Poor wifi performance after upgrade of mesh system
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So this is weird. After an extensive chat session with TP-Link support, I'm back to thinking that the problem is with the pfsense box.
I say that because I can unplug the Deco mesh thing entirely, and plug my laptop into the pfsense router directly, and it gets no connection. Not only no internet, but not even a local network connection. It sees the cable, but spins for a minute, then pulls a funky bogus IP, and reports "no network connection".
I can't imagine what could have changed. All I did was literally unplug the cable from the Deco M5 and plug it into the X55. I touched nothing on the pfsense software. Should I have? -
@elmojo said in Poor wifi performance after upgrade of mesh system:
I'm back to thinking that the problem is with the pfsense box.
There's zero evidence here that your pfSense is causing devices to drop off the wireless. pfSense has nothing to do with that.
@elmojo said in Poor wifi performance after upgrade of mesh system:
then pulls a funky bogus IP,
what is the IP it gets?
@elmojo said in Poor wifi performance after upgrade of mesh system:
All I did was literally unplug the cable from the Deco M5 and plug it into the X55.
You said before that plugging in directly works.
That says right there it's not the pfSense. The MESH hardware is different - this is the change.You should get real APs. I buy Aruba IAPs off ebay for $25-$50 each. IAP-205Hs and IAP-303Hs. They work together, take local or POE power, support VLANs and have extra ETH ports on them you can VLAN away or shut down. Or use for cameras with POE passthrough (from POE+). Great little things.
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@rcoleman-netgate said in Poor wifi performance after upgrade of mesh system:
You said before that plugging in directly works.
I did? I don't remember saying that, but if I did, I was wrong. I just plugged my laptop directly into the pfsense, and got nothing. :/
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@elmojo I specifically asked you to do that and you said it worked.
Is the interface in pfSense set up for VLAN traffic at all? Is your computer set to a static address and its on the wrong subnet or are your MESH devices all static and there's no DHCP on the interface?
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@rcoleman-netgate
I'm sorry, I think I misunderstood what you were asking. I thought you were asking if the Deco was connected directly to the pfsense, without any other equipment between. My fault.
I'm not using VLANS at all. My computer (I assume you mean the laptop?) is DHCP.So I've definitely got something all screwed up, I just can't figure out how...
If I go into Status>Interfaces, I have the following... https://ibb.co/BHpkLcq
Prior to me fiddling around this afternoon, OPT1 was disabled, so please ignore that line for the moment.
However, I have no idea why OPT1 was disabled, since that's the port that my Deco M5 was connected to, and somehow it was working.
If I plug my laptop into igb3 (OPT1), I get no connection, pretty much as you'd expect, since I'm sure it's not properly configured. I see it has no IP.
If I plug the laptop into any free port on my switch, which is connected to igb1, then it pulls an IP in the correct range and everything works fine. This is true of my Deco as well. If I plug it into the switch (not directly into the pfsense as it was before), then it works, but I'm certain there was a reason why I had it on a separate port before, I just can't recall why right now.
This is what happens when things work too well. They don't require constant fiddling, and I forget how/why they were set up a certain way.
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@elmojo Can you take a screen cap of the Interfaces->Assignments page and post it here?
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@rcoleman-netgate Sure! https://ibb.co/Nn2Ym8k
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@rcoleman-netgate
I think I'm beginning to piece together what happened. The short version is that I'm an idiot and have no business touching my own network. :/It seems that maybe OPT1 was disabled all along. I had 3 M5 Deco units. The "main" unit was in my network closet, plugged directly into my pfsense router, into port OPT1 (igb3). The 2nd unit was in my Living Room. I had an ethernet cable plugged into it as well, from a wall jack, because I had read in the documentation for the device that it supported ethernet backhaul. I think I misunderstood this to mean that it would use the ethernet connection as a faster/more stable connection back to the 'main' unit, rather than connecting wirelessly. The 3rd unit was in my bedroom, and connected only wirelessly, via mesh.
