Sunday, December 15, 2013

Port Forwarding (ASUS N56U)

Similar stuff for N15 , N66U series. FOR STATIC IP BASED ONLY or if you are DDYNS. Not available for use if you are on dynamic on MyRepublic. Please get the mac address of your router and email to CSO for your static IP. A OneTimeCharge of $50 applies ya.

Have not tried AC66 or AC68U yet but here is how it goes.
All these are based on router at 192.168.1.1 (DEFAULT), some are 10.0.0.1 or 192.168.0.1. Cannot use 172.16.0.1 as MR uses it as NAT.

You first find your IP Address.Mapping
http://192.168.1.1/Advanced_DHCP_Content.asp



Drop down the MAC Address List.
Manual Assignment is on.

Go to Port Forwarding Tab
http://192.168.1.1/Advanced_VirtualServer_Content.asp



if you use different mapping, say port 80 incoming but at your internal is port 90 then, the local mapping is needed. usually not needed.

Other than that..
it SHOULD WORK.
I have my webhost on here.
Try it!

For rest of ISP.. you need to do some Dynamic IP arrangement/CNAME mapping.




Friday, November 29, 2013

Alternative to Home Plugs

HOME PLUGS MAY NOT WORK ON YOUR HOME!
If you are on a old HDB house, or the signal is dirty or if you live in landed with 3 phase power....the speed is horrid.

So there is a GREY AREA alternative to the network if you are in condo or landed property.
MOCA , Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) simply put it.. aka your equivalent of the SCV Cable Modem.

This must be done only within private networks and you need to filter the bandwidth out... so TV1 may be out. Singtel is using it for their Aztech ...but I'm not sure if it still is in use.

At the side is some picks I took from amazon US, for MOCA... and I do not warrant anything.
Use at your own.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Wire, Wireless and routers.

Here is the thing.
Wifi is limited by so many factors. single band, dual band, AC band.
one is 2.4 ghz, the other 5ghz . Main difference is the frequency divisions of 20mhz, 40mhz and 80 MHz respectively for them. Maximum speeds are known to be 65mbps, 130mbps and 200mbps onwards for AC band. It depends on the how dirty the radio band is.

Wired means you need to run LAN cables called RJ45 cat 5e or cat6 from the router / switch to your computer. The standards is FE or fast Ethernet which is up to 100mbps, GBe or 1 gigabit per second (some goes even up to 10gbe ports on servers)

To get the subscribed speed, LAN CABLE IS NEEDED for over 100mbps. It guarantees stability.
The quality of TP splicing and patch cord is also important.

So don't complain if you get 30mps if you are using a wireless-G standard as that is the max speed on your galaxy Tab

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

BBC iPlayer on Android

Some have asked if you can legally download the app without a work around or downloading APK for android and the common answer is ...YES... but you need a UK VPN.

What you need is a temporary VPN to UK before you launch your Play Store. Make sure you sign out.
For some reason.. if it fails..register a new GMAIL account using UK Address.

I Use BestUK VPN and if you need a UK Address, try the University of East London address at 209 University Way, E16 2RD, phone number..go look it up... My Office is also there.

When you done downloading etc, then disconnect and use the MyRepublic Teleport service.

Some live shows may jitter. So, I am trying to do a live work around.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Netflix on Android

Some have been asking me this...and the only way is to do a backdoor APK install.

First off, go to your settings. >> Security
Enable the feature " Allow Installation of Apps from sources other than PLAY STORE"

This is inder device admin.

Then go download the APK.

I have it here... but due to legal reasons, I can't publish it...
Do contact me via HWZ or Facebook (azrin619) for the link

Hint: Bit.Ly / azrin -(dash)- netflix -(dash)- apk

Any issues... let me know

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Bridge Question

A Normal Question... How can I extend my coverage of WiFi etc...

You can use another router to use as a Bridge or Repeater...

