Question Some devices not getting Internet connection ?

[spagettilegs]

I have a Fritzbox router and 5 Unifi IP's connected to it. Recently, all mobile devices stopped connecting to the wifi and the Unifi AP's. My Macbook, Imac and Alexa devices can see, connect and use the internet. All mobile devices and tablets cannot. I can see the networks on my iphone and when I connect I immediately get a tick to say it's connected but no 'bars' that would show signal strength.

I've tried all the usual stuff.....forgetting the network, reconnecting, resetting the iphones network settings...restarting the router, nothing has worked.
I created a 'guest wifi and everything can connect to that as normal, just not the main WiFi and Unifi AP's.

My question is, what would cause this? Why does the new guest WiFi work and not the main WiFi? Hhow can I get my mobile devices to be able to connect?

Thanks in advance

 

[Ralston18]

Do you mean Unifi AP (Access Point)?

The objective being that the Main Wifi is accessible by your devices only and the the Guest WiFi network is for guest devices only. Those Guest devices using the Unifi units....

Correct?

This router:

https://en.avm.de/products/fritzbox/fritzbox-6850-5g/technical-specifications/

These Unifi devices:

https://dl.ubnt.com/guides/UniFi/USG_QSG.pdf

How are the devices connected and configured?

For example: The router (provided I found the correct router) has only 4 LAN ports to serve 5 Unifi units.

Are there other devices involved - e.g.,a switch? What about a modem?

Are you able to provide a simple sketch showing all devices and connections? Include the IP address/subnet masks for each device. What devices are DHCP IP adddresses and what devices are Static IP addresses.

Guest WiFi devices would be DHCP. I would expect the Unifi units to be Static IPs

Hopefully just a configuration error of omission or commission with respect to physical connections and/or network configuration settings.

More information needed.

 

[spagettilegs]

The Fritzbox in question is the 7530. https://en.avm.de/products/fritzbox/fritzbox-7530/technical-data/
The Unifi devixes are https://eu.store.ui.com/eu/en/colle...t/products/uap-ac-lite?variant=uap-ac-lite-eu

The setup is as follows:
I have one ethernet cable out from the Fritzbox to a 16 port switch, which sends the signal to my office, TV room etc. It also goes to two separate Unifi AP's downstairs and to another switch up stairs which goes to the other AP's. I think the physical setup is ok as it's worked up until recently, but I could be wrong.

The Unifi AP's are not showing up on the router as connected, in fact not at all as far I can see. It's hard to tell as the disconnected devices amount to a couple of hundred. According to the Unifi controller software, the AP's are connected to various devices around the house and appear to be functioning as normal, just not connecting to the router which suprises me as it's the router that assigned the AP's the IP address so they are DCHP and not static.

I did a conflict check on all the IP addresses of the AP's and there doesn't seem to be anything else on the system with the same IP's.

Router - 192.168.178.1
AP 1 - 192.168.178.57
AP 2 - 192.168.178.56
AP 3 - 192.168.178.42
AP 4 - 192.168.178.49
AP 5 - 192.168.178.52

I did wonder if the AP's are having issues because the main WiFi, not the guest, is having an issue connecting to any of my problem devices.

Thanks for the help

 

[kanewolf]

The Fritzbox in question is the 7530. https://en.avm.de/products/fritzbox/fritzbox-7530/technical-data/
The Unifi devixes are https://eu.store.ui.com/eu/en/colle...t/products/uap-ac-lite?variant=uap-ac-lite-eu

The setup is as follows:
I have one ethernet cable out from the Fritzbox to a 16 port switch, which sends the signal to my office, TV room etc. It also goes to two separate Unifi AP's downstairs and to another switch up stairs which goes to the other AP's. I think the physical setup is ok as it's worked up until recently, but I could be wrong.

The Unifi AP's are not showing up on the router as connected, in fact not at all as far I can see. It's hard to tell as the disconnected devices amount to a couple of hundred. According to the Unifi controller software, the AP's are connected to various devices around the house and appear to be functioning as normal, just not connecting to the router which suprises me as it's the router that assigned the AP's the IP address so they are DCHP and not static.

I did a conflict check on all the IP addresses of the AP's and there doesn't seem to be anything else on the system with the same IP's.

Router - 192.168.178.1
AP 2 - 192.168.178.56
AP 3 - 192.168.178.42
AP 4 - 192.168.178.49
AP 5 - 192.168.178.52

I did wonder if the AP's are having issues because the main WiFi, not the guest, is having an issue connecting to any of my problem devices.

Thanks for the help

If your APs are all wired to the primary router, do you have wireless uplink DISABLED? If not you can have loops in your network.
With 5 APs you should run the UniFI controller software to configure them rather than using the phone APP in a standalone mode.

 

[Ralston18]

No IP conflicts but one AP (AP 1) seems to be missing.....

You also mentioned 5 Unifi APs: where, if anywhere, is AP 1 (?)

Noted two APs downstairs and three APs upstairs.

AP 1 IP address?

May be just a typo or oversight but felt compelled to at least ask.

 

[spagettilegs]

Apologies. I did leave out one! Uplinks not disabled and I use the main software for managing the system. The phone version is a bit bare boned.

 

[Ralston18]

This:

"just not connecting to the router which suprises me as it's the router that assigned the AP's the IP address so they are DCHP and not static."

= = = =

If there are lots of devices (disconnected or otherwise) then it is very likely that there are IP addresses being duplicated. Devices looking for an AP will become "confused" if the AP's IP addresses keep changing or other conflicts/duplicates occur.

Problematic if the wireless device is moving around between APs. Whose DHCP IP addresses could also be changing and/or duplicating.

You can gain a different perspective via the ARP tables..... Run "arp /a" without quotes via the Command Prompt.

FYI:

https://kinsta.com/knowledgebase/what-is-arp/

You can easily find other similar readings and tutorials.

Match devices, IPs (Static, DHCP), MACs. Doing so will provide some sense of the network and hosted devices.

= = = =

As I understand the environment the APs should all be configured with Static IP addresses reserved by AP MAC. The AP User Guide/Manuals should provide instruction about how to configure the AP with a Static IP. The router's documentation should also help.

Use a specific range of Static IP addresses that are outside of the allowed DHCP IP address range.

For example: the Router's IP address is 192168.178.1.

Consider Static IP addresses reserved by MAC for the APs using

AP1 = 192.168.178.11
AP2 = 192.168.178.12
AP3 = 192.168.178.13

----See the pattern? ---

Also leaves room for a couple more APs if needed.

Then use 192.168.178.20 to 192.168.178.29 for other network devices requiring a Static IP address. Printers, NAS, scanners, etc.. Likewise use the device MACs.

Lastly, establish an allowed DHCP IP address from 192.168.178. 30 to 192.168.178. X where X would result in a DHCP IP address range large enough to provide addresses to the expected number of DHCP devices and a few extra devices.

Many ways to set up such configurations. Just plan it out beforehand. Make a list.

Fairly straightforward to determine the nature of any given device simply by its' IP range and/or IP address.

 

[spagettilegs]

Great information. Thanks