Yesterday I replaced my old Belkin router, which had been randomly blocking Safari from looking at websites where lots of small images loaded at once.
I bought a shiny new ZyXEL P-660HN. It’s a lovely little ADSL wireless router, it got a string of 5-star reviews on eBuyer, and everything worked well out of the box. I only had one problem — well, apart from not being able to spell “ZyXEL” — which I’m documenting here just in case anyone else is having it and desperately looking for help on the internet.
I couldn’t get the Apple Remote App for iPhone to work with it. Not reliably, anyway. It would occasionally work, after rebooting everything, but it wouldn’t stay working. Crucially, I also couldn’t get the AirTunes Remote Speakers (hanging off my Airport Express) to work, either.
After I shuffled around the internet for a bit, I thought it might be something to do with Bonjour, but the ZyXEL didn’t seem to be clamping down with its firewall on the Bonjour ports internally. In fact, I eliminated the firewall completely: turning it off didn’t fix the problem.
Plunging further into the net, I found a couple of places that tangentially mentioned a couple of other apps in the same breath as the Apple Remote, including the 1Password app, which syncs with 1Password over WiFi. I tried that app for the first time with the new router, and what do you know? That didn’t work either.
My big clue came from this blog entry at packetevents.com, which goes into some really geeky detail about what happens when you fire up the Remote App:
When the iPhone remote starts, it began to send a Multicast-DNS packet to 224.0.0.251. This is a multicast which means the devices and computers in the same group will hear this packet.
Multicast. That’s the secret. I remembered seeing a setting for that on the ZyXEL, which I didn’t think was on by default. Sure enough, on the Network > LAN > IP page of the router’s configuration screens, there’s an Advanced Setup button. Click that, and there’s an RIP & Multicast Setup section. Multicast was set to “None” on my system.
I had no idea which of the options to choose — IGMP-v1, 2 or 3 — so I just chose the biggest number, on the grounds that version 3 of things is generally better than version 1 or 2. As soon as I’d chosen that and hit “Apply”, everything started working just fine. 1Password started syncing, my Remote app started working, and I’m listening to music over the AirTunes speakers right now.
Also, as pointed out by andrea in the comments below, you may also need to disable IGMP snooping (Network→Wireless LAN→Advanced on my router) for a reliable connection.
So — got a problem with a ZyXEL router and your iPhone apps? Try enabling multicast!
On behalf of ZyXEL, apologies you had issues finding information relating to getting the Apple iPhone Remote App to work with a ZyXEL router. Thank you for highlighting this and we will add information to our Website on this subject to make it easier for future users. Our tech support team is always happy to help, they are available on 0845 122 0301.
Regards,
ZyXEL UK
Thanks, ZyXEL! Nice to see you getting out here and engaging with the customers
Now everything’s up and running, I’m extremely happy with my new ZyXEL router; far better than the old Belkin one, and with the kind of detailed configuration options a geek likes to see, and very good wireless coverage.
Hi,
I’m having the same problem with using the remote app on my iphone. I don’t have any software for the router so I can’t follow any of the instructions above. I have a mac but I can not see any options to enable multicast or IGMP.
Please help. I’ve been searching for the last 2 months for a solution!
Thanks,
Phil
Hi Phil,
You don’t need software for the router, the router itself comes with the software (and the above configuration pages) pre-installed. You just use a web browser to view them.
I’d suggest going and asking at ZyXel support; I’m sure they’ll be able to talk you through it.
Hi,
THANK YOU SO MUCH ! I’ve had this issue of connexion between my computer and aiport express/airtunes since I switched from an old ZyXel to ZyXel 660H, I could not find a good solution online for several months and was really annoyed. You saved the day
ZyXEL UK: you might want to say something about it to your counterparts Switzerland as ZyXEL is the most common router sent to customer of Sunrise, a large phone company…
alessandra
For the rest of you with a P660HW-T1-v3 that try this and still failed to make it work here what sort in my router
Commands to enter at CLI
ether switch igmpsnooping disable
wlan mcenable 0
Thanks for the extra info, Andrea. I guess this means that those of us with ZyXEL P-660HNs should also make sure to disable “IGMP snooping” in Network->Wireless LAN->Advanced. Not sure whether there’s an equivalent of the “mcenable” setting for the P-660HN; it doesn’t appear in the CLI.
Hey Thank’s.
That was the Point! disable “IGMP snooping”
Great!
You are a life saver, I felt it was because of the router but I had no way of knowing. I’ve been searching for months for this. Thank you so much/
Thank you so much for this thread!
My problem was with Airprint on a Zyxel P-660HN.
I initially enabled Multicast IGMPv3 which allowed me to print once. I then unticked IGMP Snooping under WLAN settings, and now it seems to be working perfectly.
Thanks again!
Thank you Matt and Andrea. I checked this out many months ago and play around with multicast value .. unsuccessfully … now after I unchecked IGMP Snooping … it works perfectly.
beside the clue mentioned in the article which identify the iTunes use MDNS, i found another big clue at http://packethq.com/2011/myth-behind-apple-itunes-and-airplay/ which describe the full process of the AirPlay
Thanks so much for the help. I am a swiss sunrise zyxel P-660hn owner and just got an apple tv. It didn’t work and finally found this (and some other forums). I was thinking that apple tv was a waste or that i would need a new router and getting angrier and angrier. Thanks to you guys everything is working perfectly and I can go to bed happilly!!!
hey matt,
cool this works for me! i had to uncheck IGMP as well with my 660HN.
thnx alot & hi5 from switzerlnd, alex
I have a Zyxel 660HN modem and couldn’t get my iPad to print consistantly via airprint. I unchecked the IGMP Snooping and it works perfectly. THANK YOU!
As jos said, THANK YOU…I love the Google and the web! Sorted my problem out.
Thank you so much for this precious help.
From switzerland.
thanks for that hint.
I have a Zyxel
P-660HN-F1Z
and coulmd not make DropCopy work on my iMac and Mini: it kept loosing the destinations. With your hint it makes the whole of Bonjour work a treat!
Good research and brilliant explanation!
THANK YOU