A (Wireless) Router is basically a Switch, Hub, WiFi Access Point (AP) in a box and it can do marvels.

Connection will look like this

ONT-----Main Router (ASUS) ========(RJ45)====Second Router========Third Router

As there is 4 LAN PORTS on the ASUS Router (N15, N56, N66) , you can use either a STAR Configuration or a BUS Config, depending on the way you route it. Does NOT MATTER

LAN Port 1 of MAIN Router goes to LAN 1 of Router 2 and LAN 4 of Router 2 goes to Router 3 LAN 1 in a Bus but in Star it's 1 ++ 4

You need to DISABLE THE DHCP ON ALL ROUTER EXCEPT THE MAIN connected to the ONT.



You need to Assign an IP Address that is the same subnet on the network, usually 192.168.1.252/251/250/249 and so forth.



You need to set a DIFFERENT FREQUENCY BAND and SSID to differentiate the routers (say Main is MYREPUBLIC and second is MYREPUBLIC-2 etc)

The above is how you set the frequency for N56U which is UPGRADED.

However, if you are using an old Singtel PACE 5520 or NV5012, you can also use it to do so.. but do note of the Fast Ethernet port (100mbps)


DO NOT USE A HOME PLUG

Thursday, September 5, 2013

I keep on getting disconnected

Common Question especially at 2am in the morning.

Check the following:

ONT (WHITE NUCLEUS CONNECT BOX) Does not show Link light red.
If red: means you have a broken Fiber, Change yellow patch cord and still persist, call Helpdesk

Connected to ONT port 1 (or 2 for some)
LAN port to Router (ASUS- Black /Engenius - White) via WAN Port.
Link Status is GREEN or Yellow (gigabit cable)
Link Blinking...means traffic coming thru.

Connect via LAN to Router
Go to: Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center
Connections: Local Area Network (LAN)
IPv4 Connectivity : Internet (Limited-do more checks/ Diagnose)
Details> IPv4 Address : 192.168.1.123 (example)

If yes..sui....
Else if 169.x.x.x means U cannot get IP...
try connect directly to ONT port 1 via LAN
U should get 172.16.x.x (start with 172)
That means, internet is up.

Try surfing... www.google.com
if OK..then upgrade router firmware or check some settings.
If NO- DID YOU PAY YOUR BILL???
Check https://secure.myrepublic.com.sg/myaccount/
Email Address you signed up is the login - Password: CHECK YOUR EMAIL!

Usually, this means your router is KAPOOT.
Care to upgrade to a better one???

Friday, August 30, 2013

Understanding simple WiFi Problem

Wireless Fidelity aka WIFI runs over 2.4Ghz ISM Band, meaning your bluetooth, DECT Phone, WiFi and other devices uses that frequency range and has 20 or 40mhz division bands.

Provided there is no disruption or less than 5 SSID present, these are the simple most optimum you can get over your SINGLE BAND Asus N15 router.

Do note, any water bodies etc will add up to more disruption of your signal and the weaker the signal, the worse it become.



Sorry for the bad artwork as I am not an art student.... nor do I use Photoshop.
This is a basic old 3-room flat where the yellow box is the TP and Router .
Anything over 3 walls will cause it to deteriorate



As for the newer BTO flat, please note that you may have a tendency to get WiFi jamming issue due to the number of neighbours using the same band.

It is always advisable to use LAN connection from the Router to the Master Bedroom in red, and fix up another router with WiFi to boost the signal. Significant drilling is required and usually this will cost about $300 using CAT 5e.

I will upload more when we have more floor plans or if we got a better designer.
Should you need more advise, contact me directly.

Monday, July 29, 2013

Setting up NATIVE IPv6 Tunnel

For many, IPv6 is another jargon that is more than Greek to even the IT Managers in some MNC Companies, unless you are using Enterprise Grade Routers such as Cisco, Juniper or even Mushroom Networks. Some of this have been discussed within the HardwareZone Community Forum on IPv6 and there are setup tricks somewhere for Starhub or M1 or Singtel. MyRepublic is a little tad tricky.

