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Fibre service with Actiontec T3200M drops Wi-Fi connections... a fix using DHCP reservations(?)

emcee2
Coach

Hi.

 

We upgraded to Fibre and an Actiontec T3200M modem/router that came with the service upgrade and ever since I've had issues with some wireless devices dropping their connection for no good reason.  I've seen a lot of different threads about similar issues and rather than reply to them all I am going to throw my $0.02 out there for your consideration.

 

So, briefly, my setup: Wired devices are OK.  Telus Optik Devices are OK (after some initial hiccups).  My wife's iPad (new at the beginning of this year) has no problem staying connected, nor (for the most part) our phones and Apple TV boxes, but another slightly older iPad Air and a Vizio TV started dropping their Wireless connections for no good reason a month or two after initially working OK.  I don't know why - firmware, or more Wi-Fi channel congestion or what.

 

In particular with the iPad, I could reconnect to the Wireless network but it would then prompt me to reenter the password (saying it was incorrect).  On a few occasions I could see the Wi-Fi "connected" but there would be a notice in red or orange font that there was no connection to the internet.  Sometimes I could get the iPad to reconnect if A) I turned off the Wireless for a few minutes and then back on and/or B) switched over to my guest wireless network (and sometimes back).  But that hasn't always worked.  Rebooting the modem usually sorted things out again, but made me unpopular with other family members.

 

The one thing that (fingers crossed) seems to have resolved these issues for both the Vizio and the iPad was setting a DHCP reservation for these two devices in the Actiontec's Advanced Setup menu.  I just started at 192.168.1.100.  I see that the Optik TV wireless boxes were already setup there.

 

To be clear - the Actiontec was reset to it's vanilla state (save for enabling the Guest account and running the channel scan again), the iPad network settings were reset as was the Vizio (though all at different times).  The Vizio has been running mostly "trouble free" for a few weeks, and the iPad for a few days.

 

One observation: I think the devices may still be losing connectivity from time to time - we notice that the Netflix app on the Vizio sometimes does not always respond immediately but will come back after 5 or 10 seconds... you know, just long enough to make you wonder if you didn't press the key on the remote properly combined with a bit of network lag.

 

Anyway, that makes me think that perhaps when the network/device connection fails in the (normal) Actiontec the address assignments get hosed, and when the network connection re-establishes itself a few seconds later it's too late and the router still thinks the device is at some address it isn't.  But if the device has a DHCP reservation then the router just assumes the device is at the last know location...  well, that's my theory anyway.  I don't know enough about the protocols to know how the device/router are normally supposed to fix flaky connections.

 

Of course: your mileage may vary. 🙂

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Nighthawk
Community Power User
Community Power User

If the T3200 was reset, did you go in and disable SmartSteering under Wireless Setup before setting the networks up? If not, that could be your issue. It is enabled by default after a reset and will enable the modem to shift wireless frequencies on it's own to the one it determines is best at the time. For some devices that will cause a momentary drop in the wireless connection until it reconnects to the T3200.


If you find a post useful, please give the author a "Like" or mark as an accepted solution if it solves your trouble. 🙂

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1 REPLY 1

Nighthawk
Community Power User
Community Power User

If the T3200 was reset, did you go in and disable SmartSteering under Wireless Setup before setting the networks up? If not, that could be your issue. It is enabled by default after a reset and will enable the modem to shift wireless frequencies on it's own to the one it determines is best at the time. For some devices that will cause a momentary drop in the wireless connection until it reconnects to the T3200.


If you find a post useful, please give the author a "Like" or mark as an accepted solution if it solves your trouble. 🙂