WAX206

I managed to resolve the problem myself. I think this was already covered by several other topics but I was a victim of double MAC filtering issue - identified by others as a problem. I am running an Archer C7 TPlink router and I left the access control running on it while enabling the same thing on WAX206. What is better than one MAC filtering - maybe two...well, not really. That was causing the dropouts in WAX connectivity but also, for some strange reason iPhone could not connect at all. After I switched off wifi radio and MAC filtering at the main router and left it only active on the WAX everything worked fine.

Thanks

Actually I have to restart the topic since the problem was only partially resolved. The iPhone connection is now resolved however I still have occasional disconnection of wireless devices that are listed as approved within the access control settings. The devices would appear as connected but without internet connection. After restarting WAX 206 they would connect without issues.

Hello decky999 
  
And welcome to the NETGEAR Community! 🙂 
Could you please help us with the topology.

Is there only one or multiple APs connected to the setup?
  
Have a lovely day, 
Nivedita Pa
Netgear Team 

Only one AP (the WAX itself). WIFi radio is off on the router which only serves wired network. WAX connects to that network and works as an AP. The dropouts are happening for all connected devices - wired or wireless.

What else do you need to know?

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decky999 wrote:

Only one AP (the WAX itself). WIFi radio is off on the router which only serves wired network. WAX connects to that network and works as an AP. The dropouts are happening for all connected devices - wired or wireless.

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Before, only one iOS device (obviously wireless) was affected. Now it appears to be either an uplink connectivity problem or more likely a hardware issue. Moving target? 

Not really. The iOS device problem was resolved by switching off access control at the router level. The dropouts at the AP were present from the beginning but I wasn't sure if that was affected by the access control of the router or not. Now the only way to have a reliable connectivity is to run it without any access control. I mean....seriously??? That is supposed to be "business solution" level hardware?

Also - uplink connectivity is not an issue since I have several devices connected directly to the router and they have no connectivity issues. The wired network is brand new shielded CAT6A wiring.

Hardware problems? Yes, Netgear buggy hardware - that is most likely the cause but I just want to see if I completely wasted my money or not. I moved away from Netgear many years ago because of the issues like this and by the looks of it nothing changed.

There is nothing technically wrong with "double MAC filtering" operating MAC filtering on different devices in the data path - it just proofs to become a management nightmare for many. For whatever reason, it appears you disabled it on both devices and continue nagging here.

If your WAX206 does show a hardware issue, head to https://my.netgear.com/ , select the device affected, and claim your warranty there.

Look, I'm not Netgear, I don't make any money form the time I spend here in the community. However, I have seen enough reports from users confirming they had issues with their power outlets, with power distribution cords, over-voltage-protection devices. Life is going on.

I am nagging (as you say) because the hardware that is supposed to work in a particular way is not working in that way. Having to disable MAC filtering just to have a connection seams like a security oxymoron. Why having MAC filtering as a function then?

Before you said you had double MAC filtering, and have disabled it on your primary router, fixing the issue. Or not?

Have the correct random MAC (which can change any day out of your control) configured on the WAX, or could you agree there is no risk in using the default physical MAC address for the wireless configuration on your family or relatives iOS and similar Apple privacy delusional ideas on your own home or private network?

Do you understand this random MAC can change if removing and re-adding the wireless configuration on your Apple devices, leading to a management nightmare? Note: It's not Netgear (or me) pushing this nonsense default for each new wireless connection configured, being on any Apple clients, being on any Google Android or similar OS, being on Microsoft, ...  Keep in mind this is perfectly fine if connecting to random Wi-Fi networks out there, and you don't want to be trackable. Now  - it must be a Netgear bug or a Netgear hardware problem of course.

Most problems I've seen in the user space here are caused by this wonderful privacy design, leading to a management chain reaction all over, people panicking because they can no longer connect to their known home wireless network. Because there is more security configured than typical users are willing and able to handle

I understand all those points that you listed and I really do not know the details of how different companies configure their MAC filtering protocols and if they are different - why is that so. Here is my sequence of events in dot points:

- Initially, all devices (wired and wireless) including said iOS devices, happily communicated with my TPLink router that had MAC filtering configured. This was working in my old house.

- I moved to a new house and realised that an access point will come handy - bought WAX 206 and connected it to my existing network.

Network configuration: router serves 4 cabled ports, 2 have switches, 1 is not used, 1 has WAX as and AP. I have 3 wired devices connected to the WAX and several wireless (Android, iOS)

- in the first attempt I left the original router MAC filtering ON and introduced another MAC filter on the WAX. Everything connected initially except the iPhone. iPad was working fine, all wired devices were fine. Android phone connected after disabling randomised MAC. This was never necessary when connecting to the router, by the way. At this stage the router wi-fi is OFF, WAX 206 Wi-Fi is ON.

- This worked for a day and then randomly all connected devices started experiencing connectivity issues, or internet not present (case of my Android phone). This includes some of the wired devices as well.

- At this stage I turned the router MAC filtering OFF and continue running it only on WAX. This fixed the iPhone which connected for the first time but I did notice a different MAC number in the list. Again, this was never an issue on TPLink. IPad still worked fine,

- This worked for a while but then my Android phone lost internet as well as iPad. For Android I realised that it switched random MAC again which I now switched off. Private address option on iPhone is off , I cannot find any similar option on iPad and I am monitoring wired devices. That is my current situation - with WAX MAC filtering being back on.

Is this a problem of Netgear hardware ? I do not know but I see differences in behaviour between my router and WAX AP.

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decky999 wrote:

- At this stage I turned the router MAC filtering OFF and continue running it only on WAX. This fixed the iPhone which connected for the first time but I did notice a different MAC number in the list. Again, this was never an issue on TPLink. IPad still worked fine,

 

- This worked for a while but then my Android phone lost internet as well as iPad. For Android I realised that it switched random MAC again which I now switched off. Private address option on iPhone is off , I cannot find any similar option on iPad and I am monitoring wired devices. That is my current situation - with WAX MAC filtering being back on.

 

Is this a problem of Netgear hardware ? I do not know but I see differences in behaviour between my router and WAX AP.

 

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There is no one tap solution (this is perfectly fine from the privacy view) to turn off MAC address randomization on Android or devices with iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 or higher.

Users will have to turn off randomization for each network (by name/SSID) separately.

To do this, go to Settings > WiFi and tap on the network you want to connect to, and turn the Private Address option off. The similar setting is available on the watchOS btw. I'm struggling to understand why this should be any different on your iPad.

decky999 wrote:

Is this a problem of Netgear hardware ? I do not know but I see differences in behavior between my router and WAX AP.

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Therefore my answer is again: No!

iPad is quite ancient - how old exactly I don't know. My partner uses Apple devices. Maybe from the era when Apple was reasonable about MAC randomisation. Still confuses me why it lost the connection. MAC filtering is on now and I will keep monitoring it.

IPad runs iOS 12.57

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decky999 wrote:

IPad runs iOS 12.57

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At the risk or repeating my earlier question: This device does not have option to turn the Private Address off?

To do this, go to Settings > WiFi and tap on the network you want to connect to, and turn the Private Address option off.

The similar setting is available on the watchOS btw. I'm struggling to understand why this should be any different on your iPad.

I will check again but I could not see private address option last time I checked. It could be me and my aversion towards Apple devices.

On the other topic - my Android phone lost connection yesterday evening - after I switched the MAC randomisation back ON it connected fine and it is still connected. 

Figure that one out!?