Post Views: 2,124 Hi everyone! As many of you who have attended my conference presentations and Wi-Fi classes know, I spend time talking about the correct way of troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks. **********JUST UPDATED************* Power cycling or rebooting is NOT a first step. Here’s why: lets say you are having issues of some kind (slow speed, […]
Our Comprehensive Wi-Fi Troubleshooting Guide Read More »
Post Views: 134 The phrase net neutrality is often summarized as the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally. That definition is appealing, but technically lacking and incomplete. Modern networks do not—and often should not—treat every packet identically. The subject itself is not new around here and you can view my other posts
Post Views: 255 For decades, network automation meant converting a human-designed, generally manual, memorized or scripted procedure into a repeatable process. An engineer decided what should happen, defined the required steps, tested the process, and authorized the “automation” to execute those steps. The automation might provision a VLAN, update a routing policy, restart a failed
Post Views: 233 TLS 1.3, QUIC, HTTP/3, encrypted DNS, and Encrypted Client Hello increasingly conceal application and transport information that network operators traditionally used for troubleshooting, security inspection, filtering, performance optimization, and policy enforcement. Here is a little reference chart: This produces two defensible but conflicting positions: For most of the Internet’s history, and certainly
End-to-End Encryption: A Privacy Victory or a Networking Blind Spot? Read More »
Post Views: 238 MPTS stands for Multi-Program Transport Stream. It is a format defined within MPEG-2 Transport Stream (MPEG-TS) standards where multiple independent programs (channels) are multiplexed into a single transport stream. A simple definition would be one MPTS carries multiple programs with each program containing a complete service of video plus audio plus metadata.
What is MPTS? Plus a hands-on Lab Read More »
Post Views: 560 Wi-Fi 8 is the informal market name for IEEE 802.11bn, currently being developed as the next major Wi-Fi generation after Wi-Fi 7. Its technical theme is UHR — Ultra High Reliability. Unlike earlier Wi-Fi generations that mainly advertised higher peak speeds, Wi-Fi 8 is aimed at making Wi-Fi more consistent, predictable, and
It’s Early Days – but what is Wi-Fi 8? Read More »
Post Views: 1,925 For many broadband folks, this is a question that you need to know the answer to. So let’s answer in a picture and with supporting data. Well, let’s just say this is as best as one can determine. Naturally there is an intellectual property barrier to what Starlink/SpaceX has and is developing.
What is the Starlink Operational Model? Read More »
Post Views: 291 CellStream, Inc. – Telecom Consulting and Training! 2-day In Person Instructor Led course.Click Here to go to our Service Provider Courses. Using ChatGPT for troubleshooting, documentation, packet analysis, customer communication, safety, and daily field operations. Course Description: This course teaches broadband technicians how to use ChatGPT as a practical daily assistant for
CSI-OL-009 – Integrating AI Into the Broadband Technician Role Read More »
Post Views: 333 Do not troubleshoot Wireshark captures by chasing random red and black packets. Start with triage, classify the traffic, branch into the correct protocol workflow, and then prove the finding with packet evidence. The following is a shortened version of our structured “Triage → Classify → Branch → Prove” Wireshark troubleshooting workflow built
Wireshark Troubleshooting Workflow Read More »
Post Views: 26,898 Windows Firewall allows you to control the traffic entering and leaving your system through various rules. You can create and configure firewall rules to permit or block specific network activities. If you are looking for a more complete curated and advanced set of examples – join our Patreon community and check out
Configuring Windows Firewall Rules using netsh Read More »
Post Views: 5,091 I am often asked this question of where to access PCAP or PCAP-NG files so that folks can explore packet captures using Wireshark. I have always provided these resources in my Wireshark classes at the Online School, but thought I should also just list them here for public consumption. Before you click!
Where can I get PCAP Packet Captures for Learning and Exploration? Read More »
Post Views: 2,038 If you have upgraded Wireshark to the latest version 4.6.5 and later, you will note a big change to the “welcome” screen, or home screen of Wireshark. It now looks like this: The two “boxes” on the right are new and bold. The tips and tricks is great for new Wireshark users,
A New Wireshark Welcome Screen Read More »
Post Views: 517 This is a frequently asked question, especially from folks who troubleshoot fax in VoIP networks. Until today, I would have said “I have never seen it. That does not mean it can’t be done.” I also would have admitted that it is above my pay grade. But that all changed today. I
Can you extract Fax from Packets? Read More »
Post Views: 663 Let’s say you are a CO Tech/Engineer or an enterprise network engineer that works with Voice over IP (VoIP). Let’s further say that there are issues with one or more users so you have done a bunch of packet captures, perhaps even used Wireshark’s Ring Buffer capability, and now you want to
Extracting VoIP Packets from Multiple Captures Read More »
Post Views: 1,163 Learning how to manually control Wi-Fi channels in Linux is a foundational skill for wireless troubleshooting and packet analysis. Proper channel selection is critical because Wi-Fi troubleshooting is highly dependent on capturing the correct RF environment at the correct moment in time. When combined with Wireshark, Linux monitor mode provides one of
How to Set a WLAN Frequency or Channel in Linux for Wireshark Packet Capture Read More »
