Various problems with Netduma R1

[Ursy]

Hello!

I purchased the Netduma R1 3 days ago and have had a couple of issues. I apologise for the somewhat bloated post.

Background info
ISP: Vodafone
Connection speed: 36mb down / 6mb up / 5ms ping / 0ms jitter to Vodafone Manchester server on Ookla speedtest
Devices used for speedtests: Macbook pro; Galaxy S8 smartphone
R1 delivered on: 17/06/2020

Day 1: upon setting up the R1, my connection speeds over wifi dropped instantly by around half. Speedtests to my Vodafone hub remained at 36/6/5ms/0ms jitter over wifi but with the R1 are sporadicly lower. Even with "Disable QoS" checked. At its highest on R1 it tends to be 30/5 but the ping can be between 5-30ms and the jitter rises to around 12-43ms over wifi. I am unable to test wired as my macbook requires an adapter to connect an ethernet cable.
I began playing Modern Warfare (PS4, wired, Vodafone hub -> R1 -> PS4) Ping assist is set to 15ms and when connected my ping tends to stay at a consistent, stable 12-13ms. No hiccups at all worked perfectly, joining friends' games, joining party chat etc.

So on day 2: I decided to connect all devices in the house to the R1 to utilise the traffic prioritisation feature when gaming. So I disabled the vodafone hub's wifi and moved the household's devices onto the R1, all wireless so 6 devices in total were connected to the R1 (5 wifi + 1 PS4). Some things would take more time than usual, for example when sending whatsapp messages, messages sent will have the timer icon for about 2 seconds or so before changing to a single tick, whereas with the vodafone hub it instantly displays a single tick. This is all outside of gaming and with QoS disabled.

Subsequently things got a bit weird. When gaming, I couldn't connect to a friend's party chat, it took a long time to connect to the MW online menu and I noticed the auto-ping tracker rocketed to 143 ping whilst in MW main menu. I did a speedtest on my phone and found that connection speeds dropped to about 18mb down/0.1mb up and whilst ping was 16ms, the jitter was measured at 1243ms! Back to back speedtests yielded similar results at 700ms-1000ms jitter, depsite Vodafone hub wifi speedtests at the same time yielding 5ms ping 0 jitter and 36/6mb. Additionally, I couldn't connect to my friend and the connection speeds were so abysmal that I tried rebooting the router to no avail, and was then left with having to unplug the R1 and connect PS4 directly to Vodafone hub, where things went back to normal. 

Now, as the connection-drops over wifi are too troublesome for devices in the house, I have reconnected everything back to the Vodafone hub where things are running smoothly. The R1 is only connected via ethernet to my PS4 and via wifi to my Macbook for dumaos use. 

Even now as I type this, I can do back to back speedtests that all yield random results over wifi with the R1, I shall screenshot the image. Meanwhile speedtests over the Vodafone hub stayed at a consistent 36/6. Also, one quirky observation, whenever I conduct a speedtest, the R1 router begins to exhibit a strange noise! It's a sort of rattle or buzzing, that sort of sounds like a bird cawing in the distance, as soon as I cancel the speedtest it goes away! It's very strange, I don't know if this is normal.
I unfortunately wasn't able to do a wired speedtest when the PS4 networking went all funny, but I have ordered an adapter and should be able to compare wired and wifi speedtests tomorrow.

If anyone could offer some advice on why the connection seems to be going all wonky I would really appreciate it! I really don't want to end up refunded if possible because I LOVE the geofilter, it is simply brilliant, the software is just tremendous. I rarely lag in game but when I do I've always suspected it was a foreign/laggy server I've been connected to and now I can eliminate that with the R1! It is a brilliant product.

In conclusion:

1. R1 is not capable of delivering my usual wifi connection speeds consistently
2. Had an issue when connected to PS4 (wired) unable to join party chat stuck trying to connect, very slow joining games, sky high ping, issue isolated to R1 and not Vodafone hub
3. Very high jitter measurements when using R1
4. Router makes noise whenever I try to do a speedtest

 

 

 

[Netduma Fraser]

Hey, welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear you're having these issues and thank you for the detailed information. I would highly suggest you sign up here to get the latest DumaOS version for the R1 (this in and of itself may help to solve the issues) https://netduma.com/r1-dumaos/ and we'll email the link to you for you to upgrade. Also sign up here for the chance to be in the 3.0 beta which will enhance the software even more: https://netduma.com/blog/beta-signups-live/

Do you require PPPoE or VLAN in order to get a connection or is it just plug the R1 in and it works? I would definitely recommend re-enabled QoS as that's unlikely to be your issue and it should help having it enabled. We generally recommend 70/70% preemptive for your speeds but try reactive as some people find that it is better. Please also run through this optimal settings guide: http://support.netduma.com/en/support/solutions/articles/16000023979-optimal-settings-guide

Use a WiFi analyzer (you can get one for free) and find the least congested channels in your area and change the R1 WiFi to use that instead.

Let us know how you get on.

[Ursy]

Hello, thank you for your response

- I had signed up for the latest version of DumaOs when I set the R1 up and was running the latest version when the problems occurred; I have now signed up for the 3.0 beta, thank you for the link

- Regarding PPPoE and VLAN - I simply plugged the router in, downloaded the latest DumaOs version and it worked, I didn't alter any settings of that sort

- There is no option for reactive and preemptive algorithms with this version of DumaOS? I noticed there were options before I upgraded. Apologies if I'm not looking properly

 

 

[Netduma Fraser]

The algorithms aren't selectable on DumaOS - so these issues are still present on DumaOS? Did you do a factory reset after updating? If not I would recommend you do this to ensure no legacy issues have carried over.

[Ursy]

I think I rebooted the router, but did not do a factory reset, I don't recall an instruction to do so - would factory resetting not revert the upgrade?

