Question Google Mesh Wifi Disconnects ?

Sep 2, 2022
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Good afternoon. I have been struggling with a network issue for weeks now and I am hoping someone would be kind enough to help me out. I have a decent background with pc's but the network portion is still a mystery to me. And I apologize up front if I do not use all the correct terminology.

So, anyway, I have a new isp who has provided me with a wireless (lte) connection - the tower is line of sight. The antenna installed on my roof appears to be receiving a consistent signal (according to my isp) and all indications to me show that to be true. When I connect to the poe using an ethernet cable directly to my pc, it seems to have a good consistent signal.

My isp has provided me with a Zyxel router which is connected to the poe via the wan port. This connection seems to work ok as well.

Here's the problem. I have a Google Mesh wifi system (newly purchased) connected to one of the lan ports on their router and I set it up with its own ssid. I am able to connect to it but there are many disconnects. I have also connected the Google Mesh wifi router directly to the poe connector and it has trouble staying connected there too. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can keep the connection from dropping?

My "tech guy" has been here several times and he has run out of ideas.

As a side note, once this is resolved, I hope to add an outside connection using a gateway hub and access point. I only mention that in case this would conflict with any offered solutions. But if I need help on this connection, I will create a new post.

I look forward to hearing any suggestions that may help to resolve this issue. Thank you in advance.
 
Good afternoon. I have been struggling with a network issue for weeks now and I am hoping someone would be kind enough to help me out. I have a decent background with pc's but the network portion is still a mystery to me. And I apologize up front if I do not use all the correct terminology.

So, anyway, I have a new isp who has provided me with a wireless (lte) connection - the tower is line of sight. The antenna installed on my roof appears to be receiving a consistent signal (according to my isp) and all indications to me show that to be true. When I connect to the poe using an ethernet cable directly to my pc, it seems to have a good consistent signal.

My isp has provided me with a Zyxel router which is connected to the poe via the wan port. This connection seems to work ok as well.

Here's the problem. I have a Google Mesh wifi system (newly purchased) connected to one of the lan ports on their router and I set it up with its own ssid. I am able to connect to it but there are many disconnects. I have also connected the Google Mesh wifi router directly to the poe connector and it has trouble staying connected there too. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can keep the connection from dropping?

My "tech guy" has been here several times and he has run out of ideas.

As a side note, once this is resolved, I hope to add an outside connection using a gateway hub and access point. I only mention that in case this would conflict with any offered solutions. But if I need help on this connection, I will create a new post.

I look forward to hearing any suggestions that may help to resolve this issue. Thank you in advance.
Do all types of your devices like phones and tablets disconnect from the Mesh wifi or is it just a limited number for devices? If they are Windows devices, windows is famous for having Power Options and Device Manager Power Management options that will disconnect the windows device from wifi whenever windows decides that it wants to save power. So these options have to be manually changed so that the device's wifi is always on and connected.
 
If the zyxel router worked ok why did you buy a mesh system. Mesh systems are mostly marketing garbage. If you are using it as a wireless repeater the problem generally is inproper placement of the remote unit. You do not just place it in the remote room that has poor coverage it will get the same bad signal from the main router and then repeat it making it even worse.
 
Sep 2, 2022
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The zyxel router works ok but has NO range at all. And I had the mesh system first. It was working well with my previous isp but I switched providers because the download speed was only 3 or 4 mbps. So I have the choice of that or switching to faster speeds but no range or poor connections. And btw I really like the range I get with the Google mesh system. But it is not working well with the zyxel. Or something’s not set up right.
 
It is more likely you are just using different radio channels on the zyxel and the mesh. The range the signal goes is function of radio power and almost all modern router put out very close to the legal maximum. When they are tested in a controlled environment they all pretty much perform the same. It tends to be impossible to figure out why some routers work differently in different houses. This is why you see every router rated as great and piece of crap. There is no way to predict how any router will work in any house.

I would first try changing the channels the zyxel is using maybe you get better coverage.

Now in theory you should be able to use the mesh system just like you did before. I will assume you have all the units located in exactly the same place. What I would first see is if you can put the zyxel device into bridge/modem mode. Not sure what the device on the roof is can you plug your pc directly into the port on the poe adapters the zyxel is plugged into. If that function you should be able to plug the mesh system in and not use the zyxel.

So even if you can't put the zyxel into bridge mode it should not have any affect on your mesh system. All I can think about is maybe the wifi is interfering. I guess you could try turning off the wifi radios in the zyxel and just pretend it is a modem. Running router behind router is not optimum but you likely do not have a public IP on a 4g radio connection anyway. This is a port forwarding issue for some games but doesn't matter when you don't have a public IP to start with.
 
Sep 2, 2022
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Thx for the quick replies. So to clarify, my previous wifi system was a modem connected directly to my mesh router and I didn't see any dropped connections. This new isp has provided their router which I do not have access to. And I did do what u suggested - I connected my mesh direct (bypassing the zyxel). Thought that if there was any interference, that would solve it. But I still got dropped connections. I looked at the logs and saw a total of 17 outages for over 60 hours just in the month of August (that's total - with the zyxel and without).
 
