Spark Smart Modem 2 - Latest Firmware, External ICMP Disabled?

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Jiriteach

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#295926 5-May-2022 22:55

Hi - Seeing an incredibly strange issue unless this is by design and hasnt suddenly taken effect.

My SSM2 which I use as a backup with Wireless Broadband but been solid for months (if not longer). I also have a fixed IP on this.
My remote monitoring could no longer ping my SSM2 on its public IP from ~ 5am this morning and its still the case now.

I have another SSM2 with another public IP - so I tried that and was able to monitor successful pings until it look like it updated itself and not I cannot ping my public IP. So same issue.

Umm - No changes to settings but logs show that Spark has pushed some configs. Anyone else seeing this and anyone know what or why Spark has done this? There is a part of me thats leaning towards this being a bug in the latest firmware thats been pushed.

Thanks

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#2910729 6-May-2022 05:49

So after lots of testing - This looks like a bug in the latest firmware that was pushed for the Spark Smart Modem 2. Who at Spark could assist with this? Really don’t want to go through the help desk with something like this.

Thanks

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cbrpilot

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#2910774 6-May-2022 09:53

Hi Jiriteach,

I am not across any firmware changes to the Smart Modem 2, but if ICMP to the WAN IP is disabled, you can manually re-enable in the firmware in the Network/Firewall/Intrusion Detection page.

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Talkiet

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#2910776 6-May-2022 09:53

Disclaimer - I am using a beta version of the FW with a cool new feature :-) ... So the menu option I can see may or may not be in yours - but can you see a choice under "Network>Firewall>Intrusion Detection" labelled "Discard Ping to WAN interface"? I have it on mine and it's ticked by default.

Have a look and see if you can see that please.

Cheers - N

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Jiriteach

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#2910788 6-May-2022 10:43

Talkiet:

Disclaimer - I am using a beta version of the FW with a cool new feature :-) ... So the menu option I can see may or may not be in yours - but can you see a choice under "Network>Firewall>Intrusion Detection" labelled "Discard Ping to WAN interface"? I have it on mine and it's ticked by default.

Have a look and see if you can see that please.

Cheers - N

Thanks for the pointer. Unfortunately does not make any difference but the option implies that it would discard ICMP traffic anyways.

Running firmware version - 2.01.10 build02-20220331

If I enable Discard Ping to WAN Interface - the firewall will set itself to Medium. Even if I turn the firewall off (which in turn, turns off Discard Ping to WAN Interface) - ICMP traffic to my static IP seems to be blocked.
Confident that this is a bug with the new firmware or an option is being enforced.

Any other ideas on what I could try? Also factory reset and still no go. Have two of these now with static IP's with this issue.

Thanks

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Jiriteach

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#2910897 6-May-2022 12:32

cbrpilot:

Hi Jiriteach,

I am not across any firmware changes to the Smart Modem 2, but if ICMP to the WAN IP is disabled, you can manually re-enable in the firmware in the Network/Firewall/Intrusion Detection page.

Hmm - Have tried that and no go. Traffic is incoming where I have enabled it for testing purposes but ICMP is still blocked and it does not look like a IP or routing issue. If I setup remote pings - restart the SM2 - I will need successful requests during boot up until its fully started and then requests start being denied.

Have tested 2 SM2's now both on Portable Wireless Broadband and both with static IP's and same experience. This only started yesterday morning ~ 5am.

If I tick "Discard Ping To WAN Interface" - it will set the Firewall automatically to Medium and still doesnt work.
I've also factory reset them and same issue.

Something has changed which has caused for this to be blocked as my remote monitoring only started seeing this ~5am yesterday.

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cbrpilot

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#2910982 6-May-2022 13:19

I shall do some asking around and see what I can find out.

Dave

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catspyjamas

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#2911062 6-May-2022 14:43

Came on here to see if anyone else was experiencing strange behaviour after the firmware update yesterday at 9.34am for the SSM2. This was the first time my modem has powered itself off since it was connected on 20th March & when I looked at the admin page afterwards, I could see updated to firmware 2.01.10 build02-20220331.

Fast forward to glancing up at the modem at 11.15am today & noticing the normally dark blue status light was a solid white, which the support pages tell me means the "modem is ready to connect". All the other lights were solid green as they should be. Strangely, even though the light was white, the internet was still working just fine - I could connect to any site I tried with the wifi connected phone & ethernet connected laptop. I gave it 20 mins to see if the status light flicked back to blue, but it didn't. So I powered the modem off & after it came back on the status light went dark blue & has remained that way. Not sure how long it was white for, but I'm guessing anywhere from minutes to a few hours of my noticing (my modem is within my peripheral vision).

