JamesO
Member
Notice to UPMan and Uniden Develpement Team Regarding WiFi Stability Issues.
After the long delay of the Siren App and a lot of discussion about the WiFi dongle not working correctly or being unstable, I wanted to make a statement that may be helpful to the WiFi debugging process.
I have been dealing with networking for about 15 years and I can say that WiFi stability is a MAJOR issue in the industry.
The sad truth is you cannot walk into a store or order a WiFi based router or access point and expect it to work reliably either out of the box or with the most current manufactures firmware updates.
I have even found the router manufacturers own firmware often times is just buggy and unreliable, but the hardware platform is very reliable when using 3rd party firmware, very sad but true. Also with many “consumer electronic” platforms the newer hardware or hardware versions are released and earlier platform support is often abandoned. This is VERY common in the cell phone and the smart TV industry as well.
I can tell you I deploy MANY home and small business networks and router and WiFi stability and reliability has been a thorn in my side for years and years.
Additionally even if you look at Apples latest IOS 8 (8.1.1) there has been quite a problem with wireless stability as well. Just recently Apple has released ANOTHER update to IOS 8 in an attempt to correct WiFi stability issues. Not sure if the Siren App will work on any pre IOS 8 platforms, but I would suggest benchmarking the Siren App performance and reliability on something other than IOS 8 before Beta Testing with the latest IOS firmware versions.
So before the development team and any Beta Testers chase their tales on WiFi stability and connection issues, I suggest you find a router/WiFi platform that is ROCK solid.
I can tell you after years and years, I have found one ROCK solid router and WiFi platform that I have deployed OVER and OVER again without issues.
I would suggest Uniden’s development team consider using the older Linksys WRT-54GL router with DD-WRT firmware on the router. I have deployed countless of routers in this configuration and they have been the most stable and rock solid platforms of any devices I have ever deployed. No call backs, no loss of configuration, no lock ups requiring power cycling, not throughput issues, they just work like they should. The funny thing is the same router with the latest Linksys/Cisco firmware is not reliable at all, so this clearly shows the hardware platform is reliable and the Linksys/Cisco firmware is a problem. Note that the DD-WRT image I have used dates back to 2009!
Yes these are older platforms that do not support Wireless N or AC standards, but I HIGHLY suggest you use this platform as a baseline test bed and ship these routers to any Beta Testers to use to eliminate variables in the field.
I can say I have had nightmares with all of the newer Wireless N and AC standards. Even with the higher priced routers like Cisco, Asus or Zyxel I have had constant issues and firmware updates do not typically solve problems. I will also state that if I ever walk into a job that has any Netgear router, I immediately throw it in the trash. I refuse to use anything other than Netgear switches, their routers come nowhere close to any network I deploy or manage. This includes cable company provided integrated modem/router devices. I have been burned time and time again by Netgear routers and refuse to waste my or my customers time on Netgear routers.
There may be members here that have had similar experiences or disagree with my findings, however, my goal has always been for no phone calls or complaints from my end customers and after YEARS of beating my head on the wall, I made a very conscious decision once I found a solid combination that worked to deploy what worked and what I knew was a stable product and platform.
Unfortunately I now need to find an AC WiFi platform that is both cost effective and reliable and I have yet to find anything I have happy with to date.
This entire issue needs to be considered if and when the Siren App is released as there may be end user that are having problems that end up being router/WiFi based and not issue with the Uniden wireless dongle, Uniden Servers or the Siren Apps.
I not looking for any specific reply or response other than from UPMan that he has read this information and will consider sending it along to the App Development Team. This info will hopefully be helpful to the development and release of the Siren App if and when it is ever released.
Hopefully a lot of time and manpower has not already been wasted by Uniden on garbage WiFi platforms coloring the testing and development of the Siren App.
These comments may be helpful to moving the process along, I probably should have made these comments a LONG time ago.
I hope this thread does not turn into a trashfest, it is mainly for informational purposes based upon my many YEARS of small network deployment and support and finally finding a reliable router hardware/firmware platform that I have had first hand experience with. This is based hundreds of deployed networks and many, any routers and firmware versions that created hours of headaches for both the end users and myself.
I hope this information makes it to the proper people and is useful at the end of the day.
