Advanced Settings

Keep Connect Advanced Settings In-Depth Video Guide #

Summary of settings: #

If your unit does not have some of the features/advanced settings you may not have the latest firmware on your device. If you would like to upgrade your unit, please email us at support@johnson-creative.com and we will be able to update your unit remotely.

Below is a brief description of the process that Keep Connect undergoes and how we utilize the advanced settings:

1. Keep Connect tries to connect to “Primary Test Domain” which is www.google.com by default.
2. If “Primary Test Domain” is able to be reached by Keep Connect, all is well and Keep Connect waits “How often to check connection” [default = 5min] minutes before starting over.
3. If “Primary Test Domain” is unreachable then Keep Connect waits for “Pause before backup check if primary fails” [default is 60s] seconds, then tries to connect to “Backup Test Domain” [www.cnn.com by default].
4. If “Backup Test Domain” can be reached, everything is in order, and Keep Connect waits for “How often to check connection” minutes before restarting.
5. If “Backup Test Domain” is also unreachable, Keep Connect assumes the connection is bad and kills power to the built-in receptacle for “How long to kill power to devices” [30s default] seconds, then restores power to the built-in receptacle. This effectively cycles the power to the router (and modem if also plugged into Keep Connect).

How long to kill power to devices #

1. After power cycling the connected devices for “How long to kill power to devices” [30s default] seconds, Keep Connect then waits for “How long to wait after reset before reconnecting” [3min default] minutes (signaled by blinking yellow LED) then restarts the process. This is to avoid Keep Connect trying to test the connection to websites before the router/modem has time to restart resulting in an endless cycle of resets.
2. Phone Number and SMS Country Code – If you would like to receive text updates when the devices resets, enter your phone number (10 Digits with no hyphens) and SMS Country Code (without a “+”)
3. Timezone UTC Offset – It matches the GMT offset and is accessible at this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UTC_time_offsets The default value is -5, indicating USA EST. For example for -5:00 just enter -5. For 5:00 enter only 5.
4. Scheduled Auto Reset – Off by default by setting to 0. If you wish to enable it, enter “Auto Reset Interval in Days” to set the Keep Connect to auto-reset every [chosen period in days]. Also, enter the “Hour of Day” for the auto reset to occur with 0 being midnight and 23 being 11 pm (in reference to the UTC Timezone previously selected). Enable Daylight Savings Time by entering Y [default] to enable or N to disable.

Max Number of Continuous Resets #

1. Max Number of Continuous Resets – This setting stops Keep Connect from repeatedly resetting if the internet connection is lost for an extended period. Default setting is 3 resets. Per this setting, if Keep Connect does not see internet restored after 3 reset cycles, it will not perform any more resets until it detects healthy internet connection again at which point it will begin issuing resets again.
2. Sustained Outage Retry– After reaching the maximum number of continuous resets, Keep Connect will attempt to reconnect once during each Sustained Outage Retry period. The default setting is 4 hrs but is configurable.
3. Follower Mode – Allows two Keep Connects to work together to coordinate resetting a router and modem together as one device and also allows staggering the Power-On time of one device allowing better reliability. For detailed instructions on how to configure Master / Follower mode please see https://www.johnson-creative.com/master-follower-setup/
4. Power On Delay – This setting enables you to introduce a delay from the moment Keep Connect is powered on until its output receptacle becomes active, thus powering up the device connected to Keep Connect.

Connection Monitor Mode Advanced Settings
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• Connection Monitor Mode
  • Require Full TCP/HTTPS Success: This is the default advanced settings and determines connection health by opening a full HTTPS session requiring connection to the site, encryption key handshakes, etc. This simulates a browser’s capability to reach and use the internet and is a more inclusive test that simply pinging the websites. Often cases throttling attempts by your ISP may allow you to reach the site via IP address, but block your connection based upon the TCP or HTTP protocol, so this just ensures that Keep Connect is monitoring the connection in the same fashion as you would experience it.
  • Ping Only Mode: This feature allows to de-sensitize Keep Connect by ignoring checking TCP/HTTP protocol success and only monitoring ping success.
  • Keep Connect Roundtrip: This mode reaches out to our Keep Connect servers to check for a “kcSuccess” response. This is done over https and proves that the request went all the way to our servers and back. Some routers/modems/gateways serve a local “Internet Is Down” redirected webpage when there is no internet. Keep Connect would consider this redirected webpage as a reliable internet connection and would refrain from issuing a reset to the connected device. This mode ensures that the communications occurs all the way to/from our served. This can also help when monitoring very low-bandwidth systems. Instead of having to load a full webpage, our servers only send the kcSuccess message cutting down on the bandwidth requirements. This mode does not use a user defined domains as with the other two modes, but instead just communicates with our servers directly with built-in primary and backup test domains within our network.

Socket Timeout Advanced Settings #

• Socket Timeout: For any of the 3 monitor modes, this advanced settings defines how long the health check should continue waiting for a response before considering the connection offline.
  • Loss of WiFi Reset Mode: In order to reduce unwanted resets due to WiFi disconnects from the router/modem, Keep Connect can be set to “Reset Normally”, “Reboot/Retry before Resetting”, or “Block Resets/ Await Reconnection”. This refers to how Keep Connect behaves when it detects that it has lost connection to the WiFi. “Reset Normally” will just proceed with the normal process and issue a power cycle to the connected device. “Reboot/Retry before Resetting” will reboot the Keep Connect (without issuing a power cycle) and then attempt to reconnect to WiFi from scratch. If it is still unsuccessful in connecting to WiFi, it will proceed with the normal process and issue a power cycle. The final option, “Block Resets/Await Reconnection” will completely disregard a loss of WiFi and just keep trying to reconnect without ever issuing a power cycle.
  • Ignore DNS Failures if Ping Works – When you type an address into your browser (i.e. www.example.com), your computer connects to a Domain Name Server (DNS) to translate that name into a valid IP address. This works much like looking up a number in a phone book. Often times connection issues are due to the DNS server failing to respond correctly with an IP address. Enabling this option allows Keep Connect to detect DNS failures and if detected, try to directly ping 8.8.8.8 to determine if internet is available despite the lack of DNS service. If this is the case Keep Connect will treat this as successful internet connection and not issue a reset. This only applies in certain cases. Feel free to reach out to support@johnson-creative.com for assistance as needed.

Static IP Address #

• Static IP Address – You can now assign static IP’s to Keep Connect.
• 802.11 Wireless Mode: Allows selection between 802.11 b/g/n mode, b/g mode, or only b mode.
• Reduce Wireless Transmit Power: In some systems, this reduction of transmit power can reduce WiFi signal noise resulting in better stability when Keep Connect is located very close to the router/modem.
• Enable Web Portal: Choose whether or not to keep the Web Portal active and listening for connections or not.
• Use Custom Keep Connect SSID: Change Keep Connect’s default configuration portal SSID. This can be helpful if you have more than one Keep Connect and would like a more descriptive name to distinguish between them.