I now believe that in fact the Living Room unit was the only one receiving internet service, since OPT1 was disabled. This means that even though it wasn't designated in the Deco app as "main", it was serving the house, kinda through the back door, so to speak. This could also account for why my speeds and signal strengths weren't as good as expected. Doh.
Anyway, if I am correct in all this, how can I enable/configure OPT1 to be the "internet service" port for the Deco, while the LAN port remains the port that serves the switch? -
Did I scare everyone off? :)
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Hi, let me try to help you enable opt1.
Login to PF sense, on the top header you will see interfaces. Click on that then click on assignments. From there, you will be able to add opt1 to your interfaces. from there, click on opt1 to enable that interface. after that, you will have to go to your firewall rules and add a rule, allowing Internet. I would just copy your land rules and make them the same as your opt1 rules.
This is the most important part. At any time if you need clarification/understanding. On the right side of the top header there is a circle with a question mark. click on it and it will take you to documentation explaining that page. -
@uglybrian Thanks. If you notice in the screenshots posted above, I had already done those steps, other than the firewall rule. When I try to copy the rule from my LAN, it just opens the rule editing page. What am I doing wrong?
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Sounds like you’re almost there. Once you get to the opt1 rule editing page. Simply put the same rule there as on your lan network, you may have to do it manually. After that at the bottom of the page click on the save. You need to click on save after every change you make. Don’t forget to click on the ? For clarification and instructions if you get a little lost.
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@uglybrian Maybe. I think I have the rule (manually) copied over, although the options aren't quite the same for some reason. Anyway, I'll try it out and see if the Deco will connect.
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@uglybrian Ok, all set up as above, but still not working. I have a suspicion why, though.
When I connect my Deco to OPT1, it reports no internet, and no IP assigned. It defaults to some random IP that doesn't correspond to my network IP range. I think this is maybe because OPT1 isn't a DHCP server? Am I thinking wrong here? I see an option under services to select for LAN to be a DHCP server, but I don't see that option for OPT1. It seems like since the pfsense box isn't handing out addresses, the Deco tries to find one itself, which of course doesn't work, so I don't have internet on the wifi side of the house. -
You need to check to see if that service is enabled for opt1. Login to PF sense in the top header under services. Click on DHCP server then click on opt1, click enable, go to the bottom of the page click save.
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Forgot to add that you will have to enter an available IP arrange it, then click save.
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@uglybrian said in Poor wifi performance after upgrade of mesh system:
You need to check to see if that service is enabled for opt1. Login to PF sense in the top header under services. Click on DHCP server then click on opt1, click enable, go to the bottom of the page click save.
That's what I mean. I checked that earlier, and OPT1 isn't one of my choices under Services>DHCP Server. When I go to that page, LAN is the only option, so it's automatically selected.
Do I see that even if I get it enabled, I would have to select a new IP range for OPT1, as in, it could not share the same range as what the LAN interface is already using? If so, then this isn't the way I want to go. I need my wired and wireless devices to be on the same subnet. It kinda defeats the purpose if the end up on separate networks.
Maybe this is why I had OPT1 disabled before....?
I was just hoping I could let the Deco (all my wireless stuff) be served by a separate interface, so that I could keep an eye on it visually, without having to futz with VLANs and such. I realize that's probably the better way to do it, but I tried once before and it got more complicated than I was ready for at the time. This just seemed like it would be a simple solution, but nothing ever is. lol -
@elmojo I only work part of the week.
Also you should be able to upload images directly into your comments - that would be helpful moving forward. -
@rcoleman-netgate OK. I haven't been able to get the upload directly option to work. I recall previously that I was told I had to upload images to a service and post the links, which is really annoying. I'd love to be able to just post them. I'll try again.
What would you like me to do next, to get this sorted out?
At the moment, I have the mesh plugged into my switch (served by the LAN interface), and it's working perfectly, but I would eventually like to have it served from OPT1 as described above, if possible. I do definitely need it to be on the same subnet as the rest of my network, though. If it will have to have a separate IP range from the LAN interface, that would be a deal breaker. -
@elmojo Why use OPT1 at all??
Just plug it into your switch and be done.