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Frequent drop / disconnect in Google Meet

GrandpaR
Tutor

Frequent drop / disconnect in Google Meet

Google Classroom / Meet: Frequent drop / disconnects on Chromebooks

We have a similar problem to https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/Messenger-Zoom-Google-Meet-All-Drop-CONSISTENTLY-on-Brand-N... but reposting here as I have a R6400v2 router,

 

300Mbps service from Comcast; Motorola-ARRIS SURFboard SB6183 Cable Modem; R6400v2 Wireless AC1750 Smart Dual-Band Wi-Fi Router; no Comcast equipment. Medium size house.

 

Everything runs good, EXCEPT somedays, two Chromebooks and a Win 10 PC will frequently drop during Google Classroom Meet. They drop out of the Meet and reconnect in 3-30 seconds. I tried switching to the 2.4GHz band for it's longer distance, but it didn't help. A little better when users are 20 feet away in same room vs 30 feet away and around one wall. However, I can get great signal further away (in the same direction) out on the deck.

 

Seems like something is making Meet super-sensitive. Today, I tried setting a QoS rule to High on the Chromebooks, but then I see Google doesn't recommend using QoS. (No one streaming video or other high usage on other devices during Meet.)

 

I also have some days (or two) when I have to reboot the R6400v2 multiple times during the day - it just locks up, drops WiFi and Ethernet and admin control. Then it will run fine for 3+ weeks at a time. (The Google Meet drops are on good days.) I suspect channel congestion, but that shouldn't lock out Ethernet and admin access via Ethernet. I've suspected overheating and put a small fan blowing on it, but it's run weeks without the fan. Suspected heavy backup traffic to external ReadyShare drive, so I disabled them, but still had failures the day after disabling ReadyShare. This total lock-up is a long-term issue, starting long before Google Meet use.

 

Today, I had to reboot router; reboot modem and router; reboot router. While getting ready for this post, we had issues again where one Chromebook had good internet access; laptop with Ethernet had fair access but site names weren't resolving, then I could not connect to RouterLogin.net via Ethernet and had to reboot router again. Weird that one Chromebook kept internet access while I couldn't even do admin via Ethernet.

 

I've had the R6400v2 for 3 years (5-year old model?), so I've been thinking of upgrading to a NetGear RAX35 (I'd rather have a RAX40 or RAX50, but they're pricey and I'm not sure we'll reap huge benefits). Only have one new laptop that supports AX and it's normally on Ethernet, so no big speed gain expected. I'm not sure if the RAX OFDMA would help with congestion - we do have 3 phones, 2 tablets, 3 PCs, 2 Chromebooks, plus about a dozen IoT devices, mostly 2.4GHz pre-n, so our 2.4GHz band is rather congested. Also, the RAX35-50 (medium house) appear to have a bit less distance than the R6400v2 (medium to large house), so I don't know if I would take a step back on range.

Model: R6400|AC1750 Smart WiFi Router
Message 1 of 3
DSchrubbe
Aspirant

Re: Frequent drop / disconnect in Google Meet

We've been having exactly the same problem with Google Meet on Chromebooks.  we have 400mbps service through Spectrum, and while every other video streaming service works fine, we're constantly being disconnected from Google Meet when connected over WiFi. 

 

Our school district just issued us a wifi hotspot, and even though the speed is capped at 10mbps on that device, we're able to have two of our kids connect to Google Meet without issue when using that device.

 

I'm at a loss to explain the problem - hoping someone is able find a solution to this issue.

Model: R6400|AC1750 Smart WiFi Router
Message 2 of 3
GrandpaR
Tutor

Re: Frequent drop / disconnect in Google Meet

I need to test a different DNS. I actually have my router set to use two different family filtered DNS; primary of one company as primary and primary of another company as my secondary (I figured why have both pointing to the same company and same point of failure, but it's untraditional to point to two different companies.). We do get a lot of 'unable to resolve', but then it will usually display the page. Sounds suspiciously like a DNS issue. That's one thing that could be different with the hotspot the school gave DSchrubbe - it might be pointing at a different, more reliable DNS.

Model: R6400|AC1750 Smart WiFi Router
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