WAX220 WIFI AP for some reason keeps disconnecting Apple Iphones for a minute frequently and causes calls on facetime to freeze and become unsuitable to continue.
I would like to confirm these issues with WAX220 WiFi 6 Access Point. I have about 15 devices connecting to it across 4 different VLANs and each VLAN being used on separate SSID network. I am using only 5GHz on 3 of the SSIDs and 4th SSID is using 2.4GHz. I have tried fixing the issue with tuning channels, disabling Band Steering etc. but nothing has helped.
My main router & firewall is custom built appliance with ProxMox and OPNSense.
The WAX220 AP connects to 1 of the 4 ports on main router over PPoE.
Only two of my devices have constant issues with WAX220 dropping connection. Those devices are:
Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch, 2021 (Apple M1 Max / 32GB mem / macOS Sonoma 14.2.1)
iPhone 13 (iOS Version 17.3 / Model Number MLA23LL/A)
Every other device (Peloton, 2x Pixel 6 Android phones, Samsung tablets, Kindle, Bose speakers, Alexa Echo Dot, etc. ) never has issues. I know because I work out on Peloton 4 or 5 times a week for 1h and I never had issues.
I have tested this by plugging in 2 different WiFi APs to the outlet in my room which is wired to port 2 of the main router (OPNSense) and when I connect above 2 Apple devices to the SSIDs provided by other manufacturer's WiFi APs, everything works flawlessly. Connections never drop. Similarly if I connect above devices to T-mobile 4G LTE hotspot, connections never drop. So the problem is guaranteed with WAX220 here. It is disappointing because these Apple devices were not manufactured after WAX220. In other words, WAX220 is never device and should support this. I have already gone through RMA and this is second unit of WAX220 which I am having same issues with. I will be contacting support to re-escalate my support case and seek refund. There is so many other better and tested devices out there for $220 that can do the same without these issues. The most disappointing part is that these devices are my work devices as I WFH and my productivity was impacted by Netgear's inability to test products thoroughly before releasing it.
In addition to the above, I have caught flapping of the connection for the 1st device above in the WAX220 logs (Apple MacBook Pro 16in with MAC address: bc:d0:74:0e:fa:b3 ) - see attached!
I am also having this SAME EXACT ISSUE. I disabled the private IP settings as well and it still happens. I have NEVER had this disconnection issue with any other access point or router, and I bought 3 WAX220's to make sure I have coverage evyerwhere. I originally put one on each floor, but then thought it was interference and I disabled (completely unplugged) 2 of them to only leave one connected, and I STILL have this problem.
I've searched and it appears to be a problem with these devices, but nobody has found a solution. So frustrating to spend money on "Business class" gear only to be outperformed by regular consumer routers.
I wanted to contribute another report of this same issue. Firmware version 1.0.3.3. Multiple Apple devices will periodically disconnect and need to be reconnected on 5GHz, including a 14" 2021 M1 MBP, 4K Apple TV's, and 2020 iPhone SE's.
It mainly seems to affect the 5GHz band. I have tried both manual and automatic channel selection and multiple widths. I have tried WPA2 personal only, RSSI's are from -45dBm to -70dBm.
For others - I do seem to avoid disconnects using 2.4Ghz with 11ax and band steering both disabled, different SSID for the 2.4GHz band, and WPA2 personal only.
We should be able to use the full capabilities of the (expensive) WAP.
bough 2 x wax220 and had same issue with apple devices disconnecting. Tried every combination of settings with no success until I disabled “11ax mode(for 2.4GHz only)”
now 2.4G connections to iPhones and iPads are solid.
I don’t think this solves issue with 5G but need more time to test
before disabling 11ax mode(for 2.4GHz only) my iPad would disconnect randomly but often. Was just about the send the ap devices back for a refund but now i have stability, although sacrificing WiFi 6 performance, I might keep them as I’m not sure if the issue is apple device related or netgear issue
same exact issue here. only my apple devices are dropping out. its not even like they are visually disconnecting from the wifi, they will still show as connected, show an IP adress from DHCP in settings etc, but no network connectivity at all, and even also other devices cannot reach/ping them anymore. what is going on?
if you disable “auto join” in the apple wifi setting for the specific ssid you will probably find the connection drops and the WiFi actually disconnects. That’s what I found.
with auto join enabled I guess the network drops, you lose access but the WiFi is reconnecting in the background.
Agreed about the AX Protocol. I just placed a 5GHz Extender on my network. It only supports up to AC. The Apple devices that were failing to connect directly to the WAX220 have no issue when connecting through the Extender. I'm assuming some sort of handshaking fail that isn't allowing the Apple devices to negotiate down to AC on failure of an AX Connection.
I spoke with Netgear Level 4 Support. They're now aware of this thread, and hopefully the engineers will have a Firmware fix out shortly.
