Apple devices cannot connect to the 5Ghz network

[carluchouk]

Currently running Merlin 388.1 on my AX88U. Both bands are "on" (2 & 5Gz) however for some reason neither my iPhone 13 Pro, or my wife's, or my MacBook Pro M1, or the MacBook Air cannot view the 5gz network. Other devices in the house (ie Samsung TVs), can view it and connect with no problems.

This is what I have done to try to troubleshoot it.
- I upgraded to the latest Merlin firmware
- Disabled and re-enabled the 5Ghz Band
- Disabled 160mhz
- Tried only with 20, 20/40, 20/40/80, etc. No change.
- Forced control and extension channels to other channels without interference. (36C-40E)

The twist, which I guess has something to do with that, is where I am at the moment.
I bought my router in Spain worked fine for many years. 1 month ago I moved to Indonesia, thats when the problem started
Reading online I through it might be related to region restrictions, and still believe that might be the cause, however, why do other devices see it?
For instance, I found the documentation of the allowed channels and frequencies in Indonesia, there is a substantial overlap with EU, so I made sure to force those channels, still nothing.
The TVs are bought here (indonesia) and it appears Indonesian devices have no problem connecting, but our other devices Apple (EU) are the ones experiencing the issues.

Id appreciate any help or pointers you could provide. Happy to provide any dumps or screenshots that might be useful to help diagnose this.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Currently running Merlin 388.1 on my AX88U. Both bands are "on" (2 & 5Gz) however for some reason neither my iPhone 13 Pro, or my wife's, or my MacBook Pro M1, or the MacBook Air can view the 5gz network. Other devices in the house (ie Samsung TVs, can view it and connect with no problems).

This is what I have done to try to troubleshoot it.
- I upgraded to the latest Merlin firmware
- Disabled and re-enabled the 5Ghz Band
- Disabled 160mhz
- Tried only with 20, 20/40, 20/40/80, etc. No change.
- Forced control and extension channels to other channels without interference. (36C-40E)

The twist, which I guess has something to do with that, is where I am at the moment.
I bought my router in Spain worked fine for many years. 1 month ago I moved to Indonesia, thats when the problem started
Reading online I through it might be related to region restrictions, and still believe that might be the cause, however, why do other devices see it?
For instance, I found the documentation of the allowed channels and frequencies in Indonesia, there is a substantial overlap with EU, so I made sure to force those channels, still nothing.
The TVs are bought here (indonesia) and it appears Indonesian devices have no problem connecting, but our other devices Apple (EU) are the ones experiencing the issues.

Id appreciate any help or pointers you could provide. Happy to provide any dumps or screenshots that might be useful to help diagnose this.

Make yours look like this:

 

[John Fitzgerald]

This could be an Apple issue:

Have you gone into the phone and reset the network? (this is where all previous network settings are deleted and you enter from scratch)

OR

"Forget This Network" and start over?

EDIT:

Was the SIM or eSIM updated to the new country: Indonesia from previous Spain?

 

[carluchouk]

Make yours look like this:

View attachment 46616View attachment 46617

Make yours look like this:

View attachment 46616View attachment 46617

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, tried them both, rebooted and no difference unfortunately : (

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, tried them both, rebooted and no difference unfortunately : (

Does the AX88U have a "Region" selection option? Some on this site have mentioned one.
Have you tried changing that, guessing that the ISP needs to see you are in region specific compliance.

EDIT: What does the phone do on 2G band?

 

[John Fitzgerald]

I upgraded to the latest Merlin firmware

Many are having issues on the 388.1 Firmware.

If you have not done a "Factory Default Reset" after the firmware upgrade and entered all your setting from scratch, it may be time to do so.

 

[Clark Griswald]

Zero issues with Apple products in my environment.

 

[carluchouk]

This could be an Apple issue:

Have you gone into the phone and reset the network? (this is where all previous network settings are deleted and you enter from scratch)

OR

"Forget This Network" and start over?

EDIT:

Was the SIM or eSIM updated to the new country: Indonesia from previous Spain?

Good suggestion but It's a tricky one. I say "Apple" because well, I mostly have EU bought apple devices. Coincidentally the non-apple devices are all bought here, so cannot isolate that test. I will try doing a network reset but not very hopeful as that wont be applicable to the Mac laptops. Will report

 

[carluchouk]

Many are having issues on the 388.1 Firmware.

If you have not done a "Factory Default Reset" after the firmware upgrade and entered all your setting from scratch, it may be time to do so.

Ok will try and report.

 

[tgl]

This sure sounds like a region-settings-compatibility problem to me. I don't have a lot of personal experience with that, but some googling suggests that Apple devices should auto-sync to the appropriate region if you have them configured to allow the wifi code to use Location Services. See Settings>Privacy>Location Services>System Services>Networking & Wireless (title might vary depending on iOS version).

A less likely possibility is that the router doesn't have the right region setting. I'm doubting that because your Indonesian-purchased TVs are working, but it shouldn't be ruled out altogether at this stage.

 

[carluchouk]

Ok, status update. I tried the following, all with no effect. Having said that, I am nearly positive now that is has something to do with the regions, and maybe Apple being very overzealous as to how it treats an EU frequency outside the allowed zone.

Actions / Tests
- Factory Reset @John Fitzgerald
- Enable the two separate radios with unique SSDs (new names too just in case)
- To start, the samsung device did not recognise it, it was on channel 130 I believe.
- Modified it to be on band 20, 36C and Samsung devices could now see it, apple devices nothing.
- Only recently the law changed in Indonesia to allow 36-40 MHz, otherwise it needs to be above 149Mhz.
- I dont believe its possible to change regions, hence im suck in EU bands of which the only overlap is 36-40.
- Network settings reset on iOS, nothing. @John Fitzgerald
- Forgot to mention that my Ring alarm base station (EU) can view and connect to the 5Gz SSID, further narrowing Apple products
- Location services all already enabled on iOS. @tgl

@John Fitzgerald where is the usual location for region settings? The only thing I could see remotely related is the Timezone settings which are currently set Singapore/KL (my timezone), and NTP set to pool.ntp.org. Thats about all I could find relating to "Regions"

Unfortunately it seems im going to have to buy a new router here. So frustrating having to own another AX88Us when the existing one is perfectly fine, not to mention they cost about 1.5x what they do in US/EU....

Merry Xmas to all of you that observe it, thanks for all the advice given, and for the ones to come

 

[carluchouk]

Ok.. so I fixed the issue, indeed it had to do with iOS having a very strict protocol based on Geo and Frequencies.
I did what I had to do with the NVRAM settings....

Thanks all for your help.

 

[tgl]

Ok.. so I fixed the issue, indeed it had to do with iOS having a very strict protocol based on Geo and Frequencies.

Great! For the sake of the next poor sod dealing with something similar, could you detail exactly what you needed to change and where you changed it?