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Forum Discussion
WAX220 WIFI Disconnects on Apple devices
Please help, this has been doing my nut in.
WAX220 WIFI AP for some reason keeps disconnecting Apple Iphones for a minute frequently and causes calls on facetime to freeze and become unsuitable to continue.
I have 1GB Virgin Cable using the VM Hub 5.
Do you have any ideas that could be of help?
Thanks
Coops
58 Replies
Be sure to disable any MAC Address randomizers on phones and pads while at home:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-App/NETGEAR-Mobile-Applications-and-Apple-Devices-FAQ/td-p/2220015/jump-to/first-unread-messageCheers for the quick reply.
On my home network: I have my iphone Private wIfi address and Limit IP Address Tracking - Turned off.
On the WAX220 Access Point, - there are no options to randomise, nothing on the Virgin Hub 5.
Any further ideas welcome.
Cheers
I would like to confirm these issues with WAX220 WiFi 6 Access Point. I have about 15 devices connecting to it across 4 different VLANs and each VLAN being used on separate SSID network. I am using only 5GHz on 3 of the SSIDs and 4th SSID is using 2.4GHz. I have tried fixing the issue with tuning channels, disabling Band Steering etc. but nothing has helped.
My main router & firewall is custom built appliance with ProxMox and OPNSense.The WAX220 AP connects to 1 of the 4 ports on main router over PPoE.
Only two of my devices have constant issues with WAX220 dropping connection. Those devices are:
- Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch, 2021 (Apple M1 Max / 32GB mem / macOS Sonoma 14.2.1)
- iPhone 13 (iOS Version 17.3 / Model Number MLA23LL/A)
Every other device (Peloton, 2x Pixel 6 Android phones, Samsung tablets, Kindle, Bose speakers, Alexa Echo Dot, etc. ) never has issues. I know because I work out on Peloton 4 or 5 times a week for 1h and I never had issues.
I have tested this by plugging in 2 different WiFi APs to the outlet in my room which is wired to port 2 of the main router (OPNSense) and when I connect above 2 Apple devices to the SSIDs provided by other manufacturer's WiFi APs, everything works flawlessly. Connections never drop. Similarly if I connect above devices to T-mobile 4G LTE hotspot, connections never drop. So the problem is guaranteed with WAX220 here. It is disappointing because these Apple devices were not manufactured after WAX220. In other words, WAX220 is never device and should support this. I have already gone through RMA and this is second unit of WAX220 which I am having same issues with. I will be contacting support to re-escalate my support case and seek refund. There is so many other better and tested devices out there for $220 that can do the same without these issues.
The most disappointing part is that these devices are my work devices as I WFH and my productivity was impacted by Netgear's inability to test products thoroughly before releasing it.
In addition to the above, I have caught flapping of the connection for the 1st device above in the WAX220 logs (Apple MacBook Pro 16in with MAC address: bc:d0:74:0e:fa:b3 ) - see attached!Very disappointed with this.
I am also having this SAME EXACT ISSUE. I disabled the private IP settings as well and it still happens. I have NEVER had this disconnection issue with any other access point or router, and I bought 3 WAX220's to make sure I have coverage evyerwhere. I originally put one on each floor, but then thought it was interference and I disabled (completely unplugged) 2 of them to only leave one connected, and I STILL have this problem.
I've searched and it appears to be a problem with these devices, but nobody has found a solution. So frustrating to spend money on "Business class" gear only to be outperformed by regular consumer routers.
I wanted to contribute another report of this same issue. Firmware version 1.0.3.3. Multiple Apple devices will periodically disconnect and need to be reconnected on 5GHz, including a 14" 2021 M1 MBP, 4K Apple TV's, and 2020 iPhone SE's.
It mainly seems to affect the 5GHz band. I have tried both manual and automatic channel selection and multiple widths. I have tried WPA2 personal only, RSSI's are from -45dBm to -70dBm.
For others - I do seem to avoid disconnects using 2.4Ghz with 11ax and band steering both disabled, different SSID for the 2.4GHz band, and WPA2 personal only.
We should be able to use the full capabilities of the (expensive) WAP.
same exact issue here. only my apple devices are dropping out. its not even like they are visually disconnecting from the wifi, they will still show as connected, show an IP adress from DHCP in settings etc, but no network connectivity at all, and even also other devices cannot reach/ping them anymore. what is going on?
if you disable “auto join” in the apple wifi setting for the specific ssid you will probably find the connection drops and the WiFi actually disconnects. That’s what I found.
with auto join enabled I guess the network drops, you lose access but the WiFi is reconnecting in the background.
Agreed about the AX Protocol. I just placed a 5GHz Extender on my network. It only supports up to AC. The Apple devices that were failing to connect directly to the WAX220 have no issue when connecting through the Extender. I'm assuming some sort of handshaking fail that isn't allowing the Apple devices to negotiate down to AC on failure of an AX Connection.
I spoke with Netgear Level 4 Support. They're now aware of this thread, and hopefully the engineers will have a Firmware fix out shortly.
s.
After reading through all of your replies, I have done some adjustments on my side as well:
- Kept Band steering ON
- Enabled both bands 2.4GHz & 5GHz on all 4 SSIDs- Disabled "11ax mode (for 2.4GHz only)" (OFF)
So far I have ~11h stability (based on interrupted duration of my VPN session) on my:- Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch, 2021 (Apple M1 Max / 32GB mem / macOS Sonoma 14.4)
However, this system has also been updated from macOS Sonoma 14.2.1 to 14.4 few hours before doing all of the above tuning on WAX220 AP. The only thing related to this device that I see now in AP logs for last 11h since I cleared logs is this line periodically printed:
Wed Mar 13 08:22:52 2024 user.info devProbe: /usr/bin/devCheck> ubus send dev_probe_link '{"mac_addr": "BC:D0:74:0E:FA:B3", "link_state": "checkoffline", "if_index": "0"}'While I hope that this fixes the issue for now, I need more time testing the current setup for a few days. I will report back again.
