Wifi drops/disconnects with connected devices...possible solution?

[jef152]

I had posted about this a couple months back, regarding mysterious wifi drops on connected devices.  Note:  this is NOT the issue where internet/WAN is dropped completely;  connected wifi devices will lose their connection to the almond+ itself and won't be able to connect back, asking for the wifi password which won't work.

The last time this issue happened (pre-r83 firmware), I decided to reconfigure my 5ghz wireless in terms of channel.  I had been using "auto", but then decided to set it to it's own channel.  I did a scan to make sure I wouldn't have a conflict with another channel in my area and set it.  Since that time, I had no wifi drops on any of my connected devices. 

With the release of r83, I decided to go back to "auto" on the 5ghz channel.  Today, I had all of my connected devices (macbook air, two iPhones, iPad) drop their wifi and they couldn't connect back, asking for the password (even though they had it saved).  I switched back to selecting an individual channel.

I would love to know if anyone else that has experienced these drops has tried using a specific channel vs auto.  Hopefully this tip may help some of you that have the same issue.

Ashok, is it possible there is a bug in the auto channel select of the openwrt firmware and this is what causes these types of disconnects?


Jon

[mparadis]

It's more likely that you are experiencing intermittent interference when on auto from a device that isn't always broadcasting into your range so the channel that is auto selected is being affected. I usually prefer to set my channels manually.

[SecureComp]

I have used both Auto and manual channel select without issue.

Am using 80MHz width all the time.

[SecureComp]

It's more likely that you are experiencing intermittent interference when on auto from a device that isn't always broadcasting into your range so the channel that is auto selected is being affected. I usually prefer to set my channels manually.

You can review the logs and see if that is the issue. Mine show detecting Radar (it shows as radar but could be anything on that frequency) and then the channel is changed.

[mparadis]

Didn't know that, will check that myself sometime. Thanks.

[jef152]

It's more likely that you are experiencing intermittent interference when on auto from a device that isn't always broadcasting into your range so the channel that is auto selected is being affected. I usually prefer to set my channels manually.

That's possible.  I've scanned the wifi in the area around my house several times and I haven't seen any other 5ghz setups from neighbors, etc.  What else could interfere with the 5ghz signal?  I don't have any other wifi ap's in my house, no other odd wireless devices, etc.

I figured I would post this info for any others that have run in to the same issue with wifi drops, in case it helps someone else out. 

[SecureComp]

That's possible.  I've scanned the wifi in the area around my house several times and I haven't seen any other 5ghz setups from neighbors, etc.  What else could interfere with the 5ghz signal?

Lot's of stuff and it should be detected by your A+ at which point it can adjust power, change channels and stay off the used freq for 30 mins.  Mostly it's only a concern if you live near an airport or say a military base that runs exercises a lot. Even then, your router should adjust automatically.

Some stuff using 5gig that most folks don't know about.
https://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/ntia_5_ghz_report_01-25-2013.pdf

>Weather Radar
>Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (common if you are within 20+/- miles of an airport or military base with airfield)
>Military "stuff" such as;

-Highly mobile ground-based, shipborne, and airborne radar systems
-Range and tracking radars at DoD test and training ranges (get to know the C-Band)
-DoD comms systems
-Naval tactical radars like surface search, navigation, and fire control
-A bunch of stuff on Coast Guard cutters used in law enforcement, search and rescue, etc
-NASA- test and launch instrumentation, tracking of rockets, missiles and satellites
-NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters have systems in 5 GHz
-A whole range of operational goodies dealing with Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) like data links, video targeting
-Spaceborn Synthetic Aperture Radars, including Canada’s RADARSAT (fascinating if you don’t know about this one)
-Electronic Warfare systems

Cisco Blog on what's happening with the Doppler Radar stuff.
http://blogs.cisco.com/wireless/winning-back-the-weather-radio-channels-adds-capacity-to-5ghz-wi-fi-spectrum

[jef152]

Wow, that's good to know.  Thanks for that info.  There is an airport about 5 miles away. It's a small airport though, one runway, one tower, two terminals.  Even if that is the contributing factor, my Almond+ still doesn't seem to adjust on it's own when in auto mode.  It seems stable for a little while, then all of a sudden all of my wireless devices lose wireless and can't reconnect(the wireless ssid still appears in the list on my laptop for instance but won't allow a connection).  I know there have been several other people with the same issue. 