However, to many, YouTube has been pretty unpleasant recently due to the buffering and streaming issues and based on my packet sniffers, it's a Advertising and Peering problem that is basically throwing a spanner into the smooth works that is affecting only some cluster of users.

As we have more than one link here, MyRepublic Gamer 150 and Pure 100Mbps package plus Starhub Cable and even YES 4G (don't ask where we are), we find that the network is not clogged up but rather the limits within the CDN delivery network where the CDN pull the cache within the Metro-E Connect aka Cross Connect is jammed up.

Think of it this way

**YOUTUBE CDN (MyR)-------metro--->>>Main Peer (ix) ------>> Master Region----->> USA

Where the CDN is actually sitting within the MyRepublic Cage in the datacenter, the Metro-E cross connect to other data centers within Singapore and since YouTube is the Content Provider, they have to pay for the Cage Hosting, plus the Cross Connect (maybe up to 10Gbe) and goes to their Tier 1 which via Tata/HE/TiNet/Level3 as the preferred carriers.

And for your info, Google pays for the connection to MyRepublic Rack, though I doubt MyRepublic get paid at all.



So even Singtel/Starhub/M1/VQ have to get thru this providers.
Guess where they will go first in IPv4? Tata and NTT in Serangoon North Ave 5 rather than landing in Equinix SG1 where everyone is mostly at.








In IPv6, the preferred routes are HE/L3/TiNet/NTT and since HE is mainly in Equinix SG1, you get it faster since Hurricane Electric has 100's Terrabits of link compared to IPv4 using Level3 which is pretty clogged up anyway since the major hogger is Microsoft and the crappy services.

Going forward, you might now understand where Google is cutting corners just as how in the US where Cross Connect Fees are huge money to be made. Thus why Singtel is always expensive somehow.



Sunday, July 21, 2013

Getting faster access to the web

Some have been complaining over numerous channels that at times, YouTube and some other sites load up slowly between 2200hrs and 0100hrs , which we gone into some digging and found out that one of the CDN or Content Delivery Network servers were clogged up within the Singapore Data Networks. These includes of Google and their network servers (YouTube, Gmail, Apps, Android), Microsoft (using Akamai Technologies as their provider) and many more. Others include Facebook, Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and basically, a whole lot of content providers.

It is basically a global cluster of distributed caches of data networks placed within cities or countries and the pool is mirrored across. ISP are told to route any queries to the nearest local cache to reduce bandwidth and they on the other end, have nearly terabytes of bandwidth to burst. However, at times, these servers are overloaded, and need to pull out fresh data out of trend from the public domain. This is when the bottle neck comes in.

If everyone understand, usually, a server holds nearly 10TB of Data and this is used for commonly called files, something like our web cache. A city farm holds about 4,000TB of data compared to exabytes of data stored across the globe, with some stored in mainland US or Mainland Europe.

We have to be wise in our usage of data. And bandwidth cost tons of money, about $10,000 per GB per month , actually on a Tier-2 IP-Transit. We know as we have our data farms and ISP usually requires 5 or more peering partners, so multiply that, and you work to over $500,000 a month in data charges at the very least.

So how can U get faster access?

Did you know of IPv6 ? Well, our computers and browsers are told to use IPv6 where possible and if you use up a tunnel through a broker such as Hurricane Electric, you are using their main stay link as the primary connection and since the server locally is jammed up, you simply take the back road and bypass the blockage and take up data from another cluster, say in the US or Europe side. These Transit Carriers have over 100TB of data links to mainland US and UK so us taking a little bit of data... is raindrops in the ocean.

If you are using Static IP and using ASUS N56 or N66 router, that is simple enough to set up. You can configure up the IPv6 Settings here and work it out from there. Results do show that you do get unlimited bandwidth to the US and it loads faster due to less number of hops.