Thank you all for following up on this thread and hope to see more feedback and hopefully Netgear engineering involvement with this issue.
Sussy May I ask, how were you able to reach support? Are you actively paying for support for this device? I was never paying for support, but I managed to talk to them in March 2023, but last few times I tried to go through the support call & chat, they would give me this case number to follow up with and call back, and when I do that, nobody picks up.
How did you manage to contact support?I just called. I was a CTO for an F500 company for a bit. We used a lot of Netgear Enterprise products. I suppose my account may be flagged for priority based on that past association.
Glad you were able to narrow the issue down further. Unfortunately, I had to pull this AP from service yesterday. Besides the Apple device issue, my team experienced failures all day with severe bandwidth throttling. When 2 or more people were utilizing this AP, Video calls were dropping or falling back to audio-only. External speed tests revealed that each member was only receiving appox 2-4 Mbps symmetrical. I confirmed that while this was occurring, the AP was actively on a 1Gbps backplane that had a clean 500Mbps symmetrical external connection, and no radio interference from other 5Ghz sources. Absolutely no reason for the bottleneck, other than poor product design.
I popped an older WNDAP360 onto the same POE network cable, and all was good again. It's disappointing that Netgear has this device billed as a business-grade AP. It certainly isn't. And when a decade-old device that reached EOL years ago outperforms a brand new product, Netgear really needs to re-evaluate their QA and Product Release process.
Good luck with WAX220!
s.
- Exactly my issue. I have persevered thinking it was something I was doing wrong. My iPhone 13 mini hates being on this AP. flicks off wifi to mobile data for random seconds after a brief pause. Sometimes I have to use my main router which is further away. Other devices seem fine with it all though.
Hi There,
Checking this out and will update
Similar to other folks in thread, after months of effectively not being able to use Apple devices and no indication of any upcoming firmware change, I replaced this AP with another manufacturer's solution and have since observed reliable and performant behavior from all of the previously affected devices (4k Apple TV, 2020 iPhone SE, M1 MBP) using AX on a 5GHz band.
I do not understand how Netgear has neither said nor done anything for this long about an issue with a purported business class device affecting such a common swath of devices. It seems effectively inconceivable to me that this issue missed QA and has subsequently gone unnoticed for this long. It will in any event inform future purchasing decisions.
Good luck, all.
Just happened to do the same and install another manufacturer AP and things have been absolutely solid as they should be on apple devices and smoother service all around on other types of devices as well.
Had high hopes for this unit and wanted to like it.....but in these times we have all come to rely on good WIFI for work, video calls, etc and expect better than the average consumer grade stuff that has littered the market with gimmicks.
Good luck and would recommend you do the same as NG is known for dragging its feet on these things as I'm now learning and reading all around.
Sincere apology from NETGEAR team for letting this issue open for so long! We have been working on this and will make a test firmware soon available for customers experiencing the issue to validate if the fix is solid.
Can you confirm when the fix will be available? We have sites with updated firmware still struggling with this issue.
In a day or two it will be available, I'll keep posted once officially released.
Could you please elaborate more on the issue, did you update the AP with latest beta FW?
Hi All,
Good day!
Please contact me to receive an updated WAX220 firmware version that includes the fix for the disconnection issue on Apple devices. The official firmware release for the WAX220 will be available later.
Thank you,
Nivedita
- Many thanks. I have messaged you for further information on this.
Hi Nivedita ,
I have this AP and use mainly Apple products in my house and would benefit from this. I've been having this issue since I purchased this device the end of September and am currently on Firmware Version V1.0.3.3.
Interestingly enough I have an addition with my issue: I have 3 SSIDs broadcasting, on 3 different VLANs (1, 100, 1000) - All have the same settings on the AP except the passcodes.
Devices connected to the SSID with VLAN 100 do not disconnect. All other devices connecting to the other 2 will, including my Android Devices (Pixel & Nvidia Shield) within 30 minutes of connecting, notably when there's a stream of data going through (file transfer, watching youtube, talking in a discord call).
Thank you
- Exactly the same for me. I noticed when traffic was required to be “fast” such as Speedtests and high quality video streaming or calls.
I have updated the firmware using the test version sent to me yesterday and it has shown an improvement and no dropouts.
Hello,
We have a beta image with the fix available for testing. If anyone would like to test the image and provide any feedback. Please send me a private message with your email and I can forward the image too.
I would be very open to testing, but the challenge is I just returned my WAX220 unit this week via RMA. If you can hook me up with support to get one for 2 weeks for testing purposes, I can test it on the same setup I had with that beta firmware. I even have backups of my configs for WAX220 until about 2 weeks ago. So I could get that deployed quickly.
Is there a way to arrange something like that?
I am US / Washington based.
Thanks!
Hi All,
Any news on this FW release to resolve this Apple devices dropouts with this WAX220?
I tried to contact Nivedita for a copy of the beta FW back on May 16th with no reply to date.
They said the official tentative release date for the FW would be May 24th but there is no sign of any new FW on their website, with the latest still being 1.0.3.3 where the problem is inherent.
Any update or receipt of the beta FW would be much appreciated.
If it drags on for much longer, will have to replace the AP with a different one (brand inclusive).
Thanks.
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