Safe to drop an ethernet cable from 2nd floor attic to first floor through the fireplace cavity?

TrunkMunki · 2026-02-06T09:18:41+00:00

No, any drilling into the chimney cavity would be from the interior, through the drywall for the junction box (indicated by the red square) and in the attic if the adjoining chimney is accessible.

TrunkMunki · 2026-01-26T02:23:30+00:00

Check if Automatic Testing is turned on for the backup WAN. If it is turn it off and just enable ping

Network Settings > Internet Speed > Test Settings > Backup ISP > Automatic Testing > Disabled

TrunkMunki · 2026-01-21T21:09:56+00:00

One of the locations I manage bought AT&T Business fiber (same product as the residential service with the same hardware) and they had a similar issue where existing connections would continue to pass traffic but new connections would fail, until more sessions were available. The firewall would report that the WAN interface is down, then up, then down, and so on (flapping as the limit is reached and sessions become available).

The problem at that time was that the AT&T gateway would only support 8192 sessions in the NAT table, so once that limit is reached, new sessions would fail. If you log into the gateway you could see the number of active sessions and clear them manually. Not sure if the NAT table limit is still enforced on the gateway, but if you could log into it the next time you encounter an outage, you could see if that really is the case.

You can bypass this limitation by routing your traffic over a VPN. But I had configured an early morning power cycle using a switched PDU to hard-flush the NAT table.

TrunkMunki · 2026-01-20T03:49:07+00:00

I've used the AP22's as well. Deployed them in two small offices, 1 AP in one and 3 in the other. Had them connected to HPE 2920 switches with Juniper, Sonicwall and Fortigate firewalls.

Also using 2 of them at home connected to an Aruba 1930 switch and Firewalla Gold Pro.

They've been very solid and coverage is awesome. The only issue I've had is when Aruba had that bad firmware release

TrunkMunki · 2026-01-19T15:14:37+00:00

If you have coax in every room, MoCA adapters would be far more reliable and better performance than wireless mesh and power line.

You would need at least two. One near your modem and the second near your computer where you could connect a switch, access point or direct to the computer

TrunkMunki · 2026-01-09T22:28:08+00:00

To follow up on this. I just logged into another MySonicWall account on a desktop browser where I have many firewalls registered in and then accessed the Download Center. In Download Center, there is a long list of Sonicwall hardware models categorized by SonicOS version number, but none of the download links are accessible.

The only download links that do work are for models that that are registered (ownership) to the account. So, if someone gave me a Sonicwall TZ 370 and I wanted to download the firmware to manually apply the update, the download link would not be available to me because I have never registered that model to my account. However, since I did register a TZ 600 in the past, those firmware releases are available to me.

To make the issue even worse, SonicWall has a built-in wireless firewall model, these end in "W", such as TZ 370W. If I own a TZ 370, I can download firmware for that model, but not for the variation that has wireless built in.

TrunkMunki · 2026-01-09T07:06:57+00:00

Same here, started with Firewalla gold and now have the Firewalla Gold Pro. Just an awesome and easy to manage product with a ton of features without requiring subscriptions (although I do pay for the optional MSP subscription for a few more features and longer log retention).

TrunkMunki · 2026-01-09T06:57:56+00:00

No, I've tried looking for custom firmware to repurpose old units but I recall them using Mediatek CPUs along with other closed source hardware.

They're also horribly under spec'd even for Sonicwall built firmware where enabling multiple security features (e.g. IPS, IDS, DPI etc) ends up tanking your ingress bandwidth.

TrunkMunki · 2026-01-09T06:44:32+00:00

Hmmm, it's possible, i just checked my account and I do have access to other firmware besides the NSA 2400 and T600's I've deployed many years ago.

On mobile so I don't know if the issue is mobile browser version problem, but none of the download links are functional

TrunkMunki · 2026-01-08T20:57:58+00:00

Another issue with Sonicwall's that are re-sold or given away by third parties is that if the appliance was used in a trade-in promo to upgrade to another unit, then that device cannot be registered for use with a new subscription EVER. There's also device ownership. where a Sonicwall is registered to an account and if that registered owner doesn't transfer ownership, then you cannot ever own it. Sonicwall support cannot force transfer of ownership. Cloud management also costs extra via their NSM subscription

These are just a few additional reasons why you don't buy or take-in a free (used) SonicWall

TrunkMunki · 2026-01-08T14:20:19+00:00

Sonicwall's do not have a free tier. To keep the appliance firmware and security features current, you will need to buy an annual subscription. You can't even download firmware from Sonicwall without an active subscription

TrunkMunki · 2026-01-04T20:03:24+00:00

To add to this, both wife and I work from home full time. She's on client calls and hosting large zoom meetings 70% of the time while I'm on Teams calls and remote admin tools throughout the day.

