Still having issues with the Texecom app unable to connect through ComWifi. Can anybody help please

[PaulUszak]

the ComWifi unit is not shown

You could have opened with this - I missed Newsnight

Unfortunately Nigel, I now have 80% confidence that you're screwed. Remember the forgetting I mentioned earlier? That's the problem. Your comWIFI module is a pretty dumb piece of kit, and for some pretty complex reasons to do with something called ARP, doesn't keep reminding your HomeHub that it's still connected.

To sum up my understanding:-
You've just installed the comWIFI module
Everything works when powered up /rebooted
Some random time later (few hours - few days) comWIFI drops off the network
The same thing happens inside your house as outside using 3G
You have no other oldish ip connected devices in your house like an old cheap ip webcam

You're screwed (again). Plusnet routers had the same problem a year ago, which required a firmware update to resolve. You can't directly fix this. This is now officially a networking issue connected to your HomeHub.

Since I don't like to leave people in a state of screwage, here are some options:-
Pursue the issue through BT's support forums. I would not suggest contacting their support as they're useless. [I hate BT]
Await a HomeHub firmware fix. Good luck.
Swap the router for another. Suggest your Linksys but it may not be allowed onto the BT ADSL.
Swap the comWIFI unit for another. From the little I know about them, they all sound identical, so another model might be smart enough to refresh the network connections. The folks here can probably help with unit selection, I can't.
Long shot - swap the comWIFI for a comWIRED module if such a thing exists. It might be clever enough to refresh the HomeHub.
Very long shot - as above, and interpose a switch between comWIRED and the HomeHub. A switch mind you, not a hub. Switches are designed from the ground up to remember.

Sorry Nigel.

 

[NigelCollins]

Thanks all for responses

Paul - if I can configure WOL on the BT HomeHub 5 would that help? (I suspect not as that would presumably only be applicable if i was unable to access from outside of my network). From what you say about ARP (which I don't understand) then it sounds as if the ComWifi unit needs to be 'woken up' - or am i clutching at straws.....

 

[PaulUszak]

I'm assuming WOL is Wake on LAN. No it won't help unfortunately. WOL is an energy saving protocol and your problem has nothing to do with that. Essentially, the HomeHub is forgetting that your ComWIFI is connected to it. That's why it disappears from the network diagram. The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is what reminds it. You have absolutely no control over this.

Burglar alarms were designed a long, long, long time ago (indeed before the Earth cooled). They are still built that way, with lame attempts to jury rig modern communication protocols on top of them like comIP. The processing capacity of the Ethernet controller within your comIP module is very low. Coupled with the vagaries of the HomeHub, they just don't work reliably for more than a few hours/days. That's also why you see your laptops /tablets permanently connected. They are more powerful IP stacks.

We spent a fair few nights on Plusnet trying to resolve this issue, and nobody from broad range of highly experienced networking guys could get to the exact cause. It all went away following a firmware update to the Plusnet routers and interest faded.

I said I only have an 80% confidence level in my explanation. I know nothing about comWIFI modules, but I know a lot about computer networks.

I have an idea...

 

[PaulUszak]

To all reading this...

Does any one know of a working installation of Texecom's comWIFI working reliably with a BTHomeHub?

Maybe you might post this as a stand alone question.

 

[secureiam]

Yes it does work, no it it isn't easy and I cant say its definitive either, as its taken several attempts of doing the same thing to get it to work and something must be different but nt been able to put my finger on it.

following the BT online instructions and the com wifi it is possible to get it to work all the time.
I would reset the panels ip data, set for dhcp, get it connected to the hub and forward the mac address, and disable the dhcp.

all the time, does mean a single session, ie one connection.

I certainly am not an IT engineer, but do install this system with comip and comwifi on various routers and isp, and they are all different, BT and talk talk are probably the most awkward as far as I am concerned.

 

[NigelCollins]

An Update:

Following a post on a BT HomeHub site where it was recommended that I triy 2 things:
1. Disabled Smart Setup - I don't know what this does?
2. Choose to use an IP address outside of DHCP. I tackled this slightly differently by changing the range of DHCP so that the IP address (192.168.1.99) was now outside of the DHCP. I waited until the lease renewed and then tried the app - nothing.
I logged onto the Com-Wifi module and reset the IP address, Subnet Mask Gateway & DNS and restarted the unit. BTHomehub 5 now does NOT see the Com Wifi unit. I can still log onto it from my PC, I can ping it but cant get the hub to list it as a device.

I then changed the DHCP range to include the ComWifi and it sees it again and the app works. Very confusing.. I am now wondering if I loose connection when the lease runs out - currently set to 24 hours.

Would welcome any thoughts.

 

[secureiam]

reset the com wifi and panels ip and start again.
like I said before its not easy but it does work.

tebooting the router may help bit the router must be able to see the comwifi I'm the list of wireless devices

 

[NigelCollins]

ok - i will try again tomorrow

 

[NigelCollins]

Its now looking like it is a lease problem. The lease expired last night and the ComWifi is now absent from the list of connected (or disconnected) devices. I cannot use the app to log onto the system but am still getting notifications and can still ping the ComWifi. Wintex still works. Somehow once the lease expires on the ComWifi I loose the ability to connect to the unit via the app. Can anyone explain this?

 

[PaulUszak]

A quick & dirty bodge is to set lease expiry times to a very large number (effectively infinite). If your HomeHub features this functionality, try it, but it's only a medium term solution as you will eventually run out of ips. Forcing dynamic ip to become static only works for a bit...

 

[PaulUszak]

Thought: how does the app know the ip address of the ComWifi if it changes dynamically?

 

[NigelCollins]

Thanks for the comments Paul. The longest I can set the lease time for is 21 days. To be honest that gets me over the problem of holidays etc whereby I should be able to maintain connection (this of course assumes that the lease thing isn't a red herring.

Re the app knowing the ip address of the Comwifi - it doesn't ever change. you enable 'Obtain as ip address automatically to initially get an IP address' you set it as static on the router and then when you set up the alarm panel the enable changes to disable. I am also pursuing this on a BT Home Hub forum and the suggestion there is to set the ip address outside of DHCP range. I tried that yesterday (by changing the DHCP range so that it didnt include the ComWifi and the hub didn't see the ComWifi.....

I have posted a few screen shots:

 

[secureiam]

hmm, well I never changed the lese time on the BT hub, so couldn't tell what my customers had theres set to, I did port forward however on the mac address and believe I assigned the ip address to the maccaddress/ device

 

[NigelCollins]

OK - so I have now chosen an address outside of the DHCP range (so shouldn't be affected by lease times) and have changed the panel etc to reflect the new IP address. I can now see the ComWifi at new IP address on list of connected devices but (obviously) I dont see it on the DHCP Table. So now its wait and see if the app stops working........

 

[secureiam]

the only other thing I would do if you haven't already is make sure your cant login automatically to the comwifi ssid.

how is the prot forwarding rule assigned, ip or mac address?