Hawking Technologies HBB1 BROADBAND BOOSTER User Manual Contents

Hawking Technologies, Inc. BROADBAND BOOSTER Contents

USERS MANUAL

Table of Contents 2 Warranty Information 3 Certifications 4 What You Need to Get Started Package Contents Product Description Quick Start Installation 11 How the Broadband Booster Works Broadband Booster Overview Which Applications will Benefit Most from the Broadband Booster Introducing StreamEngine Technology 16 Accessing the Advanced Configuration Menu Information/Status Menu Advanced Configuration Menu Administration Menu Setting the Username and Password 23 Tips and Frequently Asked Questions 26 Service and Support 1
LIMITED WARRANTY Hawking Technology guarantees that every HBB1 Broadband Booster is free from physical defects in material and workmanship under normal use for two (2) years from the date of purchase. If the product proves defective during this two-year warranty period, call Hawking Customer Service in order to obtain a Return Authorization number. The warranty is for repair or replacement only. Hawking Technology does not issue any refunds. BE SURE TO HAVE YOUR PROOF OF PURCHASE. RETURN REQUESTS CANNOT BE PROCESSED WITHOUT PROOF OF PURCHASE. When returning a product, mark the Return Authorization number clearly on the outside of the package and include your original proof of purchase. IN NO EVENT SHALL HAWKING TECHNOLOGY’S LIABILITY EXCEED THE PRICE PAID FOR THE PRODUCT FROM DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THE PRODUCT, ITS ACCOMPANYING SOFTWARE OR ITS DOCUMENTATION. Hawking Technology makes no warranty or representation, expressed, implied or statutory, with respect to its products or the contents or use of this documentation and all accompanying software, and specifically disclaims its quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. Hawking Technology reserves the right to revise or update its products, software, or documentation without obligation to notify any individual or entity. Please direct all inquiries to: techsupport@hawkingtech.com. 2
3 FCC WARNING This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiated radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures: -Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna. -Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver. -Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected. -Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help. Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user‘s authority to operate the equipment. CE MARK WARNING This is a Class B product. In a domestic environment, this product may cause radio interference, in which case the user may be required to take adequate measures.
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Quick Start Setting Up the Broadband Booster in Your Network 6
The Broadband Booster is placed in-between your Cable or DSL Modem and your network Router. 7
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How The Broadband Booster Works Introducing Stream Engine Technology The Broadband Booster sits between the broadband modem and router. It optimizes networks for interactive applications used by A) multiple users, and B) individual users. Overview The Hawking Broadband Booster is a new class of product: a network upgrade that solves problems with using time-sensitive applications on broadband internet connections. It improves the playability of online games, maintains VoIP call quality, and 11
12enhances the quality of streaming video without any configuration required by the user. Target Applications High speed internet connections are making interactive applications such as online games, VoIP, file and application sharing, and video conferencing more popular. These new technologies work very well, but people run into problems when they try to use more than one application at the same time. Here are some examples of when this can happen: - A hard-core gamer notices his online first-person shooting game starts to “lag” or behave erratically when others in the house surf the web or do e-mail. - A manager of a small office subscribes to a VoIP service to reduce long-distance phone bills. She is frustrated when her calls break up when someone else in the office sends an e-mail attachment. - A father uses a web cam to monitor his children at home with the babysitter. He has to remember to turn off the file sharing application on his home computer before leaving in the morning. When it is on, the video from the web cam gets disrupted. - A manager with a single home computer wants to run a late-night training session for her worldwide sales force from home. The internet connection has plenty of bandwidth, but it can’t seem to handle both sharing the presentation and the VoIP call both reliably and at the same time.