After reading through all of your replies, I have done some adjustments on my side as well: - Kept Band steering ON - Enabled both bands 2.4GHz & 5GHz on all 4 SSIDs
- Disabled "11ax mode (for 2.4GHz only)" (OFF)
So far I have ~11h stability (based on interrupted duration of my VPN session) on my:
Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch, 2021 (Apple M1 Max / 32GB mem / macOS Sonoma 14.4)
However, this system has also been updated from macOS Sonoma 14.2.1 to 14.4 few hours before doing all of the above tuning on WAX220 AP. The only thing related to this device that I see now in AP logs for last 11h since I cleared logs is this line periodically printed:
While I hope that this fixes the issue for now, I need more time testing the current setup for a few days. I will report back again.
Thank you all for following up on this thread and hope to see more feedback and hopefully Netgear engineering involvement with this issue.
@Sussy May I ask, how were you able to reach support? Are you actively paying for support for this device? I was never paying for support, but I managed to talk to them in March 2023, but last few times I tried to go through the support call & chat, they would give me this case number to follow up with and call back, and when I do that, nobody picks up. How did you manage to contact support?
I just called. I was a CTO for an F500 company for a bit. We used a lot of Netgear Enterprise products. I suppose my account may be flagged for priority based on that past association.
Glad you were able to narrow the issue down further. Unfortunately, I had to pull this AP from service yesterday. Besides the Apple device issue, my team experienced failures all day with severe bandwidth throttling. When 2 or more people were utilizing this AP, Video calls were dropping or falling back to audio-only. External speed tests revealed that each member was only receiving appox 2-4 Mbps symmetrical. I confirmed that while this was occurring, the AP was actively on a 1Gbps backplane that had a clean 500Mbps symmetrical external connection, and no radio interference from other 5Ghz sources. Absolutely no reason for the bottleneck, other than poor product design.
I popped an older WNDAP360 onto the same POE network cable, and all was good again. It's disappointing that Netgear has this device billed as a business-grade AP. It certainly isn't. And when a decade-old device that reached EOL years ago outperforms a brand new product, Netgear really needs to re-evaluate their QA and Product Release process.
i notice it’s possible to disable 11ax on the 2.4ghz radio but not the 5ghz radio. Does anyone know why? (Not experienced with WiFi protocols)
Sussy I notice you mention you pulled the wax220 because of poor throughput on the 5ghz radio. Did you try 2.4ghz only with 11ax disabled? Or would that not have given you enough aggregate bandwidth for the number of connected devices?
Guessing your EOL WNDAP360 wasn’t using 11ax? so wonder if wax220 and 11ax on the 5ghz radio, was causing your issue too
In my home environment, I’m running 2x wax220 with 2.4ghz radio enabled with 11ax disabled. The 5ghz radio is disabled. In this configuration, my WiFi network is solid. The fact that I’ve bought modern equipment and then had to disable the modern features to gain stability is not lost on me!
After these adjustments are connections still solid? I am also struggling with this issue where IOS devices are constantly disconnecting from wifi and switching to cellular. For me I dont know if its this AP or IOS 17 which is riddled with WIFI issues but seeing what people are posting, the two aren't playing nice.
Nothing absolutely helped in the end when it comes to WAX220 configuration.
The device is malfunctioning. It is the WAP and not your iPhone clients.
I've had WAX220 removed from service and replaced with another device since the last post.
All of the issues are gone. My devices which had most issues with disconnecting are now connected without any interrupts. Everything flows and I am hitting ~860Mbps - 1.1Gbps over WiFi for both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands , due to only 1 drywall barrier between office and WAP in the garage with distance of <10m between client devices and WAP.
With 11.ax disabled and only using the 2.4ghz radio, my apple devices stay connected. Not sure if it is an apple issue or retrear. With this configuration, my WiFi network is solid.
Thank you for the reply. Its getting rather annoying to be using it like this in hopes of a F/W update to address it. I am too now looking for a replacement.
Exactly my issue. I have persevered thinking it was something I was doing wrong. My iPhone 13 mini hates being on this AP. flicks off wifi to mobile data for random seconds after a brief pause. Sometimes I have to use my main router which is further away. Other devices seem fine with it all though.
Similar to other folks in thread, after months of effectively not being able to use Apple devices and no indication of any upcoming firmware change, I replaced this AP with another manufacturer's solution and have since observed reliable and performant behavior from all of the previously affected devices (4k Apple TV, 2020 iPhone SE, M1 MBP) using AX on a 5GHz band.
I do not understand how Netgear has neither said nor done anything for this long about an issue with a purported business class device affecting such a common swath of devices. It seems effectively inconceivable to me that this issue missed QA and has subsequently gone unnoticed for this long. It will in any event inform future purchasing decisions.
Just happened to do the same and install another manufacturer AP and things have been absolutely solid as they should be on apple devices and smoother service all around on other types of devices as well.
Had high hopes for this unit and wanted to like it.....but in these times we have all come to rely on good WIFI for work, video calls, etc and expect better than the average consumer grade stuff that has littered the market with gimmicks.
Good luck and would recommend you do the same as NG is known for dragging its feet on these things as I'm now learning and reading all around.
Sincere apology from NETGEAR team for letting this issue open for so long! We have been working on this and will make a test firmware soon available for customers experiencing the issue to validate if the fix is solid.
Please contact me to receive an updated WAX220 firmware version that includes the fix for the disconnection issue on Apple devices. The official firmware release for the WAX220 will be available later.
