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fbattle's avatar
fbattle
Aspirant
Jan 10, 2022

Frequently need to reset connected devices

Hi,

Since owning this wifi router I've had problems where my wifi connected devices periodically cannot communicate.  The solution every time is to toggle the wifi on each device off and on.  Coming from my experience with an Apple Extreme W-Fi router (where I never had a single problem in 11 years and updated the firmware 3 times), my experience with this wifi router is completely different.  I cannot go two weeks without one of my devices (iphone, ipad, tp-link wi-fi repeater, roku) needing to be reset.  On rare occasions I need to reset the router.  Any idea why this might be happening?

 

Here's my old network setup, which was simple.  Cable connection to cable modem to apple extreme wifi.

 

New network setup, more complicated as I have need for wired connections upstairs and downstairs. 

Cable connection to cable modem to nighthawk wi-fi router.  And downstairs is a TP-Link wifi repeater which receives the upstairs signal and provides a wired connection to a desktop PC, and boosts the home wi-fi for strong downstairs coverage.

 

Router firmware version is V1.3.2.134. I've owned this nighthawk wi-fi router for nearly 3 years and despite the many firmware updates, the behavior is never different.  I think I'm ready to ditch this and try one of the mesh wi-fi routers, but thought I would post for help first.

 

Thanks,

-Fred

2 Replies

  • michaelkenward's avatar
    michaelkenward
    Guru - Experienced User
    Jan 10, 2022
    fbattle wrote:

    New network setup, more complicated as I have need for wired connections upstairs and downstairs. 

    Cable connection to cable modem to nighthawk wi-fi router.  And downstairs is a TP-Link wifi repeater which receives the upstairs signal and provides a wired connection to a desktop PC, and boosts the home wi-fi for strong downstairs coverage.

     

    What is this modem? Make and model?

     

    Is the TP-Link working as a wireless repeater or as an access point, wired to the router?

     

    Does the repeater share the router's SSID?

     

    I wonder if there is some sort of conflict between the two wifi sources.

     

    You have added the TP-Link to the network but seem to believe that the router is the source of the problem. What tells you that?

     

    By the way, with fixed devices that don't move around  Powerline Ethernet is  an alternative to wifi repeaters. Easier to set up, less p[rove to interference and can be as fast, or faster, than wifi. It just depends on the quality of your mains circuit.

     

    I use Powerline to connect media stuff to an R7000P. It can also connect an extender to a router in AP mode, again more reliable than using the extender as a repeater. I do that with an Orbi router in AP mode hanging off an R7800 router.

    • fbattle's avatar
      fbattle
      Aspirant
      Jan 12, 2022

      Thank you for questions.  Here are my answers:

      cable modem: Arris SB8200 (docsis 3.1 and compatible with xfinity)

       

      The TP-Link is working as a wireless repeater. It also has a row of ethernet ports which I use to connect to a wired-only desktop.

       

      The wireless repeater is using the same SSID as the wifi.  Any thoughts on that?  The TP-Link directions told me to do so, but some brief searching online shows some think that the opposite is better as our wireless devices will never switch to the stronger network.  I would not know.

       

      I suppose it's possible the TP-Link could be the source of my troubles.  My devices (iphones and ipad) appear to be connected to wifi, but no app works, no email comes through, no web page loads, and I get a message saying no connection.  Once I disable wifi, all things work as the devices will use cellular data when possible. Turning iphone wifi back on after 5 or 10 seconds also works.

       

      Furthermore, sometimes the TP-Link device will also act like my iphone, in that it also shows it is connected (via lights on the device) and yet the windows desktop will announce there is no internet connection.  My solution is to pull the ethernet from the PC, count to 5, and re-insert, or reboot the TP-Link.  To me, this is similar to my iphone where toggling wifi off/on solves the problem.

       

      Actually, I tried using Ethernet PowerLine.  I need to get a signal from upstairs to downstairs.  For about a week it worked, then it stopped.  Somehow it just seemed too flaky.  The need to unplug/plug-in the powerline device was too often and didn't always work.