I need a good Home IT debug/best practices guide!
January 10, 2018 10:45 PM Subscribe
Hey all,
I have a relatively simple home IT setup- An AC1750 router and a Motorola Surfboard Cable Modem. Nothing fancy, although a lot of devices connect to them - 2 iPads, 2 phones, a PS4, a Nintendo Switch, Roku, Hue, Alexa etc.
Things have been hunky dory until the last week or two. I'm suddenly getting frequent service outages where the Roku rapidly connects and disconnects. And while I'd love to blame Spectrum (lol), I've also been having issues streaming from Plex or using the Roku remote.
All of this makes me feel like it's time for some IT debugging, but also a home webbernets OpSec review. Is there a good checklist for A- Debugging router/modem/home IT hijinks but also B- Best practices for securing your home webbernets?
All of this makes me feel like it's time for some IT debugging, but also a home webbernets OpSec review. Is there a good checklist for A- Debugging router/modem/home IT hijinks but also B- Best practices for securing your home webbernets?
Since streaming video is fairly dependent on having an uninterrupted stream of data, you might want to see if there's a way to enable some prioritization for either specific services, or specific flavors of data. Online gaming (think multiplayer shooters) also rely on having a solid, timely stream of data. See if your router has options for QoS (quality of service).
posted by Wild_Eep at 6:58 AM on January 11, 2018
posted by Wild_Eep at 6:58 AM on January 11, 2018
Make sure you do not have any other devices like wireless speakers that use the same ranges. Try turning off or unplugging them and see if the problems go away.
I have found that most Internet/Wi-Fi equipment, especially if provided by your service provider, is low quality and will not last much more than a couple of years and it's usually just easier to obtain new equipment. YMMV
posted by Justin Case at 1:18 PM on January 11, 2018
I have found that most Internet/Wi-Fi equipment, especially if provided by your service provider, is low quality and will not last much more than a couple of years and it's usually just easier to obtain new equipment. YMMV
posted by Justin Case at 1:18 PM on January 11, 2018
The stuff your ISP provides is usually trash grade, and often recycled from a previous customer.
The stuff you buy from Best Buy, including your Netgear and Linksys stuff, are only marginally better, and suffer from trying to do everything and doing none of it particularly well.
There seems to be an increase in the number of devices, including IoT devices, people streaming TV over wireless, and then my recent favorite, home mesh network solutions, which have all conspired to cause a lot of contention for a relatively small set of available channels (1, 6, and 11 are the only non-overlapping 2.4GHz channels).
Pull up a laptop with something like NetSurveyor and look to see how busy your RF neighborhood is. It could be that your problem is just a failing Netgear router, but it could also be that your neighbor just bought a Netgear Orbi setup and is streaming 4K Netflix from one side of their house to the other, occupying several 2.4GHz channels in the process, causing contention and problems for everyone else.
My observation from having recently run into something like that in a condo development is that you can either try to compete in the wifi screaming match (the Orbi in particular advertises "the strongest WiFi signal") or you can go the other direction and turn your own volume down, while also focusing on the 5GHz spectrum.
5GHz does not penetrate walls well or go as far as 2.4GHz, so there is less noise from neighbors. Additionally, it has much greater speed. This opens up a solution to the wifi problem that cannot be solved by the Best Buy-grade Netgear all-in-one router - you can buy several wired access points. Wired means you need to run a wire from each one back to a central switch and router unit, but that wire is capable of a gigabit, a gigabit that is not being thrown over the air between the AP and your home router, and is not impacted by the number of walls it goes through, or the distance (within reason).
If you find that RF contention is a real issue, look seriously at the Ubiquiti stuff. Some of the mesh systems support wired as a non-default option, which is probably also an option. Both routes are expensive compared to the Netgear all-in-one router, but it is also expandable, and it is also wired, which means that there is only the short hop between the client radio and a nearby AP radio. Short distances wifi does pretty well at.