After the long delay of the Siren App and a lot of discussion about the WiFi dongle not working correctly or being unstable, I wanted to make a statement that may be helpful to the WiFi debugging process.
I have been dealing with networking for about 15 years and I can say that WiFi stability is a MAJOR issue in the industry.
The sad truth is you cannot walk into a store or order a WiFi based router or access point and expect it to work reliably either out of the box or with the most current manufactures firmware updates.
I have even found the router manufacturers own firmware often times is just buggy and unreliable, but the hardware platform is very reliable when using 3rd party firmware, very sad but true. Also with many “consumer electronic” platforms the newer hardware or hardware versions are released and earlier platform support is often abandoned. This is VERY common in the cell phone and the smart TV industry as well.
I can tell you I deploy MANY home and small business networks and router and WiFi stability and reliability has been a thorn in my side for years and years.
Additionally even if you look at Apples latest IOS 8 (8.1.1) there has been quite a problem with wireless stability as well. Just recently Apple has released ANOTHER update to IOS 8 in an attempt to correct WiFi stability issues. Not sure if the Siren App will work on any pre IOS 8 platforms, but I would suggest benchmarking the Siren App performance and reliability on something other than IOS 8 before Beta Testing with the latest IOS firmware versions.
So before the development team and any Beta Testers chase their tales on WiFi stability and connection issues, I suggest you find a router/WiFi platform that is ROCK solid.
I can tell you after years and years, I have found one ROCK solid router and WiFi platform that I have deployed OVER and OVER again without issues.
I would suggest Uniden’s development team consider using the older Linksys WRT-54GL router with DD-WRT firmware on the router. I have deployed countless of routers in this configuration and they have been the most stable and rock solid platforms of any devices I have ever deployed. No call backs, no loss of configuration, no lock ups requiring power cycling, not throughput issues, they just work like they should. The funny thing is the same router with the latest Linksys/Cisco firmware is not reliable at all, so this clearly shows the hardware platform is reliable and the Linksys/Cisco firmware is a problem. Note that the DD-WRT image I have used dates back to 2009!
Yes these are older platforms that do not support Wireless N or AC standards, but I HIGHLY suggest you use this platform as a baseline test bed and ship these routers to any Beta Testers to use to eliminate variables in the field.
I can say I have had nightmares with all of the newer Wireless N and AC standards. Even with the higher priced routers like Cisco, Asus or Zyxel I have had constant issues and firmware updates do not typically solve problems. I will also state that if I ever walk into a job that has any Netgear router, I immediately throw it in the trash. I refuse to use anything other than Netgear switches, their routers come nowhere close to any network I deploy or manage. This includes cable company provided integrated modem/router devices. I have been burned time and time again by Netgear routers and refuse to waste my or my customers time on Netgear routers.
There may be members here that have had similar experiences or disagree with my findings, however, my goal has always been for no phone calls or complaints from my end customers and after YEARS of beating my head on the wall, I made a very conscious decision once I found a solid combination that worked to deploy what worked and what I knew was a stable product and platform.
Unfortunately I now need to find an AC WiFi platform that is both cost effective and reliable and I have yet to find anything I have happy with to date.
This entire issue needs to be considered if and when the Siren App is released as there may be end user that are having problems that end up being router/WiFi based and not issue with the Uniden wireless dongle, Uniden Servers or the Siren Apps.
I not looking for any specific reply or response other than from UPMan that he has read this information and will consider sending it along to the App Development Team. This info will hopefully be helpful to the development and release of the Siren App if and when it is ever released.
Hopefully a lot of time and manpower has not already been wasted by Uniden on garbage WiFi platforms coloring the testing and development of the Siren App.
These comments may be helpful to moving the process along, I probably should have made these comments a LONG time ago.
I hope this thread does not turn into a trashfest, it is mainly for informational purposes based upon my many YEARS of small network deployment and support and finally finding a reliable router hardware/firmware platform that I have had first hand experience with. This is based hundreds of deployed networks and many, any routers and firmware versions that created hours of headaches for both the end users and myself.
I hope this information makes it to the proper people and is useful at the end of the day.
I'll make sure I get a WRT54GL router for my upcoming build.