What about Toggle and our mainstream Singapore Channels? Well, we can't do much as Singapore Government is not pushing them hard enough and with horrible data center connections. If it loads too slowly, go complain to IDA and make let the prime minister know about it.

For China, I am hoping someone can test out on 6Fei and let me know...

Thank ya all...
I'm back to my Netflix....

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Current Promotions Til End June

For those who missed out the PC Fair Promotion... here we go again.
Do note that these are VALID TILL END OF JUNE 2013
Due to the bad weather in Singapore, all installation are deferred and appointments are set after 25 July 2013. Home Passed OpenNet installation may be subjected to further changes.



Our Advise is the PureHD as it's VALUE FOR MONEY. DUAL BAND and 150Mbps for a small price difference. The setup fee is also less than half.



For SME Customers, the pricing remains the same (EXCLUDING GST)
But the best part is, we have upped the Router to Cisco Enterprise Grade.
There is also THREE MONTHS FREE.

Interested to sign up?? It's simple.
Download the PDF File below, digitally sign and revert back with your IC Front and Back.

http://bit.ly/MRAppForm

Email to AZRIN@AZRIN.INFO or Viber / SMS 81196830

Too lazy and dunno how to? No Printer. Call or SMS.
If U trust us enough, SMS your Full Details as in the form with yr DEBIT CARD front copy and we do the rest for U.

We are here to make your life better.



Sunday, June 16, 2013

BBC iPlayer for UK

OK. You got me on this one.
HOW ON EARTH YOU GET THE UK APPS?
You need a UK BANK ACCOUNT or even a Debit Card.

It's complicated but Click2Buy option SHOULD WORK.

I don't guarantee because I got a UK Bank Account.... but for you... I could get you the app downloaded.

Regards

Saturday, June 15, 2013

How to Set 5Ghz

Simple Question..
If you cannot see -5Ghz on your adapter for the WiFi.. it's either your setting Wrong or Adapter cannot take it.

Step 1:

Check if you set the band correctly

WiFi> Change Adapter Settings >> Properties >> Configure >> ADVANCED TAB

This will configure your WiFi to correct band as the ASUS N56 or N66 has 5Ghz

Next up is your settings
Go to the router, and check for the Channels.


Don't use AUTO, but if you happen to do so, it's either these settings. Firmware shown here is the LATEST STABLE VERSION.

So match these frequencies.
Because my PC is Kapoot.. it's useless..


So have fun!

Sunday, June 9, 2013

More WiFi Woes

Many ask me ..how to know how bad your WiFi is...or is it worth using a normal WiFi? Or must I get DUAL BAND 5Ghz (aka 5G)??

Answer.. it all depends if your frequency band is congested.

I use Xirrus WiFi Inspector and I have the link here :: http://bit.ly/FTTH-WiFi-Inspector . and I don't intend to hotlink due to it being a copy righted software. Use it once and delete it please. This is a standard SOP item issued to SingTel installers working out the frequency jam and avoiding it.

Now then, HOW DOES IT WORK?

After you load it.. it will show what statistics your current WiFi is... and the frequency. Anything more than -35 db is BAD and -60db is a dead use..worse than ADSL.


From this.. it will show what is in range, the frequency , bandwidth and channels in use. The encoding is also shown.. whether I am using WEP or WPA2 , hardware and such. WEP is crackable...using  Aircrack-NG but that is another subject altogether.

If you sort by frequency...then you see either N channel or G channel accordingly or even by 5Ghz bandwidth.. My old MSI VR220 is an ancient machine..so you only get to use 2.4Ghz N channel.

So check it out..and if you cannot see any 5Ghz N channel... maybe your card cannot support it. If you have to use USB ...forget it! You only get about 60Mbps max .usually.... even on the Asus N56U.

Using SingTel Speedtest....the Magix uncongested server... I get a burst up to 75mbps with 30cm away from the router... Can't help as my kids destroyed my LAN port.


