Netcomm NF18ACV 2.4GHZ is useless - does new firmware fix this?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Netcomm NF18ACV 2.4GHZ is useless - does new firmware fix this?

Hwale

69 posts

Master Geek

#252959 18-Jul-2019 21:20

So I live in shared accommodation with a NF18ACV running firmware version NC.Vocus-R6B038.EN serving up to 5 people with multiple devices.

The 2.4GHz connection drops out and fails completely when the router is dealing with multiple connections, lots of data throughput etc. I've read that this is a known issue with this router. Does anyone know why this happens and more importantly does the R6B040 firmware fix it? I don't administer the router but the person who does has no clue about tech so I'd like to help by fixing it. Will the router retain all relevant connection settings when the firmware is updated? Where can I get the firmware?

Thanks for any help!

sbiddle

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#2279310 18-Jul-2019 21:58

How many devices? You're probably just hitting the 16 device limit per band.

Any reason why you're not using 5GHz if possible?

Hwale

69 posts

Master Geek

#2279314 18-Jul-2019 22:28

There are never 16 simultaneous connections, and the issue will persist when there are only 2 or 3. Some devices are a bit older and are only 2.4GHz capable, a Chromecast and and older Samsung phone being 2 examples.

coffeebaron

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#2279316 18-Jul-2019 22:30

Make sure 2.4 is set to 20MHz only. Also check neighbouring Wi-Fi channels and adjust to most quiet of 1, 6 or 11.

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Hwale

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#2279317 18-Jul-2019 22:32

Tried 20MHz and 40MHz, no difference. Same problem on every channel too.

Jase2985

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#2279390 19-Jul-2019 05:39

its not 16 simultaneous connections its 16 all up even if they are not connected.

sbiddle

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#2279397 19-Jul-2019 07:05

I've deployed huge numbers of these and certainly have never read about any major issues anywhere, nor am I aware of any myself from my deployments. What is your source of this issue?

2.4GHz itself can be an issue regardless of hardware used if you have something causing interference.

Hwale

69 posts

Master Geek

#2279492 19-Jul-2019 10:38

Jase2985:

its not 16 simultaneous connections its 16 all up even if they are not connected.

Not sure what this means? When does a device that is no longer connected stop being a client? When 2.4GHz drops out I can see as few as one connection in the 'station info' screen. I've also raised the max clients to 32 with no luck.

sbiddle:

I've deployed huge numbers of these and certainly have never read about any major issues anywhere, nor am I aware of any myself from my deployments. What is your source of this issue?

2.4GHz itself can be an issue regardless of hardware used if you have something causing interference.

There's not much I could find about this issue, agreed, but this is where I found people discussing it:

https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2778718

Different deployment of the same device, but it does seem a bit coincidental that it's exactly the problem I'm having. Pretty sure it isn't interference, I've had a look with WiFi Analyzer and can see the signal appear for a second or two then disappear. When I change the channel, the signal appears then disappears. When I reboot the router, the signal appears and devices connect again briefly, then the signal is gone and they disconnect. For what it's worth I tried the Thompson TG585 router it replaced in the exact same spot at the same time and had no problem with this 2.4GHz signal. I can also see the other 2.4GHz clients disconnect and stay disconnected until the router is dealing with less 'stress'.

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noroad

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#2279512 19-Jul-2019 11:19

Hi all, I forwarded this thread to le local Netcomm guys (who will jump in on GZ a bit later on) In the mean time I've been asked to post this on their behalf -

"I don’t understand what they mean by “The 2.4GHz connection drops out and fails completely when the router is dealing with multiple connections”

Does the 2.4GHz stop working totally (All clients get disconnected)?, or the single 2.4GHz client drops out?

They should try disabling band steering:

Wireless -> 2.4GHz -> Advanced and remove tick from Band Steering. Also change global Max Clients to 32 while there

Wireless -> 2.4GHz -> Basic and change Max clients to 32 and SSID to a unique name

Wireless -> 5GHz -> Advanced and remove tick from Band Steering. Also change global Max Clients to 32 while there

Wireless -> 5GHz -> Basic and change Max clients to 32 and SSID to a unique name

The difference between R6B038 and R6B040 is the band steering parameters, disabling band steering stops the CPE moving the clients between the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, which may resolve the users issue (Particularly with old clients)"

If people can play nice with our vendors it would be great to have them directly on GZ helping out I'm sure everyone would agree.

