5ghz wifi loses connection archer vr1600v

[chicaneau]

Hi @DavidGC, my 5GHz WiFi problem is back as well. One speedtest.net test and on the upstream it freezes, then 5GHz wifi goes missing. 

[DavidGC]

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@chicaneau wrote:

Hi @DavidGC, my 5GHz WiFi problem is back as well. One speedtest.net test and on the upstream it freezes, then 5GHz wifi goes missing. 

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Any correlation with temperature for you? Does the router feel warmer than usual when this is happening?

I have a thermometer set up against the router, and it's consistently been around a certain temperature (within 1 degree) whenever it kicks off a device. It's been warm again here, and incidents have increased.  Still probably not enough data to rule out coindicence because the problem is so intermittent, but things are pointing toward a temperature issue for me.

For me, once the problem begins, it is really difficult to get it to stop. On a very bad day, it will just keep kicking off the same device over and over again as soon as it starts using a lot of data, no matter how many times I power cycle the router. Usually, I've just given up for the evening when that happens, but the one time I wrapped the router in a frozen towel was the only time I didn't have to wait until the next morning for the issue to go away.

I bought a fan and will start cooling the router the next time I'm having this issue.

What I'm waiting for is another really bad day when it kicks off the same device repeatedly (despite power cycling), and then I'm going to activate the fan and see how long it takes for the problem to go away.

[chicaneau]

Hi @DavidGC, the ambient temperature in my study is 25deg recently, where it would have been around 20 previously. 

After it locked up again yesterday I decided to give up on the TP-Link Archer VR1600v. 

I've replaced it with a Netgear D6400 (bought 2nd hand for $100) and I could not be happier. My connection headaches have gone away. 

This device is an absolute piece of junk.  TPG should be absolutely ashamed with themselves for issuing such a piece of crap and not being up front and honest with their customers about the device.

[DavidGC]

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@chicaneau wrote:

Hi @DavidGC, the ambient temperature in my study is 25deg recently, where it would have been around 20 previously. 

After it locked up again yesterday I decided to give up on the TP-Link Archer VR1600v. 

I've replaced it with a Netgear D6400 (bought 2nd hand for $100) and I could not be happier. My connection headaches have gone away. 

This device is an absolute piece of junk.  TPG should be absolutely ashamed with themselves for issuing such a piece of crap and not being up front and honest with their customers about the device.

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Thanks for the recommendation. I might have to end up doing that.

When this problem happens to me, the case is very hot to the touch.

I removed the case entirely for the old 1.0 hardware version. This is what is inside:

I think the problem is overheating, and there's nothing actively cooling that 8mm thick heatsink, so once it starts overheating it's basically done for awhile.  So, I took a spare laptop cooler and set it against the unit so it would blow onto the heatsink, like this:

The next time my hardware 2.0 acts up, I'm either going to swap it for this 1.0 version with the fan or do the same thing to the 2.0 version, since I'll be nearly done with it anyway by that point.

If that doesn't solve the problem, I will just need to replace it with another device as you've done, because I will be completely out of ideas. Thanks again for the recommendation.

I think many of us can now state with some authority (and after a huge amount of testing) that these Archer devices are absolute junk for 5GHz networks using a large amount of data.

[Falex]

I'm a first-time TPG FTTB customer since Sept 2020, where TPG supplied the TP-Link VR1600V router, which currently has Firmware Version:1.1.0 0.9.1 v5006.0 Build 190305 Rel.72906n and Hardware Version:Archer VR1600v v2 00000000.  The FTTB plan advertises and delivers 90mbps download & 36mbps upload, which can only be achieved by devices connected to the 5Ghz WiFi segment.  The 2.4Ghz WiFi segment performance varies significantly, but achieves an average of around 14mbps download and 10mbps upload, so it is obviously best to connect devices to 5Ghz if they have the capability and sufficient WiFi strength.

The supplied router has TPG-modified firmware which does not allow the router's settings to be backed-up and/or restored.  Consequently I've elected to make minimal changes to the router.

The only router settings I have modified, are the router's admin password, the SSID & password of both the 2.4Ghz WiFi & 5Ghz WiFi segments and changed the LAN DHCP IP Address Pool from starting at 192.168.1.2 to starting at 192.168.1.40 (to make room for some static IP addresses) ... all other settings are unchanged.

