Internet Disconnects worse with New ASUS router

[alban43]

Up until recently I had the Vodafone router connected to a very reliable BT modem plugged into the master socket, and 3 additional old ASUS routers as access points connected to the main router via a switch. I got about 32 mpbs down and 6.5 up in best case.

2-3 times a week I noticed the internet connection dropping out for short periods of time (maybe a few seconds to a minute or so).

Recently I upgraded to a set of three Wifi 6 Asus zenwifi XD6 routers and removed the vodafone router along with the mismatched set of old ASUS routers.

The benefits include electricity usage, DNS/Channel etc configurable, single shared SSID for all WIFI clients.

I have however had a couple of problems. Firstly the internet connection drop outs seem worse. A bit more frequent and a bit slower to recover. Is there anything I can do about these temporary drop outs?

Secondly, one of my old 2.4 Ghz only clients doesn't recover properly when the connection drops out, whereas before it wasn't affected.

[CrimsonLiar]

Okay so with 32/6.5 can we assume you are on FTTC (connected over the phone line), in which case what are you using as the VDSL2 modem?

If it's the internet going down regularly then it could be a resync to the cabinet (initiator of the drop), which would be the modem dropping and not the routers/mesh.

The internet going down should not be causing devices to drop off the local network - the WiFi should remain up!

If one of your 2.4GHz clients won't connect back up to the Wifi the solution may be as simple as changing the WiFi authentication method to WPA2.

Finally having too much WiFi can be a problem too.  So start with the main unit and just one satellite. Try locating that satellite as far away from the main router as you can while maintaining the maximum transmission speed.  If you find you do need both satellites then try to keep them roughly the same distance from each other as you found that maximum between the router and the first satellite to be.  If that's not quite practical then using the Wireless>Professional settings on the router, drop the power output a notch or two.

And keep us informed of how it all works out!

[alban43]

Modem: BT Openreach Huawei EchoLife HG612 3B FTTC VDSL Fibre Modem

Router: Asus XD6

WAN Config:

• PPPoE - Symmetric NAT - UPnP enabled
• Get WAN IP automatically
• Fast DNS - service Google 
• Auto PPP Auth - MTU/RTU 1492 - Internet Detect - PPP Echo (6,10)

I've power cycled the modem, as it's been running for months, and I've tweaked a few ASUS settings, so will monitor for a few more days to see the frequency of drop outs. In other circumstances I'd consider replacing the modem but FTTP is hopefully arriving in the next few months so not worth it.

The main point at the moment is that a) I'm getting regular (1-3 daily) WAN disconnects which last 0.5 - 5 mins. b) the length of the drop outs is longer compared to Vod router not sure on frequency.  c) Vodafone won't support line problems when their router isn't in use.

The internet going down is not affecting the Wifi in general, it stays up and clients stay connected. However, One of my clients is an older 2.4 Ghz only device that connects to the suppliers remote server to log data. This client is 2 feet from the main router. When the I get the internet disconnect, that client sometimes fails to recover its connection to the remote server once the WAN recovers. If I reboot the router then the client recovers or I can force the client to re-attach to the wifi and then it also recovers.  This problem didn't occur with the vodafone router.

I've done a bit of a review of 2.4 Ghz channel overlaps between private networks, neighbours and my own wifi, and attempted to clean up my main 2.4 Ghz channel, to see if that helps.

I probably should have separate questions about the disconnects and the wifi client problems but as one is triggering the other I combined them.

[Jayach]

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@alban43 wrote:

Up until recently I had the Vodafone router connected to a very reliable BT modem plugged into the master socket,

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Can I go back to your original post, why did you have the Vodafone router connected to a BT modem?

Do the disconnects happen if you have the Vodafone router connected to the master socket?

The "very reliable BT modem" will now be very old, and could be the cause.

[alban43]

The BT modem is one that is still recommended as being one of the most reliable and noise tolerant VDSL modems you can get, and my home is a long way from the cabinet. Installing it solved stability and performance problems I'd been having.

Replacing the BT modem with the Vodafone box is an option but the reasons I replaced it as my main router still stand. The vodafone router is very limited in how much you can configure it and I bought a whole home 3 node mesh router to save having 4 different SSIDs (8 with 2.4/5G) as we move around the house (fairly big house with thick walls and metal beams in places).

Saying all that, your suggestion of seeing if the disconnects still happen with the Vodafone router and the BT modem out of the loop is a good one. Once I've tested my most recent changes, if I'm still getting the disconnects I'll give it a go.