Hi All,

Getting to the end of my tether with constant issues when using our iOS devices...

I have a 2860n-plus as router connected to Sky FTTP, with its WiFi turned off. I then have 3 x AP903's spread around the house all connected back via Cat5e. All are running the latest available firmware from Draytek.

I've tried both Mesh and AP configurations for the AP's, meddled endlessly with roaming, band-steering, etc. and no matter what I do (or indeed don't) at random intervals, the iOS devices in our house (3 iPhones and 4 iPads) will suddenly fail to connect to our WiFi. Signal coverage and strength is not an issue; dynamic MAC addresses are turned off for the iOS devices. You will suddenly notice the wifi is not connected on the device, and when trying to connect, just get the generic "Unable to connect to ..." iOS message.

Uusally the only fix is to reboot the AP's, which is both a PITA and defeats the whole object of having them scattered around the house for reliable access.

Has anyone got any ideas/suggestions as to cause, or a sensible way for me to begin problem solving? (Recognising it is seemingly random so difficult to recreate.)

TIA.

A few suggestions, if these don't work then I think it would be best to make a support ticket - it could be specific to certain devices or iOS versions.

1. Try using channels 36 to 48 specifically - this avoids DFS checks which will take the wireless offline while doing those checks.

2. If you're using Auto channel mode, block out channels 120, 124, 128 because they have a 10 minute DFS check. It's probably best to block out 132, 136, 140 as well to stick with 80mhz channel blocks.

3. Turn off AP-Assisted roaming, to see if it helps

4. Band steering can have strange effects if you've got overlapping coverage between APs, so do disable that.

5. Make sure the Beacon Frame country code is set for the correct region ("GB"): https://www.draytek.com/support/knowledge-base/5317
I know Apple devices can be very specific about which channels they'll connect to in various regions. Maybe the Auto channel selection is putting the channel outside of the range the iOS devices think is available based on the beacon frame, causing no connectivity while the AP is still broadcasting.
You can check the current wireless country code from apple wireless diagnostics, or [Diagnostics] > [Interference Monitor] on the AP.

Thanks for the quick and informative response.

I don't use auto-channel settings, instead doing a bit of testing to determine the channels with the least local interference and using them...

Regardless, I've just factory restored the 3 AP's and configured them again into Mesh mode with your guidance considered in terms of channels, steering, roaming, etc. Let's see how we get on.

I didn't appreciate the implications of the DFS channels so my immediate guess is that could be the culprit. I'll report back...

I've been having similar issues over the past few days with an iPhone 11 (on iOS14.8 ) and a Vigor 2865ac router but only on the 2.4GHz side.

When the iPhone does eventually connect to the wifi's 2.4GHz network it is very slow (less than 1Mbps down and about 0.3Mbps up) with around 50+% packet loss when testing with a speedtest app. Most of the time it says unable to connect to the wifi network.

I have 3 cat5e wired TP-Link 2.4GHz access points around the house and garden on different channels and the iPhone 11 also behaves in the same problematic way when connected via these too, so it's not just the wifi on the router itself.

However, if I connect to the 5GHz wifi network on the router it connects as normal and runs at near full speed (36Mbps/7Mbps) and no packet loss. The problem is coverage is very limited on this 5GHz frequency so I can now only use wifi in a small area of the house.

I also have an iPhone 8 and an iPad all running iOS 14.8 and connecting to the 2.4GHz network with no issues. Another family member has an iPhone SE2 and iPad also working without problems. It's just my iPhone 11 that has these problems.

If I reboot the Vigor 2865ac then the wifi on the iPhone 11 works properly again for a few hours and then I'm back to the same problem again.

I'm wondering if the issue started at about the same time as I updated to iOS 14.8 and hoping that maybe when upgrading to iOS15 it might resolve itself.

I have tried to delete the wifi network on the iPhone and reconnected to the network but it didn't make any difference. I'm thinking I should try a full reset of the network setting on my iPhone but then guess I need to put in all my wifi codes from over the years.

I'm really at a loss as to why this is happening now after everything was running well until recently and why only on one iPhone. It's interesting that you are having similar issues wizbongre. Is this also a recent thing for you?

wizbongre wrote:
I don't use auto-channel settings, instead doing a bit of testing to determine the channels with the least local interference and using them...

Do you have a Sky Q box :?:

(By default it consumes the entire 'default' 5GHz band with an AP for use by Sky mini boxes. Even if you don't have any ... which can't help matters :wink: )

I didn't appreciate the implications of the DFS channels so my immediate guess is that could be the culprit. I'll report back...

The DFS stuff gets even better when you use 'wireless' meshing. It can drop the 5GHz signal because of Radar (which 2.4GHz clients don't directly notice); however they could now be connected to an AP with no active uplink...

One aspect of DFS to be aware of: even if the channel is clear of Radar, the AP is required to recheck, once every 24 hours (with potentially 10 mins down-time, when it does so). This can be worked-around by scheduling an auto-reboot for 06:00 or some such, when it's not in use.

Syslog is the place to look for Radar-related events - they definitely get a mention, if somewhat tersely amongst the rest of the verbiage.

I've been having the same issues with my iOS devices with Draytek WiFi which has been driving me mad for the past 6 weeks.

All non-Apple devices work flawlessly on the Draytek WiFi. All Apple devices have a strong WiFI signal which I've tested with the SweetSpots app.
As I write this post on my MS Surface Book connected to Draytek WiFi my iPhone 12 beside me has no internet connection yet is connected to WiFi with over 200Mbps WiFi signal.

My setup is 2927ac, AP 910c, AP903 & AP912c. All devices are in a Mesh except the 910c. DFS is filtered on channels 120 - 140. I've tested manually setting the channels and auto selection, the issue is present on both configurations. I don't believe it's anything to do with DFS as the issue persists on 5GHz channels on 20MHz and clear of DFS channels.

The iOS devices will pick up Internet after a while with no change but will lose it again whilst other non-Apple devices remain connected without issue.

This is surely a bug in the Draytek firmware as the issues have only arisen recently. I've had the Draytek AP's for quite some time and have never experienced this issue before. I would also class myself as competent in Draytek devices and setting up WiFI networks.