I have been reasonably happy with the WiFi range of the VR1600V.  There are no "dead spots" for 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz in my home/office.

I typically have about 30 devices connected to 2.4GHz and 15 connected to 5GHz. 

During the past 2 months, I was regularly "losing" the 5Ghz WiFi segment for no apparent reason.  Each time 5Ghz is "lost", all devices connected to 5Ghz continue to appear to be connected but they have no functioning Internet connection.  At the same time as the 5Ghz is "lost", the 2.4Ghz WiFi connected devices continue to access the Internet and are unaffected.  Whilst 5Ghz is "lost", I have tried everything to reconnect/reboot the affected 5Ghz devices to the router but nothing works ... when 5Ghz is "lost", the only way to recover 5Ghz WiFi, is to reboot the router via the on/off button or via the power cable.  Once rebooted, the router returns to normal for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz until the next 5Ghz outage, which can be hours, days or up to about a week away.

It was actually reassuring that this TPG Community thread documented that many other TPG customers were experiencing exactly the same 5Ghz problem with their VR1600V.

I raised the issue with TPG Support on 25/11/2020 and after walking them thru my issue, they could not find a solution, so they sent a Level 2 TPG technician to my home on 27/11/2020 to investigate further.

It seems to happen after a burst of uploaded data eg. during a Speed Test.  On the day of his visit, I lost 5GHz at 8:30am for no particular reason before his visit and then again happened during his 12:20pm visit soon after he performed a Speed Test, where he said “hey, we seem to have lost the 5GHz connection” ... yep !  He also suggested that there may be some nearby electrical interference “blocking” the 5Ghz WiFi segment, but the symptoms suggest that there is a hardware fault with the router.  The fault may be specific to some random routers, or perhaps there is a more widespread problem with the VR1600V router that TPG & TP-Link need to resolve.  He said TPG would contact me to give me a replacement VR1600V V2 router in the coming week.

I can readily "kill" the 5Ghz WiFi segment by running one or more Speed Tests and occasionally by connecting a work laptop via 2.4Ghz to VPN.  Other 5Ghz losses have no particular reason or explanation.

The TPG technician called me today, to advise that I should be able to swap my router at TPG's H/O tomorrow.

I will post an update to this thread next week, to advise if the replacement router makes any difference but this thread suggests it might not.  

[DavidGC]

Hi, @Falex 

Thank you for documenting your experience.

It is very similar to my own, since I also started with the V1 hardware. I never ended up going through with a tech visit, and instead they just sent out the V2 hardware without the visit.

In my case, the V2 hardware has the same problems.

The 5GHz network failed again last night. The fan was not running at the time, but the thermometer I've put on the router was 3 degrees cooler than where it normally is when this happens, which has created some doubts in my mind about possible causes. I decided to run the fan constantly now, and we'll see how we go over the next week.

If I continue to have problems with it even with the fan constantly on, I'll have to conclude that there is no way to fix the problems with the Archer and that I just need to replace it with something that isn't terrible.

I've been very patient with this issue for around 6 months, which is far more than TP-Link or TPG deserve, since there is something seriously wrong with both of the devices they've provided.

[Falex]

On 7/12/2020, TPG gave me a replacement router having Firmware Version:1.1.0 0.9.1 v5006.0 Build 190305 Rel.72906n Hardware Version:Archer VR1600v v2 00000000  (identical to my previous router).

I configured the new router exactly as posted before.  The only router settings I have modified, are the router's admin password, my TPG username/password for “pppoe_ptm_2_0_d”,  the SSID & password of both the 2.4GHz WiFi & 5GHz WiFi segments and changed the LAN DHCP IP Address Pool from starting at 192.168.1.2 to starting at 192.168.1.40 (to make room for some static IP addresses) ... all other settings are unchanged.

All my 2.4GHz and 5GHz devices successfully connected to the newly setup replacement router and access the Internet.  I used my 5GHz connected laptop (1 metre away from the router) to do a Speed Test via https://speedtest.net and the results were 14ms Ping  93Mbps Download and 37Mbps Upload.  However, as with the previous router, during the Upload stage of the Speed Test, it does not fully complete and the 5GHz WiFi segment is then “dead’ ie. any devices already connected to 5GHz remain connected to the router but have no further access to the Internet and any devices turned on, that were previously accessed 5GHz, will get an error message saying their 5GHz password is incorrect.  All attempts to re-enter the correct password fail.  The only way to make 5GHz work again, is to reboot the router.

