Hello Tech Savvy,

 

I need some help.  I have had a VR600 for 8 months. For all of those months I've experience drops in the connection between the LAN ports and WAN Port. (After 8 months of trial, error and support emails I can now clearly define the issue)

 

At random times, the LAN devices lose connection to the WAN port. I either wait 120-180 seconds for the ports to reset or I can just pull out the cable on the LAN port, reconnect it and the traffic starts flow within 1-2 seconds.

 

To be clear, when the event occurs;  

• The Wireless connected devices (10+) retain connection to the internet, no loss of data traffic.
• The LAN connected devices (10+) can see each other, no loss of data LAN traffic, cannot connect to any IP address on the internet
• The LAN connected device cannot see the Wireless connected devices.
• There is NO indication in the VR600 log of the event - the log only records my disconnect and reconnect of the LAN cable

 

TP-LINK support have suggested that a device or our Sky Q box could be causing it but the Sky Q box has been disconnected for a few days and the issue persists.

 

• We have swapped out the VR600 - same issue with both boxes.
• We have replaced the VR600 with BT Smart Hub .... No Issue!

 

I have a complex network due to age of house and available cable runs. All the switches have devices cabled to them. The RE550 is in AP mode.

 

These are the combinations I have tried over the past few months:

1. VR600 --- TL-SG105S--- GS308 --- TL-SG1005D --- RE550 = Issue
2. VR600 --- GS308T--- GS308 --- TL-SG1005D --- RE550 = Issue
3. VR600 --- GS308T--- GS308 --- TL-SG1005D = Issue
4. VR600 --- GS308T--- GS308 --- TL-SG105S = Issue
5. VR600 --- GS308T--- GS308 --- TL-SG105S --- RE550 = issue
6. VR600 --- GS308T --- TL-SG1005D --- TL-SG105S --- RE550 = issue (GS308T on port 3)
7. Changed GS308T to Port 2 while having issue (6) ....wired PCs connection to Internet and Network re-established immediately
8. Used port 2 until connection failed again…. unplugged port 2 and put back into port 2 -- Internet and Network re-established immediately

 

For the record…

1. BT Smart Hub 2 --- GS308T--- GS308 --- TL-SG105S --- RE550 = No issue
2. BT Smart Hub 2 --- GS308T--- TL-SG1005D--- TL-SG105S --- RE550 = No issue

 

So I conclude that the VR600 cannot handle my home network or I have a device on my network that floods and kills the VR600 LAN ports.

 

Does anybody else have this type of issue? If so, why did it occur and how did you fix it? Assuming you did.

 

Does anybody know of a network monitoring tool I can use to find out how much and what traffic is hitting the VR600?  It would be helpful to know what is active when the ports stop responding.

 

For those that want to say, "just use the Home Hub", I'm running a Pi-Hole on the network to manage/monitor DNS requests, block ads and suppress any possible malware the unwashed may drag home. The VR600 also allows me to prioritize "Work from Home" traffic over "Game from Home" traffic

 

Any advice or inspired suggestions are most appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

EDIT:

Once this was posted the TP-LINK forum suggested the following post : https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/238810  Looks like this has been an issue for some time.