SOHO Surf Mk 3 Hangs when applying changes

Product Discussion Pepwave AP & Surf
1

Pepware Surf SHOH MK3, Firmware 7.1.0 build 1284.

Disconnected from cable modem, I’m attempting to secure down the Mk3 before I open the modem to evil. If I change the router IP and apply changes, I get the message “Unable to reach web admin. Connecting in 30s” Never does. Just hangs. Can’t log on with any IP. Throughput status is just spinning icon. The only cure is a hard reset.

Tried to change the LAN port settings from auto to 1000Mbit. When I apply changes, it just hangs. Tried with cable modem attached. Hangs.

Trying to get 250Mbit speeds but the best I can get is 100. Connecting to cable modem directly gets me 225 Mbit so the router is the problem, not the ISP.

2

Is there a special cable that runs between the router and the modem? Just have to ask.

3

No. A “plain ol” ethernet cable. A cross-over cable is not needed. I’d use at lest a cat 5E or cat 6 cable.
I don’t think this is related to your problem.

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4

Hi. Please tell us exactly what you are doing to “secure” the router. And, you’re connected to a LAN rather than the WAN port, right?

I’ll let someone from Peplink answer the “speed question.” You’ll see others have raised similar issues.

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5

Yes, the modem is in the WAN port and the endpoints on a switch connected to a LAN port.

As for security settings:

DNS IP is set for OpenDNS (208.67.222.222 / 208.67.220.220)

Ping outside of perimeter disabled

Wireless AP SSID and password

Changing router IP to a more random non-routable IP (192.168.x.x)

Disabling UPnP and NAT-PMP

Blocking certain web services (adware/ P2P file sharing / File Hosting

Enable IPsec through NAT-T

This is just a home network. No SMB. Simply making it harder for Evil to gain a foothold.

Just rather annoying that the router loses itself after a configuration change, like router IP or LAN port settings.

6

Suggestion: From the LAN side, directly connected with an ethernet cable, change one parameter at a time to secure the router. Example, in part:

  1. Change the password
  2. Change the port number from the default to a high number
  3. Disable HTTP and enable HTTPS
  4. Disable WAN port access (if you don’t want to use a valuable tool such as “Router Utility”)

Don’t proceed to the following step or do anything else until you can make contact with the router. What you are describing is uncharacteristic of this product in our experience.

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7

After you change the router IP you need to release/renew the IP on your PC or just unplug the Eth cable and plug it back in.

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8

That did it. Thanks for the assist.

9

I certainly neglected to state the obvious, didn’t I? :smirk:

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10

This is why the Forum is so great, many different sets of eyes! @Rick-DC, as always - thanks for all your contributions!

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11

There is an incomplete cheat sheet for setting up a new Surf SOHO here

The more feedback I get on it, the better it will be…

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