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DHCP Lease - timings

Lawsofphysics
On our wavelength

I'm hopeful that there is a simple answer to a problem I've been having.

I work from home and sign in via a work VPN (Global Protect) and have had an issue for some time that the same time every day, the VPN would be interrupted I would need to sign back in and re-authenticate. This can be very disruptive in the middle of a meeting, for example. After lots of investigation - home and office - I recently noticed that the time of this is exactly the same time as my DHCP lease renewal.

For information, I have a mesh system (Tenda MW3) attached to the SH3. It appears to be the primary node which has the lease renewal time. I attempted to reset this by changing the time to late night - and I thought I'd cracked it - but it somehow changed again to this morning (a new time) and the reauthentication issue happened again. Has something else triggered the new time?

I have run a fault check and there are no issues. My BQM is below. I can attach upstream/downstream data if helpful. I won't do it unsolicited just yet.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/079ade288efbb65608f291deac98a97516...

Advice and tips gratefully received.

 

Thanks

Kev

17 REPLIES 17

jbrennand - Thanks for the detailed steps. There is no mention of NAT mode in the instructions or app for the MW3s, so I assume DHCP mode will suffice? I'll have a go later.

Andrew-G - 200Mbps

 

 

 

jbrennand
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person
Yes - my Apple Router is actually just set to DHCP mode too.

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John
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I do not work for VM. My services: HD TV on VIP (+ Sky Sports & Movies & BT sport), x3 V6 boxes (1 wired, 2 on WiFi) Hub5 in modem mode with Apple Airport Extreme Router +2 Airport Express's & TP-Link Archer C64 WAP. On Volt 350Mbps, Talk Anytime Phone, x2 Mobile SIM only iPhones.


@Lawsofphysics wrote:

The answer to the question of why not modem mode is simply because the engineer recommended the current set-up when it was installed. Who am I to question the 'expert' view of the best way to configuring the SH3?


Who is to say they are a expert and just say that for public WiFi in router mode given the bug in the hub that turn WiFi back on when you want it off. 

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If you're on 200 Mbps, and the wifi connectivity problems are continuing, then it may be time to ditch the MW3 and buy something a bit more capable.  When it works, Tenda gear is superb value, but it is a little prone to odd connectivity problems, and the MW3 is further hobbled by only having 100 Mbps ports, meaning that the maximum speed (and bandwidth shared by all wifi devices) is limited to around 95 Mbps in the real world.  I really wouldn't put an MW3 as router with a hub in modem mode unless this is on a VM 100 Mbps line.

I'm using a TP-Link Deco M4 on a 200 Mbps line, and that or the newer Deco S4 would be good lowish cost options that'd still be competent up to about 500 Mbps, although speeds via secondary nodes will always be slower on the secondary nodes of dual band mesh systems like these.  You could spend a lot more and get fancy, hopefully future proof mesh that features Wifi 6 and tri-band capability, that's a valid choice if you've got the money but overkill for most people.    

And with a more competent mesh, it's always best as others have said to put the hub in modem mode and let the mesh work as the designers intended.

Thanks Andrew-G

 

I think you've reminded me why the engineer recommended the current set-up - it means that the primary gaming PC can plug into the SH3 and get access to the full 200Mbps, altthough the MW3 is limited to 100Mbps max (which is fine for Netflix and home-working). The 200Mpbs was on offer when I signed up with a view to the longer term. It seems the consequence is that around the DHCP lease renewal time, the work VPN is disrupted to an extent that I need to re-authenticate.

Right now isn't the best time to upgrade the mesh, but maybe the summer. Worth thinking about whether to futureproof the capacity of those, Ithink. In the meantime, it looks like I have a QoL decision to make on dropping the speed on the primary PC or to tolerate the drops. Hardly a serious issue either way. Thanks to the community for advice.

Kev

That's logical.  But as a possible workaround that costs nothing, why not enable only the Hub's 5 GHz wifi with full manual settings (not the "intelligent wifi" nonsense or auto channel selection), let that exist alongside the MW3's wireless, and use the Hub's 5 GHz signal solely for the work PC?

That might avoid any MW3 related DHCP furkling, although depends on the hub's wifi reach.

Adduxi
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

@Andrew-G wrote:

That's logical.  But as a possible workaround that costs nothing, why not enable only the Hub's 5 GHz wifi with full manual settings <snip>


That's providing the Hub does not switch the 2.4 back on again .......   😉

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jbrennand
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100mbps is way more than enough for gaming activites. Unless something else is using the other ~95mbps. A 4K HD netfix stream needs ~20-25. A normal HD one ~5mbps.

Just see if the Tenda set up copes - if not - do upgrade it - or downgrade to 100mbps - particularly as you are paying for 200 and cant get it 🙂

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John
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I do not work for VM. My services: HD TV on VIP (+ Sky Sports & Movies & BT sport), x3 V6 boxes (1 wired, 2 on WiFi) Hub5 in modem mode with Apple Airport Extreme Router +2 Airport Express's & TP-Link Archer C64 WAP. On Volt 350Mbps, Talk Anytime Phone, x2 Mobile SIM only iPhones.