I checked the modem log after it rebooted and noted literally hundreds of a new type of entry in the log since the firmware update at 9.34am. I'm not sure if the entry contains something that should not be posted on a public forum so I will PM the particular entry to you @talkiet. The same entry in the log is repeated literally every minute and relates to [Steering].

Not sure this has anything to do with your issue Jiriteach (all of which goes over right over my head I'm afraid), but adding my observation here since these strange log entries only started immediately after the firmware update, as did the strange status light behaviour today. Even if the log entry is harmless & means nothing bad - it's really clogging up the log!!

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Jiriteach

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#2911079 6-May-2022 15:42

cbrpilot:

I shall do some asking around and see what I can find out.

Dave

Thanks

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Jiriteach

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#2911081 6-May-2022 15:45

catspyjamas:

Came on here to see if anyone else was experiencing strange behaviour after the firmware update yesterday at 9.34am for the SSM2. This was the first time my modem has powered itself off since it was connected on 20th March & when I looked at the admin page afterwards, I could see updated to firmware 2.01.10 build02-20220331.

Fast forward to glancing up at the modem at 11.15am today & noticing the normally dark blue status light was a solid white, which the support pages tell me means the "modem is ready to connect". All the other lights were solid green as they should be. Strangely, even though the light was white, the internet was still working just fine - I could connect to any site I tried with the wifi connected phone & ethernet connected laptop. I gave it 20 mins to see if the status light flicked back to blue, but it didn't. So I powered the modem off & after it came back on the status light went dark blue & has remained that way. Not sure how long it was white for, but I'm guessing anywhere from minutes to a few hours of my noticing (my modem is within my peripheral vision).

I checked the modem log after it rebooted and noted literally hundreds of a new type of entry in the log since the firmware update at 9.34am. I'm not sure if the entry contains something that should not be posted on a public forum so I will PM the particular entry to you @talkiet. The same entry in the log is repeated literally every minute and relates to [Steering].

Not sure this has anything to do with your issue Jiriteach (all of which goes over right over my head I'm afraid), but adding my observation here since these strange log entries only started immediately after the firmware update, as did the strange status light behaviour today. Even if the log entry is harmless & means nothing bad - it's really clogging up the log!!

I did experience this several times - and also when making changes. After a reboot and connect - the blue light returns and all is good - apart from the issue I raised in this thread around the firewall.
I am also noticing new entries in the log which differ from what I have previously seen.

Looks like the new firmware update has some bugs - would be great if Spark could post the previous firmware so we can revert back :)

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catspyjamas

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#2911093 6-May-2022 16:44

@jiriteach Yes the blue light came on OK for me after the firmware update completed yesterday, but it just switched to a not-going-anywhere, solid white mid-morning today.... for no apparent reason. I haven't noticed that happening before. After power cycling the modem this morning the white light came on briefly, then it went yellow & then flicked to dark blue, where it has stayed ever since. Expected behaviour. The most surprising thing was being able to use the internet in spite of the stuck white light.

Talkiet replied to my PM. He has asked me to report back if the status light gets stuck on white again. At this stage it's being treated as a post-update glitch from the soft reboot the day before. I shall be eyeballing it tomorrow AM 24hrs after the power cycle, when I'd expect a brief network initiated WAN drop while it's assigning itself a new IP.

Re the repeated status log messages I mentioned - Talkiet said they are a status entry relating to band steering & not an error, however he was surprised it was being logged so often, so he will be reporting it to the appropriate people. It appears I get one band steering status entry every minute per every wifi connected device (not for ethernet connected though). This is definitely new log behaviour since the firmware update and is making for a crazy busy log!

So far I'm not seeing any lost functionality since the firmware update, but I shall report back if I do. Hope your issue can be found & fixed soon.

Jiriteach

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#2911869 9-May-2022 14:29

So while I havent been able to resolve the ICMP issue - its definately a bug - I've tried every possible option/resetting etc. and no go.

RE - Lights
Yes experiencing this now as well. Havent touched the SSM2 and its now showing White. Nothing further in the logs. No disconnects or reboots so looks like another bug. Still have connectivity but the SSM2 seems to think its not connected.

Hope Spark can address these niggling issues ASAP. Would be good to allow those who want to - to be able to download the previous firmware and revert back.

