Spark Launches new Inhome Experience - Spark Smart Modem & Spark Smart Mesh

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark Launches new Inhome Experience - Spark Smart Modem & Spark Smart Mesh

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#2532646 1-Aug-2020 13:08

hio77:
Gordy7:

Does the NTP server work in the log when connected to the Spark network?
The smart modem NTP server links are time1.telecom.co.nz and time2.etc.
I am about to join the Spark network with Skinny.
At present I am on Orcon and the smart modem shows the logs starting on 1 Jan at 11.59.... not too useful...

Sparks ntp is only avaliable on network.

There is pretty good reason for it. Have a read here.
http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~plonka/netgear-sntp/

The following link also hi-lights NTP issues across several router vendors..... and partly because there are many old routers still in use and customers never update firmware.

One very important statement is included: For the time being there are no good technical means to counteract misuse of NTP servers.

So Spark has wisely limited NTP server access in their Smart Modem :-)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTP_server_misuse_and_abuse

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

grolschie

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#2532650 1-Aug-2020 13:27

kiwipeter:
Gordy7:

Does the NTP server work in the log when connected to the Spark network?
The smart modem NTP server links are time1.telecom.co.nz and time2.etc.
I am about to join the Spark network with Skinny.
At present I am on Orcon and the smart modem shows the logs starting on 1 Jan at 11.59.... not too useful...

I'm on Spark and can confirm logging shows correct date & time.

Smart Modem logs correct time/date, although it's GMT I think.

Gordy7

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#2534285 4-Aug-2020 10:09

I am now up and running on Skinny with a Skinny Smart Modem.... firmware v6.00.12 build07.

Speedtest using Windows app... Hawkes Bay to Auckland 28/940/471.

Time shown in the logs appears as local time.

One interesting log capture is - possible DNS-rebind attack detected:

Aug 3 22:48:35 VRV9517 daemon.warn dnsmasq[5851]: possible DNS-rebind attack detected: internal-a8f137f7c6bfc43a29bb4b171099dac0-97812578.ap-southeast-2.elb.amazonaws.com

I also plugged in a Spark Smart Modem I bought off Trademe and can confirm that the firmware has upgraded to v6.00.15 build05 was v6.00.06 build01.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

HueyHQ

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#2535322 5-Aug-2020 16:21

Gordy7:

One interesting log capture is - possible DNS-rebind attack detected:

Aug 3 22:48:35 VRV9517 daemon.warn dnsmasq[5851]: possible DNS-rebind attack detected: internal-a8f137f7c6bfc43a29bb4b171099dac0-97812578.ap-southeast-2.elb.amazonaws.com

I've also seen these in the logs - not sure if it is something to actually be concerned about, or it is because of the Netgear Orbi/Circle causing for maybe legit reasons? If anyone can advise, I'd really appreciate it.

hio77

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#2535324 5-Aug-2020 16:25

HueyHQ:

Gordy7:

One interesting log capture is - possible DNS-rebind attack detected:

Aug 3 22:48:35 VRV9517 daemon.warn dnsmasq[5851]: possible DNS-rebind attack detected: internal-a8f137f7c6bfc43a29bb4b171099dac0-97812578.ap-southeast-2.elb.amazonaws.com

I've also seen these in the logs - not sure if it is something to actually be concerned about, or it is because of the Netgear Orbi/Circle causing for maybe legit reasons? If anyone can advise, I'd really appreciate it.

Not a concern no.

but it does create an issue for some applications that assume it will work. unfortunately while dns-rebind is useful for a ton of things it's also been basterized for abuse.

as it says' a possible attack is detected, nothing more nothing less.

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dwilson

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#2535429 5-Aug-2020 18:39

hio77:
Sure, there isn't a Root cause for some of these, apart from being a software bug.