Speedtest TELIN Server giving me a bad upload response..maybe due to local circuit issues but the download speed is typical...and differ alot ...


So this gives different results... and I know my neighbour is trying to hack me as I use this PC as my Proxy Server... I give it free access... but limited bandwidth....I don't care much anyway.... as my 150Mbps link won't kill me ....

So.. if you have congested WiFi... Channel Also used up or anything over 8 WiFi AP/SSIDs?? The N66 will give better bandwidth...due to the 5dbm antenna and 5Ghz N channel... it passes thru 4 walls with the end inside a bunker getting 15-30mbps....which is still acceptable.


Sunday, April 7, 2013

Teleport - Alpha

Teleport  have launched a few days back and it works.

We have tested with BBC iPlayer for you and it's quite simple.

CHANGE DNS SETTINGS in your router will do the trick.


Hulu-Plus Subscription from Singapore

Many tricks can be done to get the service...but here is the thing....
UOB has this UOB AMEX Virtual Pay and use the Virtual Global e-Shop to get your address first...

That will sort out your phone number and address (or get a real one from Skype...Worth the hassle... or ask me for more details)

Go and buy a HULU PLUS Prepaid Card from PowerSeller  and that will sort out your account.
You will need a VERIFIED PAYPAL ACCOUNT. Make sure you have the correct email address as the email address they deliver to you is THE PAYPAL Account ID.

You can use your POSB/DBS Internet Banking to Load money to your account...for a lesser fee..

Cost wise?  $25-3mths, $50-6mths, $100- 1yr

We have bought it..and worked..and Teleport service worked with Hulu Plus...

They also do NetFlix...iTunes US and many more......
Details are avail...


Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Why is my Internet so slow???

If you suffered service lapses during the weekend, do accept our apologies, as it's something beyond our control causing many of the equipments to self reboot ( auto protection mode ) or caused you to be disconnected.

Initially, there was hardware fault somewhere...which was rectified.  But we were hit by DDOS.... and we were not the only ones. Our peers got hit too..some harder than others...and to protect individual customer's interests... you inclusive... we have to add a little bit more protection so you don't crash your PC....

And I did some additional research and found this

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21954636

Dated is 27 March 2013 by the BBC.

I will cross post... just in case they delink it from me..... (Credits to BBC)
So what is your take... How were you affected???
We want your sincere comments


