AC87 5GHz + iOS9 weird behaviour

[lurker]

Got some iOS devices with iOS 8.3, public beta 8.4 and one iPad with beta 9.0, AC-87U with 3.0.0.4.378_5134. In a few days after installing iOS 9 periodical full hang-ups of QAntenna started: no 5GHz access point available, no wired connection on port 1 (if all LEDs were switched off, port 1 LED starts blinking). Resetting router helps until the next hang-up in 1-2 days.

Didn't associate it with installing iOS9 first, but eventually recalled it, and after moving iPad to the 2.4 GHz band hang-ups stopped. So I'm waiting now for the new firmare release with updated 5GHz support to check if the problem is still there.

I know that iOS 9 is an early beta, but there was information about changes in iOS 9 wifi support, so it could be a problem for a lot of people eventually.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

I know that iOS 9 is an early beta, but there was information about changes in iOS 9 wifi support, so it could be a problem for a lot of people eventually.

Only if your using the 87U.. That driver they use for the 5GHz radio is wonky and from what i have read here in the forums lot of connection issues.

 

[lurker]

Yes, I meant "for a lot of users of 87U"

 

[LoneWolf]

I think the answer then is to report the issue to Apple, as part of their beta test. As you said, iOS 9 is beta. To me, this is a bug they should look into on their end; if they are made aware, then they can make changes.

There are other routers out there using Quantenna (and Quantenna's drivers), so I'd be surprised if ASUS is the only router with the potential to experience the issue with a beta OS. It is also well known that Apple has had issues with wireless in OS X 10.10 and iOS 8.x that span multiple wireless devices their systems interact with, issues that it took a long time to admit to and work on.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/04/09/apple-ios-8-3-wifried/

http://www.iclarified.com/45619/ios...njour-over-awdl-wifried-fix-released-in-cydia

 

[lurker]

I did report, but do not have great expectation for it - exactly because Apple has a long story of wifi issues. Tested it with iOS 9 beta 2 - situation is the same, about week of flawless work after switching to 2.4 band, full hang-up in two days after returning to 5GHz.

 

[lurker]

Release of iOS 9 brings bad news and good news. The bad one: iPad Air 2 still causes the same freezing of 5 GHz band. The good one: iPhone 6 works ok.

 

[poor_poor]

Release of iOS 9 brings bad news and good news. The bad one: iPad Air 2 still causes the same freezing of 5 GHz band. The good one: iPhone 6 works ok.

Hi Lurker,

Which router firmware are you using?

 

[lurker]

Last release, 3.0.0.4.378.5134.

 

[sfx2000]

Release of iOS 9 brings bad news and good news. The bad one: iPad Air 2 still causes the same freezing of 5 GHz band. The good one: iPhone 6 works ok.

That suggests that it's not iOS 9 - they both (iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2) use very similar chipsets for WiFi - they're broadcom based 11ac - the iPhone 6 is single stream, the Air 2 is 2*2:2...

The earlier problems with iOS 8 (and OSX 10.10.0 thru 10.10.3) was upper layer in the network stack - discoveryd vs. mDNSResponder - Apple has since gone with mDNSResponder in iOS9 as well...

 

[lurker]

The same iPad with iOS 8.x worked with the same 5 GHz band without any problem.

 

[sfx2000]

The same iPad with iOS 8.x worked with the same 5 GHz band without any problem.

No major issues have been reported with 802.11ac and iOS 9 - so something likely local to your site - try resetting the network settings in the iDevice and start over.

 

[lurker]

Because it is not an issue of iOS 9 itself, just combination with qantenna. Perhaps, Air 2 overloads it with its several streams. Still waiting for the new firmware.

 

[poor_poor]

Hi lurker,

You might want to try the latest beta firmware

 

[Jong]

Just to say, I agree there is something very bad about iPad Air 2 and IOS9 with 5Ghz on the ac87u. Tried 378.55 and 378.54_2. Definitely the Air 2 alone (not iPhone 6, iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPad 2, iPad Mini 2) disconnects in sleep mode and then reconnects. Roughly it connects for 40 secs, then you see the Rx rate drop to single figures, then the device is dropped after about another 40 secs, then it reconnects about 1 min later. This goes on and on, so the Merlin log is filled with DHCP requests from this device alone.

I too am seeing the 5Ghz radio fall over with BOOTP messages from the Quantenna chip (Quantenna MAC address) which I'm 90% sure did not happen before IOS9. Could the 2 be related? I wonder if each DHCP allocation uses up a bit of memory in the Quantenna that is not released and that is why the radio eventually falls over? Just a thought.

I would try an Asus beta, but not happy with the battery issues with 8xxx series. If the next beta claims to have fixed those I will give ASUSWRT another spin.

 

[W4RH34D]

No issues here.

BUT nitpicking, most of the time I get about 500mbs connection AC, but lately its been about 120-300 mbit.

I reboot the router once a week and it brings it back to 500 for a while.

 

[lurker]

Good news: looks like after switching to 3.0.0.4.378_9177 and iOS 9.02 the problem has gone. Tested by now for about a week.

 

[Jong]

I agree the crashing of 5Ghz is fixed with 378_9177. But the other, more minor problem, with iPad Air 2 remains - When sleeping it disconnects and reconnects every 3 mins on 5Ghz. Seems exclusively an iPad Air 2 problem though.