There are 3 issues here.
1. A hard fault, causing the smart modem to reboot. Best way to reduce this is to reboot the modem at like 2am.this issue reoccurs at almost the exact time every day so a reboot in the wee hours moves the impact away.
2. An issue where bandsteering a device has a period of no ip. This is illevated by turning bandsteering off, reducing 2.4ghz power is the option I personally use. There is also a paramater change that improves this a ton.
3. After being online for awhile SSDP traffic gets lost between mesh and base unit. Rebooting modem, device and mesh fixes this. Otherwise if you use WiFi on both the same network its also fine.

Hi @hio77, I recently recommended to a friend to pick up the Spark smart modem+mesh (plus 2 switches) for her new house. She now has both items and we were going to set up this weekend as a wee project.

A couple of questions:

Do you think it wise that she hold off on the install? She has an old router and wap now, so would be 100% fine waiting I think.
Would the actual fix be announced in this thread at all so I can keep an eye out?
Does being on BigPipe count as "being on the Spark network", as described in this thread?

I think if we were looking at over 4 weeks delay we might install and try a workaround like getting a small device to reconnect the modem power once a day and using the 2.4 reduction option.

Thanks for all your help, appreciate it.

hio77

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#2535451 5-Aug-2020 19:38

dwilson:

Hi @hio77, I recently recommended to a friend to pick up the Spark smart modem+mesh (plus 2 switches) for her new house. She now has both items and we were going to set up this weekend as a wee project.

A couple of questions:

Do you think it wise that she hold off on the install? She has an old router and wap now, so would be 100% fine waiting I think.
Would the actual fix be announced in this thread at all so I can keep an eye out?
Does being on BigPipe count as "being on the Spark network", as described in this thread?

I think if we were looking at over 4 weeks delay we might install and try a workaround like getting a small device to reconnect the modem power once a day and using the 2.4 reduction option.

Thanks for all your help, appreciate it.

1. no, for your general consumer there is very little impact.

2. yes, but it will also be pushed to devices.

3. Depends. if you have bought the spark smart modem, Yes.

If you have bought the bigpipe variant, it's managed through a fully different and more open platform - there is a button you can click.

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dwilson

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#2535515 6-Aug-2020 06:50

hio77:

1. no, for your general consumer there is very little impact.

2. yes, but it will also be pushed to devices.

3. Depends. if you have bought the spark smart modem, Yes.

If you have bought the bigpipe variant, it's managed through a fully different and more open platform - there is a button you can click.

She has the BigPipe variant.

I have read through the thread, I haven't fully grasped the actual impact on people's experiences.

Is the impact, 'If you are affected by these issues you may have periodic outages to your wifi, until you reboot your modem'?

Or is it, 'If you are affected by these issues you may have periodic outages to your internet (wifi and wired), until you reboot your modem'?

I understand its more complex than that, but is that the gist? The reason I ask, is that her needs may not fall into the 'general consumer' category, she has children that play online games for what seems like 25 hours a day for example, but they will plug a wired cable directly into a switch. The wireless being a problem is not important, the wired connection micro outages would cause riots and murderers.

Thanks for the ongoing support, very nice to have someone here in the forum to discuss this with.

HueyHQ

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#2536081 7-Aug-2020 09:15

dwilson:

Or is it, 'If you are affected by these issues you may have periodic outages to your internet (wifi and wired), until you reboot your modem'?

I'm not sure if it is related to what others are seeing, but since getting the Smart Modem, we are regularly seeing outages on both wired and wifi.

I've been in touch with Spark helpline and they repeatably state that the ADSL connection has not gone down (confirmed by green light on router, and in GUI) but there is no internet connection throughout our network.

I still think this could be related to DHCP issue talked about here, but reading through this entire thread, I don't recall seeing anyone post about it affecting wired connections.

My issue only occurs when I connect the in-laws granny flat; to resolve, I simply unplug them, so I think some device in their place has either malware/virus or creating some kind of broadcast storm taking out the Smart Modem network side.

