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Best Router?


Sammy

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Sammy

I have on a couple of occasions recently had a total melt down of my network.

 

Everything will drop off and then internet will go away. I'll reboot the modem and Asus AC3100 router along with its three AC68u AiMesh nodes to no avail with the router basically needing a factory reset upon which it says, "your ISP's dhcp is not working properly."

 

I can get internet access with my laptop connected straight to the modem but not through the router and the router will only have wireless clients in the table with no ethernet clients listed.

 

The error above is reported frequently in the small net builder forums as repeatedly occurring on Spectrum and Comcast and is attributed to occurring when the ISP rotates the dynamic ip address but that is probably, maybe, who knows, a coincidence or not..

 

Anyway if anyone else has had this issue a fix would be nice if you know of one.

 

Otherwise I am in for a relatively expensive overhaul and am looking for suggestions on routers. I like Asus routers a lot but this is getting ridiculous at this point.

 

TIA

 

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

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Sammy

I have a NUC i3 doing nothing at the present.

 

What hardware goes along with this? WiFi antennas? Managed Switches? I'm a noob beyond consumer grade routers but I have outgrown them I think.

 

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

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Guest asrequested

For wifi, get an AP. pfsense to switch, plug AP into switch. Your NUC will need dual Ethernet ports. So it'll go modem - pfsense - switch/AP. Once you get that set up, you'll have a much better network. For a switch, look at the Unifi stuff. It'll be easier for you to configure.

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mastrmind11

I run all Unifi gear.  Their stuff is prosumer grade and unbelievably capable for the price point.  Get one of their APs and a USG.  If you need more than 4 ports, grab one of their switches (managed or unmanaged, though I chose managed and it's awesome).  Done.

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rbjtech

For wifi, get an AP. pfsense to switch, plug AP into switch. Your NUC will need dual Ethernet ports. So it'll go modem - pfsense - switch/AP. Once you get that set up, you'll have a much better network. For a switch, look at the Unifi stuff. It'll be easier for you to configure.

 

Another thumbs up for Ubiquiti here - a more user friendly alternative to pfsense is Sophos XG that can run for free on your NUC but for a fully integrated system, then a Unifi USG, Unifi Switch and Unifi AP's will be hard to beat as they are all managed as one integrated system via a Unifi Controller software running on a server (or a dedicated Unifi Hardware Controller)

 

..but having said all that - if the issue is with your router not getting a DHCP assigned WAN address from the ISP - then the issue may be your ISP and/or modem rather than the upstream equipment ... so I'd investigate that first.

Edited by rbjtech
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I run all Unifi gear.  Their stuff is prosumer grade and unbelievably capable for the price point.  Get one of their APs and a USG.  If you need more than 4 ports, grab one of their switches (managed or unmanaged, though I chose managed and it's awesome).  Done.

thumbs up for unifi AP and USG

pfsense is a greate choice as well but it is not an easy setup and is too involved

have you looked into Asuswrt-Merlin firmware for your router? i myself own a few Asus router have the firmware on them and no complain. i don't remember the last time i had to reboot mine never mind a full reset

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Sammy

 

 

..but having said all that - if the issue is with your router not getting a DHCP assigned WAN address from the ISP - then the issue may be your ISP and/or modem rather than the upstream equipment ... so I'd investigate that first.

Problem is Spectrum doesn't want to take responsibility for it.

 

Even swapping out the modem didn't resolve this as this is the second time I've had to rebuild my network.

 

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

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Sammy

thumbs up for unifi AP and USG

pfsense is a greate choice as well but it is not an easy setup and is too involved

have you looked into Asuswrt-Merlin firmware for your router? i myself own a few Asus router have the firmware on them and no complain. i don't remember the last time i had to reboot mine never mind a full reset

I like running AiMesh with three nodes to overpower the neighbors which last I knew wasn't available on Merlin.

 

The Asus firmware is pretty robust, IMO.

 

What advantages doe Merlin bring?

 

Thanks

 

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

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rbjtech

Problem is Spectrum doesn't want to take responsibility for it.

 

Even swapping out the modem didn't resolve this as this is the second time I've had to rebuild my network.

 

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

 

Do you have any logs from the router showing the DHCP renewals/leases etc ? 

 

Talk of new modems/routers/firmware is all well and good, but if the issue is your ISP DHCP renewals are not working, then no amount of shiny new kit is going to solve your problem..

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arche

The error above is reported frequently in the small net builder forums as repeatedly occurring on Spectrum and Comcast and is attributed to occurring when the ISP rotates the dynamic ip address but that is probably, maybe, who knows, a coincidence or not..

 

I have Comcast/Xfinity, I had this problem with a linksys router and turns out it was MAC address related. Comcast said it was someone spoofing thier MAC address and some how had mine. I change to a Asus GT-AC5300 and everything worked fine. Seems (from my understanding) when you have your own modem, Comcast basis's it's ip on your router MAC address and not the modem. Granted Comcast's renewal on IP address's suck as I've had the same IP for just over a year.

