Wi-Fi Management

Many VIP models come with Wi-Fi capability, either as single band (5 GHz) or dual band (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz) IEEE 802.11. The STB acts as a Wi-Fi station that connects to an access point. All Wi-Fi-capable models support 802.11ac; this is the recommended operating mode even if older standards, such as 802.11a/b/g/n, are also implemented.

Wireless Multimedia Extensions can be used to prioritize video data over background traffic if the access point also has this functionality implemented. To tag traffic as video, operators can use the Type of Service (or DSCP) field in the IP header.

WPS support

Automatic wireless configuration through Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is available through push-button. Set-top boxes from the VIP series don't fit a dedicated button for WPS; portal applications must use the TOI interface to control the WPS functionality.

WPS availability can be checked at run time through the CONST_WIFI_WPS_ENABLED information object.

WPA2-PSK

WPA2-PSK (Pre shared key) is supported for authentication. Counter Mode CBC-MAC Protocol (CCMP) is used for encryption.

Regulatory domains

Different countries and regions have different laws related to radio transmissions like Wi-Fi. It is, therefore, important that the STB is configured with the right regulatory settings. These settings are stored when the STB is produced and can only be changed on development units.

The EU: European Union regulatory domain is supported on all STBs. Other regions and countries might be supported depending on model and variant. Contact ARRIS technical support for more information at tac.helpdesk@arris.com. Additional regulatory domains can be provisioned upon request as long as this is agreed in time before hardware production starts.

Limitations

The following limitations and caveats exist and need to be considered:

• Open access points: This type of access point is unsupported.
• Removing a network source during passive standby: If the network connection disappears during passive standby or power down, e.g. access point loss or unplugged Ethernet cable, the STB can get stuck in an endless loop trying to reconnect to the missing access point. To get out of this situation, disable two-stage boot by keeping the standby button depressed while power cycling the STB, and reboot. This will remove the bootimage from permanent storage, remove any remote control pairing information, exit from standby and enable three stage boot. As an effect of this, the Wi-Fi wizard will run if the second stage bootloader cannot connect to the configured access point unless the Wi-Fi wizard has been explicitly disabled. Another option is to have a small local portal included in the bootimage which can reconfigure the Wi-Fi in case of connection problems.
• Media streaming: Media streaming works best with 802.11ac and 802.11n 5 GHz networks. 802.11n on 2.4 GHz works in environments which have a clear 40 MHz channel. Streaming might work on 802.11a/b/g, but this is not guaranteed.

Special considerations

• Supported access points: Not all access points support multicast (RFC 1112, RFC 4604) in an efficient manner and some do not support it at all. Before deciding on a commercial deployment, please send samples of your gateway to ARRIS for evaluation. Gateways with limited support for multicast can be augmented with the VAP340X from ARRIS, which is an access point that can be attached to the gateway and provide multicast functionality.
• Multiple MAC addresses: Note carefully that the VIP1113W/VIP4302W have two unique MAC addresses. This must be taken into consideration when integrating systems that use MAC addresses as unique identifiers.