Lot's of stuff and it should be detected by your A+ at which point it can adjust power, change channels and stay off the used freq for 30 mins.  Mostly it's only a concern if you live near an airport or say a military base that runs exercises a lot. Even then, your router should adjust automatically.

Some stuff using 5gig that most folks don't know about.
https://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/ntia_5_ghz_report_01-25-2013.pdf

>Weather Radar
>Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (common if you are within 20+/- miles of an airport or military base with airfield)
>Military "stuff" such as;

-Highly mobile ground-based, shipborne, and airborne radar systems
-Range and tracking radars at DoD test and training ranges (get to know the C-Band)
-DoD comms systems
-Naval tactical radars like surface search, navigation, and fire control
-A bunch of stuff on Coast Guard cutters used in law enforcement, search and rescue, etc
-NASA- test and launch instrumentation, tracking of rockets, missiles and satellites
-NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters have systems in 5 GHz
-A whole range of operational goodies dealing with Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) like data links, video targeting
-Spaceborn Synthetic Aperture Radars, including Canada’s RADARSAT (fascinating if you don’t know about this one)
-Electronic Warfare systems

Cisco Blog on what's happening with the Doppler Radar stuff.
http://blogs.cisco.com/wireless/winning-back-the-weather-radio-channels-adds-capacity-to-5ghz-wi-fi-spectrum

[mparadis]

As Securecomp pointed out, if that is the case usually the almond+ would adjust accordingly with little to no interruption. Are you using the almond+ as a router, access point or extender? Could it be an issue with your dhcp server? The only time I have had any devices have issues similar to that, not reconnecting / no service even when the wifi signal itself still existed, it was actually not my almond+ (which is in access point mode) it was my dhcp server on my router.

[jef152]

I'm using it as an access point, with a netgear r7000 acting as a router/dhcp server (wireless is turned off on the netgear).  Before the r7000, I used a cisco rvs4000 (the wireless issue happened with this as well).

Not sure why the dhcp server would be issue for clients being unable to reconnect to wireless though....I mean, I would understand if the wireless client could actually connect to the wireless but unable to get a dhcp address due to the server thinking the client is still connected, etc.  In my case, wireless clients won't even connect to wireless and act like the password doesn't even work.


Jon

As Securecomp pointed out, if that is the case usually the almond+ would adjust accordingly with little to no interruption. Are you using the almond+ as a router, access point or extender? Could it be an issue with your dhcp server? The only time I have had any devices have issues similar to that, not reconnecting / no service even when the wifi signal itself still existed, it was actually not my almond+ (which is in access point mode) it was my dhcp server on my router.

[SecureComp]

If the clients happen to be Apple products, there are a couple well known issues. Often IOS users are told to flush/erase network profiles, especially after IOS upgrades.

Sounds like your issue is persistent and consistent, the easiest type problem to solve.

Would need some device profile and debug info to assist.

[JesseD]

I gave up on using the Almond + as a router.  Bought a Netgear Nighthawk and made the Almond+ a bridge.  Im much much happier!!!!
My internet wireless connection has significantly increased and for the past 2 weeks I havenet had a drop.  On my Almond I would have it drop at least 10 times.
I went ahead and then delete all port forwarding, etc etc and deleted all devices again.  Minus one device, everything works a lot better ( using firmware 83 ).  Not perfect but a bunny of a lot better and now I can mess with the automation and leave the wifi component out