Simply put, the Broadband Booster is an easily-installed device that provides broadband users with a superior experience of the internet. Simple Installation and Automatic Operation The Broadband Booster plugs in directly between the broadband modem and a computer, router, gateway, or access point, with a single Ethernet port for each device. It requires no configuration by the user, and has clear status lights to show it is working correctly. In most cases, the settings of the modem and router do not need to be changed to work with the Broadband Booster. This is great for home or small office environments that do not have dedicated IT staff. StreamEngine Technology StreamEngine Technology combines a number of QoS techniques. These include automatic classification, prioritization, and “shaping” of the traffic on the uplink, among others. 13The Broadband Booster monitors streams of traffic on a packet-by-packet basis and continually refines their priority to ensure the accuracy of the classification. The system decides if there are streams, such as VoIP, that are sensitive to jitter or latency. The Broadband Booster automatically adjusts the streams of data to let through the high-priority packets. This means that a high-priority
VoIP packet does not have to wait for large FTP packets to be sent before leaving the modem. Assuming that all of the data streams are correctly prioritized, the user can still run into problems. Many people believe that the delays they see while using online applications is caused by the internet itself. However, most latency and jitter is actually caused by the behavior of the modem on the user’s home network. The maximum throughput of the router’s WAN port is usually much larger than the throughput of the modem’s uplink. Modems are designed to handle this by using a very large buffer that stores the packets sent by the fast WAN port of the router before they can be transmitted by the modem to the ISP. Once a packet is stored in the modem’s packet buffer, the priority of the packet cannot be changed. This is shown in Figure 2. If the router sends more packets to the modem than the buffer can hold, these packets may be lost. 14Figure 2: Broadband modem rate adaptation buffer and its effect on QoS
15How to Measure the Performance Benefits? People can benefit most from a Broadband Booster under the following conditions: Their internet connection has a narrow uplink, such as with an ADSL or cable modem. They are using interactive applications like online games, VoIP, video conferencing, or application sharing. There are other network applications that run while they are using interactive applications. These might include sending e-mail attachments, file sharing, or even other VoIP calls or online games. Some people are familiar with measuring the quality of their internet connection by pinging a remote server. There are several problems with doing this. First of all, ping times measure round-trip latency from the client to the server, and back again. Online games are most affected by one-way delay from the client to the server. Second, QoS features may handle ping packets differently than packets from time-sensitive applications. For these reasons, ping times may not match the delays actually seen by an online game, for example. To see realtime performance benefits, Hawking recommends the user to run two internet applications (i.e. uploading a file to an FTP server while playing Quake 3 – Online game) with and without the Broadband Booster. You will notice that with the Broadband Booster both applications will run seemlessly.
Advanced Configuration Menu Configuring Advanced Features in Your Broadband Booster The GUI (Graphical User Interface) allows you to do manually adjust the control features within the Broadband Booster. You can view information regarding the status of the device, change the login password as well as upgrade the firmware. To access the GUI you will need to open a web-browser from a computer that is connected to the “boosted” network. In the address bar type in the following address: http://192.168.229.61/ Hit Enter to access the page There will be a box that loads prompting you for your user name and password. If this is the first time accessing the Configuration Menu click ENTER to get passed the prompt. You will be able to enter a new user name and password within the Configuration Menu. 16
17 The Information Page will gives you information regarding the current settings of your Broadband Booster. Firmware Version: Current firmware version on the HBB1 Upstream Rate: Speed setting for upstream rate Upstream MTU: Modem Type: Shows which type of broadband connection your network using. Protocol Overhead: Home Gateway IP Address: Displays the IP address of your broadband modem. ISP Router IP Address: Displays the IP address of your network router.
Configuration Menu To access the Configuration Menu click on the “Configuration” tab on the navigation bar at the top of the browser. 18
19Auto Rate Detection: This allows the Broadband Booster to automatically detect your networks upstream data rate and speed. It is recommended that you use the Auto Rate Detection feature unless you are an advanced user or if you feel that your detected data rate is incorrect. Upstream Data Rate: If the Auto Rate Detection feature is not used, then the Upstream Data Rate must be manually entered. The units used are kbits/s. Please check with your local ISP for the correct number to be used here. Connection Type: Allows for manual or automatic selection of your broadband connection type. It is recommended that this feature be left on “Auto-detect” unless you are an advanced user or the detected connection type is incorrect. If you have a connection other than Cable modem or DSL please select Cable Modem as your connection type. Enable IP Static Mode: For broadband connections that use fixed IP assignments for home/work networks you may have to manually enter the IP address for you router’s WAN port. If you are uncertain whether your network uses IP Static settings please check with your internet service provider or your network administrator. ISP Router IP Address: If you have enabled IP Static Mode, you may enter in the IP address of your ISP Router here.
