NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
My WAX206 Router Continually Drops WiFi Signal
I manage a small network for my church. We have small business Internet service through Spectrum, entering the building on 75 Ohm coax into a business class DSL modem, then directly connected to their Wired/Wireless router via Cat-5 Ethernet. I have WiFi disabled on their router and only use the wired connections. From the Spectrum router, I have Netgear WAX206 WiFi-6 dual speed router connected using Cat-5 Ethernet, and using DHCP to obtain a IP address for the WAX206 device. I use the WAX206 as the main, internal router for both wired and wireless; with the wired connections routed through a Netgear GS724Tv4 managed smart switch. The WAX206 is also the DHCP server for all internal connections, using a private IP addressing scheme. Of the three wireless network choices, Wireless-1 is used as a secure internal WiFi access point, Wireless-2 is used as a public/guest WiFi access point, and Wireless-3 is disabled. For the two active WiFi networks, both 2.4 Ghz and 5.0 Ghz channels are enabled. There are no time restrictions set for any WiFi access. We have five digital TVs (mostly using Roku) that have wireless connections to gain access to programming.
For a majority of the time, the WiFi networks are up and running, with Internet service available. However, it seems that on Sunday mornings, when we have a lot of people with WiFi-enabled devices, the WiFi service drops off and no one can connect. We don't have a lot of people actually connecting to our WiFi (sometimes up to 10-15 devices), but the other devices are broadcasting their own SSIDs.
I have not been able to determine a cause for losing the WiFi service, so I'm looking for help. I'm at a point where I might take the WAX206 out of service and run the WiFi from the Spectrum business router. Thanks for whatever suggestions anyone has...
- Alan Watkins.
4 Replies
Have you attempted to take a look at the AP's logs? With any luck there could be something in there that could give you clues as to what may be going on. Try looking around the time which the issue usually happens. Here's a link to that AP's manual. Page 125 talks about how to configure, read and send them.
https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/WAX202/WAX202_WAX206_UM_EN.pdf
Also, are you using the latest firmware for the AP? I didn't see in the release notes for the firmware versions available for this AP any which indicates a fix for this issue, but it's worth a shot making sure you are running the latest.
Thanks, I will review the log files. I will also check the firmware version; however, I think it did an update last week, so it should be current.
AlanW365 wrote:
... I use the WAX206 as the main, internal router for both wired and wireless; with the wired connections routed through a Netgear GS724Tv4 managed smart switch. The WAX206 is also the DHCP server for all internal connections, using a private IP addressing scheme. Of the three wireless network choices, Wireless-1 is used as a secure internal WiFi access point, Wireless-2 is used as a public/guest WiFi access point, and Wireless-3 is disabled. For the two active WiFi networks, both 2.4 Ghz and 5.0 Ghz channels are enabled. ...
We don't have a lot of people actually connecting to our WiFi (sometimes up to 10-15 devices), but the other devices are broadcasting their own SSIDs.
Based on the specs, the WAX206 - in router mode - can support
Maximum number of supported WiFi clients 128
Maximum number of concurrent devices 60A little bit scaring to the reader is to read about the bigger smart switch connected, and "other devices" with own SSIDs. Easy to reach the limit of max 60 concurrent devices overall.
I thought there might be a problem with exceeding the maximum number of WiFi connections; however, most of those "other devices" are people's smartphones who are broadcasting their SSIDs as potential hotspots and they are not connecting to our WiFi network. The highest number of active WiFi connections that I've seen has been 18.
As for the "large" smart switch attached to the WAX206 Router, it is strictly wired Ethernet to the offices/rooms. There used to be a 12-port unmanaged switch, but we wanted to segregate two internal subnets between administrative systems and facility management systems.
NETGEAR Academy
Boost your skills with the Netgear Academy - Get trained, certified and stay ahead with the latest Netgear technology!
Join Us!
