Which device should be in ioT Vlan?

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hello,

I am setting up another vlan for my ioT devices. I create ioT vlan just like another guest vlan.

I have the following devices:

  1. Computers
  2. phones and tablets
  3. Watches
  4. Amazon Ring doorbell and Echo
  5. IP phone adapter for google voice
  6. game console (xbox, WII, DS, VR)
  7. HVAC smart thermostat
  8. Cleaning robot
  9. BD player/AV receiver/SmartTV
  10. Media player(need access SMB media share in main LAN but also playing contents from internet)
  11. Comcast streaming box

Item 1,2,3 stays in main lan,

item 7,8 move to ioT vlan.

How about 4,5,6,9,10,11? I guess 4,9 and 11 should be in ioT vlan. Item 5/6/10 not clear.

What is your opinion?

2

IMO, this comes down to trust -- how much do you trust the devices? If you don't trust them, put them in the IoT network. If you do, you can leave them where they are.

Secondary considerations should be given to any necessary file or service connectivity within your network -- for example, Chromcast/Airplay type connections can work across subnets, but it's much easier if it's on the same network... so if you're using a device to stream from your phone/computer, you may find it harder if it has to cross boundaries.

3

Rral life scenatio: grandparents come to visit and connect to wifi where xbox is present their andoids advertise xbox game pass for weeks after.

Radically you can micro-segment one device per subnet, then think what you want to actually connect - say use phone as TV RC, or OTA sync to phone etc.

i'd restrict the totally non-interactive devices to only hosts & ports they are after in and out)

4

I group them by function or restrictions too. Like printer, multi media, users, guests, wfh1, wfh2, and so on.

5

I group them like this

esphome devices have their vlan, cloud based devices their own vlan, guest like my nephew on guest vlan as they came with their mobile phones with a lot of games and stuff from who knows where, tv on their own vlan.

To do - put all wired cameras on their own vlan.

6

Appreciate all inputs!

7

Well, after moved my Ring doorbell to ioT network, it keeps disconnecting from the ioT wifi vlan. I have one dumb AP (EA3500 openwrt 24.10.5) just for ioT, wifi signal strength at door is fine. Tried both 2.4G and 5GHz without luck.

Then I disabled ioT wifi on EA3500 and enable ioT wifi on another dumb AP which is a little bit less strong signal at door, Ring connected to it without any issue. That AP E3200 has FreshTomato firmware.

Any clue how to troubleshoot?

8

I don’t think anyone can gave you suggestions because you didn’t give your network setup.

Maybe batman-adv could solve your problems, but this is just maybe.

9

Marvell wireless is not exactly the poster child of good drivers/ firmware/ hardware - and this chipset is quite on the old side as well (802.11ax chipsets bumped the limits for connected clients and interface combinations quite a bit).