Hi @bobpullen I'm a new Plusnet customer and recently noticed the exact issue you outlined happening with my Apple devices. It happens with both me and partner's iPhones and our MacBook Pros. We have other devices that are seemingly unaffected, such as a PS4 and a Nintendo Switch. It's worth noting that we've found a workaround in having a powerline adapter plugged in and connecting to that instead of connecting directly to the router - this seems to avoid the random disconnects. I also tried toggling the 5GHz radio and connecting directly to the router, and while it did fix the random disconnect issue, we did notice a considerable drop in quality and speed of connection. I think we are currently on firmware version 4.7.5.1.83.8.263, could we please have the new version pushed to our router if it seems to be working?
- Brief description of the problem, and how is masquerades itself. What are the symptoms? How frequently does it happen?
Apple devices will randomly disconnect themselves from the router. Upon trying to reconnect we have one of two issues; either we get an error saying the password is incorrect (more common), or we can connect to the router and then have no internet connection (this is rarer). The problem is permanent. If we reset the router the problems stops for an hour or so and then returns. When this happens we can still connect to our powerline adapter upstairs and have a normal stable connection, even with the effected Apple devices.
- Do the devices having problems appear to be connected or associated with the hub? Is the hub status indicator normal/blue when the problem occurs?
The devices are all Apple devices and are all connected wirelessly (we don't use wired connection, and we don't own a Windows PC to test with unfortunately). The hub status indicator is always blue/normal when this problem is occurring.
- Do you have the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels merged (default setting) or split (different wireless network names)? If the networks are named differently, does the problem only affect the 5GHz network?
The problems occurs when the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels are merged. If the channels are split we seem to be able to connect to the 2.4GHz normally without the problem effecting us, however the internet quality does drop. Upon trying to connect to the 5GHz channel with the effected devices we get the incorrect password error - the problem only affects the 5GHz network.
- Once the problem occurs is it persistent? Do you have any devices wired to the router and does the problem affect them at the same time?
Once the problem occurs it is persistent and permanent, without resetting the whole router. The only devices that seem unaffected are video game consoles (PS4 and Nintendo Switch). The affected devices are all Apple devices (2 iPhones, iPad, 2 MacBook Pros). We do not have any other devices to test with.
- Are you able to reproduce the problem reliably? Do you think you have a way of triggering it? [for example waking a specific device from power save mode]
There's not necessarily a reliable way to recreate the issue as far as I can tell. Our Apple devices all seemed to work fine without any issues for the first week of our internet installation, but ever since then we can't go an hour after rebooting without encountering it.
- Is the problem always resolved by rebooting the hub? If so, how long does it take before problems recur?
The problem is always resolved by rebooting the hub, it usually only takes between 1-2 hours for the problem to recur.
- If specific devices are always impacted when problems occur, please provide details of which devices are impacted and which aren't i.e. manufacturer, model, variant and operating system version.
2 Apple iPhones are affected (one is an iPhone XR on software version 14.4, the other is an iPhone 11 on 14.4.1). 2 MacBook Pros affected (one is a 2019 16" Pro on Catalina 10.15.5, the other is a 2016 15" on Mojave 10.14.6). PS4 and Nintendo Switch seem unaffected.
- Have the devices experiencing problems recently received any patches that might correspond with the time the issue first occurred?
The problem seemed to affect all Apple devices around the same time, however myself and my partner are on different software versions and the devices are different models, so the common denominator is the Plusnet hub. There is no correlation between recent software updates and the issue being triggered.
- Please provide a description of your home network setup and all devices in use including whether or not you're using any additional switches, Powerline adapters or wireless access points.
We moved into our new home roughly 4 weeks ago, and had our Plusnet internet installed roughly 2 weeks ago. We have our Plusnet Hub downstairs, most the time a PS4 is connected to this (unaffected by the issue). Myself and my partner also have our iPhones connected to it most of the day (badly affected by the issue, meaning we can't connect to it recently). Myself and my partner both work from home and use both our MacBook Pros connected to the Hub too. Again, these are both badly affected by the issue recently, meaning we can't connect to it at all these days. We have a Powerline Adapter with the other end upstairs, as we struggled to get the range of the hub to reach our master bedroom. As outlined earlier, we've found that connecting to the powerline adapter upstairs is actually a workaround to the router issue - our Apple devices can connect to the Powerline Adapter with a fine internet connection most of the time. Regardless of proximity to the Plusnet Hub, our Apple devices cannot connect to the Plusnet Hub due to the issue, however we have not tested using a wired connection (this would be inconvenient for our setup).
