Texecom ComIP issues

[cwienrich]

Hi,
I have recently purchased and installed a Texecom 48W (mixed wireless and wired).
I was recommended the comwifi module for remote access/remote arming etc.
I have been having COM1 errors (I have seen other have experienced this too on both the Ethernet and wifi modules) but there doesn't seem to have been anyone who actually has got to the bottom of it.
I have a fairly good technical background and had no real issues installing or configuring the system, but I am at a bit of a loss with this COM error which is eventually causing the card to lock up as well. The first few times I managed to restart the card via the AP side (even when the card has dropped of the network on the LAN wifi side) but now I can't even do that. The only option seems to then be a physical reset of the board (basically power cycling the whole alarm system) which is not very convenient at best.
I am starting to think this is probably due to 'network errors' probably caused by random port scans/port sweeps that are constantly bombarding the router but obviously being passed to the COMIP card when they are on the port I am using.
I'm guessing this is why the errors seem to happen at very random times and sometimes do and sometimes don't cause the boards network stack to fail.
I did have my doubts about opening a port for inbound access for the alarm but all the 'blurb' seemed to suggest that the system is designed to be used exactly in this way if required (and therefore one would assume has the relevant software to filter network garbage and or reset itself in the event of a problem).
I basically am very happy with the alarm, it's features, and the Wintex utils, but I am starting to think the Internet side is a bit of a waste of time. Anyone have any experience of this actually working reliably (and if so did you do anything in particular)?

I have also purchased the GSM module and my last resort is just to use that for notifications, remote arming/disarming etc and I presume (hope) that that should be fairly secure. But obviously it would be nice to have the IP side working well as well.

Any help / advice would be gratefully received (and sorry for the long post!)
Chris

 

[sparkymarka]

Best of luck ....!

 

[GalaxyGuy]

Sparkymark,

What's going on with the Texecom IP ? Is this the app side of things that's introduced the issues or the wifi module ? Never seen all these problems reported a year ago when the com-ip and GSM module were the options.

 

[sparkymarka]

Don't think anybody inc Texecom know! My IP com has been fairly stable had some ats faults on Sunday ...Texecom server down ? Got two at office on test ,they sometimes miss or fail to send push notifications and seem to get stuck , a " reset com port " via engineering seem to clear out the data....

 

[GalaxyGuy]

Probably overloaded at the server side.

That's the problem with free services - it's pretty much seen as a cost to scale the service to any increased demand. They (Texecom) will need to do something though!

 

[cwienrich]

Hi,

I did email Texecom support and received a quick response. Apparently a firmware update is in progress that should address the ATS errors (as even momentary network drop outs can cause the errors). They recommend increasing the ATS fault delay to 20 minutes and to extend the dial attempts under the ARC setup to 6. Not 100% sure this is the same problem as the COM errors but I will wait to see what they say.

Thanks guys for the comments. I will setup the comgsm tonight hopefully so can always turn off the comIP side if it gets too much of a pain.
Any comments or advice for using it? I was just going to set it up as GSM (for Text usuage) as planning on using a giffgaff sim (GG to GG texts should be free). I wasn't sure if it will still try and use GPRS data if I have the ComIP config sill enabled or as long as the GSM dip switches are all set to GSM should I be ok?
Thanks.

 

[sparkymarka]

Should be ok in gsm mode it's either one or the other it can't do both !

 

[Nintendofan]

I did email Texecom support and received a quick response. Apparently a firmware update is in progress that should address the ATS errors (as even momentary network drop outs can cause the errors).

I've been waiting since last September when Texecom also advise me by email that they were working on the 'issue' still waiting now

 

[GuidoVdS]

Hi!
I've also been running several problems with the ComIP:

The first, and by far the most severe, is that when I access my system through the Texecom app, most of the times the system seems to "frozen". I have a Elite Premier 832 and my Rx led stays "on" and the system becomes totally unresponsive. Neither through the app nor the panel I can do anything, the only solution seems to be a physical reset.

The second issue is that by no means I manage to make the Smart Key App to work. The user id is correct, the code is correct but it doesn't work.

Any clue on this issues? Mainly on the first one... Because I manage to access the panel through the app, but then when I'm introducing the code it suddenly freezes the system...

Thank you!


Portugal

 

[Alarm Engineer]

Hi!
I've also been running several problems with the ComIP:

The first, and by far the most severe, is that when I access my system through the Texecom app, most of the times the system seems to "frozen".


Portugal

Close & re open the app. Texecom say new app is due to be released which corrects this..maybe.

 

[GuidoVdS]

Close & re open the app. Texecom say new app is due to be released which corrects this..maybe.

It doesn't work, once the system goes unresponsive... There's no turning back!

I've wondered if the system is configures correctly, but sometimes (like 33% at most) it works fine...

 

[steveo44]

Seems to me that Texecom seem to be trying to be too clever. Their kit looks cheap and nasty but with endless options. Constant firmware updates and constant problems it seems.

I have a Pyronix EuroMini and will be updating it as soon as the Pyronix App is available for their Euro range.

Anyone know when the Pyronix/Euro App will be available?

 

[secureiam]

@ steve044 cheap and nasty ? really I am intrigued to what you feel is cheap and nasty, as the feed back I get its the visual appearance of the items on display are aesthetically more pleasing over other keypads, pirs and bell box's.

as for firmware all manufacturers are updating their firmware, some of which I am waiting for a fix well over 12 months and as it requires integration with someone else I expect it will take around 2 years to get right now they have started working on it, the claims that were made by that manufacturer wasn't true and only through a series of events that occurred was I am to identify the issue and get confirmation from that manufacturer (that took a few months to be verified alone).

as for updating the panels, some manufacturers you can do remotely, some via a site visit and some you just cant do at all.

as for the app, they do have issues with its functionality at present and the new app to be released is supposed to address it and time will tell but not due until some time next month IFSEC, other manufacturers have had issues with there apps.


Like all apps made if it doesn't have something to handle a specific scenario it will crash out.
The biggest issue with Texecom ap as far as I am concerned is the panel has only one session through a IP device.
this means that when the panel is polling to the server once every 15 mins, you cant connect to the panel, same if its sending an alert out. current solution for that is two ip devices, one for outgoing and one for connection, but given other manufacturers have mutipul connections at the same time through one device, Texecom need to catch up.