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robbobkirk's avatar
robbobkirk
Joining in
3 days ago

Yale Smart Alarm not working

I have a Yale Smart Alarm which connects via a wired connection to my router. I changed from FTTC to Virgin FTTP last Friday and since then have been unable to get this working with any kind of reliability.

I have it connected directly into the Hub 5x. I can see from the Hub 5x that it's been given an IP address as it shows 'Ethernet 3' where I know it's connected to. However the Android App (which I assume goes via a cloud connection rarely works). I've managed to control it a handful of times but basically it does not work.

I can only think that whatever it needs to do is being blocked by either the Hub or Virgin somewhere. I have turned the Firewall off and nothing in the MAC filter list. I can ping the smart alarm hub but it doesn't have any service ports that I can connect to that I'm aware of.

I'm at a bit of loss of what to try next. It's worked perfectly fine for a couple of years but I'm just unable to contact it now from the app.

Any ideas?

 

9 Replies

  • After being given advice by a network nerd, for the last 15 years I have been using my own Cheapish routers plugged into the VM hub by cat5e cable. So whenever the hub gets changed my inner network remains constant. Originally I had been using 2 cheap routers. one near to the hub and a second on the end of a 20 meter cable run, ( I ran 6x cat5e cables from the hub to my bedroom / PC room, so I have redundancy, again advice from a tech installing a new network system). On the advice of a network nerd I changed to a Gigabit switch for distribution. After the debacle with the firmware for Hub 5 and EEE in March 2024, I changed to a Managed 2.5 Gig switch (EEE off by default), hence I get 1100 to 1160 down on the GIG plan. I had been using Netgear Nighthawk routers R8000 & R7800 until a year ago. I now have a Nighthawk RAX 120 12 Stream Gaming Router & a WiFi 6 Tenda on the cable run for my CCTV cameras on 2.4 GHz. 

    The point I am making is dont rely or expect VM to supply equipment to forfill your requirement. Maybe look at getting somethiong a bit more robust that meets your requirement. 

  • nodrogd's avatar
    nodrogd
    Very Insightful Person

    Bear in mind currently the Hub5x does not have an operable modem mode.

  • Yes I'd love to do away with the Hub 5X because it's obviously a very basic router and spotted a few bugs already that presumably no-one is any rush to fix. As has been said though modem mode doesn't work so I don't really have any alternative.

    I am looking into the idea of the WAS-110 though. If that doesn't work I might be exercising my right to cancel the whole thing though.

    • Client62's avatar
      Client62
      Alessandro Volta

      Some cloud services are disrupted by VM Parental controls, 
      ( this DNS content filter ) can be disabled in the VM online account.


      Can the Yale alarm be pinged from both the 2.4 & 5GHz Wi-Fi bands of the VM Hub 5x ?

      I ask because there have frequently been issues where VM Hubs have appeared to have Wi-Fi AP Isolation enabled on one or both bands, it can be hard to be sure as many folks are not familiar with home networking & how to perform ping tests etc.

    • fronty's avatar
      fronty
      Tuning in

      Modem mode does work, suggest you do that and plug the alarm into your own router.

      Details here: https://www.reddit.com/r/VirginMedia/comments/1ah1boq/comment/mq5vju8/

  • I didn't notice in my account that I had Virus Protection and Parentals Controls switched on. I've turned those off now.  That hasn't made any difference.

    The hub itself is plugged directly into the VM Hub 5x and is still showing a Yellow light which means it has an issue talking to the cloud. Obviously no idea what is wants to do and other devices are working but something is blocking the traffic presumably. I guess I could try and get Wireshark on it but that doesn't sound easy to diagnose.

  • legacy1's avatar
    legacy1
    Alessandro Volta

    Get a better router with 1Gb ports or better and double NAT (if modem mode happens use that on 10Gb port) connect all to your new router