Hawking HBB1 User manual

1

2
Table of Contents
3Warranty Information
4Certifications
5What You Need to Get Started
Package Contents
Product Description
Quick Start Installation
12 How the Broadband Booster Works
Broadband Booster Overview
Which Applications will Benefit Most from the Broadband Booster
Introducing StreamEngine Technology
17 Accessing the Advanced Configuration Menu
Information/Status Menu
Advanced Configuration Menu
Administration Menu
Setting the Username and Password
24 Tips and Frequently Asked Questions
27 Service and Support

3
LIMITED WARRANTY
Hawking Technology guarantees that every HBB1 Broadband
Booster is free from physical defects in material and workmanship
under normal use for two (2) years from the date of purchase. If the
product proves defective during this two-year warranty period, call
Hawking Customer Service in order to obtain a Return Authorization
number. The warranty is for repair or replacement only. Hawking
Technology does not issue any refunds. BE SURE TO HAVE
YOUR PROOF OF PURCHASE. RETURN REQUESTS CANNOT
BE PROCESSED WITHOUT PROOF OF PURCHASE. When
returning a product, mark the Return Authorization number clearly
on the outside of the package and include your original proof of
purchase.
IN NO EVENT SHALL HAWKING TECHNOLOGY’S
LIABILITY EXCEED THE PRICE PAID FOR THE PRODUCT
FROM DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE USE
OF THE PRODUCT, ITS ACCOMPANYING SOFTWARE OR
ITS DOCUMENTATION. Hawking Technology makes no
warranty or representation, expressed, implied or statutory, with
respect to its products or the contents or use of this documentation
and all accompanying software, and specifically disclaims its quality,
performance, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose.
Hawking Technology reserves the right to revise or update its
products, software, or documentation without obligation to notify
any individual or entity. Please direct all inquiries to:
[email protected].

4
FCC WARNING
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the
regulations for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the
FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable
protection against harmful interference when the equipment is
operated in a commercial environment. This equipment generates,
uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and
used in accordance with this user’s guide, may cause harmful
interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment in
a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference, in which
case the user will be required to correct the interference at his/her
own expense.
CE MARK WARNING
This is a Class B product. In a domestic environment, this product
may cause radio interference, in which case the user may be required
to take adequate measures.

5

6

7
Quick Start
Setting Up the Broadband Booster in Your Network

8
The Broadband Booster is placed in-between your
Cable or DSL Modem and your network Router.

9

10

11

12
How The Broadband Booster Works
Introducing Stream Engine Technology
The Broadband Booster sits between the broadband modem and router. It
optimizes networks for interactive applications used by A) multiple users, and B)
individualusers.
Overview
The Hawking Broadband Booster is a new class of product: a
network upgrade that solves problems with using time-sensitive
applications on broadband internet connections. It improves the
playability of online games, maintains VoIP call quality, and

13
enhances the quality of streaming video without any configuration
required by the user.
Target Applications
High speed internet connections are making interactive
applications such as online games, VoIP, file and application
sharing, and video conferencing more popular. These new
technologies work very well, but people run into problems when
they try to use more than one application at the same time. Here
are some examples of when this can happen:
-A hard-core gamer notices his online first-person shooting game
starts to “lag” or behave erratically when others in the house surf
the web or do e-mail.
-A manager of a small office subscribes to a VoIP service to
reduce long-distance phone bills. She is frustrated when her calls
break up when someone else in the office sends an e-mail
attachment.
-A father uses a web cam to monitor his children at home with
the babysitter. He has to remember to turn off the file sharing
application on his home computer before leaving in the morning.
When it is on, the video from the web cam gets disrupted.
-A manager with a single home computer wants to run a late-
night training session for her worldwide sales force from home.
The internet connection has plenty of bandwidth, but it can’t seem
to handle both sharing the presentation and the VoIP call both
reliably and at the same time.

