New feature: SON

[Odian]

Hello,

I am trying to understand the purpose behind this interesting, yet completely unnecessary Self-Organizing Network feature.  It really seems to do nothing to really help, but adds something else that can go wrong.

Why not fix what is broken?  Such as the "unsafe site", when I try to go to my router settings?  Or, something useful, like putting the MAC address list security feature back into the settings?

[Edg1 · Accepted solution]

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@Odian wrote:

Hello,

I am trying to understand the purpose behind this interesting, yet completely unnecessary Self-Organizing Network feature.  It really seems to do nothing to really help, but adds something else that can go wrong.

Why not fix what is broken?  Such as the "unsafe site", when I try to go to my router settings?  Or, something useful, like putting the MAC address list security feature back into the settings?

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The point of SON is to have the router switch a device to the 2.4 GHz band if the signal is weak. For example if a device is connected to the 5 GHz band and goes to far from  the the router it will switch to the 2.4 GHz band which travels farther. And vice versa if the device comes closer to the router it will switch back to 5 GHz. Also SON is not unique to Verizon and has been around for years. Some devices might have issues with SON. If you have any connectivity issues you should turn it off. 

As far as the "Unsafe site" that is also not unique to Verizon. Any device that has a self-signed certificate with give you that error. It is just your browser telling you it doesn't recognize the certificate. 

MAC filtering is essentially worthless and and can be cracked in seconds. Just like WEP which is why we use WPA2. If you have a strong WPA2 password that is all you need. The MAC filtering isn't doing anything for you.

[ARCon1]

My home network was fine as I had 2 Netgear routers in bridge mode. For some reason, Verizon turns on SON and my entire network blew up. I did not want it turned on and after waiting on hold for over 60 minutes waiting for tech support and working with the useless on-line chat support...I now have to reset up my entire home network. Thanks Verizon for wasting half my day. 

[Edg1]

You can just login and disable it by going to 192.168.1.1 or myfiosgateway.com and going to Wireless Settings/Advanced Security Settings/ Other Advanced Wireless Options/Self-Organizing Network Enabled and set to Off