We may have strayed off-topic. 😉
But my first experience with any sort of computer network was Econet.

@terho said in iPhone occasionally disconnecting and reconnecting WLAN?:

SOLVED (partially): I studied the potential signal interference. I bought a Netspot software for analysing WLAN signals with my laptop and did find out that the 2.4 GHz signal level was breaking too often, at worst it was completely lost few times within a minute. 5 GHz was ok. Did not find any other transmitters causing interference. But, the access point system log was full of error messages and appearing unhealthy system. The next step was to review the log file with the manufacturer's support service. Eventually this unit was concluded as a faulty AP and they sent me a replacement (warranty period was valid). I now have a new unit in use and signal quality is ok in both bands.

But still, iPhone keeps on disconnecting, but not that frequently. After having googled much more, frequent disconnection seems to be a very common problem everywhere. I think that Apple should fix this, as all the obvious checks do not help (signal quality, distance to AP, router, firewall, DHCP lease time, interference, toggling iPhone Wifi on/off, ... while all other devices connect without problems).

I actually make a living deploying WiFi networks, and my experience tells me it is very unlikely to be the iPhone that's the culprit. However - right now there are rumours of disconnect issues if you are running the latest iOS16 - if that's the case I'm sure it'll be fixed very soon (if not already in 16.1).
Otherwise I would like to question your enterprise AP as well - what brand are we talking about here,?
Because I can tell you: fx. D-Links "enterprise APs" has nothing enterprise about it - it's still a dodgy AP, that at best works, but usually has "issues" that causes some vendor radios to drop every now and then.
See, WiFi is less than perfect - it's not always drivers that remedy problems. Sometimes new chipsets are released, that just does not work properly without firmware "hacks" on the AP side, to allow the chipset to still remain connected. Those continuing hacks and compatibilty fixes are what you buy, when you buy one of the big enterprise vendors AP products.

@patch said in WIFI Speed slow with protectli (pfsense) and Netgear R7000:

100Mb sound like a bad cable limit.

Yup, it sure looks like a bad link that's defaulted to 100M. Check for that first.

Steve

@wime

I have a single AP for me and my cat. However, I also have a 2nd SSID/VLAN for guests, which only allows access to the Internet. You might consider a separate SSID for your grandkids, so you can control access times, etc..

Seems to work as expected here:

