Spark + HG659b + 32 device limit?

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3122 posts

Uber Geek

#1792325 31-May-2017 13:24

kiwifidget:

32. Unbelievable.

Is this a Spark assigned limit or an HG659b limit irrespective of ISP?

Shorter lease times are 1 hour and 1 minute. Its a drop down and those are the only options.

I'll try 1 hour and see if that helps them.

A bit like saying
I want my cheap family car to do 150mph. It tops out well below 90mph. :-)

that 32 hard limit seems to be fairly common on cheap devices
It was even suggested that it may be a hard limit in the wifi module itself
32 might put a bit of a strain on the hardware , thats 32 connections needing wifi encryption/decryption, that takes processing power

Get a commercial system (not a home router) , or add more wifi access points with different SSIDs , on different channels
Or change the wifi pass & ONLY give it out to those who MUST have it.

wifi access for mobile phones shouldnt be considered a necessity.
Loose control of wifi access rights & take the consequences , abuse of 'free' wifi/internet.
Ive seen staff bring in laptops to use company wifi/internet for their illegal movie downloads.

kiwifidget

"Cookie"
3422 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1792369 31-May-2017 14:27

This is the router that Spark supplied to a business, with a business account, knowing it was a business.

It certainly would have been useful to be have been told up front about the limit, and perhaps offered some alternatives.

However, know we know there is a limit we can try and work with it, until we cant.

We've changed the lease to 1 hour and keeping an eye on the connections. So far so good.

Delete cookies?! Are you insane?!

PhantomNVD

2619 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1792375 31-May-2017 14:44

sbiddle:
PhantomNVD: Interested to see how this pans out as our small (250 students 28 staff) private school is about to switch to VF for a saving on the monthly fibre and phone costs and they sent us one of these as the ONT router.

We recently installed fibre backbones and CAT6 throughout the 15 buildings and have 14 Ruckus APs working through their controller and then a Fortinet firewall/router for internet filtering. The DHCP/DNS is all handled by a grunty server bank with multiple DC's... but as we use a significant amount of concurrent video streaming as well as around 50+ Pcs/laptops and a growing number of BYOD devices, will this router be up to the task of funnelling it all when the grunty routing is handled elsewhere?

Why would you even contemplate using it?

As the OP says, though in my case by VF, supplied to a business, on a business account, as a business grade router.

I'm just leary of the model due to reading threads on GZ and am the 'Johnny on the spot' if it all goes pear shaped next week when the changeover goes through 🙄

DarkShadow

1647 posts

Uber Geek

#1792378 31-May-2017 14:47

PhantomNVD:
sbiddle:

PhantomNVD: Interested to see how this pans out as our small (250 students 28 staff) private school is about to switch to VF for a saving on the monthly fibre and phone costs and they sent us one of these as the ONT router.

We recently installed fibre backbones and CAT6 throughout the 15 buildings and have 14 Ruckus APs working through their controller and then a Fortinet firewall/router for internet filtering. The DHCP/DNS is all handled by a grunty server bank with multiple DC's... but as we use a significant amount of concurrent video streaming as well as around 50+ Pcs/laptops and a growing number of BYOD devices, will this router be up to the task of funnelling it all when the grunty routing is handled elsewhere?

Why would you even contemplate using it?

As the OP says, though in my case by VF, supplied to a business, on a business account, as a business grade router.

I'm just leary of the model due to reading threads on GZ and am the 'Johnny on the spot' if it all goes pear shaped next week when the changeover goes through 🙄

You already have your own Fortinet router don't you? Just leave the Vodafone router in the box and use your existing router.

cddt

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#1792380 31-May-2017 14:50

kiwifidget:

This is the router that Spark supplied to a business, with a business account, knowing it was a business.

It certainly would have been useful to be have been told up front about the limit, and perhaps offered some alternatives.

Spark probably thinks it is a small business with 10 of fewer emloyees. How many employees do you have?

kiwifidget

"Cookie"
3422 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1792467 31-May-2017 17:13

About 35, but they aren't all there all the time.

Delete cookies?! Are you insane?!

yitz

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#1793195 1-Jun-2017 15:37

I presume this limitation also exists on the Vodafone and Skinny/Bigpipe firmware versions of the device?

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

openmedia

3329 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1793238 1-Jun-2017 16:58

Is the limit 32 devices or 32 wifi connections?

