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Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

JEDIV
Apprentice

Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

Back in September 2019 I was having WiFi problems in the house (see quoted extract below).  I am having the same type problems again, even though I have replace the old Nighthawk Wireless Router with a BR500.  Periodically the Wifi starts dropping clients, failing to hold connections, and generally not operating correctly, all the while having the wired connections to the outside world working just fine.  It did it about 2 weeks ago and then the last couple of days.  Am really getting fed up with this Netgear stuff.  Here is the original post from September:

 

"WAC510 Firmware Upgrade 8.2.1.16 has been wreaking havoc with my home network.  I have four WAC510 devices, all of which were recently updated to firmware release 8.2.1.16.  They are connected to a Nighthawk Router that has its wireless turned off [SINCE REPLACED BY BR500].  Symptoms since the update include the following:

1. IOS devices showed the available SSIDs OK for connecting, but when chosen showed "no internet connection".  This problem is erratic.  The available connectivity drops easily, although in the last 12 hours the "no internet connectivity" problem has not recurred.

2.  Sonos devices have struggled to connect, although they seem to be recovering.

3.  Denos HEOS devices are erratic in their connectivity.

4.  Belkin WEMO devices cannot connect at all.  This is more complicated than appears, because even before the upgrade the WEMO devices were not integrating well with other non-WEMO devices via the Samsung Smartthings hub.

5.  Some, but not all, the Google Home devices cannot connect.

6.  Nest thermostats look like they are operating OK at the thermostat interface, but they show offline on the Nest IOS app.

7.  Nest cameras have a harder time connecting to the network even when near the WAC510."

 

All WEMO internet things are offline, the IOS devices have no internet connectivity, etc.  I am writing this post on my desktop PC which has a wired connection to my home network.

 

Any ideas?  Have firmware updates broken my system.  I have WAC510s at 8.2.5.1 and the BR500 at 5.8.0.1.  Two weeks ago the problem seemed to fix itself, which is never good (in my view) as it can just as easily break itself again.  I restarted the router and a couple of the APs just in case, but to no effect.

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 1 of 29

Accepted Solutions
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

I want to update the community on what my network problem seems to have been.  After sending my router config file and logs for my access points and router to the guys in Bangalore, we talked on the phone for about 1.5 hours.  After looking at the logs, they told me one device was flooding the network with requests and they gave me the MAC address.  That MAC address was my desktop PC, a Windows 10 box.  So I turned it off and most of the network problems went away.  WEMO, Sonos, Google Home, Nest devices are now all up and running again.  So now I need to figure out what on my Win10 PC is flooding the network.  Possibly the update mechanism.  Thanks to the Netgear guys.

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Message 29 of 29

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RaghuHR
NETGEAR Expert

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

Hi @JEDIV 

Are you managing your devices via Insight manager App?

Could you please share the BR500 configuration and WAC510 detailed debug logs? You can upload into google drive and share me the link via PM.

 

Thanks,

Raghu

Message 2 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

Will do as soon as I can figure out how to get the files from my phone to my PC.

Message 3 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

RaguHR, how do I PM you with the link?  Also, who do I talk to about my Netgear account?  I want to close one of my two accounts and transfer any remaining credits to the remaining account.

Message 4 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

@RaghuHR , how do I PM you with the link?  Also, who do I talk to about my Netgear account?  I want to close one of my two accounts and transfer any remaining credits to the remaining account.

Message 5 of 29
schumaku
Guru

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

Click on the username on the left of his posts, or follow the link reference of your previous post - top left you find a [Send this user a private message] button.

Message 6 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

@schumaku , do you know where the IOS App for Insight stores the backup file when I backup the BR500 config?  I don't know how to retrieve it.

Message 7 of 29
schumaku
Guru

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

Device Backups are going to the Insight cloud, not to the App client. The Insight Web portal does allow retrieving the backup as a download.

For diagnostics and support purposes, there is a Share Diagnostics allowing to send logs and config to an email address.

Message 8 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

@schumaku , thanks.  Unfortunately I don't pay for the web portal.

Message 9 of 29
schumaku
Guru

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

Direct download from the Web UI should be available if I have it right?