Global internet slows after 'biggest attack in history' COMMENTS (586) By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC NewsThe internet around the world has been slowed down in what security experts are describing as the biggest cyber-attack of its kind in history. A row between a spam-fighting group and hosting firm has sparked retaliation attacks affecting the wider internet. It is having an impact on popular services like Netflix - and experts worry it could escalate to affect banking and email systems. Five national cyber-police-forces are investigating the attacks. Spamhaus, a group based in both London and Geneva, is a non-profit organisation which aims to help email providers filter out spam and other unwanted content. To do this, the group maintains a number of blocklists - a database of servers known to be being used for malicious purposes. Recently, Spamhaus blocked servers maintained by Cyberbunker, a Dutch web host which states it will host anything with the exception of child pornography or terrorism-related material. Sven Olaf Kamphuis, who claims to be a spokesman for Cyberbunker, said, in a message, that Spamhaus was abusing its position, and should not be allowed to decide "what goes and does not go on the internet". Spamhaus has alleged that Cyberbunker, in cooperation with "criminal gangs" from Eastern Europe and Russia, is behind the attack. Cyberbunker has not responded to the BBC's request for comment. 'Immense job' Steve Linford, chief executive for Spamhaus, told the BBC the scale of the attack was unprecedented. "We've been under this cyber-attack for well over a week.The internet around the world has been slowed down in what security experts are describing as the biggest cyber-attack of its kind in history. A row between a spam-fighting group and hosting firm has sparked retaliation attacks affecting the wider internet. It is having an impact on popular services like Netflix - and experts worry it could escalate to affect banking and email systems. Five national cyber-police-forces are investigating the attacks. Spamhaus, a group based in both London and Geneva, is a non-profit organisation which aims to help email providers filter out spam and other unwanted content. To do this, the group maintains a number of blocklists - a database of servers known to be being used for malicious purposes. Recently, Spamhaus blocked servers maintained by Cyberbunker, a Dutch web host which states it will host anything with the exception of child pornography or terrorism-related material. Sven Olaf Kamphuis, who claims to be a spokesman for Cyberbunker, said, in a message, that Spamhaus was abusing its position, and should not be allowed to decide "what goes and does not go on the internet". Spamhaus has alleged that Cyberbunker, in cooperation with "criminal gangs" from Eastern Europe and Russia, is behind the attack. Cyberbunker has not responded to the BBC's request for comment. 'Immense job' Steve Linford, chief executive for Spamhaus, told the BBC the scale of the attack was unprecedented. "We've been under this cyber-attack for well over a week."But we're up - they haven't been able to knock us down. Our engineers are doing an immense job in keeping it up - this sort of attack would take down pretty much anything else." Mr Linford told the BBC that the attack was being investigated by five different national cyber-police-forces around the world. He claimed he was unable to disclose more details because the forces were concerned that they too may suffer attacks on their own infrastructure. The attackers have used a tactic known as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), which floods the intended target with large amounts of traffic in an attempt to render it unreachable. In this case, Spamhaus's Domain Name System (DNS) servers were targeted - the infrastructure that joins domain names, such as bbc.co.uk, the website's numerical internet protocol address. Mr Linford said the attack's power would be strong enough to take down government internet infrastructure. "If you aimed this at Downing Street they would be down instantly," he said. "They would be completely off the internet." He added: "These attacks are peaking at 300 gb/s (gigabits per second). "Normally when there are attacks against major banks, we're talking about 50 gb/s." Clogged-up motorway The knock-on effect is hurting internet services globally, said Prof Alan Woodward, a cybersecurity expert at the University of Surrey. "If you imagine it as a motorway, attacks try and put enough traffic on there to clog up the on and off ramps," he told the BBC. "With this attack, there's so much traffic it's clogging up the motorway itself." Arbor Networks, a firm which specialises in protecting against DDoS attacks, also said it was the biggest such attack they had seen. "The largest DDoS attack that we have witnessed prior to this was in 2010, which was 100 gb/s. Obviously the jump from 100 to 300 is pretty massive," said Dan Holden, the company's director of security research. "There's certainly possibility for some collateral damage to other services along the way, depending on what that infrastructure looks like." Spamhaus said it was able to cope as it has highly distributed infrastructure in a number of countries. The group is supported by many of the world's largest internet companies who rely on it to filter unwanted material. Mr Linford told the BBC that several companies, such as Google, had made their resources available to help "absorb all of this traffic". The attacks typically happened in intermittent bursts of high activity. "They are targeting every part of the internet infrastructure that they feel can be brought down," Mr Linford said. "Spamhaus has more than 80 servers around the world. We've built the biggest DNS server around." 'Decapitating the internet'


Wednesday, March 20, 2013

VPN Issues

This is another FAQ...

I can use my VPN to office via lan directly to ONT but not wifi... why??

Because you are using Private IP address... and myrepublic issues Private IP to protect U from bombing.... the 'double firewall' cause the VPN to fail as it does not know how to route....

Try this...
Go to your router IP..
http://192.168.1.1/Advanced_NATPassThrough_Content.asp (I presume it's 1.1 or 0.1 depending on your config)....

Check the Passthru connection type...

Some may work ...as this works for ASUS N56 .....

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Teleport your service home

Teleport is the VPN customised & Optimised network within MyRepublic so you can watch Netflix, BBC , Sky Online.


What basically it does it optimise your connections to the US and EU with a US and UK IP Address so you don't need a VPN or what ever devices....

