Michael P. O'Connor

Now that I have the Raspberry Pi serving as a DNS server, one as a DHCP and VPN server. And I have the WiFi mesh network setup. Next step is I want to setup a hardware firewall (or maybe a computer to server as a firewall) between my home network and the Verizon Modem. I want to do as much decoupling of my network from the Verizon Modem as I can. I would like to make it that if they replace the modem again in the future, all I have to do is plug it in, set the Firewall as the DMZ and have my network not even know that there was a change.
Last time they changed out my modem, it was a pain to setup, the setting as how I wanted the network, this is why I started to move things off of the modem. First I have my IP range I use 192.168.42.0/24 and I had to set that up in the new modem system. Next I have some ports I forward to the internal area of my network so I can access my VPN and my main computer from outside the network. Then there is the WiFi name and password that I had to set, then I had to go around to all my WiFi devices and reattach them to my home network as the MAC address of the access point changed.
So by moving everything off of the modem, in the future I don’t have to worry about all these happening at the same time, and in the middle of the day on a work day. All the work I done for the updates to my home network have been on the weekend when it did not matter, but when Verizon replaced my modem, it was during lunch on a work day, so I had a rush to get just enough setup for my network to get my work laptop back online to finish my work day. Then fix up the network setup after work. All this work will make it so the modem is “hot swapable” in the future.

With the new Eero system, it looks a lot better then the other one. I was able to set the access points to bridge mode with no real problem. It still has the need for a stupid app to configure them. But there a lot less in the app. I did have a minor snag last night with the system. At first my devices when they made a DHCP request over the access points they were not getting the response back, but it turned out on my main computer I had a process that ran away and was flooding my network with packages so when I turned that off everything worked as expect, only about an hour of total work on the system. I will have to see how it works out, will have to post an update in about a week on how they are working.

Well I returned the Deco, as that was a waste of my time, I am glad I got my money back, as it would have been a waste of my money. So I picked up a Eero to try out, there are a few kinks in the system still, but it is looking more promising. There are some oddities it is causing with my DHCP server, some devices are not getting the response from my DHCP server, others are. So I am going to work on it a bit more, but they are working as only a bridge and that is what I want from them, I don’t want a “smart” access point, I just want it to work as a “dumb” bridge, and I think I am getting that. And that they actually setup the first time is a big plus. I will post how it is working in a few days.

The new Deco WiFi mesh devices came, and they are having the EXACT same issue. And they don’t even let you try with a web interface you have to configure it with a stupid app. They were being too cleaver for their own good on this, and that probably part of the problem. I will keep trying for 4 hours then I will go to return it. I left a 1 star review for this on Amazon.
I have setup them to be returned and going to get a refund. Now I just need to figure out a good devices for a WiFi mesh network.

Well as noted before the WiFi devices I bought before did not work, they just failed to work. I hope the new ones work. I will set them up with they come Amazon says they should get here between 4:30pm and 7:30pm (it is 2:45pm as I type this) I am hoping that these 2 will work out and not fail. If they fail, I will as for have to ask for store credit and buy different ones, but that will be a bit of a hassle.