Hi all,

I am having a problem where my two AP902s, over a 24 hour period or so, slow client connectivity down to the point clients are through putting sub-10mbs or less. Rebooting the APs resolves this but the problem then reoccurs. Any support / ideas around this greatly appreciated as I've been tearing my hair out with this for months (thought it was firmware but neither older nor newer firmware makes any difference). I am at the point where I fear I may have to ditch draytek

Hardware / Firmware:
Two AP902 access points on firmware 1.3.2.
Router is a 2832 series with a Vigor 130 modem connected to a VDSL
Netgear G5310TLP switches between APs and router
AP1 is up on the 2nd floor, AP2 on the ground floor, both in central locations.

Config:
Both APs broadcasts the same SSIDs (home / work / guest) on 2.4 and 5ghz with band steering enabled.
All SSIDs are WPA2/PSK with the same key used across each AP
VLAN tagging used on each SSID home = 1, work = 2, guest = 3
AP1 - 2.4ghz channel 12 / 8, 5ghz channel 44
AP2 - 2.4ghz channel 1 /5, 5ghz channel 36

Both APs 2.4ghz:
-Channel bandwidth 20/40
-Overdrive disable
-Antenna 2T2R
-TX Power 100%
-Rate Adaption New
-Fragment 2346
-RTS 2347
-IGMP Snooping disable
-Isolate 2.4 and 5ghz disable
-Isolate members IP disable
-WMM Capable enable
-APSD Capable enable
-MAC clone disable

Both APs 5ghz:
-Channel bandwidth Auto 20/40/80mhz
-TX Power 100%
-Rate Adaption New
-Fragment 2346
-RTS 2347
-IGMP Snooping disable
-Isolate 2.4 and 5ghz disable
-Isolate members IP disable
-WMM Capable enable
-APSD Capable enable

Both APs Roaming:
-Minimum basic rate enabled 36Mbps
-Disable RSSI requirement
-Fast Roaming enable, PMK cache period 10 mins.

Both APs Band Steering:
-Enabled
-Check time for 5G capability 60 seconds
-5ghz minimum RSSI disabled.

Anything not listed is no enabled/default.

You would think, that this is a either Resource Depletion issue (though hard to guess which Resource that could be ), or a Utilisation issue. I've managed to accidentally induce the latter (in Routers, rather than APs), through unintentional 'loops'. I don't know if that triggers any thoughts...

Otherwise, you could schedule an Auto-reboot every 24 hours. I know it's papering over the cracks, so to speak - but may help preserve your sanity.

Try configuring SYSLOG - you never know your luck, the AP902s might be trying to tell you something about the cause of the problem...

Yes the 24hr reboot is something I've considered... But not keen on papering over the cracks.

No loops to my knowledge.

Syslog is configured to my syslog server. Nothing of any use; the ap 902s seem to log nothing of use.

Considering switching to netgear!

Can you tell if this is only happening to clients connected on 5GHz or is it independent of band?

I had a very similar issue with clients on 5GHz when using AP902s (which I assume are connected to the router by cable).

I haven't looked at whether 2.4 or 5ghz or indeed both are affected. What was the root cause of your problem?

APs are connected to Netgear PoE layer 3 switches.

I'm afraid I don't know what caused it - it was so frustrating (as I also suffered from the "incorrect password" problem*) that I turned off 5GHz on the APs. They behaved perfectly on 2.4GHz. I have since changed to AP903s and that problem appears to have gone away. Although, with these new APs, I am not convinced that the Draytek "mesh" works as I expected, this isn't causing me any real problems.

As a matter of interest, on the basis of my very limited experience in taking these things apart, it seems that Draytek use "wireless cards", as typically found in laptops, for wifi in routers, but not in the APs. Whether or not this has any bearing on matters I can't say.

* to save you searching, devices such as iPhones and iPads would frequently refuse to connect, the wifi claiming that the password was incorrect, when it most assuredly wasn't