Direct access?

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Wade Stadig

• March 29, 2018 00:08

An observation/question. I'm not sure if I have a configuration issue but it seems that having direct access turned on is actually way slower than having it off. Am I doing something wrong? FYI, I have a FIOS Quantum Gateway Router with UPNP enabled.

Here are my speed test results when trying to click on a device in my devices list and view it's properties:

1.45 seconds to load while on WiFi connection (same network as firewall) with direct access disabled and the same with it enabled (if i understand correctly DA should not affect the speed on the same network as the firewall)
4 seconds to load while on cellular connection and direct access disabled
34.75 seconds to load while on cellular connection and direct access enabled

Thanks!

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  Firewalla

  • March 29, 2018 00:15

  Wade, the direct access mode is to have your phone talk to Firewalla box without going through the cloud.  The reason for that feature is, in certain parts of the world, the cloud may be slow or unstable, and a direct access may be an optimization. 

  (Both direct and cloud are encrypted end to end, so our cloud is always clueless of what's being transferred)

  It is very likely that 34.75 seconds (and thank you so much for being so precise)  is likely connection not getting through your router.   Direct access depends on upnp, so if your router denies or do something strange with that flow, your phone will time out and I believe the fall back is still the cloud. 

   

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  Melvin Tu

  • March 29, 2018 02:43
  • Edited

  There are three ways for app to communicate with the box:

  - LAN mode. Direct connect to the box's local IP for data exchange. Only available when your phone is in same network.

  - Direct Access mode. Direct connect to your home's public IP for data exchange, UPNP port mapping is required. Only available when DA mode is enabled.

  - Cloud Relay mode. Phone submits the request via cloud, and wait for response. Always available.

   

  The try sequence at phone side is always LAN -> DA -> Cloud. (depends on whether the mode is available or not)

   

  So if DA mode is enabled, but not working well, it may actually be slower than cloud only.

   

  You can turn on debug mode in app to see whether DA doesn't get through and falls backs to cloud mode.

   

  To turn on debug mode, either Settings -> Help & Support -> Debug or Settings -> Advanced -> Debug based on different app version. (assuming it's iOS app)

   

  Melvin

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