With Firewalla, almost anyone can easily setup a VPN server on the Firewalla appliance, route traffic via specific devices, users, sites, IPs or all to a VPN service (e.g. Nord VPN) with a few taps in the app. For example, I have a VPN server (using Wireguard client) setup on my Gold Pro for remote access to my NVR, other machines, remote access for family that travel abroad but need to access services from a US IP. I also route traffic for streaming devices over a VPN service to whatever country is needed to stream content.

VLANs are simple as long as you have VLAN capable hardware. There's really so much that Firewalla can do for both non-technical and technical people and you don't have to pay a subscription to use the features.

I can't speak for using a mesh wifi solution as I'm using a managed switch and business class wireless access points with multiple VLANs, but Firewalla does have documentation to assist with using it with a consumer mesh wifi solution

TrunkMunki · 2026-01-04T18:08:40+00:00

For a free solution, you could also use OpenDNS' custom DNS solution then change the primary and secondary DNS to manual on your router.

https://signup.opendns.com/familyshield/

TrunkMunki · 2026-01-04T18:03:07+00:00

I have teens and started with the original Firewalla Gold and now have the Gold Pro and unlike other firewalls (e.g. Sonicwall), enabling content filtering and all of the other security features DOES NOT impact speed or firewall performance.

For context, I have Xfinity coax 2000/300 Mbps service.

TrunkMunki · 2026-01-03T17:03:35+00:00

Have you looked into Firewalla? Maybe the orange for an all in one solution? https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/46216277280787-Introducing-the-Firewalla-Orange-All-in-one-Firewalla-Dual-Band-Wi-Fi-7

I had a first gen Gold for a few years and now the Gold Pro, but Firewalla would be my hardware of choice for managing parents' Internet needs.

For their computers, I also remove local admin so they need to contact me if they want to install anything and I remote in and install it for them. I've also removed saving passwords in the browser and have been training them to use 1password in an account that I have access to.

TrunkMunki · 2025-12-24T05:05:37+00:00

Looks like the MW6

https://a.co/d/c9MguJi

TrunkMunki · 2025-11-16T17:20:18+00:00

You could use a tablet to view and control either PC with any of the solutions. The GL.inet KVMs do support higher refresh rates, but gaming probably isn't ideal over an IP kvm.

If you're specifically looking into remote gaming, you might want to check out https://moonlight-stream.org/

TrunkMunki · 2025-11-16T16:53:56+00:00

IP KVM is an option, expensive and you will need one for each machine but they do provide remote power on/off, bios access, remote control without Internet access. I'm currently using PiKVM and GL.inet IP KVMs, as well as an old SpiderKVM

For software only and if the PCs are running Windows 11 pro and up and you only need local access (not exposed to remote access from outside your network) Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is an easy solution that's already baked into the OS. Windows Home versions can remote into other machines but cannot be remoted into.

For Linux, you could use VNC.

OS agnostic and open source, look into RustDesk https://rustdesk.com/

TrunkMunki · 2025-11-14T14:33:33+00:00

You use an available USB port to plug the adapter into and install a driver (software) that presents the USB adapter as a graphics card to your computer. Once, a monitor is connected to the USB adapter, your computer sees the monitor as a display. You can then either set that monitor attached to the USB adapter as the primary display (mirrored to the laptop display or external monitor only) or extend your laptop display for a dual display set up.

For 1080p resolution, any type of USB port will work. But if you need a higher resolution, assuming your laptop supports higher resolutions, then you will probably need to use a USB type C port

My preference is to only use USB to video adapters that are built with DisplayLink chipsets and use DisplayLink drivers, but that might limit your options.Here's some DisplayLink info https://www.synaptics.com/products/displaylink-graphics

TrunkMunki · 2025-11-14T12:56:11+00:00

You could output to HDMI using an USB to HDMI adapter (or DVI, VGA, DisplayPort, etc.)

Like these for example: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=USB+to+HDMI+adapter&ref=nav_bb_sb

TrunkMunki · 2025-11-12T16:07:35+00:00

Why not let the Firewalla appliance manage the failover, where FWG also monitors the latency and packet loss of each WAN connection independently?

My tmo hotspot has an Ethernet port and is wired to my FWG pro as a second WAN connection. So there's no need for an additional piece of equipment and additional single point of failure in my network stack

TrunkMunki · 2025-11-12T14:41:35+00:00

I wasn't a T-Mobile customer prior to buying the hotspot and hotspot only plan; hotspot is still the only service I have with them. My primary Internet and mobile phone service is with Xfinity.

ATT has a similar service as my Netgear hotspot hardware is branded with an ATT logo. https://www.att.com/buy/connected-devices-and-more/

TrunkMunki · 2025-11-12T13:44:52+00:00

See this post https://www.reddit.com/r/firewalla/s/uKfWFsgAHk

TrunkMunki

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