In addition, I have tested and compared wired speedtests between my Vodafone hub and R1: it appears the ping remains pretty much the same, however the bandwidth varies. With Voda the speedtest meter instantly hits ~36mb and stays there until complete, with R1 the meter starts off low ~10mb and slowly climbs higher and higher until it reaches 36mb. Sometimes it will fall short and max out in the 20s but each speedtest invariably starts low and slowly climbs with R1 - I find this very strange.

[Netduma Fraser]

No a factory reset won't downgrade to the original firmware, it will stay on DumaOS. I would recommend doing so, then helps to rule out other causes. Have a look at CPU usage in System Information when you do it, how high is it? Do this pre and post reset and see if there is a difference please.

[Ursy]

Sorry for the delayed response
I forgot to add that last week I used a wifi analyser to choose the optimal channel, it made little difference, and still have connection problems with the R1

So more issues today, the wifi on the R1 stopped working, no devices could connect, and could not access DumaOS interface, and so unplugged the R1 and plugged it back in; which solved the problem, but still getting poor connection speeds with the R1.

Factory resetting R1: CPU usage prior to reset would fluctuate between 60%-100%. Post-reset CPU usage is marginally lower - until I reapplied my usual settings (QoS 70/70, geofilter) where CPU usage hit 100 consecutively for a little bit and now fluctuates at a similar point to pre-reset.

Also the R1 makes a lot of static-like noise - not sure if that's abnormal

Is it possible that I have a faulty unit?

[Netduma Fraser]

It is certainly possible yes and based on the issues that you've had so far that would be my conclusion. Please email [email protected] with a link to this topic and briefly explain the issue. We'll be able to get you a replacement as you're still within warranty. Hopefully the replacement will be much better!

[Ursy]

I shall do that now, thank you very much for your help! 

[Ursy]

On 6/29/2020 at 8:38 PM, Netduma Fraser said:

It is certainly possible yes and based on the issues that you've had so far that would be my conclusion. Please email [email protected] with a link to this topic and briefly explain the issue. We'll be able to get you a replacement as you're still within warranty. Hopefully the replacement will be much better!

Hi Fraser, I followed your advice yet I have not received a replacement. It's been just shy of a month now and I have not received any support. Upon emailing, I gave all the necessary details and was told a replacement would be sent out, but since then, I have had no communication as to the status of the replacement - despite my asking.

Had I known there would be a delay of over a month in obtaining a replacement, I would instead have requested a refund as I was still within my 14-day return window at the time. Instead I'm left with a faulty, yet expensive, piece of equipment that cannot be used.

[Netduma Fraser]

Did you email with the same email used for your forum account? I'll chase this up for you.

[Ursy]

Yes it is that same email.

Thank you, it's much appreciated

[Ursy]

On 7/24/2020 at 8:01 PM, Netduma Fraser said:

Did you email with the same email used for your forum account? I'll chase this up for you.

Hi Fraser,

I understand it has been a long while. That replacement eventually arrived, but I have had so much going on in my personal life that I have not had a chance to even open the box until today!

Unfortunately, there are issues with this R1 router provided.

Firstly, no instructions, or start guide was provided with the router - just the router, power and ethernet cable.

Curiously, the SN characters to access the wifi were different on the packaging label compared to the router label - the latter one was the correct one to enter (despite the dropbox quick-start guide instructions).

Now the trouble is, upon connecting everything according to the online quick-start guide, I cannot access dumaos. 192.168.88.1 does not work. Typing http://dumaos does not work. I even tried 192.168.77.1 in case that was mistakenly assigned. No internet over wifi, despite it connecting fine, just no webpages can be accessed. I have connected the R1 to my macbook via ethernet and I still cannot access the internet.

Edit: I unplugged the ethernet cable from the PoE port and put it in one of the other 4 ports on the R1, and now the internet seems to work - however I still cannot access DumaOS.

 

[Netduma Fraser]

21 minutes ago, Ursy said:

Hi Fraser,

I understand it has been a long while. That replacement eventually arrived, but I have had so much going on in my personal life that I have not had a chance to even open the box until today!

Unfortunately, there are issues with this R1 router provided.

Firstly, no instructions, or start guide was provided with the router - just the router, power and ethernet cable.

Curiously, the SN characters to access the wifi were different on the packaging label compared to the router label - the latter one was the correct one to enter (despite the dropbox quick-start guide instructions).

Now the trouble is, upon connecting everything according to the online quick-start guide, I cannot access dumaos. 192.168.88.1 does not work. Typing http://dumaos does not work. I even tried 192.168.77.1 in case that was mistakenly assigned. No internet over wifi, despite it connecting fine, just no webpages can be accessed. I have connected the R1 to my macbook via ethernet and I still cannot access the internet.

It has been awhile, no worries, hope everything is okay!

Disconnect the ethernet cable from port 1 and connect port 2 to your PC, then try accessing using 192.168.88.1, if that doesn't work then try 192.168.1.1 - I'm not sure what version you'll be on but you may need to go through a wizard

[Ursy]

20 minutes ago, Netduma Fraser said:

It has been awhile, no worries, hope everything is okay!

Disconnect the ethernet cable from port 1 and connect port 2 to your PC, then try accessing using 192.168.88.1, if that doesn't work then try 192.168.1.1 - I'm not sure what version you'll be on but you may need to go through a wizard

Thanks for the prompt repsonse!

Unfortunately still no luck, whilst disconnecting from the PoE port and using another will enable internet, it does not allow me to access 192.168.88.1 - just a dead webpage. Using 192.168.1.1 takes me to the Vodafone hub.

[Netduma Fraser]

Have it completely isolated so only the R1 connected to power and PC via ethernet, disable WiFi on PC and try connecting via those 2 IPs again