Looking at the decrypted XML for the device the DHCP configuration should allow for around 60 devices. Can you confirm what the max/min IP address range is for DHCP on your device?

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

kiwifidget

"Cookie"
3422 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1793242 1-Jun-2017 17:01

openmedia:

Is the limit 32 devices or 32 wifi connections?

Looking at the decrypted XML for the device the DHCP configuration should allow for around 60 devices. Can you confirm what the max/min IP address range is for DHCP on your device?

Range is 64-250. The router stopped connecting devices at 32, and there was a combination of wired and wireless connected devices at that time.

Delete cookies?! Are you insane?!

PhantomNVD

2619 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1793341 1-Jun-2017 21:09

DarkShadow:
PhantomNVD:
sbiddle:

PhantomNVD: Interested to see how this pans out as our small (250 students 28 staff) private school is about to switch to VF for a saving on the monthly fibre and phone costs and they sent us one of these as the ONT router.

We recently installed fibre backbones and CAT6 throughout the 15 buildings and have 14 Ruckus APs working through their controller and then a Fortinet firewall/router for internet filtering. The DHCP/DNS is all handled by a grunty server bank with multiple DC's... but as we use a significant amount of concurrent video streaming as well as around 50+ Pcs/laptops and a growing number of BYOD devices, will this router be up to the task of funnelling it all when the grunty routing is handled elsewhere?

Why would you even contemplate using it?

As the OP says, though in my case by VF, supplied to a business, on a business account, as a business grade router.

I'm just leary of the model due to reading threads on GZ and am the 'Johnny on the spot' if it all goes pear shaped next week when the changeover goes through 🙄

You already have your own Fortinet router don't you? Just leave the Vodafone router in the box and use your existing router.

Yes, we can turn the firewall to a router however don't we still need the Vodafone one for the phones?
All the ISP modem have their own configurations for the VOIP lines don't they?
We could do something like: Having the fortigate router to do all the internet traffic and letting the Vodafone modem to handle the phone traffic.
(I need to confirm with Vodafone first)
Because the firewall is handling the LAN connections and the Access Point is handling all the wireless devices. In our case, the Vodafone modem will be just handling the incoming and outgoing traffic (dialling or ‘talking’ to ISP ) would it still struggle just doing that?

yitz

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#1793346 1-Jun-2017 21:23

Slow moving train wreck comes to mind lol

If you signed up to their business Office Net plans then they will supposedly provide a "dedicated Fibre Install Manager" to help you out. But you really need to be making a list of services you have set up through your firewall.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#1793355 1-Jun-2017 21:43

Really sounds like somebody has signed up for something without really understanding what the requirements are.

gzt

17125 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1793364 1-Jun-2017 22:04

I seem to remember they go over 32 wireless devices but it is not possible to restrict macid for more than 32. That might be 630b..

gzt

17125 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1793365 1-Jun-2017 22:09

My mistake here it is:

Spark: Note: You can set forwarding rules on the HG659/HG659b so that users can easily access server resources provided by your computer (such as personal web sites and FTP servers) from the Internet. Rules can be applied by MAC address only and to a maximum of 32 devices. When the total number of connected devices 32, the modem will prioritize to display online devices only, and will kick offline devices out (to enable new online devices to be added as required). When a device is 'kicked out', the port forwarding rules are removed also.

...that may or may not confirm the 32 max but it's kind of irrelevant to the topic..

Aredwood

3885 posts

Uber Geek

#1795068 6-Jun-2017 01:58

Only it gets really fun with short DHCP lease times and Android Ver 4x devices. As they have DHCP client bugs, that mean they often don't renew their leases. Or they will renew their lease, and then randomly start using one of their previously assigned IPs again. So having a much larger DHCP pool size, so you can have longer semi sticky DHCP leases for each device, helps things works better.

Almost certain there will be at least 1 staff member with an older Android phone. Which will mostly sit in their bag while it merrily causes IP conflict issues.

I don't understand why you would need to restrict the number of Ethernet devices. Can you just disable the inbuilt DHCP server, and just plug in another router to provide DHCP. Assuming you can change the default gateway that it hands out.

If they want a better router just get them an Ubiquity Edge Router Lite. And use the HG659b as just a Wifi AP. I can confirm that they work well as Wifi APs.

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