I'd be very interested to hear anyone having similar!

nzmatt

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#2536095 7-Aug-2020 09:55

What equipment is in the granny flat, most likely an incorrectly configured switches or AP. I something in there running a DHCP server? Something running on the same IP address as your router?

hio77

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#2536106 7-Aug-2020 10:00

HueyHQ:

I'm not sure if it is related to what others are seeing, but since getting the Smart Modem, we are regularly seeing outages on both wired and wifi.

I've been in touch with Spark helpline and they repeatably state that the ADSL connection has not gone down (confirmed by green light on router, and in GUI) but there is no internet connection throughout our network.

I still think this could be related to DHCP issue talked about here, but reading through this entire thread, I don't recall seeing anyone post about it affecting wired connections.

My issue only occurs when I connect the in-laws granny flat; to resolve, I simply unplug them, so I think some device in their place has either malware/virus or creating some kind of broadcast storm taking out the Smart Modem network side.

I'd be very interested to hear anyone having similar!

That would be the DHCP issue in that case, although it should recover after a min or so...

an update on firmware, Our inital tests were looking good. however i went and put it through the ringer and had a few more bits to be worked on before it's ready :)

we have another internal test coming up soon which is looking a fair bit better based on what's been changed on the technical side.

your granny flat does sound like a broadcast swarm though...

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Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

HueyHQ

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#2537391 9-Aug-2020 19:58

nzmatt:

What equipment is in the granny flat, most likely an incorrectly configured switches or AP. I something in there running a DHCP server? Something running on the same IP address as your router?

Originally, they were on a different LAN - when I got the Smart Modem, I put us all on the same LAN with DHCP served solely from the Smart Modem.

I doubt anything has a static address (the in-laws wouldn't know how to do that) but it might be worth a check.

Gordy7

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#2538377 11-Aug-2020 09:11

My Skinny Smart Modem reverted to the default Band Steering setting after a firmware update.

Somewhere over the past week while I was away from home, my modem firmware updated to v6.00.15 build05 from v6.00.12 build07 and turning Band Steering back on.

I have many devices using a unique SSID on 5GHz that I don't want to change... (allthough I might have to :-)

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

hio77

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#2538381 11-Aug-2020 09:29

Gordy7:

My Skinny Smart Modem reverted to the default Band Steering setting after a firmware update.

Somewhere over the past week while I was away from home, my modem firmware updated to v6.00.15 build05 from v6.00.12 build07 and turning Band Steering back on.

I have many devices using a unique SSID on 5GHz that I don't want to change... (allthough I might have to :-)

if i recall correctly, it was in 6.00.13 we forced bandsteering on if it was upgrading from an older firmware.

this would have caused this, It's a pain for a small number of customers (such as you) but the majority should have an improved experience from it.

I'm surprised your modem took so long to update though, 6.00.14 has been the preffered version for quite some time. Looks like it picked up the change to 6.00.15 that skinny has pushed and initated an update.

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

Gordy7

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#2538397 11-Aug-2020 10:08

hio77:

Gordy7:

My Skinny Smart Modem reverted to the default Band Steering setting after a firmware update.

Somewhere over the past week while I was away from home, my modem firmware updated to v6.00.15 build05 from v6.00.12 build07 and turning Band Steering back on.

I have many devices using a unique SSID on 5GHz that I don't want to change... (allthough I might have to :-)

if i recall correctly, it was in 6.00.13 we forced bandsteering on if it was upgrading from an older firmware.

this would have caused this, It's a pain for a small number of customers (such as you) but the majority should have an improved experience from it.

I'm surprised your modem took so long to update though, 6.00.14 has been the preffered version for quite some time. Looks like it picked up the change to 6.00.15 that skinny has pushed and initated an update.

Skinny Modem was received on 27 August with v6.00.12 build07 and udated over the past week. I didn't see it go through 6.00.14 update or find loss of 5GHz WiFi until I returned home yesterday.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

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