TP-Link (Archer VR1600v) WiFi instability

[EverythingBlue]

Hi,

Last week received a new TP-Link (Archer VR1600v) to replace a faulty Huawei. However, the Wifi seems pretty unstable.

A few times this weekend several users in the house (including me) have noticed that their phones had simultaneously reverted to cellular connection. On my phone, I could only reconnect to the WiFi manually as my phone showed the 5G band as 'disabled'. I never once had that on the Huawei.

Any suggestions about what might be happening and what we can do?

Thanks

[orbistat]

Hi @EverythingBlue Is the problem occurring on just the 5ghz band? Have you tried deleting the connections on the mobile devices and trying new connections? I'm assuming you've tried a reboot on the VR1600v?

The VR1600v normaly has rock solid WiFI performance on both 2.4 and 5ghz bands on par with the HG659.

 What model devices are you having issues with IE: iPhone 6 on iOS 11.4, Samsung Galaxy S6 on Android 7.0 etc.

[JongR]

Hi @EverythingBlue

We have Community articles that might help you with your situation:

Wi-Fi troubleshooting steps - No Internet/Connection

Easy Steps to Improve Wi-Fi Connection In Your Home

Cheers!

[Coinchenn]

My experience is that if the 5GHz WiFi channel is set to "Auto" then the default channel used is 149. Manually set the channel to one of 36,40,44,48. Channels 149,153,157,161 do not work reliably.

[timhat]

5g wifi turns itself off at random I have switched to frequency 48 and also in ADVANCED , System Tools ,

Reboot .  turned on AUTO REBOOT and set it to ONE WEEK .. will see if this fixes the problem

it was at one month .. One month did not fix the problem

[Ahra_G]

Hi @timhat, 

Welcome to the Community! 

The primary difference between the 2.4 GHz and 5GHz wireless frequencies is range. 2.4GHz frequency is able to reach farther than the 5GHz frequency. This is a result of the basic characteristics that waves attenuate much faster at higher frequencies. So if you are more concerned with the coverage, you should select 2.4GHz rather than 5GHz.

The second difference is the number of devices on the frequencies. 2.4GHz suffers more interference than 5GHz. The 2.4GHz frequency is way more crowded than 5GHz, devices on 2.4GHz suffer much more interference than the ones on 5GHz;

Have you already tried choosing just one type of Hertz and see which one will work best? 

[timhat]

@Ahra_G   thanks for your quick reply

this issue is the 5G transmit power drops to ZERO while the modem web interface says the 5G is still on and transmitting at maximum power.

when working the 5g looks like this

when it stops transmitting there is no signal at all on 5G but 2.4 is transmitting. so the modem is on.. loggin onto the modem shows it calims 5g is on..but its not. ..rebooting the modem fixes the problem

it has nothing to do with the various differences between 2.4 and 5 G

I am also not the only one with this problem

with auto reboot set to one month this problem occurs

I am trying auto reboot set to one week to see if this fixes the problem

[Ahra_G]

We normally recommend to select or use one wireless connection so the Wi-Fi can perform at its best. In addition, your modem already has the latest firmware version, @timhat.

I believe our last resort would be to do a factory reset on the modem as you've already tried testing multiple channels to no avail. 

Your modem is auto-configured so it should try to reconnect automatically to our server after at least 30mins however, if the internet does not come back after the said timeframe, then manual configuration needs to be done. 

Here's an article on how to configure the modem: How to set up your TP-Link VR1600v modem

If you'll need assistance with the set up, we can have one of our Technical specialist to contact and assist you. Just let me know of your best call back time so I can organise a contact to be made. 

Thanks! 

[timhat · Accepted solution]

Fix for instability in wifi 5g.. allow 5g channel and channel width to AUTO. for both.  Then modem automatically moves away from interference. 5g stays on and the auto power off of wifi problem disappears.  I also have auto reboot set to one week  three days .  thats under Advanced , System tools , Reboot

for 2.4 ghz its better to set channel width to 20 mhz  and allow AUTO channel.

programs that show all the wifi channels around like inssider do NOT show interference from non wifi sources. But the modem will notice and can change channel as needed if set to auto.

[5GH_issue]

This worked for me. (At lease it does now). Thanks.
Moving from 149 to 40/44/48 was a neat solution