Message 10 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

Yeah, I just logged onto to my router using a browser, and it was possible to get the config right there.

Message 11 of 29
RaghuHR
NETGEAR Expert

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

Hi @JEDIV 

 

Thank you for sharing the logs. From the log we could see you have enabled the band steering. Could you please disable band steering and see any improments? Most of your devices IoT and all may not support 5 GHz. Please share your feedback on this.

 

And

  • How frequent he is facing the issue?
  • Is it recovering on its own or needs to be recovered manually & How?

-Raghu

Message 12 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

I am away from home for about a week, so I will have to turn off band steering when I return.  I suppose I could do it remotely, but I am reluctant to do that.

Message 13 of 29
Retired_Member
Not applicable

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

Hi @JEDIV,

 

Regarding your accounts and wanting to close one account, can you please send me a PM and include the email address linked to each account?

Please also outline which account is to be retained and which account is to be closed and have the credits transferred.

 

Kind regards

DavidGo

Message 14 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

RaghuHR,

I turned off Band Steering and I will report on whether this configuration improves my system stability.  I am confused why that should make a difference, seems Band Steering supposedly is able to detect which devices are dual-capable and only connect the capable devices to 5GHz.  Maybe either the Band Steering doesn't work very well, or some devices are not correctly reporting their functionality?

 

Also, in answer to your questions:

1.  It's hard to say exactly how often it occurs since it is random.  But I guess I would say once a week or so.

2.  It does seem to correct itself, because no matter what I try I cannot seem to fix things by any action I take, such as reboot of modem, router, or APs.  It is quite frustrating.

Message 15 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

Hi guys, well the initial results of turning off band steering are not too good, but I need to give it a few days to settle down.  All but one of the 7-8 WEMO devices went offline and haven't come back, and the Sonos gear was not working either.

Message 16 of 29
RaghuHR
NETGEAR Expert

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

Hi @JEDIV   Could you please share the model detaill of your  7-8 WEMO devices?  Do you know these devices supports 5GHz band as well?   Another thing you can try is by disabling instant wifi  and setting Tx power to full will help or not?

https://kb.netgear.com/000060546/How-do-I-customize-my-location-s-instant-WiFi-in-the-Insight-mobile...

Thanks,

Raghu

Message 17 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

WEMO devices:  5 wall toggle switches (one is working); 3 electrical outlet switches (none are working).

Message 18 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

WEMO devices are all 2.4GHz

Message 19 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

Oh, and Amazon's Echo Dot went down too.

Message 20 of 29
cifellic
Aspirant

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s

Don't know if you have tried this.    I know that when i turned on the 802.11w PMF,  some of my devices suddenly stopped connecting.

 

Everything returned to normal after i turned it off again.

 

 

Message 21 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s


@cifellic wrote:

Don't know if you have tried this.    I know that when i turned on the 802.11w PMF,  some of my devices suddenly stopped connecting.

 

Everything returned to normal after i turned it off again.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I checked and I do not have PMF turned on.  Thanks for the suggestion.

 

 


 

Message 22 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s


@RaghuHR wrote:

Hi @JEDIV   Another thing you can try is by disabling instant wifi  and setting Tx power to full will help or not?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

My TX power was set to Auto, and when I went to change it to Full, it actually said Auto (Quarter).  So I have said all radios at both frequences to Full.

 

As for as the setting of Instant Wifi, I haven't been able to figure out how to disable that.  Let me look at the link you sent one more time.


 

Message 23 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s


@RaghuHR wrote:

Hi @JEDIV    Another thing you can try is by disabling instant wifi?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Under Instant Wifi, both the Auto Channel and the Auto Power switches are turned off.  But after a few seconds that page times out.


 

Message 24 of 29
JEDIV
Apprentice

Re: Flaky WiFi Operations with BR500 and WAC510s


@RaghuHR wrote:

Another strange phenomenon that occurs a lot during these times of flakiness.  Many of my desktop applications (and sometimes IOS applications) will give me an error message saying that I have no internet connectivity.  And yet both IOS and my Windows 10 desktop are showing that I do have internet connectivity, and other applications work just fine (like the browser for example).  FYI, I do have NordVPN, but in this most recent episode I do not have it connected.

Message 25 of 29
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