[Firmware BUG] WiFi 6 (ax) Connected but no Internet - Android / iPhone / Windows
Similar issues being reported on the forum
- https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/581154
- https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/268600
- https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/543010
Wireless Network topology:
- 192.168.0.254 - ER605 acting as DHCP and main gateway
- 192.168.0.253 - Archer AX90, AP Mode, in Service Area
- 192.168.0.252 - Archer AX90, AP Mode, in Main Area
- 192.168.0.251 - Archer AX90, AP Mode, in Rooms Area
- 192.168.0.250 - Archer AX90, AP Mode, in External Area
All AP's have a little overlapping between them, and devices roams gracefully.
Previously I had a Galaxy S8+, with WiFi 5 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac.
No connectivity issue happened with this device.
When my girlfriend upgraded her phone to an iPhone 11 with Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax, she started to have coonectivity issues on WiFi.
Her WiFi connection would drop, and then started to use mobile data.
Since her device was the only one in the house having problems, I just assumed it was Apple's fault.
Recently I upgraded my phone to a Galaxy S23 Ultra, with Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax
I started to suffer the same problem as my girlfriend, and Adroid tells me I am "Connected with no Internet", and switch off to use mobile data.
It would not try to roam to a different band or antenna, neither disconnect from the Wi-Fi.
It will just stay in this state ad-eternum.
This issue mostly happens when the device roams between AP's, but it would spontaneously happen when staying on long period of time assigned to the same antenna.
For example, a long day on the living room, or overnight in the bedroom, but not always.
However it happens frequently enough to be annoying, frustrating and undesirable.
On both devices, disconnecting from the WiFi and reconnecting, restores the connection.
But this approach is less than ideal.
I attempted a few things to mitigate this issue, but none did work:
- Disabling Random MAC Addresses in both devices;
- Disabling TWT on AX90;
- Disabling OFDMA on AX90;
- Disabling both TWT and OFDMA;
- Disabling Smart Connect;
- Setting 5GHz-2 to work on Wi-Fi 6 AX Only (and then repeating all the procedures above);
- Setting 5GHz-2 to work on Wi-Fi 6 AX Only + WPA3 Only (and then repeating all the procedures above);
All wireless devices that are 802.11n (2.4GHz Tapo Cameras) or 802.11ac (TV's and previous gen game consoles) don't suffer from this issue.
So, in my current attempt, I disabled Wi-Fi 6.
In this way, my AP's are configured to use 802.11a/n/ac mixed on both 5GHz-1 and 5GHz-2.
Despite the high number of Ax90 AP's, this is a home setup made to be 5GHz Wi-Fi 6.
I have under 40 devices on the network (including AP's), maybe half are wireless.
And only the 802.11ax clients are the ones having issues.
Please, help.
I am very frustrated and disapointed that these AP's ain't working as expected.
This led me to believe TP-Link has an issue with its implementation of Wi-Fi 6 AX.
See footnote on product page:
***This router may not support all the mandatory features as ratified in Draft 3.0 of IEEE 802.11ax specification.