Administration Menu To access the Administration Menu select “Administration” from the navigation bar. 20
21 Device Control: Any changes that have been made in the configuration menu will need a system reboot first before they become active. To manually reboot the device select the “Reboot” button. Resetting Configurations: To reset the settings to the factory default settings select the “Reset Configurations” button. This tool is used in case configurations have been manually made that hinder the device from working properly. Upgrading the Firmware: In the case that a new firmware is available, you may upgrade the device’s firmware using this tool. Simply download the “bin” file in a local directory, select browse and find the firmware file you wish to upgrade the Broadband Booster with. Changing the User Name and Password: To change the default login information you must enter in your desired user name and password. Note- Resetting the Password: If you forget your selected user name or password you may manually reset the username and password to factory settings by following the steps below: 1) Disconnect the power to the Broadband Booster 2) Wait 5 seconds and plug the power back in.
223) Once the power is on you will have 3 minutes to access the login page through your web browser by entering the IP address into the URL bar: http://192.168.229.61/ 4) There will be no password or username required to login during the 3 minute time window. Hit enter to login. 5) Click on the Administration Menu tab to re-enter a new username and password. Note: If no login information is entered during the 3 minute window, the Broadband Booster will revert back to the original username and password settings prior to rebooting. The manual password reset feature does not reset any other previously configured settings. It only adjusts the login username and password settings. You may attempt this reset sequence as often as you like to access the Configuration menu.
Tips and Frequently Asked Questions Broadband Booster FAQ and Miscellaneous Information Frequently Asked Questions When can I see the greatest benefit from using a Broadband Booster? The Broadband Booster will improve your experience the most if you have a broadband connection with a typical uplink data rate, and you use multiple applications, with at least one of them being time sensitive. Can I set my own prioritization requirements and adjust the QoS settings? The StreamEngine automatic prioritization algorithms will optimally prioritize and shape the traffic in nearly any user environment without configuration by the user. The Broadband Booster is designed to work with minimal user setup, and so includes only a basic user interface. Is the Broadband Booster compatible with Xbox Live and other online console gaming networks? Yes, the Broadband Booster has been designed to optimize online gaming whether it be from Xbox™, PSP™, Playstation™ or other gaming consoles. 23
24Does the Broadband Booster support specific settings for specific online computer games? Yes, the Broadband Booster has support for a very long list of the most popular online games. Many games can be prioritized using the same settings as other computer games so you will never have to worry about your online game being compatible with the Broadband Booster Does the Broadband Booster work with Peer to Peer applications such as Kazaa and Bitorrent? Yes, peer to peer network applications will benefit from the Broadband Booster. The HBB1 will optimize your P2P experience so there is no lag in your entire network that may be caused by P2P uploading. How does the Broadband Booster help with video(web cams) and audio streaming (VoIP)? The Broadband Booster eliminates video frames from dropping due to your network traffic. This results in smoother video transmissions for a better overall picture. For VoIP and voice streaming, the Broadband Booster ensures the best quality voice transmission for a clear reception similar to standard phone lines. What do I do If I have forgotten my login information for the web configuration menu? If you forget your selected user name or password you may manually reset the device to factory settings by following the steps below:
251) Disconnect the power to the Broadband Booster 2) Wait 5 seconds and plug the power back in. 3) Once the power is on you will have 3 minutes to access the login page through your web browser by entering the IP address into the URL bar: http://192.168.229.61/ 4) There will be no password or username required to login during the 3 minute time window. Hit enter to login. 5) Click on the Administration Menu tab to re-enter a new username and password. Note: If no login information is entered during the 3 minute window, the Broadband Booster will revert back to the original settings prior to rebooting. The manual password reset feature does not reset any other previously configured settings. It only adjusts the login username and password settings.
Hawking Product Service and Support Customer Service and Technical Assitance Information If you are having trouble installing or configuring the Broadband Booster please contact Hawking Technologies Technical Support department using one of the following methods: Hawking Technical Support Email: Techsupport@hawkingtech.com Toll Free: 800-756-7832 Web: http://www.hawkingtech.com/servicesupport.php RMA Information (For Warranty Issues) Web: http://www.hawkingtech.com/rma.php Thank You for Choosing Hawking Technologies. 26

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