So just as @DavidGC experienced, the 5GHz issue is not specific to a dud VR1600v router.

I then spent 2 hours with TPG’s #1 WiFi expert and in my next post, I will document all the steps we took to unsuccessfully investigate and troubleshoot the router.

[Falex]

Later on 7/12/2020 shortly after my latest  5GHz outage experience, TPG’s WiFi support expert called me to see how I was going. I said “lucky you called. as the replacement router has just lost it’s 5GHz WiFi again just like the previous router".

TPG have provided excellent support and have been very accessible via their support number.

We spent 2 hours on the support call doing numerous factory resets, configuration changes and trying various tests and Speed Tets, which all confirmed that there is definitely a problem with the VR1600v’s hardware or its firmware.  In summary, we tried the following:

• Factory reset the router (insert a pin into the reset pinhole for 20secs) many times changing nothing except entering my TPG user/password.  We can successfully perform any number of Speed Tests via an Ethernet connected laptop, with maximum performance speeds and no impact to the router.  However, when I disconnect the Ethernet cable and connect to 5GHz, the 5GHz would “die” with any Speed Test from either https://speedtest.net or http://tpg.speedtestcustom.com/ regardless of how far my 5GHz connected laptop or iPhone was from the router.  In all cases, the Upload phase of the Speed Test (or even a Zoom video call) would usually not complete and would “kill” the 5GHz WiFi segment.
• We then tried the factory reset, changing both of the router’s 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi options.  We selected “802.11g/n mixed”, instead of “802.11b/g/n mixed”.  We selected a “Channel Width” of “40MHz”, instead of “Auto”.  Apparently these changes often resolve 5GHz issues, but we performed numerous Speed Test on 5GHz and would “kill” 5GHz every time.  
• We then tried another factory rest with no changes other than entering my TPG username/password.  This time we tried to “enable” the “Bandwidth Control” to limit the “Total Upstream Bandwidth” to 30000Kbps (down from the current default of 40958Kbps).  After this change was saved, the router was unable to get a connection to the Internet (the Green light for Internet remains off) after waiting 10+ minutes.  We rebooted the router with the Bandwidth Control settings still in place, but the router was still unable to connect to the Internet.  We tried to un-enable the Bandwidth Control option and even a router reboot was unable to get the router connected to the Internet again.  The router was effectively “dead”.
• Then another factory reset allowed the router to function again and connect to the Internet.   

At this point, after 2 hours with no success, the TPG consultant said she would need to investigate the problem with colleagues in the coming days and we ended the call.  In the meantime, I will avoid any WiFi activity that performs uploads, to allow the router to limp along.

[Falex]

However, after the last TPG support call on 7/12/2020, it occurred to me that I really didn’t spend much time investigating the 2.4GHz WiFi performance and availability, so I spent another few hours hammering both 5GHz & 2.4GHz WiFi segments with more tests.

I configured the new router exactly as posted before.  The only router settings I have modified, are the router's admin password, my TPG username/password for “pppoe_ptm_2_0_d”,  the SSID & password of both the 2.4GHz WiFi & 5GHz WiFi segments and changed the LAN DHCP IP Address Pool from starting at 192.168.1.2 to starting at 192.168.1.40 (to make room for some static IP addresses) ... all other settings are unchanged.

I did the following:

• I connected my laptop via Ethernet.  I could perform any number of Speed Tests via Ethernet and the router would consistently have results of 14ms Ping 93Mbps Download & 38Mbps Upload.  The router and both WiFi segments would continue to correctly function on all my other devices.
• I disconnected my laptop from Ethernet and connected to 2.4GHz.  I could perform any number of Speed Tests on either https://speedtest.net or http://tpg.speedtestcustom.com/ and would get wildly different performance results ranging getting results of 14ms Ping  7Mbps Download and 8Mbps Upload !.... and then again getting results of 14ms Ping  3Mbps Download and 19Mbps Upload!!! …  and then again getting results of 14ms Ping 56Mbps Download and 32Mbps Upload.  The 2.4GHz Spped Test results were all over the place, but 20+ Speed Tests were unable to kill the 2.4GHz WiFi segment …. yet!
• I then disconnected the laptop from 2.4GHz and connected to 5GHz.