However, you will need a way to pay for the services.. one way is to use iTunes Gift Card which U can buy from EBAY or in the case of UK.....contact us for details.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

One House... 2 Lines

Technically it is POSSIBLE as there has been cases where the home has been sub-let to other tenants and the customer don't want to share the lines for whatever reason.

Based on experience, the Fiber Termination Point can work with 2 fiber points and though it is NOT RECOMMENDED, there are cases where MIOTV (SingTEL) is on 2nd Port and the 1st port is used by M1 or MyRepublic or Starhub (since all uses Nucleus Connect HuaWei ONT device)

That is technically possible and you can even do load balancing to get the best of all worlds.

Cost wise: Probably that Singtel pays for the activation of the 2nd TP Point.....but hey..they already charged the customer $100 for the install fee anyway!

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Open for Attack

So congratulations on your Fiber Optic Network Installation. You have reached the end of the High Speed Wireless Highway and plunging into the unknown. Your Maximum Speed is actually 70Mbps if you use 802.11N or WiFi-N and despite whatever claims it may have, you won't legally reach anywhere over that limit unless you are a hacker. (Ethernet / Communications Rules, Through output speed= Max Speed x 0.7 [Error Corrections etc] divided by 2 [Full Duplex] at the distance of 3meters)

So technically you are still getting anywhere better than SingTel's ADSL+ or Cable Connection of M1 or Starhub services but do you know that you are so susceptible to wireless hacking?

I am a real time hacker. I have to do penetration tests every now and then and for your information, the culprit is the button on your router for Wireless Protected Setup or WPS, and in layman terms, "Lazy Bugger who do not wish to enter the long password" as you only need to press that button and you are authenticated to the network.

WPS however, is not secure. It has a simple 8 digit pin in which the first 4 is encoded and the last 2 are check digits, something like your IC Number where the first 2 are your year, followed by your citizen class (Born Singaporean, Foreign Born, PR, Convict, Undercover Police etc) and then the serial number and a check alphabet (A-J & Z).

That number DO NOT CHANGE unless you disable or modd the Router. Why it's so dangerous? Because Google has a codec called REAVER which is used with Wifi crackerjacks such as AirCrack-NG and such free software (built into Linux) that once that number is cracked... how many times you change your password does not matter since the WPS key is the same.. something like your super master key.

Initial key stress testing takes usually 6 - 10 hours to crack ONE SINGLE Router in sequence and usually a hacker will crack 3 - 6 routers in a go. Even if you do not broadcast your SSID, it will still come out...as radio waves will be transmitted and someone will listen.

So what can you do?? Get a secured Router with that WPS PIN DISABLED.

Unfortunately for many, SINGTEL's router are nearly CRACKER JACK PROOF. The 5012 uses WEP and password is usually 13 numbers or 13 ALPHANUMERIC KEYS with ALL CAPS LOCK making it super hard to crack, ( 36 to the power of 13 combinations or 170 Billion Billion Combinations ). Those white ones are also harder to crack too so don't waste your time...

That is hard coded and a PAIN IN THE BACKSIDE. It's made by some China Company... but it's useful.

Just a cap..which ones are simple to crack includes TPLINK, DLINK, ASUS, EnGenius and those cheapo ones....

Good luck

Friday, February 8, 2013

What NOT to decorate your house with.

Those trendy Flush in TV Cabinets are a real nice thing to do... but do avoid this... It is actually in fact, a Building Code violation and a Fire Safety Hazard as wood can burn if something shorts up.

If you don't see it well, the FTP or Fiber Terminal Point is actually concealed into the cabinet panel and it's a real bugger that the carpenter told the owner that you can ask the installer to access it from there.

How on earth can one access it when you can't even get your whole hand into it.

Do you see the cables etc dangling back of the panel?

If you wish to do so.. please make a door or flap so that direct access to the equipment is made simple.

