iPhone occasionally disconnecting and reconnecting WLAN?
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Hi all! In my home network, a iPhone 11 WLAN connection occasionally disconnects and instantly reconnects showing a notification. The WLAN access point uses WPA2 personal. Network range coverage or signal are not the issue. Network topology is iPhone - WLAN AP - switch - pfSense - ISP (1Gbit/s fibre). iPad seems to have the same behavior, but less frequently. An Android phone using the same WLAN access point never does this. Reconnecting does not occur with wired traffic using Windows 10 laptops, NAS, VPN, email, etc.
I have set the firewall rules for iPhone/iPad as recommended by Apple (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202944). DHCP leash time is at pfSense default (long). Outdated WLAN networks (SSID) have been deleted from the phones. I have studied the pfSense system log to find any blocked iPhone traffic.
Between the network breaks, all is working ok in iPhone; web browsing, music streaming, apps, email, etc. I guess this problem is Apple specific and related to the pfSense firewall or services, or maybe with the wireless AP configuration. Any Ideas what I am missing?
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@terho said in iPhone occasionally disconnecting and reconnecting WLAN?:
Hi all! In my home network, a iPhone 11 WLAN connection occasionally disconnects and instantly reconnects showing a notification. The WLAN access point uses WPA2 personal. Network range coverage or signal are not the issue. Network topology is iPhone - WLAN AP - switch - pfSense - ISP (1Gbit/s fibre). iPad seems to have the same behavior, but less frequently. An Android phone using the same WLAN access point never does this. Reconnecting does not occur with wired traffic using Windows 10 laptops, NAS, VPN, email, etc.
I have set the firewall rules for iPhone/iPad as recommended by Apple (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202944). DHCP leash time is at pfSense default (long). Outdated WLAN networks (SSID) have been deleted from the phones. I have studied the pfSense system log to find any blocked iPhone traffic.
Between the network breaks, all is working ok in iPhone; web browsing, music streaming, apps, email, etc. I guess this problem is Apple specific and related to the pfSense firewall or services, or maybe with the wireless AP configuration. Any Ideas what I am missing?
Your issue has nothing to do with pfSense and you Firewall rules. It’s your Accesspoint that is less than stellar.
Usually its because the accesspoint is one of the ususal suspects (tp-link, netgear, d-link and what not) that produces an AP, and then maybe support it with one or two firmware updates in a year before they prefer you just buy a new one. So:1: Start by looking for a firmware update for your Accesspoint. The compatibility with modern WiFi chipsets get s lots of firmware adapted fixes all the time.
2: Try resetting your AP completely, set it up again - this time without any smart features such as “band steering” or automatic channel selection. Those are usually the main problem areas in those “never maintained” firmwares on low cost APs.
3: If no updates are available, and the above does not work, try and see if you can borrow a “real” accesspoint from a friend. If not, buy a real access point from a reputable vendor and once and for all get rid of your Wifi issues. Fx. “Aruba Instant On” comes to mind. That also scales with multiple APs automatically so proper coverage can be had.
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@keyser Yes, I know what you mean. That is why I recently discarded all my old consumer grade access points and got new enterprise level AP. The firmware is updated in AP and in other devices regularly. I have now disabled the automatic features in AP, thanks for the advice. Let see if will helps.
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@terho said in iPhone occasionally disconnecting and reconnecting WLAN?:
@keyser Yes, I know what you mean. That is why I recently discarded all my old consumer grade access points and got new enterprise level AP. The firmware is updated in AP and in other devices regularly. I have now disabled the automatic features in AP, thanks for the advice. Let see if will helps.
Okay - nice to hear you already did the right thing. That of course makes it a little more complicated if you are experiencing disconnect issues with proper accesspoint equipment.
My mind then comes to two “obvious culprits” :-)1: You could be suffering from pretty bad interference - or if you live in a densely populated area - highly congested WiFi bands.
I would try the following:
Make a 5Ghz only SSID for your apple devices that suffers disconnects. The 2.4Ghz band is quite commonly suffering interference from other equipment, and if your AP’s are located so that your Apple devices feels the best choice is to join the 2.4Ghz band, they will suffer the disconnects that interference causes.
If you force them 5Ghz only this way, you will know if this is the problem. (Remember to “forget” the old SSID when you test this).2: Are you by any chance running MESH connected APs (AP’s that are not Ethernet wired to your uplink/internet connection)?
This technology is basically crap unless you buy REAL enterprise equipment with at radio dedicated to the mesh uplink. It takes very little congestion of the Wifi band the mesh uplink uses (usually the 5Ghz band) before everything falls apart when the clients are also connected to the very same 5Ghz Radio. -
It does sound like there's something causing interference... a motor or generator that kicks in for a few minutes and throws off a ton of RFI causing things to drop.
Changing channels can usually remedy this cheaply... but replacing the device that is faulty in the long term is the better solution.
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Are you sure your AP(s) are not enabled for WPA3?
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Could this have something to do with randomized mac address.....?
I gloomily came to the ironic conclusion that if you take a highly intelligent person and give them the best possible, elite education, then you will most likely wind up with an academic who is completely impervious to reality.
Halton Arp -
@stephenw10 said in iPhone occasionally disconnecting and reconnecting WLAN?:
Are you sure your AP(s) are not enabled for WPA3?
Ahh, good call there steve. I have experienced all kinds of havoc with WPA3 enabled SSID’s depending on vendor and firmware versions.
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@pippin said in iPhone occasionally disconnecting and reconnecting WLAN?:
Could this have something to do with randomized mac address.....?
Noop.
"randomized mac" isn't randomizing randomly.
It goes like this :
IF ( new SSID is discovered (not in an exiting profile yet) AND you connect to this SSID network)
THEN randomize a mac for this connection, and use further on this new MAC for this SSID - keep yhis info in a SSID profile with other settings like DHCP, or not, etc.Only when you 'forget' this SSID network profile, and re connect again, a new MAC will get generated.
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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).
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@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.
