Smart link connection

MarkS

Sometimes (seldom) when I try to connect remotely from my iPhone, I get a message that SmartLink is not available. When I try a few minutes later I see the remote internet connection when I'm out of my home, and both the local and remote connections when I'm on my home network. I don't make any changes - I just try again.

My question:

Is there some way for me to detect if there is smartlink outage, or a problem that I need to diagnose? Or, is this just a software reliability thing out of my hands.

Does a local IP connection use smart link at all? If I don't see the local network connection in the connect list, when I'm on my own network, does this mean that it's a local network issue.

** I have port forwarding on in my router. I have UpNP on. It works properly 95% of the time. But I'm greedy and want 100%

Mark - wd9jen

KD0RC

Hi Mark, local connections do not use SmartLink, so if you don't see your radio locally, it is a network issue.

SmartLink outages are really rare. I occasionally don't see SmartLink the first time I try to connect, but it is because I normally operate remotely from campsites that have horrible cell service.

I don't think that you are having a software reliability issue. It is almost certainly a network reliability thing - very much out of your hands to control.

MarkS

QSL on the campsites. I'd expect occasional timeouts if the wifi/cellular is wonky. But this is happening when I'm on my own network inside my home - good connection. But I have a crowded network so collisions should be a thing. 50+ devices with some chatty, and neighbors wifi interference possibly in there too. Once I make the connection the audio on the phone (both flex RX and TX) are fine.

When I'm on my local network the error on the phone is "smart link failure". I don't see the radio in the list via the smart link connection or the local IP address connection. Maybe it's just the way the phone makes the connection and the error it shows when it can't connect. I have not noticed this on my MacBook or iPad (yet?), but it's intermittent.

I never have issues with my Windows PC which is next to the 6600M. It's wired to the same network switche the radio.

Thanks for responding. Mark - wd9jen

KD0RC

Hi Mark, OK, I see. You should not be trying to use SmartLink from home. If you are using your iPhone, it should be connecting to a WiFi link that is on the same network segment as the radio. If you are already configured this way, then the high amount of network traffic is probably the culprit.

MarkS

Len, Using the iPhone, selecting "CON" then "Tap here to connect", a box labeled "Setting up Smartlink" appears. This is where it fails and I don't see my radios and I get the failure message that Smartlink can't connect. This is why I was trying to understand smartlink - even when I'm not specifically trying to use it. In this situation I can get this failure with the phone on my local network or outside my network.

When the phone works, which is most of the time, I see both the Smart Link connection (with my Comcast address) and my local network connection with the local IP (DHCP assigned address). I'm not using the SmartLink connection when I'm in my own home although it will work if I pick it. I don't know what "route" the traffic actually takes when choosing the local IP vs the Smartlink connection. Not a need to know - but interesting none the less.

Hope that clarifies what I'm seeing. Thanks for the discussion. Mark - wd9jen

KD0RC

Hi Mark, do you by chance, have a switch plugged into a switch or a router plugged into a router in your setup? I have seen this scenario before, and it causes things to work sometimes and sometimes not.

When you connect with your computer, are you using WiFi or a wired connection? Wired will typically give FAR fewer problems.

When you use the iPhone, I assume that you are connecting in via WiFi. Is that WiFi connected to the same LAN segment as your radio? If not, that is undoubtedly the issue. If it is on the same LAN segment, then I would suspect high WiFi usage (possibly even from a neighbor). One possible solution for that scenario is a 5GHz router to get away from the congestion of the 2.4 GHz traffic.

John KB4DU

Mark, in settings, at the top, select the Method to connect to Local, not Smartlink.