In any retro spec, please consult a CERTIFIED ENGINEER before you do your wiring and renovations as I have slapped the owner of the premise a Notice of Safety Violation and any issues with network or system deterioration will be borne fully by them and that the violation voids all Home Insurance and Fire Insurance Coverage on the premises.




Sunday, February 3, 2013

Extending your WiFi Coverage.

Extending your WiFi Coverage is not as simple as it is.... but it's quite effective.

Here are some tips:

NEVER USE A POWER LINE ADAPTER... PLCs are so susceptible to disruptions and also waste your money. They are limited to the old slower technologies. If you die-die need to use one.. then use it for your LAN Connection. Remember Singtel's mIOTV issues?? All caused by so much disruption etc as the customers do not want to have wiring or drilling. They opted for the ComTrend CHC and from my experience and toying about...they only go as fast as 70mbps... as 200mbps is ONE WAY or Half-Duplex. Full Duplex is 35% of their Promised Speed.

DO NOT USE WIRELESS-WIRELESS Extenders... or using WDS mode. They just amplify your poor signals and cause more harm to your expensive router.  It's just like a relay game.. using one channel.. every time there is a relay..someone will take 10-15% commission or cut from the bandwidth available. Eventually, you are better off using a hybrid mix.

DO NOT USE ROUTING MODE. Do you see the connection behind the router saying Broadband and then other 4 ports for LAN? If you need to do a chain relay.. don't plug into the Broadband port as it will firewall your connections and cause more harm.


Technically.. this is how you do it:
From your ONT (Modem) to the Router(A)... you set is as DHCP without using IP Addresses 192.168.1.200 to 192.168.1.254 (255 is broadcast).. or if you prefer 10.0.0.x or 172.16.0.x
Why? Because we want to use those IP. If you let your router handle more than 32 clients in one go.. it will CRASH!!!

So we have 2 routers.. how to go about?
We all know the router (A) may be 192.168.1.1 (Typical... Singtel's is 254 as 1 & 2 used by ONT) and so we Statically Assign the Router (B) as 253 (255-2-N where N is the number of extenders). We disable DHCP from Router B so users will get IP addresses from router (A). And we MUST NOT use the SAME AP-Name or SSID for Router A and B..it will conflict. You can try... but you have to allocate different channels.

Then from Router (A) we connect the LAN port via RJ45 cable to the Router (B) on the RJ45 port (not labeled Broadband). Then we have a distributed AP Network. If for some silly reason you still don't want wiring.. you can use PLC Adapters (get 300mbps or more) to connect those 2.

Any router can be used..even the Singtel black 5012 or 5520.. those MioV white boxes need to be reconfigured manually by Tomato.


WiFi and Wireless

Don't be confused when any Sales person says you will get 100Mbps over WIRELESS or WiFi ...as it's actually NOT TRUE.

As Wifi is dependent of many factors and that 802.11G (Normal WiFi such as iphones and smart tabs) are limited to the 2.4Ghz frequency and technically LIMITED to 54Mbps One Way, usually you will get about 15-20Mbps Maximum at best at 3m range whereas the WiFi-N or 802.11N uses the 5.Ghz band and on top of that 40Mhz bandwidth slots within the 802.11G (which uses 20Mhz slots).

Technically, it could go as far as 100+ but you will only see 45-60Mbps range and it's much better with newer HDB BTO Flats as they can pass thru the walls better.... being higher in power.

If your package is 100Mbps...then you need at least a Fast Ethernet (FE) Lan card connected to the wire which will let you push thru 92-100mbps or Gigabit Ethernet (GBE) port for up to 1000Mbps

Dual Bands or what not.. we are sorry you are misled by the sales person. Be it SingTEL or MyRepublic... they don't know much other what they were told from those up there. Here...we are down to earth.

To check your WiFi connection... we recommend using Xirrus WiFi inspector... anything more than -60dbm is BAD... (less than ONE BAR) as you get up to only 10mbps.