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Topic:
The URC MX-6000 and wifi problems
This thread has 6 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Wednesday May 5, 2010 at 15:48
MKaram
Lurking Member
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May 2010
3
Hi all,
I cross-posted this on AVS, but I figured I might have some luck here :D

I got a URC MX-6000 because I was excited about streaming the iPod music from a PSX-2 to my whole house system while getting the iPod screen and data to the remote.

It's all set up and the iPod works great.... but it has wifi problems.

I have my entire home set up with wifi properly. There are multiple hard-wired AP's throughout the home such that there are no spots with less than "3 bars" for the wifi on my PDA.
The wifi network is setup properly, all the channels are setup not to overlap, there is only one DHCP server etc etc. It's correct.
All of my electronics roam properly. They will jump to the strongest AP as needed.

All of them except the MX6000.
It will wait until it has actually lost the wifi signal completely before it searches for the next AP (even if it's right next to one it will stay attached to the original AP).

This causes the PSX-2 interface software to lockup and fail.

I believe my installer addressed this issue with URC and they told him something like "it doesn't roam, you need to set your AP's up as repeaters"

So I went through and set everything to repeater mode (I also tried WDS). This also did not work. The MX6000 stays tethered to the first AP it connects with.

Not to mention it's pretty ridiculous to require sub-par network standards like "repeaters" and extra-protocol setups like WDS because it cuts the throughput of my wireless network and some devices can't even do it.

The next thing that has been suggested to me is to use a "whole house" wifi system like the Luxul Pro-Wav.
These are basically high-gain antennas and high powered amplifiers. It *might* work but it's still a very poor "solution". Even if the wifi signal from a single point in my home can reach the devices, the transmitters in the devices will have trouble transmitting back to the Pro-Wav (and if it reaches it will have a pretty poor SNR)


There must be another solution here.
I cannot believe that URC would sell a product with the wifi so poorly implemented. Proper roaming is an essential part of a wifi network; there is no reason it should completely lose signal and fail before it searches for a stronger AP.

Does anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
OP | Post 2 made on Thursday May 6, 2010 at 14:02
MKaram
Lurking Member
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May 2010
3
Another option I could try is using a wireless access controller module but these units start at $1000 (and going up from there) and it may not even work.
Post 3 made on Thursday May 6, 2010 at 22:05
vbova27
Super Member
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July 2006
2,987
First of all, a repeater system is NOT the way to go. The bandwidth will get whittled down to nothing. And yes, that is the problem with wireless touch panel products - they will hop when the signal is low. What I would reccoemend is a booster to your wifi signal . You need to make it stronger.

Take a look at Luxel - they make some great wireless boosters that can make your signal strong enough to not require various access points. I took a training class with them today - a fantastic product for those who have larger homes. A simple access point with product can cover a 10,000 SF home.

www.luxulwireless.com

Look for an authorized dealer in your area.

Vincent
OP | Post 4 made on Friday May 7, 2010 at 00:13
MKaram
Lurking Member
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May 2010
3
I have used the luxul products before, and I think they are a bit overpriced for what they are.

The Prowav is little more than a signal amplifier and a high-gain antenna. This can be easily accomplished using a router w/ DD-WRT or Tomato and a high-gain rubber duck.


The problem with these sorts of systems is that the problem isn't getting the signal from the WAP to the wireless devices... the issue is the device transmitting back to the WAP. High gain antennae help with this but still don't solve the SNR problems (That's why people use multiple AP's)

My perspective is that the MX6000 on the Windows Mobile platform isn't adequately engineered. A WAP hop shouldn't cause the problems it does.

I have "solved" the problem in the same fashion a Luxul unit does: by increasing my WAP transmit power and sticking a high-gain antenna on it (costs about $70 for the WRT54GL and a high-gain antenna)
In this case, having multiple WAP's is actually detrimental to the MX6000. I had to use one SSID, broadcast from only one amplified WAP for the MX6000 and another SSID from all the other WAP's for the other devices in the home.

This stops the network hops and increases the effective range of a single AP; but it's still a sub-par method to compensate for inadequate engineering on URC's part :(
Post 5 made on Sunday June 1, 2014 at 19:30
LassenLab
Lurking Member
Joined:
Posts:
June 2014
1
Did you ever resolve this?

I have a new URC install and have tons of wifi connectivity and lockup issues that my installers cannot resolve.

I reconfigure my wifi in 5k sq ft with three apple AirPort Extreme WAPs. Coverage is very strong, but my two remotes, one control pad and several items connected to the UFC via Cat6 (AppleTV, AirPort Express, etc) lockup or cannot connect.
Post 6 made on Monday June 2, 2014 at 18:36
JoeFlabitz
Select Member
Joined:
Posts:
December 2008
1,517
On June 1, 2014 at 19:30, LassenLab said...
Did you ever resolve this?

I have a new URC install and have tons of wifi connectivity and lockup issues that my installers cannot resolve.

I reconfigure my wifi in 5k sq ft with three apple AirPort Extreme WAPs. Coverage is very strong, but my two remotes, one control pad and several items connected to the UFC via Cat6 (AppleTV, AirPort Express, etc) lockup or cannot connect.

What wifi interface in your URC install? CCP, Total Control, ccGen2?
Post 7 made on Sunday June 15, 2014 at 10:15
SysIntegration
Advanced Member
Joined:
Posts:
December 2013
895
There must be another solution here.
I cannot believe that URC would sell a product with the wifi so poorly implemented. Proper roaming is an essential part of a wifi network; there is no reason it should completely lose signal and fail before it searches for a stronger AP.

Does anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

Wow. Have you been on the URC forums recently? Have you installed a TRC-1280 for TC? The first generation of these failed miserably. They were completely terrible at holding onto a wifi signal. They could not distinguish between a network that had wpa/wpa2 running at the same time or if your passcode accepted both tkip and aes encryption. The MX5000 which is the footprint and chasis the 1280 is based off of doesn't even support Wireless-N 2.4. And it's still being sold as the modern line!

The DMS-AV from URC has has repeated, documented, massive problems with its NIC causing unit after unit to be DOA in the field right along with the 1280s that are supposed to control them. If you do the TINIEST bit of research you will see that URC has historically released product ahead of its ready date and that their greatest problems with device failure has been poorly implemented Wifi.

And this is coming from a URC fan boy. I have a TC system personally, dozens of whole house systems in the field, and a TC system running my whole showroom along with lights and climate. However, I am not going to pretend that I haven't made probably 50+ calls to tech support to solve these network issues that end up being hardware failure and poor implementation.

The other thing you need to remember is that the MX6000 came out in 2008. Do you know what else came out around that time? The original iphone. I still have my first gen iphone. It connects POORLY to my modern network. My iphone 3gs connects slightly better. Side by side they see totally different signal strengths in the same network. However, my current iPhone 5s has no problems at all. You are dealing with 6 year old technology. How do you expect it to work? That's like asking why your Canon camera from 2006 only supports 5 mp and a modern canon gets 24. Technology changes. Don't dump money into old tech.
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