14
Simply put, the Broadband Booster is an easily-installed device
that provides broadband users with a superior experience of the
internet.
Simple Installation and Automatic Operation
The Broadband Booster plugs in directly between the broadband
modem and a computer, router, gateway, or access point, with a
single Ethernet port for each device. It requires no configuration
by the user, and has clear status lights to show it is working
correctly. In most cases, the settings of the modem and router do
not need to be changed to work with the Broadband Booster. This
is great for home or small office environments that do not have
dedicated IT staff.
StreamEngine Technology
StreamEngine Technology combines a number of QoS techniques.
These include automatic classification, prioritization, and
“shaping” of the traffic on the uplink, among others.
The Broadband Booster monitors streams of traffic on a packet-
by-packet basis and continually refines their priority to ensure the
accuracy of the classification. The system decides if there are
streams, such as VoIP, that are sensitive to jitter or latency. The
Broadband Booster automatically adjusts the streams of data to let

15
through the high-priority packets. This means that a high-priority
VoIP packet does not have to wait for large FTP packets to be sent
before leaving the modem.
Assuming that all of the data streams are correctly prioritized, the
user can still run into problems. Many people believe that the
delays they see while using online applications is caused by the
internet itself. However, most latency and jitter is actually caused
by the behavior of the modem on the user’s home network. The
maximum throughput of the router’s WAN port is usually much
larger than the throughput of the modem’s uplink. Modems are
designed to handle this by using a very large buffer that stores the
packets sent by the fast WAN port of the router before they can be
transmitted by the modem to the ISP. Once a packet is stored in
the modem’s packet buffer, the priority of the packet cannot be
changed. This is shown in Figure 2. If the router sends more
packets to the modem than the buffer can hold, these packets may
be lost.
Figure 2: Broadband modem rate
adaptation buffer and its
effect on QoS

16
How to Measure the Performance Benefits?
People can benefit most from a Broadband Boosterunder the
following conditions:
Their internet connection has a narrow uplink, such as with an ADSL or
cable modem.
They are using interactive applications like online games, VoIP, video
conferencing, or application sharing.
There are other network applications that run while they are using
interactive applications. These might include sending e-mail attachments,
file sharing, or even other VoIP calls or online games.
Some people are familiar with measuring the quality of their
internet connection by pinging a remote server. There are several
problems with doing this. First of all, ping times measure round-
trip latency from the client to the server, and back again. Online
games are most affected by one-way delay from the client to the
server. Second, QoS features may handle ping packets differently
than packets from time-sensitive applications. For these reasons,
ping times may not match the delays actually seen by an online
game, for example.
To see realtime performance benefits, Hawking recommends the
user to run two internet applications (i.e. uploading a file to an
FTP server while playing Quake 3 –Online game) with and
without the Broadband Booster. You will notice that with the
Broadband Booster both applications will run seemlessly.

17
Advanced Configuration Menu
Configuring Advanced Features in Your Broadband Booster
The GUI (Graphical User Interface) allows you to do manually adjust
the control features within the Broadband Booster. You can view
information regarding the status of the device, change the login
password as well as upgrade the firmware.
To access the GUI you will need to open a web-browser from a
computer that is connected to the “boosted” network. In the address
bar type in the following address:
http://192.168.229.61/
Hit Enter to access the page
There will be a box that loads prompting you for your user name and
password. If this is the first time accessing the Configuration Menu
click ENTER to get passed the prompt. You will be able to enter a
new user name and password within the Configuration Menu.

18
The Information Page will gives you information regarding the
current settings of your Broadband Booster.
Firmware Version: Current firmware version on the HBB1
Upstream Rate: Speed setting for upstream rate
Upstream MTU:
Modem Type: Shows which type of broadband connection your
network using.
Protocol Overhead:
Home Gateway IP Address: Displays the IP address of your
broadband modem.
ISP Router IP Address: Displays the IP address of your network
router.

19
Configuration Menu
To access the Configuration Menu click on the “Configuration”
tab on the navigation bar at the top of the browser.

20
Auto Rate Detection:This allows the Broadband Booster to
automatically detect your networks upstream data rate and speed.
It is recommended that you use the Auto Rate Detection feature
unless you are an advanced user or if you feel that your detected
data rate is incorrect.
Upstream Data Rate: If the Auto Rate Detection feature is not
used, then the Upstream Data Rate must be manually entered.
The units used are kbits/s. Please check with your local ISP for
the correct number to be used here.
Connection Type:Allows for manual or automatic selection of
your broadband connection type. It is recommended that this
feature be left on “Auto-detect” unless you are an advanced user
or the detected connection type is incorrect. If you have a
connection other than Cable modem or DSL please select Cable
Modem as your connection type.
Enable IP Static Mode:For broadband connections that use
fixed IP assignments for home/work networks you may have to
manually enter the IP address for you router’s WAN port. If you
are uncertain whether your network uses IP Static settings please
check with your internet service provider or your network
administrator.
ISP Router IP Address: If you have enabled IP Static Mode,
you may enter in the IP address of your ISP Router here.