Given the newness of IOT devices and the fact that the firmware can be loaded from a remote D-Link server, I wanted to put my plugs on a private network that would allow them to access the internet, but not access the other non IOT devices on my LAN. I am using an ASROCK G10 router that provides guest network capability.
I tried setting up a persistent guest network and setting up my plugs using this network. All appeared to go well, but when I clicked Finish to save the device, I consistently got an error message. The app could see the plugs, and the plugs connected to the network, but the process could not be completed to save the device data on the server and the device definition was mot saved. I called D-Link support and after trying many things with the rep, she finally escalated the problem to a higher level of support. The next day, I got a call from Ryan, and after much discussion, he concluded that something was being blocked by the restrictions of the guest network implementation. He suggested that I try changing the normal wireless SSID and password to the ones I wanted to use for the guest network, disable the gusst network, and set up the plugs that way. He opined that the plugs should work normally on the guest network once they were set up.
I did this and was able to sucessfully save the devices in the app. I then changed the router definition to use the normal SSID and password for my normal network, and enabled the guest network using the SSID and password the plugs had been set up with. Applying these changes requires rebooting the router, but when the router rebooted and was connected to the iinternet, the plugs attached to the guest network and appeared to work normally. I had had the plugs in my office plugged into a power strip for setup, so I unplugged them and moved them to the rooms where the were to control lamps. When I plugged them in, the green light on the plugs indicated the plugs were attached to the guest network, but the devices in the app were greyed out, and tapping them caused and error popup saying the plugs were not connected to the internet. My guess is that the swithcing of the SSIDs/passwords went undetected by the plugs until the plugs were power cycled.
After another call to Ryan, we concluded that something related to the guest network as stopping the plugs from accessing the D-Link server. After trying several things, Ryan suggested that I power cycle the router. I tried that, and the plugs showed up as active in the app, and I was able to control the lamps from the app. Neither Ryan nor I have any idea why power cycling the router allowed the plugs to access the server, but so far that seems to work.
I learned several things from this exercise:
1) You can't set up the plugs on a guest network.
2) You can set them up on a normal network, then swap the SSID and password to a guest network
3) The software is sensitive to the length of the SSID. When I used a 14 character SSID, I could not save the device definitions. 10 or less characters worked OK.
4) At least on my router's guest network, the plugs can't connect to the D-Link server without rebooting the router
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Topic: Using the DSP-W110 on a Guest network (Read 14493 times)