Thanks

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catspyjamas

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#2911936 9-May-2022 15:44

I have not had the stuck white light again since I reported it here the other day. For me, that one reboot of the modem seems to have sorted it. It seemed more like a stuck light than a stuck function though; I mean the modem was behaving as if the light was dark blue, but just showing the white. I eyeballed it 24hrs after turning it off at the wall & on again & saw it drop to white for a second, then go straight back to blue as it should.

The logs are very busy with the every minute bandsteering status message per each wifi connected device, but I do notice that there is very little else to see log wise. Some of the things that used to show, no longer do. Maybe they were things fixed by the firmware update?

What I am seeing though is a bit of degradation in performance both in upload & download speeds & sometimes unusual amounts of jitter compared to before. Have you noticed that too @jiriteach? Nothing has changed in my setup to explain it, and I can pinpoint the change to immediately after the new firmware. I fully understand that speeds will vary on 4G - sometimes markedly - but I've been using wireless broadband here for a long time (since Dec 2018) & I know roughly what to expect speed-wise in terms of the day of the week, & the time of day/night - including from this modem. I'm allowing for things like when there's a match on too. ;) Before the firmware update this modem would leave the B681 for dust, but it's the other way around now. It's getting about 40-70% of the speeds of the B618 since the update, occasionally on par with it, whereas before the update this modem would routinely do between 25-40% better than the B618. Speeds are still adequate & the modem is stable in terms of keeping connection, it's just not quite as amazing as it was! Tried a few things like excluding DFS channels & channel locking, but not really found anything that's making a difference. It's especially noticeable when streaming something that has variable bitrate. Initially, this modem performed as well as my vdsl in terms of smoothness & quality for streaming, even in 4K, but now faces are sharp one second & pixelated the next & I get freezes at times, even when streaming something that maxes out at 720p.

cbrpilot

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#2912560 11-May-2022 09:43

@Jiriteach we have raised the ICMP issue with the vendor and they have been able to replicate the issue. A fix for this will be coming in a future firmware update. I do not have a precise timeframe on when that will be released - it could be some weeks away. Obviously this doesn't help you here and now. How vital is this feature for you? We can investigate options on getting you back on the old release if required.

@catspyjamas Do you still have the B618 and can do back to back comparisons of performance?

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catspyjamas

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#2912583 11-May-2022 10:39

@cbrpilot - The Status light is stuck on white again - saw it like this when I got up at 5am today. It would have probably happened when it had the 24hrly new IP assigned at around 3.30am this morning. Rather than power-cycling it like I did the other day (which fixed it for several days), I've left it this time, because the modem still has full internet access, so it's clearly a stuck light rather than stuck function. All the other lights are green and solid as they should be (except for phone but I do not have a phone connnected). I'll see if it is back to blue when I get up tomorrow, because it will have gotten a new IP overnight again.

Yes I do still have the B618 (it's on the Skinny network) & that is how I've been able to say the percentage differences between the two in my above post. Like I said, the SSM2 used to leave the B618 for dust, but it's the other way around now. Very occasionally they'll get similar results, but mostly the SSM2 is anywhere between 40-70% of the B681 now. I do run them back to back, pinging both the same tower and also letting it select the best one (just for comparison purposes), and also tried comparing ethernet vs wifi. Whichever method is used, ethernet or wifi, the difference between the modems seems pretty consistent. Both machines are in the same at home office and similar distances from the modem (in the same room). The modems and PCs are sitting in the same spots, as is all my equipment. And I'm using the speedtest store app, not a browser based test. Literally the only thing to have changed is the firmware update on the SSM2.

Don't get me wrong, the speeds are still pretty good - they're just not as good as they were! If I didn't know what the SSM2 modem was capable of before, and didn't have the B681 to compare, I'd probably never have noticed.

Jiriteach

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#2912769 11-May-2022 22:49

cbrpilot:

@Jiriteach we have raised the ICMP issue with the vendor and they have been able to replicate the issue. A fix for this will be coming in a future firmware update. I do not have a precise timeframe on when that will be released - it could be some weeks away. Obviously this doesn't help you here and now. How vital is this feature for you? We can investigate options on getting you back on the old release if required.

@catspyjamas Do you still have the B618 and can do back to back comparisons of performance?

Thanks for looking into this and the update. I do use rely on ICMP reponses for various monitoring I have in place so yes it does pose a problem. If I was to be supplied with an older release of the firmware - I'd be happy to apply myself. I have two SSM2's where I am experiencing this so would be good please?

Thanks

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