For the Unifi stuff, you need a separate router, possibly a switch, probably a Unifi cloud key, and then the access points. Ubiquiti makes a nice set of gear that works together well (Unifi USG, switch US-8-60W that can power 4 AP's, Cloud Key, and then the UAP-AC-Pro access points). It will be more expensive than the Orbi or other mesh solutions, and it needs to be wired, but it is a very high end fix for any home wifi ailments.
My worst Unifi site is currently showing 217 competing access points in the last 24 hours. Apartment building. No problems streaming Netflix to two different AppleTV's elsewhere in the apartment, with just one access point. I am both pleased and impressed with that.
posted by jgreco at 2:41 PM on January 11, 2018
The stuff you buy from Best Buy, including your Netgear and Linksys stuff, are only marginally better, and suffer from trying to do everything and doing none of it particularly well.
There seems to be an increase in the number of devices, including IoT devices, people streaming TV over wireless, and then my recent favorite, home mesh network solutions, which have all conspired to cause a lot of contention for a relatively small set of available channels (1, 6, and 11 are the only non-overlapping 2.4GHz channels).
Pull up a laptop with something like NetSurveyor and look to see how busy your RF neighborhood is. It could be that your problem is just a failing Netgear router, but it could also be that your neighbor just bought a Netgear Orbi setup and is streaming 4K Netflix from one side of their house to the other, occupying several 2.4GHz channels in the process, causing contention and problems for everyone else.
My observation from having recently run into something like that in a condo development is that you can either try to compete in the wifi screaming match (the Orbi in particular advertises "the strongest WiFi signal") or you can go the other direction and turn your own volume down, while also focusing on the 5GHz spectrum.
5GHz does not penetrate walls well or go as far as 2.4GHz, so there is less noise from neighbors. Additionally, it has much greater speed. This opens up a solution to the wifi problem that cannot be solved by the Best Buy-grade Netgear all-in-one router - you can buy several wired access points. Wired means you need to run a wire from each one back to a central switch and router unit, but that wire is capable of a gigabit, a gigabit that is not being thrown over the air between the AP and your home router, and is not impacted by the number of walls it goes through, or the distance (within reason).
If you find that RF contention is a real issue, look seriously at the Ubiquiti stuff. Some of the mesh systems support wired as a non-default option, which is probably also an option. Both routes are expensive compared to the Netgear all-in-one router, but it is also expandable, and it is also wired, which means that there is only the short hop between the client radio and a nearby AP radio. Short distances wifi does pretty well at.
For the Unifi stuff, you need a separate router, possibly a switch, probably a Unifi cloud key, and then the access points. Ubiquiti makes a nice set of gear that works together well (Unifi USG, switch US-8-60W that can power 4 AP's, Cloud Key, and then the UAP-AC-Pro access points). It will be more expensive than the Orbi or other mesh solutions, and it needs to be wired, but it is a very high end fix for any home wifi ailments.
My worst Unifi site is currently showing 217 competing access points in the last 24 hours. Apartment building. No problems streaming Netflix to two different AppleTV's elsewhere in the apartment, with just one access point. I am both pleased and impressed with that.
posted by jgreco at 2:41 PM on January 11, 2018
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The first thing you may want to check however, is to go open the router software (through your browser) and check if you have any max # of devices set to connect.
Also, there may be default configurations for applications (allow email first etc).
B. There are plenty of guides available, but the basic first aid-kit would be the ones listed here:
https://www.us-cert.gov/Home-Network-Security#IV
If you want an even more shorter version, the steps would be:
1. Use WPA2 with a strong password if you are currently using WEP. If your current router does not support it, get a modern one which does
2. Turn on the router's inbuilt firewall and disable all ports except port 80. Turn other ports (FTP, telnet) if and when you need them. Even better, use a software firewall on your computers
3. Create a separate SSID for guests
4. Change your router password every 3 months (like any other password)
5. Don't broadcast your SSID, especially with fancy ones like "Get your own wifi, a**h***
6. Even ore strict - use Mac Address filtering, although a professional hacker can fool your router by mimicking the Mac Address
7. Periodically, review the active connections from devices to your network
8. Backup confidential data into portable hard disks and power them off
posted by theobserver at 2:55 AM on January 11, 2018