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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 ...
Final 24 hour test with my original Arris modem was successful. I'm going to summarize the final changes and mark this as an accepted solution.
For Amcrest cameras on the WiFi network, the symptom was that the R6700v2 would lose internet DNS after about 12 hours with 2 cameras running. I lost it after about 24 hours with just 1 camera running. I tried wired connections to the cameras instead of wireless, I tried various NAS settings, I tried a different cable modem. In the end, the issue seemed to be that the R6700 did not like the Amcrest auto DNS Settings. Amcrest by default sets the preferred DNS to the routers address and the secondard DNS to 1.0.0.1. This doesn't seem unusual to me because I believe the R6700 is proxying DNS, so having the router IP as the preferred DNS for clients seems normal. Anyway, the fix is to set your Amcrest camera for static IP (not DHCP) AND static DNS. This means you pick an IP address for the camera, then most home networks are /24 which is a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Default gateway for most homes should be set to the router's IP address which is 192.168.##.1 where you fill in ## with your actual address. Preferred DNS, you can pick that. Your ISP provides that or you can pick a common one. I picked Google, so I used 8.8.8.8. Last field is the secondard DNS which again for Google is 8.8.4.4.
I also had a Synology NAS in my setup. I decided to go static on that too for both IP and DNS, again using Google's DNS. Not sure that made a difference. I also had the R6700 set up with reserved IP addresses for both cameras so the static settings I programmed into the cameras wouldn't be assigned by DHCP to other clients if the cameras were offline. Lastly was that I diabled the P2P checkbox in the Amcrest cameras which of course disables use of their mobile app and cloud service. I'm not sure that this made a difference, but this is how I wanted the cameras configured anyway, so I unchecked it during troubleshooting and never re-enabled it.
In summary, this simple setting was big time annoying to troubleshoot. It took me almost 2 weeks to figure it out because of the 12 to 24 hr lag time in symptoms appearing. Netgear can dispute this, but I believe this is a Netgear issue. Amcrest tech support thinks that too. I am running the Aug 2017 version of R6700v2 firmware which is V1.1.0.42_1.0.1. I am hopeful that they will release an update to fix this problem.
Ed94, are you still having success with your latest test? I did not have time to try anything last night, but tonight I can take a look and I'd like to try to replicate your results if possible.
Yes, another 26 hour test was successful. I just started my last run which is hopefully my final state which is with my original cable modem so I can give back the one I borrowed. No other changes other than to reboot everything which is what I have done at the start of each test period. Still running Amcrest with static IP, default gateway set to router's IP address, primary DNS 8.8.8.8 and secondary DNS 8.8.4.4.
Final 24 hour test with my original Arris modem was successful. I'm going to summarize the final changes and mark this as an accepted solution.
For Amcrest cameras on the WiFi network, the symptom was that the R6700v2 would lose internet DNS after about 12 hours with 2 cameras running. I lost it after about 24 hours with just 1 camera running. I tried wired connections to the cameras instead of wireless, I tried various NAS settings, I tried a different cable modem. In the end, the issue seemed to be that the R6700 did not like the Amcrest auto DNS Settings. Amcrest by default sets the preferred DNS to the routers address and the secondard DNS to 1.0.0.1. This doesn't seem unusual to me because I believe the R6700 is proxying DNS, so having the router IP as the preferred DNS for clients seems normal. Anyway, the fix is to set your Amcrest camera for static IP (not DHCP) AND static DNS. This means you pick an IP address for the camera, then most home networks are /24 which is a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Default gateway for most homes should be set to the router's IP address which is 192.168.##.1 where you fill in ## with your actual address. Preferred DNS, you can pick that. Your ISP provides that or you can pick a common one. I picked Google, so I used 8.8.8.8. Last field is the secondard DNS which again for Google is 8.8.4.4.
I also had a Synology NAS in my setup. I decided to go static on that too for both IP and DNS, again using Google's DNS. Not sure that made a difference. I also had the R6700 set up with reserved IP addresses for both cameras so the static settings I programmed into the cameras wouldn't be assigned by DHCP to other clients if the cameras were offline. Lastly was that I diabled the P2P checkbox in the Amcrest cameras which of course disables use of their mobile app and cloud service. I'm not sure that this made a difference, but this is how I wanted the cameras configured anyway, so I unchecked it during troubleshooting and never re-enabled it.
In summary, this simple setting was big time annoying to troubleshoot. It took me almost 2 weeks to figure it out because of the 12 to 24 hr lag time in symptoms appearing. Netgear can dispute this, but I believe this is a Netgear issue. Amcrest tech support thinks that too. I am running the Aug 2017 version of R6700v2 firmware which is V1.1.0.42_1.0.1. I am hopeful that they will release an update to fix this problem.
Glad to hear that you got things working. I am eager to try out the changes to the amcrest cams. I agree that there is a flaw in the r6700v2 firmware, and I suspect that your remedy may just extend the amount of time before the problem kicks in.
Have you detailed your observations about the Amcrest cams to Netgear support? They need to fix this. I would find it hard to believe the problem is limited to just amcrest cams. But if adding more Amcrest cams increases the frequency of the problem then it should be easy for them to reproduce this in their labs and trace the root cause. I will mention your findings on my support case too.
By the way "kudos" to you for all of the troubleshooting effort. You should send Netgear an invoice for your time!