Hwale

69 posts

Master Geek

#2279719 19-Jul-2019 17:51

noroad:

Hi all, I forwarded this thread to le local Netcomm guys (who will jump in on GZ a bit later on) In the mean time I've been asked to post this on their behalf -

"I don’t understand what they mean by “The 2.4GHz connection drops out and fails completely when the router is dealing with multiple connections”

Does the 2.4GHz stop working totally (All clients get disconnected)?, or the single 2.4GHz client drops out?

They should try disabling band steering:

Wireless -> 2.4GHz -> Advanced and remove tick from Band Steering. Also change global Max Clients to 32 while there

Wireless -> 2.4GHz -> Basic and change Max clients to 32 and SSID to a unique name

Wireless -> 5GHz -> Advanced and remove tick from Band Steering. Also change global Max Clients to 32 while there

Wireless -> 5GHz -> Basic and change Max clients to 32 and SSID to a unique name

The difference between R6B038 and R6B040 is the band steering parameters, disabling band steering stops the CPE moving the clients between the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, which may resolve the users issue (Particularly with old clients)"

If people can play nice with our vendors it would be great to have them directly on GZ helping out I'm sure everyone would agree.

The 2.4GHz band disappears and all clients on that band are disconnected. The ones with only 2.4GHz capability are left with no connectivity.

I already tried disabling band steering on the 2.4GHz band as I'd read about the firmware differences but with no success - I'll try disabling on both bands and see what happens. I've tried the unique SSID, no luck.

Honestly, what I read on another forum about the chipset overheating and dropping 2.4 makes the most sense to me so far, given all the circumstances around the drop outs.

Also I can't choose 32 clients on the 5GHz band, max it allows is 16 (error Max Clients "32" should be between 1 and 16).

noroad

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#2279720 19-Jul-2019 17:53

The 2.4GHz band disappears and all clients on that band are disconnected. The ones with only 2.4GHz capability are left with no connectivity.

I already tried disabling band steering on the 2.4GHz band as I'd read about the firmware differences but with no success - I'll try disabling on both bands and see what happens. I've tried the unique SSID, no luck.

Honestly, what I read on another forum about the chipset overheating and dropping 2.4 makes the most sense to me so far, given all the circumstances around the drop outs.

If you lose the whole band, even in the same room I would suggest either you have some serious interference or a faulty device.

Hwale

69 posts

Master Geek

#2279724 19-Jul-2019 18:01

Yeh it disappears completely. It reappears late at night when users have gone to bed as if the router gets a chance to 'recover' or cool down. All the connected devices still show on the rest of the network but they're not active.

Hwale

69 posts

Master Geek

#2279726 19-Jul-2019 18:03

Oh if it's any help this whole issue coincides with the arrival of a new flatmate with an iPhone and a Macbook Pro. Worked fine for many months before that. I've read about Apple devices crashing networks.... Maybe nothing but might get someone's noggin joggin'.

Hwale

69 posts

Master Geek

#2280408 20-Jul-2019 19:36

noroad:

Hi all, I forwarded this thread to le local Netcomm guys (who will jump in on GZ a bit later on) In the mean time I've been asked to post this on their behalf -

"I don’t understand what they mean by “The 2.4GHz connection drops out and fails completely when the router is dealing with multiple connections”

Does the 2.4GHz stop working totally (All clients get disconnected)?, or the single 2.4GHz client drops out?

They should try disabling band steering:

Wireless -> 2.4GHz -> Advanced and remove tick from Band Steering. Also change global Max Clients to 32 while there

Wireless -> 2.4GHz -> Basic and change Max clients to 32 and SSID to a unique name

Wireless -> 5GHz -> Advanced and remove tick from Band Steering. Also change global Max Clients to 32 while there

Wireless -> 5GHz -> Basic and change Max clients to 32 and SSID to a unique name

No luck with any of this. Same problem persists 😞

Hwale

69 posts

Master Geek

#2284428 26-Jul-2019 22:00

Anyone know where I can find the new firmware? The firmware version on Netcomm's site has a different version number so I'm not sure if there's generic and country specific firmwares.