wireless access at each other's locations:

"The eduroam initiative started in 2003 within TERENA's Task Force on Mobility, TF-Mobility. The task force created a test bed to demonstrate the feasibility of combining a RADIUS-based infrastructure with 802.1X standard technology to provide roaming network access across research and education networks. The initial test was conducted among five institutions located in the Netherlands, Finland, Portugal, Croatia and the UK. Later, other national research and education networking organisations in Europe embraced the idea and gradually started joining the infrastructure, which was then named eduroam. 

eduroam allows any eduroam-enabled user to get network access at any institution connected to eduroam."

So say, I was a student at the University of Tennessee here in Knoxville. If I were to visit London, I would be able to connect to the LSE's (and many other's) wireless network. That's pretty slick.

CWNP: CWTS - Service Sets

My study guide/notes... my definitions may not be perfect, but they help me with concepts.

Service Set (SS) - all the devices connected to a wireless LAN.

Basis Service Set (BSS) - a single access point and all of its connected devices

Independent BSS / Ad Hoc / Peer-to-peer - devices talk to each other without a central authority like an access point

Infrastructure BSS - an access point that connects to a larger distribution network

Extended Service Set (ESS) - a collection of BSS that are working together to provide wireless service in an area

Basis Service Set Identification (BSSID) - the MAC address of the access point

Service Set Identifier (SSID) - the unique identifier for a BSS or ESS, what we commonly call the name of the wireless network

Intel Wireless AC 7260 Problem and Work-around

I got a new laptop at work and it has the Intel AC 7260 wireless card. Apparently, it does not like our AC access points here. With the default settings, my iperf tests look like this:

iperf\iperf.exe -c server -r -i 2 -w 524288

------------------------------------------------------------

Server listening on TCP port 5001

TCP window size:  512 KByte

------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------

Client connecting to server, TCP port 5001

TCP window size:  512 KByte

------------------------------------------------------------

[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth

[  4]  0.0- 2.0 sec  24.0 MBytes   101 Mbits/sec

[  4]  2.0- 4.0 sec  24.1 MBytes   101 Mbits/sec

[  4]  4.0- 6.0 sec  30.2 MBytes   127 Mbits/sec

[  4]  6.0- 8.0 sec  30.8 MBytes   129 Mbits/sec

[  4]  8.0-10.0 sec  28.1 MBytes   118 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec   137 MBytes   115 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0- 2.0 sec  6.67 MBytes  28.0 Mbits/sec

[  4]  2.0- 4.0 sec  6.87 MBytes  28.8 Mbits/sec

[  4]  4.0- 6.0 sec  4.33 MBytes  18.2 Mbits/sec

[  4]  6.0- 8.0 sec  6.17 MBytes  25.9 Mbits/sec

[  4]  8.0-10.0 sec  6.05 MBytes  25.4 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0-10.1 sec  30.4 MBytes  25.2 Mbits/sec

If I change the HT Mode from VHT Mode (AC) to HT Mode (N) in the driver properties, then my results get much better.

[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth

[  4]  0.0- 2.0 sec  33.4 MBytes   140 Mbits/sec

[  4]  2.0- 4.0 sec  30.6 MBytes   128 Mbits/sec

[  4]  4.0- 6.0 sec  33.0 MBytes   138 Mbits/sec

[  4]  6.0- 8.0 sec  33.0 MBytes   138 Mbits/sec

[  4]  8.0-10.0 sec  34.4 MBytes   144 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec   164 MBytes   138 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0- 2.0 sec  25.8 MBytes   108 Mbits/sec

[  4]  2.0- 4.0 sec  30.9 MBytes   130 Mbits/sec

[  4]  4.0- 6.0 sec  29.6 MBytes   124 Mbits/sec

[  4]  6.0- 8.0 sec  30.7 MBytes   129 Mbits/sec

[  4]  8.0-10.0 sec  31.3 MBytes   131 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec   149 MBytes   124 Mbits/sec

I see the same sort of results with Speedtest.

Routers

As is often the case, life seems to work in themes... since I've talking about the CWNP, I see a couple of articles about routers.

The first is a primer for buying a new router for your home.

[[[ UPDATE: Check out this reddit thread about the anonabox ]]]

Second is anonabox : a Tor hardware router:

"The anonabox easily encrypts Internet usage with a simple device that secures all web traffic, not just the traffic coming from one program. No software to download or configure, no login credentials, no registration, just plug it in and your network connection is encrypted. The anonabox also allows people to use programs over Tor that never supported it before or required complicated configuration like Skype, Safari and Filezilla, to name just a few. Also the default firewall configuration protects your computer or network from outside access."

CWNP

I'm looking into the Certified Wireless Network Professional program for my next cert. CWNP is vendor agnostic. I've never formally done any training or studying on the wireless side, but after reading a couple of chapters, I'm excited about the (no surprise) overlap with ham radio topics. I spotted a ham calling "CQ" in the CWNP forum.