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WiFi Internet Only drops about every 12 hours with WiFi cameras installed
Added 2 Amcrest (2MP-841 and 3MP-956) cameras to my 2.4GHz network and about every 12 (or less) hours, my WiFi (2.4GHz and 5GHz) loses internet. Keep in mind that WiFi cameras are on the 2.4GHz WiFi ...
Internet access stopped working again this evening and I did a bit more troubleshooting, and I think I found the problem. On the PC that lost access I checked the DNS server that it got from the router's DHCP... it was the router IP. Looking at the router status page I could see the ISP DNS server addresses. As a test I tried to ping www.google.com and it failed, but I couldsuccessfully ping my ISP DNS. I then found that I could resolve www.google.com if I directed the query to the ISP DNS... e.g. 'nslookup www.google.com <isp dns>'. Once I got the IP for google, I could ping that too.
So in a nutshell, my internet access is working just fine. The Netgear router's DNS is getting hosed up. Time to toss the ball back in Netgear's court.
I'll have to try the nslookup again later today. The same problem happened to me again last night even with the Nighthawk WAN connected to my old routers LAN and the Nighthawk set to static IP and static DNS. I also received a reply from Netgear support last night, but it was just basic WiFi troubleshooting (change 2GHz to Ch11 and Change 5GHZ to CH161). Unless they are trying to tell me that this is the workaround for their DNS defect, then they are so far just wasting my time with basic WiFi troubleshooting by sending me to the least occupued spectrum. I clearly explained the issue in my ticket, but it's like they don't understand when I tell them that the WiFi LAN connection is rock solid. Very frustrating.
I'm sure the first level support gives a similar if not the identical initial response to everyone that reports a connectivity problem. I just submitted my case update with the details about DNS. We'll see what they say later today.
If /when the problem happens next I will test to see if the DNS port is open (nmap -p U:53 192.168.1.1). I'm curious if it's still listening for DNS requests or just failing to service to them.
My wife also had a good idea when I mentioned about how you said the problem started when you added cameras. It might be worth a try to fire up the old ASUS router and move just the cameras on to that, to see if the Netgear DNS remains stable. Even if that's true, Netgear still needs to fix the DNS but it could be a suitable workaround... especially since there doesn't seem to be a way to configure Netgear's DHCP to hand out the ISP DNS address instead of the router IP.
Netgear DNS did not remain stable under those conditions based on a test last week. I moved just the 2 cameras and the NAS to the old router (on a completely different subnet), then connected the WAN port of that router to a LAN port on the nighthawk and the same DNS issue happens on the nighthawk. I also had it where the old router was connected on the same subnet using old router LAN port to Nighthawk LAN port connection (where the Nighthawk is still facing the Internet side) and the same DNS problem occured. At this point, I've tried so many things, it's getting crazy to track. It's not a trivial thing to move your operations back n forth between routers while keeping a perfect log of all of your actions so you know what changes were made. I'm sure you already know this, but Netgear did release a new version of firmware this morning for the R6700v2. I installed that at the same time that I tried the support ticket suggestions of using CH11 and CH161. Been running for about 6 hours so far, but I'm expecitng to lost Internet within the next few hours or sometime before bedtime. Hopefully not. The firmware lists nothing but "big fixes and security updates" as the content, so maybe the DNS fix is in there.
I have it. This isn't necessarily a WiFi issue. From what I can tell, all ports on the router will eventually lose their DNS. The WiFi seems to lose it first. What happens is that your computer shows the little WiFi signal with the "!" symbol. Android shows something similar. When that happens, web pages display: "This site can't be reached...www.google.com's server DNS address could not be found....DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_BAD_ CONFIG." When I get this message, I can go into my TCP/Pv4 properties, leave the IP address as automatic, but change the DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 (which is Google) or whatever DNS servers you want to use and as soon as I select "Ok", the web site loads immediately. If I go into the Nighthawk and release, then renew my Internet connection, then the router will start handing out the right DNS once again. to the other computers that are still set to automatically obtain their DNS. Unfortunately, V1.1.0.42_1.0.1 firmware released today does not seem to solve the issue. I'll update the Netgear ticket, bu the ball is definitely in their court. This isn't some obscure setting in the router. It's one of the two most important functions on the router. Step 1, get an Internet IP, Step 2, get DNS servers. They need to fix this.