[22.05-RC][root@6100-2.stevew.lan]/root: pciconf -lvb ath0 ath0@pci0:17:0:0: class=0x028000 card=0x009a106b chip=0x0030168c rev=0x01 hdr=0x00 vendor = 'Qualcomm Atheros' device = 'AR93xx Wireless Network Adapter' class = network bar [10] = type Memory, range 64, base 0x81600000, size 131072, enabled [22.05-RC][root@6100-2.stevew.lan]/root: ifconfig -vvm ath0_wlan0 ath0_wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500 description: wifi0 ether e4:ce:8f:5b:73:e9 inet6 fe80::e6ce:8fff:fe5b:73e9%ath0_wlan0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0xd groups: wlan ssid test123 channel 13 (2472 MHz 11g ht/20) bssid e4:ce:8f:5b:73:e9 regdomain ETSI country GB indoor ecm authmode WPA2/802.11i -wps -tsn privacy MIXED deftxkey 2 AES-CCM 2:128-bit AES-CCM 3:128-bit powersavemode OFF powersavesleep 100 txpower 30 txpowmax 50.0 -dotd rtsthreshold 2346 fragthreshold 2346 bmiss 7 11a ucast NONE mgmt 6 Mb/s mcast 6 Mb/s maxretry 6 11b ucast NONE mgmt 1 Mb/s mcast 1 Mb/s maxretry 6 11g ucast NONE mgmt 1 Mb/s mcast 1 Mb/s maxretry 6 11na ucast NONE mgmt 6 Mb/s mcast 6 Mb/s maxretry 6 11ng ucast NONE mgmt 1 Mb/s mcast 1 Mb/s maxretry 6 scanvalid 60 -bgscan bgscanintvl 300 bgscanidle 250 roam:11a rssi 7dBm rate 12 Mb/s roam:11b rssi 7dBm rate 1 Mb/s roam:11g rssi 7dBm rate 5 Mb/s roam:11na rssi 7dBm MCS 1 roam:11ng rssi 7dBm MCS 1 -pureg protmode OFF ht htcompat ampdu ampdulimit 64k ampdudensity 8 amsdu shortgi htprotmode RTSCTS -puren -smps -rifs stbc ldpc -uapsd -vht -vht40 -vht80 -vht160 -vht80p80 wme burst -dwds -hidessid -apbridge dtimperiod 1 doth -dfs inact bintval 100 AC_BE cwmin 4 cwmax 6 aifs 3 txopLimit 0 -acm ack cwmin 4 cwmax 10 aifs 3 txopLimit 0 -acm AC_BK cwmin 4 cwmax 10 aifs 7 txopLimit 0 -acm ack cwmin 4 cwmax 10 aifs 7 txopLimit 0 -acm AC_VI cwmin 3 cwmax 4 aifs 1 txopLimit 94 -acm ack cwmin 3 cwmax 4 aifs 2 txopLimit 94 -acm AC_VO cwmin 2 cwmax 3 aifs 1 txopLimit 47 -acm ack cwmin 2 cwmax 3 aifs 2 txopLimit 47 -acm parent interface: ath0 media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect mode 11ng <hostap> status: running supported media: media MCS mode autoselect mediaopt hostap media MCS mode 11ng mediaopt hostap media autoselect mode 11ng mediaopt hostap media MCS mode 11na mediaopt hostap media autoselect mode 11na mediaopt hostap media DS/11Mbps mode autoselect mediaopt hostap media DS/5.5Mbps mode autoselect mediaopt hostap media DS/2Mbps mode autoselect mediaopt hostap media DS/1Mbps mode autoselect mediaopt hostap media OFDM/54Mbps mode autoselect mediaopt hostap media OFDM/48Mbps mode autoselect mediaopt hostap media OFDM/36Mbps mode autoselect mediaopt hostap media OFDM/24Mbps mode autoselect mediaopt hostap media OFDM/18Mbps mode autoselect mediaopt hostap media OFDM/12Mbps mode autoselect mediaopt hostap media OFDM/9Mbps mode autoselect mediaopt hostap media OFDM/6Mbps mode autoselect mediaopt hostap media OFDM/54Mbps mode 11g mediaopt hostap media OFDM/48Mbps mode 11g mediaopt hostap media OFDM/36Mbps mode 11g mediaopt hostap media OFDM/24Mbps mode 11g mediaopt hostap media OFDM/18Mbps mode 11g mediaopt hostap media OFDM/12Mbps mode 11g mediaopt hostap media OFDM/9Mbps mode 11g mediaopt hostap media OFDM/6Mbps mode 11g mediaopt hostap media DS/11Mbps mode 11g mediaopt hostap media DS/5.5Mbps mode 11g mediaopt hostap media DS/2Mbps mode 11g mediaopt hostap media DS/1Mbps mode 11g mediaopt hostap media autoselect mode 11g mediaopt hostap media DS/11Mbps mode 11b mediaopt hostap media DS/5.5Mbps mode 11b mediaopt hostap media DS/2Mbps mode 11b mediaopt hostap media DS/1Mbps mode 11b mediaopt hostap media autoselect mode 11b mediaopt hostap media OFDM/54Mbps mode 11a mediaopt hostap media OFDM/48Mbps mode 11a mediaopt hostap media OFDM/36Mbps mode 11a mediaopt hostap media OFDM/24Mbps mode 11a mediaopt hostap media OFDM/18Mbps mode 11a mediaopt hostap media OFDM/12Mbps mode 11a mediaopt hostap media OFDM/9Mbps mode 11a mediaopt hostap media OFDM/6Mbps mode 11a mediaopt hostap media autoselect mode 11a mediaopt hostap media autoselect mode autoselect mediaopt hostap nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL> [22.05-RC][root@6100-2.stevew.lan]/root: ifconfig ath0_wlan0 list chan Channel 1 : 2412 MHz 11g ht Channel 48 : 5240 MHz 11a ht Channel 2 : 2417 MHz 11g ht Channel 52 : 5260* MHz 11a ht Channel 3 : 2422 MHz 11g ht Channel 56 : 5280* MHz 11a ht Channel 4 : 2427 MHz 11g ht Channel 60 : 5300* MHz 11a ht Channel 5 : 2432 MHz 11g ht Channel 64 : 5320* MHz 11a ht Channel 6 : 2437 MHz 11g ht Channel 100 : 5500* MHz 11a ht Channel 7 : 2442 MHz 11g ht Channel 104 : 5520* MHz 11a ht Channel 8 : 2447 MHz 11g ht Channel 108 : 5540* MHz 11a ht Channel 9 : 2452 MHz 11g ht Channel 112 : 5560* MHz 11a ht Channel 10 : 2457 MHz 11g ht Channel 116 : 5580* MHz 11a ht Channel 11 : 2462 MHz 11g ht Channel 120 : 5600* MHz 11a ht Channel 12 : 2467 MHz 11g ht Channel 124 : 5620* MHz 11a ht Channel 13 : 2472 MHz 11g ht Channel 128 : 5640* MHz 11a ht Channel 36 : 5180 MHz 11a ht Channel 132 : 5660* MHz 11a ht Channel 40 : 5200 MHz 11a ht Channel 136 : 5680* MHz 11a ht Channel 44 : 5220 MHz 11a ht Channel 140 : 5700* MHz 11a ht

