NetComm Wireless

Dial on DemandFeature Spotlight

What is Dial on Demand?

Allows you to keep the data connection inactive when it’s not in use. It does this by transparently connecting and disconnecting the mobile broadband connection according to the type of traffic generated from the LAN side of the device.

Devices connected to the router continue to see an Internet connection even when the mobile broadband connection has been disconnected.

Can be configured to connect or disconnect based on type of traffic or by time elapsed.

When enabled, the router monitors the packets passing through it and determines when it should connect or disconnect the mobile broadband network based on your configuration.

The data connection can be re-established by sending an SMS message to it when SMS diagnostics feature is enabled.

What can you do with Dial on Demand?

Set the router to dial a connection when traffic is detected on specific ports

Exclude certain packet types from triggering the connection to dial

Exclude certain application types from triggering the connection to dial

Set timers for dial-up and disconnection

Wake-up the router’s mobile broadband connection by sending an SMS message to it.

Configuring Dial on Demand

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Configuring Dial on Demand

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Port filtering

To enable port filtering, click the “Enable dial port filter” toggle key and enter the ports that will trigger the router to connect when traffic appears to those UDP/TCP destination ports.

Port filtering allows you to configure the router so that it only connects when outbound traffic to an external host’s port or range of ports is sent to the router.

Computers running Microsoft Windows regularly send out NCSI traffic which helps the operating system to correctly display the Internet connection status. Since this traffic can trigger the router to connect, you can configure the router to ignore these packets by enabling the “Ignore Microsoft network awareness (NCSI) traffic” option.

Protocol and application filtering

These options allow you to configure the router to ignore ICMP, TCP and UDP protocols so that they do not trigger the router to connect/disconnect.

These options configure the router to ignore DNS requests, network time protocol requests and Microsoft network awareness traffic so that they do not trigger the router to connect/disconnect.

Connection timersKeeps the router online for a minimum time period after data activity is detected

Keeps the router online for this time period after a connection first is established.Stops the router from dialling a connection for a period of time after hanging upForces the router to disconnect after a specified wait period

Instructs the router to connect regularly at this interval

When regular connection is configured, the dial time may be randomised to avoid network congestion

Logging and manual control

The router can log all activity which matches the above configuration by toggling this switch to the ON position.

The router can be manually forced to connect or disconnect from the user interface

Example 1

Internet

NetComm Wireless Router

Take for example a vending machine which connects to the 3G network via a NetComm Wireless Router. The vending machine reports its stock level and sales figures daily. The carrier charges by the minute for internet usage so we want to minimize the time that the device is connected to the network.

Time Activity

From00:00to23:58

From23:58to23:59

InternetVending machine

Vending machine

NetComm Wireless Router

Example 1To achieve this, we can configure the router like this:

The router will connect every 12 hours with a random dial timer of 1 minute meaning that it will dial at a random time within 1 minute of the time it is due to dial.

It will stay online for at least 1 minute after the last packet of data is transmitted or received and will disconnect within 2 minutes, regardless of whether the data has been transmitted.

If it fails to transmit the data during the time of the connection, it must wait 12 hours for the next window of opportunity to connect.

Example 2

Internet

NetComm Wireless Router

Say the same vending machine is required to send data back to head office each time a purchase is made. When a purchase is made, the router generates TCP traffic in an outbound direction. We want the router to keep the mobile broadband connection offline until traffic is generated by the vending machine.

Status Activity

InternetVending machine

Vending machine

NetComm Wireless Router

No traffic

TCP traffic

Example 2To achieve this, we can configure the router like this:

Enable Connect on demand by clicking the Connect on demand toggle key.

We don’t want other traffic types to trigger the broadband connection so turn on Ignore ICMP and Ignore UDP. Ensure that Ignore TCP is set to OFF so that TCP traffic triggers the mobile broadband connection to connect.

Just to be sure that DNS, NTP and Microsoft network awareness traffic do not wake up the broadband connection, toggle these keys to the ON position.

Example 2

The vending machine only needs less than 1 minute to send the data so we can configure the router to:

Stay online for at least 1 minute after data activity

Stay online for at least 1 minute after connecting

Wait 10 seconds before re-dialling the connection

These settings will ensure that the vending machine has enough time to transmit its message without the connection dropping.

Example 3

Internet

NetComm Wireless Router

In another scenario, the vending machine is required to send data at hourly intervals.

Time Activity

InternetVending machine

Vending machine

NetComm Wireless Router

00:00 – 00:0201:00 – 01:0202:00 – 02:0203:00 – 03:02Etc.

All other times

Example 3

The vending machine only needs less than 1 minute to send the data so we can configure the router to:

Stay online for at least 1 minute after data activity

Stay online for at least 1 minute after connecting

Wait 10 seconds before redialling the connection

Connect regularly every 1 hour

These settings will ensure that the vending machine has enough time to transmit its message without the connection dropping.

For more information, please visit www.netcommwireless.com and navigate to your product’s support page.

Further information