Spark + HG659b + 32 device limit?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark + HG659b + 32 device limit?

kiwifidget

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#214828 30-May-2017 16:39

Good afternoon.

I just got called over to my pet charity as they are have having issues with devices not connecting to wifi in the last few days.

When I got there my phone connected but had a ! for no internet.

Other devices were working fine, and some like my phone, just were not.

Their internet is via Spark Fibre and an HG659b router.

I checked the DHCP, it is set to 64-250 so that's plenty of addresses. The lease is 1 day.

Then I noticed the number of connected devices was 32. Exactly.

Is this the maximum allowed? If so, then totally inadequate for their needs.

Most devices however are transient. In/on for a few hours then out/off again. Only about 10 are on all day.

Could the situation be helped by dropping the Lease to 1 hour or 1 minute?

What happens when you do that? Do the devices that are on all day lose their connection every time the renewal comes around?

Is there anything else I can try?

Cheers.

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#1791861 30-May-2017 16:54

32 device limit.

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=39&topicid=189198&page_no=1#1459232

Try making a short lease time - say 30mins.

cddt

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#1791862 30-May-2017 16:56

I had a similar problem at the in-laws when they had a dozen relatives visiting from overseas. I don't remember how many devices were connected, but between all the laptops, phones, and tablets it was probably around 32.

kiwifidget

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#1791871 30-May-2017 17:07

RunningMan:

32 device limit.

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=39&topicid=189198&page_no=1#1459232

Try making a short lease time - say 30mins.

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.

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Yabanize

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#1791889 30-May-2017 17:45

I think your expectations for a low cost device designed for homes and small business's are quite high.

old3eyes

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#1791900 30-May-2017 17:55

This may not be a Spark limitation but a design one by the supplier.

Regards,

Old3eyes

kiwifidget

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#1791904 30-May-2017 18:03

Yabanize:

I think your expectations for a low cost device designed for homes and small business's are quite high.

I don't think so.

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solutionz

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#1791922 30-May-2017 18:47

Yes as an immediate remedy I would look at reducing DHCP lease time to 1hr (I wouldn't go less); this should only really affect devices that have been disconnected longer than an hour (will be assigned a new IP).

I'm not sure if the "32 device limit" on the HG659b is a an actual device limit (of the NAT table etc) or just a DHCP reservation limit?

If the latter then you could try set your DHCP range somewhere above say 192.168.1.100 and set static IPs on all non-portable devices below that.

Another quick and dirty one if you really are hitting the 32 simultaneous device limit and can live with double NAT you can plug another router into the 659b an connect some of the devices through that - however obviously a more appropriate router is preferred.

sbiddle

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#1791959 30-May-2017 19:21

32 devices is an unrealistic expectation for a device such as that. Exceed more than 15-20 connections over WiFi over the vast majority of routers out there and you'll really see performance tank significantly.

kiwifidget

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#1791965 30-May-2017 19:40

Things to do...

Change wired devices to static IP. The devices on all the time are all wired anyway.

Change Lease to 1 hour.

Cross fingers.

Investigate more appropriate router, but as they are a charity this is always going to be a hard sell.

Thanks everyone.

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#1791970 30-May-2017 19:54

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?

sbiddle

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#1791972 30-May-2017 19:59

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?

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solutionz

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#1791973 30-May-2017 20:02

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?

In this situation the ISP-supplied router is largely superfluous as you should essentially be connecting your firewall/router directly to your ONT.

gzt

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#1792059 30-May-2017 22:51

I recall the 32 device limit is configurable in the UI somewhere. I could be wrong. WiFi section maybe.

kiwifidget

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#1792078 31-May-2017 03:41

gzt: I recall the 32 device limit is configurable in the UI somewhere. I could be wrong. WiFi section maybe.

I had a good look but couldnt see a setting. As my 32 devices were a combination of wired and wireless, I dont think it will be a wifi setting.

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sbiddle

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#1792094 31-May-2017 07:19

gzt: I recall the 32 device limit is configurable in the UI somewhere. I could be wrong. WiFi section maybe.

I don't recall such a setting in it.

Many routers have configurable WiFi limits of 16 clients because it's the sort of figure that when you exceed you start to have issues with load or the WiFi tanking.

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