 

Maybe try changing your MAC on your current router with a old router you might have and see if that helps in anyways, just a shot in the dark.

Edited by arche
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jachin99

After reading a lot of things like this https://routersecurity.org/pepwavesurfsofo.php about their equipment I chose a peplink soho, and I really like it.  Every time there is a new security bug published about mainstream routers peplink seems to be missing on the routers effected.  I also like that I continue to receive regular firmware updates on a router that is a few years old. 

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Sammy

After having Spectrum send the modem a hit (whatever that is!?), I got DHCP back and all is well. I made a configuration backup of my router settings to save time if this were to occur again. All is running well now.

 

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

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BAlGaInTl

I have 4 Google OnHubs set up in a mesh.

 

It works really well and is more powerful than the normal Google WiFi.

 

That being said... I'm considering a more "Prosumer" approach, but I'm not investing until the wireless AP fully support WPA3.

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For wifi, get an AP. pfsense to switch, plug AP into switch. Your NUC will need dual Ethernet ports. So it'll go modem - pfsense - switch/AP. Once you get that set up, you'll have a much better network. For a switch, look at the Unifi stuff. It'll be easier for you to configure.

When this becomes reality...

What we should do is create a modem that sits on a card compatible with PCI or PCIe, like this

Edited by Thex
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Guest asrequested

I always want my modem to be an independent device. Everything independent, for that matter. One device, one function. Greater stability.

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metsuke

FWIW I have set up full UniFi networks, and typically ran into some issues (firmware upgrade borked, APs required ssh access to be reset after a re-provision, key management UI inaccessible...) though once you get it running it is pretty =).

 

I also run modem -> pfsense -> UniFi EdgeSwitch for about 5 years now.

pfsense logs are shipped to elasticsearch.

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BAlGaInTl

For those running pfsense as your main router.

 

What do you recommend for hardware that is lower power and rackmount.

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rbjtech

After having Spectrum send the modem a hit (whatever that is!?), I got DHCP back and all is well. I made a configuration backup of my router settings to save time if this were to occur again. All is running well now.

 

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

 

A 'hit' in this case is simply a DHCP release & renewal from the ISP - and as I said, fix that and you've fixed your problem - there is likely zero wrong with your Asus Router ..  ;)

 

If you can access the WAN side logs in your router, it would be useful to see the DHCP lease timings - as they will attempt to renew at half the lease time.  So if the lease time is 8 days for example, at 4 days you should get a log entry saying a renewal verification has been attempted - it won't actually do a renewal until the lease is up, but it is 'making sure' the DHCP server is still available in non-technical terms ..

 

The reason i'm saying this is it might be fixed for now, but come renewal, it may break again if that is the problem here ..

Edited by rbjtech
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Sammy

A 'hit' in this case is simply a DHCP release & renewal from the ISP - and as I said, fix that and you've fixed your problem - there is likely zero wrong with your Asus Router ..  ;)

 

If you can access the WAN side logs in your router, it would be useful to see the DHCP lease timings - as they will attempt to renew at half the lease time.  So if the lease time is 8 days for example, at 4 days you should get a log entry saying a renewal verification has been attempted - it won't actually do a renewal until the lease is up, but it is 'making sure' the DHCP server is still available in non-technical terms ..

 

 

A 'hit' in this case is simply a DHCP release & renewal from the ISP - and as I said, fix that and you've fixed your problem - there is likely zero wrong with your Asus Router ..  ;)

 

If you can access the WAN side logs in your router, it would be useful to see the DHCP lease timings - as they will attempt to renew at half the lease time.  So if the lease time is 8 days for example, at 4 days you should get a log entry saying a renewal verification has been attempted - it won't actually do a renewal until the lease is up, but it is 'making sure' the DHCP server is still available in non-technical terms ..

 

The reason i'm saying this is it might be fixed for now, but come renewal, it may break again if that is the problem here ..

 

 

This has happened once before and I'm afraid it will happen again but next time I'm going to get Spectrum to Hit the Modem before I freak out on fixing my router up.. For the longest time I had no changes in my External IP address but it seems Spectrum is tightening up on that now but I think they go about 3 months still, or at least that is how long ago I suffered this melt down last. That said, I'll take a look at the logs and post them here. It would seem that the DHCP server is not available so why would it go ahead and change out the External IP?

 

This has happened once before and I'm afraid it will happen again but next time I'm going to get Spectrum to Hit the Modem before I freak out on fixing my router up.. 

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rbjtech

It would seem that the DHCP server is not available so why would it go ahead and change out the External IP?

 

 

.. if your modem cannot renew because it cannot contact the ISP DHCP server, then the IP will simply lapse on the ISP server and somebody else may then get allocated that IP as it becomes 'available'.      Lets see the logs (delete the WAN IP details etc) - I'd just like to see the DHCP message trail to see what it's doing ..

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