diff --git a/include/Grouper.h b/include/Grouper.h
index 77a0b82220..e1d609e451 100644
--- a/include/Grouper.h
+++ b/include/Grouper.h
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ class Grouper {
  private:
   sortField sorter;
 
+  int table_index;
   int64_t group_id_i;
   bool group_id_set;
   char *group_id_s;
diff --git a/scripts/lua/get_grouped_hosts_data.lua b/scripts/lua/get_grouped_hosts_data.lua
index 726d4852d4..38c72ab070 100644
--- a/scripts/lua/get_grouped_hosts_data.lua
+++ b/scripts/lua/get_grouped_hosts_data.lua
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ for key,value in pairs(stats_by_group_col) do
    v = stats_by_group_col[key]    
    if((key ~= nil) and (v ~= nil)) then
       if(sortColumn == "column_id") then
-	 vals[key] = key
+	 vals[key] = v["id"]
       elseif(sortColumn == "column_name") then
 	 vals[key] = v["name"]
       elseif(sortColumn == "column_hosts") then
@@ -309,11 +309,21 @@ else
    funct = rev
 end
 
-num = 0
-for _key, _value in pairsByValues(vals, funct) do
-   if((_key ~= nil) and (not(_key == ""))) then
-      value = stats_by_group_col[_key]
+local iterator
+if sortColumn == "column_id" then
+   -- Sort for this column is already provided by C, only the sort order can be reversed here
+   iterator = pairsByKeys
+else
+   -- We provide our own sort
+   iterator = pairsByValues
+end
 
+num = 0
+for _key, _val in iterator(vals, funct) do
+   value = stats_by_group_col[_key]
+
+   -- e.g. this is empty for hosts without a country
+   if not isEmptyString(value["id"]) then
       if(to_skip > 0) then
          to_skip = to_skip-1
       else
diff --git a/scripts/lua/network_stats.lua b/scripts/lua/network_stats.lua
index ea89996789..a119abec4d 100644
--- a/scripts/lua/network_stats.lua
+++ b/scripts/lua/network_stats.lua
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ preference = tablePreferences("rows_number",_GET["perPage"])
 if (preference ~= "") then print ('perPage: '..preference.. ",\n") end
 
 -- Automatic default sorted. NB: the column must exist.
-print ('sort: [ ["' .. getDefaultTableSort("network") ..'","' .. getDefaultTableSortOrder("network").. '"] ],')
+print ('sort: [ ["' .. getDefaultTableSort("local_network_id") ..'","' .. getDefaultTableSortOrder("local_network_id").. '"] ],')
 
 
 print [[
diff --git a/src/Grouper.cpp b/src/Grouper.cpp
index ffc669cb26..0c6eb3ccf4 100644
--- a/src/Grouper.cpp
+++ b/src/Grouper.cpp
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ Grouper::Grouper(sortField sf){
   group_id_set = false;
   group_id_s = NULL;
   group_label = NULL;
+  table_index = 1;
   memset(&stats, 0, sizeof(stats));
 }
 
@@ -188,17 +189,13 @@ void Grouper::lua(lua_State* vm) {
   lua_push_float_table_entry(vm, "throughput_trend_bps_diff", max_val(stats.throughput_trend_bps_diff, 0));
   lua_push_str_table_entry(vm,   "country", strlen(stats.country) ? stats.country : (char*)"");
 
-  if(sorter == column_mac){ // special case for mac
+  if(sorter == column_mac) // special case for mac
     lua_push_str_table_entry(vm, "id", group_label);
-    lua_pushstring(vm, group_label);
-  } else if(!group_id_s){ // integer group id
+  else if(!group_id_s){ // integer group id
     lua_push_int32_table_entry(vm, "id", group_id_i);
-    lua_pushinteger(vm, group_id_i);
   } else { // string group id
     lua_push_str_table_entry(vm, "id", group_id_s);
-    lua_pushstring(vm, group_id_s);
   }
 
-  lua_insert(vm, -2);
-  lua_settable(vm, -3);
+  lua_rawseti(vm, -2, table_index++); /* Use indexes to preserve order */
 }