Steve

If you assign the bridge itself ab LAN pfSense always considers it as UP which means services running on it are always active and that includes DHCP. In your current setup if you disconnect the LAN cable all wifi devices will stop receiving an IP address.
When you assign the bridge interface you get a firewall rules tab for it which means you can filter traffic from LAN and wifi with a single ruleset if you wish. You have to use those sysctls to move where filtering is applied though.

Steve

Hmm, well, if that's working for you I would stay with it.

@kewe
Have fun and good luck, should work out fine...
Looking forward to hear from your successfull implementation of your new hardware.👍

It doesn't look like there is a driver for that. The only PCI driver for Ralink I can see is ral(4) and that doesn't support that chip:
https://github.com/pfsense/FreeBSD-src/blob/devel-12/sys/dev/ral/if_ral_pci.c#L104

Steve

That should be possible if you have a wifi device in pfSense that supports it (hostap mode). It will never be as good as an external access point though.

Steve

@stephenw10 Great info guys. I am actually just now having this issue and working to get this setup. INFOrmative. 👍

@johnpoz

That’s great.  Thanks for your help.

@stephenw10 said in TPLINK Deco M4 with pfSense:

@hismuth said in TPLINK Deco M4 with pfSense:

U6 Lites

I've never used them so it's hard to comment. There are not a mesh system though as far as I know. So if you require a mesh to get full coverage now you may need to run more Ethernet lines to position APs in different places.

Steve

They can be meshed if that's really what you want, but it's best to avoid meshing if you can hardwire.

Mmm, the settings should be common so should change for all when you set them. Or at least that's what I expect to happen. The number of people running wifi with multiple VAPs in pfSense is... small!
I tried to replicate this using a WLE200NX card in an SG-2100 but could not make it panic. It allowed me to set dual standards/frequencies and even appeared to be broadcasting both but of course only one is actually functional.
I did find a couple of other bugs but neither would cause a panic.

Steve

https://forum.netgate.com/topic/170795/freeradius-mac-addresses-treated-as-users?_=1647358224113

I found the problem: I was enabling communication to any from the devices and not the bridge.

The date I've found for Norway is that 2G dies in 2025. But they've said that before, and the amount of alarm installations, oil plattform applications and other stuff has stopped the deadline for 2G before, so I'm guessing around 2030. 😂 And 4G I'm expecting to have longer than my car. I like to keep new cars that I buy for at least five, preferably ten years, and with this Mercedes EQC I can't see myself needing anything else as long as the battery lasts. The warranty is 8 years/160 000 km (100 000 miles), so that's probably when I start looking for something else. By then I'm sure the cars are flying drones! 🤘

@stephenw10 let me retest and Ill post back... I left it a bit on the side as I had a pile of work.
Thanks!

Available wifi interfaces are shown by the sysctl:

[22.01-RELEASE][root@pfSense.home.arpa]/root: sysctl -n net.wlan.devices ath0

See: https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/advanced-networking/#network-wireless

Steve