I did a Speed Test getting results of 14ms Ping  93Mbps Download and 37Mbps Upload, but the 5GHz segment continued to look good. I then ran a dozen Speed Tests moving further away from the router and continued to get the same great performance and I could not get the 5GHz segment to “die”. The worst 5GHz performance result was 14ms Ping  88Mbps Download and 38Mbps Upload  but the 5GHz segment continued to operate.  I seemed as if the earlier Speed Test activity on the 2.4GHz segment had helped the 5GHz segment survive.

• So I decided to reboot the router and just do a Speed Test on 5GHz è the Speed Test froze getting results of 15ms Ping 15Mbps Download and 38Mbps Upload … only getting about 40% thru the upload.  The 5GHz segment is then “dead” with no 5GHz devices able to access the Internet but all 2.4GHz devices continuing to access the Internet.  I switched my laptop to 2.4GHz and got Speed Test results of 13ms Ping  56Mbps Download and 12Mbps Upload !!! … THIS CAUSED THE 2.4GHZ SEGMENT TO “DIE” FOR FIRST TIME!!!!  BOTH SEGEMNTS WERE NOW DEAD!!!!
• I rebooted and tried another Speed Test on 5GHz using my iPhone è getting results of 14ms Ping  71Mbps Download and 35Mbps Upload è this “killed” the 5GHz segment è I then switched my iPhone to the 2.4GHz segment and did a Speed Test getting results of 14ms Ping  7Mbps Download and 8Mbps Upload !!!  And then again getting results of 14ms Ping  3Mbps Download and 19Mbps Upload!!!  And then again getting results of 14ms Ping  56Mbps Download and 32Mbps Upload.   THE RSULTS WERE ALL OVER THE PLACE BUT THIS TIME I COULD NOT “KILL” THE 2.4GHz SEGMENT.  I tried to switch but to the “dead” 5GHz WiFi on my iPhone but get the error message “Incorrect password for blade-5G” ie. any devices connected to 5GHz before the segment “dies” will remain connected but have no Internet connectivity and any device that tries to connect to the “dead” 5GHz is advised that their password is incorrect, but it is not incorrect.
• I rebooted the router and ceased Speed Tests but any video conference call (or anything with significant uploads) also causes the router’s WiFi segments to fail.

TPG Support will contact me later this week and I’ll post another update, in the hope that these long updates might help others going thru the same hoops.

[Falex]

SUCCESS!!!

TPG sent out another technician to my home on 9/12/2020.

He checked all my settings and said it looked like the problem might be caused by the upstream Bandwidth Control settings.

I told him I had previously tried enabling the Bandwidth Control and typing 30000 in the Total Upstream Bandwidth, 10958Kbps less than the firmware-nominated Current Upstream Rate of 40958Kbps.  This caused the router to be unable to connect to the Internet (ie. Internet light not green) even after a reboot. I had to do a Factory Reset to make the router functional again.

He suggested we try a higher value.  In the Bandwidth Control page of the Advanced settings of the router, he checked “Enable” and then in the field for Total Upstream Bandwidth, he entered a value of 38000 (only 2958Kbps less than 40958Kbps).  He clicked “Save” and we rebooted the router.  I have attached a screenshot of the enabled & updated Bandwidth Control page.

To my surprise, this change has finally fixed my 5GHz issue!  I have since done 100+ Speed Tests using 5GHz & 2.4GHz WiFi on different devices, from various distances away from the router.  The 5GHz performance is great and no longer ‘dies”.  The 2.4GHz performance still fluctuates wildly the further away I am from the router (perhaps I will experiment using different 2.4GHz channels) but it does not “die” and the 5GHz segment carries on unaffected.

I wondered why this was not a more widespread problem for TPG FTTB users, and here’s my hunch …. TPG FTTB was installed in my building’s MDF about 6 months ago.  My hunch is that various TPG FTTB installations use different hardware and/or configurations in the MDF over time, and perhaps some installations may be unable to handle the full Upstream Bandwidth of 40958Kbps.

@DavidGC If you’re reading this, I hope this helps you too!