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Solved
Firmware 12.1.11.10 iPhone disconnects
After quite a good run with the previous firmware, this update is causing issues again with at least my iPhone. It randomly disconnects and most times I can toggle the WIFI on the phone a few times ...
Turns out, if IPV4 is set to manual, automatic DNS doesn't work on iPhone/iPad. The DNS has to be set manually as well. Not sure why this wasn't a problem with v9.13.2.1, but it is now.
I cannot replicate this behavior on my PC as there is not an automatic DNS option, DNS must be set manually when setting a manual IP address.
At any rate, I think this is the solution: when setting a manual IPV4 address on an Apple device, scroll down to the DNS settings and configure the DNS manually as well - Automatic DNS does not work in this case.
I'll write this down to user error, I guess, uncovered by new firmware behavior.
BullMoon as FURRYe38 indicated, Netgear has said to disable IPv6 for now. There are issues on the Apple side with WiFi 6E and 7, as well as the Orbi router side. we've seen improvement with both FW updates and Apple iOS updates over the last 18 months. I have been working/testing directly with QA and Engineering on discovering and documenting issues in the past. FWIW, I can't get an iPhone 16 Pro Max to last 3 days on IPv6. Since I disabled IPv6, the iPhone has stayed connected for many weeks.
What specifically do you have that requires IPv6 right now? I am curious - I did some research on this a while ago in the midst of an IPv6 test session, and here was my list:
- Apple devices — Macs, iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, HomePods, etc. do not require ISP/router to provide IPv6 Internet access. Apple software supports and often prefers IPv6 when available, but normal Internet services work over IPv4.
- Smart-home/IoT gear — Ring, Nest, Alexa/Echo, smart TVs, Roku, game consoles, printers, cameras, etc. generally do not require IPv6 Internet access.
- Streaming — Netflix, YouTube/YouTube TV, Disney+, ESPN, Peacock, Prime Video, Paramount+, etc. all work over IPv4.
- Gaming — PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, Steam, etc. don’t require IPv6. Xbox in particular can benefit from IPv6 in some networking situations, but it isn’t mandatory.
- Matter is the big apparent exception—but not really. Matter uses IPv6 internally as part of its networking architecture. Thread also relies heavily on IPv6. But that does not mean you need IPv6 enabled on your router’s WAN/Internet connection. A Matter/Thread network can use IPv6 locally while your Internet connection remains IPv4-only.
- Some carrier/mobile technologies can operate on IPv6-only networks using translation mechanisms such as NAT64/DNS64/464XLAT. That’s an infrastructure issue rather than a requirement that your home LAN have native IPv6.
You can try a simple test like that or go thru the time and expense to move to a new network - seems like a simple fix if it works.