Some installations may experience problems with an Auto-Dial router like the Intel® InBusiness™ Internet Station, because it stays connected to the ISP for long periods of time under certain conditions. This can drive up connection costs especially in the case of areas that have high ISDN toll rates.

Any attempt to solve this issue requires some understanding of the basic algorithms used by the Internet Station to manage its connection to the Internet.

The Internet Station comes configured by default to look for packets of information that seem to be destined for the Internet. If such a packet is detected an automatic dial sequence is triggered to connect to the ISP. Once connected, all traffic that is not destined for the local network (192.168.42.xxx in default mode) is passed to the ISP by default route.

A timer is started that corresponds to the amount of time set in the Auto-Disconnect parameter under PPP Settings in the Advanced Setting Section of the Internet Station's Web Manager. This timer is reset to count down to zero every time a packet is forwarded to the ISP via the Default Route. If this timer ever reaches zero, the Internet Station will automatically disconnect from the ISP. (This disconnect feature can be disabled by entering a zero in the Auto-Disconnect setting) If packets continue to be forwarded to the ISP before this time-out occurs the Internet Station will stay connected ad infinitum.

Even though you think you have quit using the your Internet connection, there may be other applications running on a PC or other devices connected to local network that continue to send packets that are being interpreted as destined for the Internet.

One other possible scenario that could keep this connection alive stems from the local Internet Service Providers. In many instances, the ISPs will monitor customer accounts to assess how much activity is taking place. In order to do this, they utilize what is known as the "RIP" protocol which is broadcast every 60 seconds. This "RIP" packet will also keep the connection alive, even when the LAN cable has been removed from the Internet Station.

In order to resolve these issues you will have to either get rid of this traffic on the LAN or disable the Auto-Dial and Auto-Disconnect features of the Internet Station.

This latter solution is undesirable because it defeats some convenient features of the product. Therefore, you may also want to inquire with your ISP as to what they use in their configurations and if they are utilizing the "RIP" protocol.

As a last resort, disabling the features above may be used in order to save your pocket book from high ISDN charges. To do this, simply disable the Auto-Dial and Auto-Disconnect features in the Router Settings section of the Web Manager. Once disabled, anyone wishing to connect to the Internet must manage the connection manually by using the Dial and Hang-up applet on the Status page of the Web Manager.

Here are some other things to try before you resort to this manual work-around:

1. Use the Auto-Dial Filter Feature. This is enabled by default but make sure it is enabled in your configuration (Router Settings Page). This feature filters certain common types of LAN traffic from triggering the Auto-Dial. This filtering, combined with a short time-out (say 2 min. or less) for your Auto-Disconnect time-out, may combine to block the undesirable traffic from keeping your connection alive.

2. Make sure you are using a DHCP policy for your network. The Internet Station comes equipped with a DHCP server that will automatically tell all the machines connected to the LAN where to access Internet resources. Setting up this policy means that all the PC's and other devices connected to your network use the DHCP option in their client IP settings. See the Internet Station manual or use its install CD to set this up on machines running Windows* 95/98 and Windows NT*. Make sure the Internet Station has its DHCP server enabled (enabled by default).

3. Once you are set up for DHCP, make sure there are no PC's on the local network that are trying to use other resources. This means you must make sure that there are no machines trying to use some other DNS server or Gateway on the LAN. For Windows 95,98 and NT machines, you can diagnose this by checking the TCP/IP properties in the Network Control Applet in the Control Panel of your Desktop. Make sure there are no foreign entries in the DNS and Gateway setting tabs that may be interfering with the proper operation of your DHCP network. If you find any entries in these sections delete them, they are probably causing unwanted traffic destined for the Internet.

4. Use the Internet Station's DNS server to resolve all local host names. Many applications try to find resources both on the local network and on the Internet via DNS. If you have named some machines in your local domain and these are not entered into the static-hosts table of the Internet Station, they may be forwarded to the Internet causing your connection to remain up or get triggered in the first place. To get around this, you will want to enter the name and IP address allocated to the local host into the DNS table under DNS settings in the Web Manager. If the Internet Station can resolve these names locally the requests will not be forwarded to the Internet. These names and addresses will probably only need to be entered for machines that have a static IP address allocation and are not using DHCP either because they can't or you don't want them to. Many servers and other important network resources may have static IP address allocations.

5. Check with your Internet service provider to see if they are broadcasting with a "RIP" protocol and if they can disable it.

6. If all of these things don't work, you have only two choices left: seek help or resort to the manual method described above. Many network consultants can come in and diagnose this problem by "peeking the wire" for the culprit that is jabbering. Once you find out who is talking, you can figure out which program on the suspect machine is attempting to get to the Internet. Make sure the program is configured correctly or can be configured to use the local network resources correctly.

This applies to:

Intel® InBusiness™ Internet Station