Sep 2, 2022
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I had one thought but didn't want to make the change in case I made a real mess. The zyxel is broadcasting a ssid. I set up Google mesh to use its own ssid just to keep things separate. Would it be better (or even possible) to set up the Google mesh to use the zyxel ssid?
 
Sep 2, 2022
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OK - good to know. Glad I didn't try this. So now that that's all clarified, I guess I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the dropped connections. Any ideas as to what I can do?
 
Your problem is it can be dropping between the main unit and the remote unit or between the remote unit and the pc. Maybe the pc is attempting to switch between the 2.

Hard to say you get very little information from these units as to what is going on.

Normally I recommend this as a very last option. You will be much better off using a ethernet cable to the remote room and hooking up one of the mesh units as a simple AP. I assume that is not a option but you can also consider MoCA if you have coax cable in both rooms or powerline networks. Both take the place of the ethernet and solve the issue of the wifi connection between the remote radio and the primary router
 
Sep 2, 2022
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Unfortunately I can't wire an ethernet cable to the remote unit as there is no ethernet connection on the device. The older Google mesh devices had ethernet ports on them. I do have the option of returning the mesh system and getting something else. I have done extenders before but they can sometimes be hard to configure properly. I liked the Google mesh system because it was kind of "plug n play". Someone recommended TP-Link Deco as a replacement but I may run into the same problem - don't know.
 
So do you have a ethernet cable. I would use the zytel as the main router and then the google device that is the router and use it as a AP. Even if it does not have ap mode you can make it run as a AP by turning off the DHCP function and assign a IP to the lan that does not conflict with the zytel. You would then connect to a lan port rather than the wan. You would not use the other google mesh unit
 
Sep 2, 2022
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I am on the Google Home app and am trying to change from dhcp to static ip. The msg tells me that I must disconnect the ethernet cable from the wifi point and when the light turns amber, the wifi point is offline. But it never changes color. It also tells me to be sure that I'm connected to the google mesh network, but don't see how that can happen when it's offline. Sorry - I am so lost.
 
Not sure about using the app. Try using a ethernet cable and the web browser.

You want to change the lan IP to something like 192.168.x.200. The x will be based on what your zytel is using. You also want to disable the dhcp server function in the google device. Just be sure to change the IP first. In most cases the router will give you pc a new IP. Then when you disable the DHCP function your pc will already have a IP.

These fancy device that want to use silly apps can be a pain to setup in a way not commonly used by most people. A cheap router that has AP mode tends to be the simple way.
 
Sep 2, 2022
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OK - I have to be honest. I'm a little confused. So I have some questions. I think I can make the changes but I'm not understanding the final results.

You stated - I would use the zytel as the main router and then the google device that is the router and use it as a AP.
- does this mean I would lose the ssid from the Google mesh? I do not have any access to the zyxel router (isp controlled)

You stated - You would not use the other google mesh unit
- so where does my Google router/ap device get located? Ethernet connection to the zyxel router? I don't see how this extends the range. Or placed in the other room?

I do have the zyxel's dhcp pool - it is 192.168.86.20 === 192.168.86.250.
 
So the best IP would be something like 192.168.86.2 or maybe 192.168.86.10.

You will use the zytel as your main router and your google mesh router as the AP. You will place the google router in the remote location. It will get the internet via ethernet in the remote room and send out the signal over wifi
You have a choice. You can set the google router to use the same ssid as the zytel or your can set the zytel to use the google router ssid. You of course could just make up a new ssid and put it on both device.

In effect what you are doing is building your own "mesh" system. You could have used a very cheap router as the remote AP. The marketing guys just want to make you think mesh is something special. When you use ethernet cables to hook up the remote AP you are doing what has been and is done in large companies since the very beginning of wifi. It is nothing new even though home users never heard about it before. The only reason you would really want/need a mesh system is when you can't use a wired connection to connect the nodes. Then mesh is using a wifi repeater system. The older repeaters did much the same function before they renamed them mesh. No large company uses wifi repeater/mesh systems they all run wired connections to AP.
 
Sep 2, 2022
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OK. I kinda thought that was what u had in mind. I can't easily do cabling in our house. Also, I have other Google mesh ap's that I want to use - upstairs, workshop. So I really wanted to go wireless.

In the past, I have used a repeater. But then I had my own router connected to the isp's modem and so had total control. I don't have that now. I am now connected to a router that is outside of my control.

Maybe I've got as good a wifi as I can get??
 
Key to any repeater/mesh system is placement of the remote unit. It is all trial and error. It must be placed so it gets a strong signal from the main unit but can still send the repeated signal to the remote room. It does not go in the remote room like a lot of the marketing garbage shows.
If it was a large open building it would go 1/2 way. When there are wall/ceilings etc all you can do is try things and see how well they work. There is no predicting how wifi will interact with the materials the house is build out of.

If you still get nowhere you could consider powerline network or Moca if you have coax cables to use in place of a ethernet cable.
 
Sep 2, 2022
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OK - I will try different locations for the remote ap and see if I can improve on the disconnects. I will also do some research on a powerlink network.

I thank u very much for your time. I truly appreciate all of your helpful suggestions. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!