Asus XT8 - Trobleshoot smartphone connection

[thegios]

I have a fiber modem from my carrier and a dual node XT8 mesh system. Node 1 WAN port is connected to one of the modem LAN port. Node 2 is connected to node 1 through dedicated wireless backbone. Only one SSID.

I am trying to troubleshoot what happens to my phone (MAC 6E:F1:74:5D:46:72) because recently Google Home presence sensing is going havoc.
Let me explain... I have a Nest Camera (made by Google) that is suppoosed to be automatically turned on or off depending if no one is at home or at least one is at home.
Both myself and my wife have the Google Home app where both phones are registered for presence sensing.
Presence sensing is using GPS LOCATION and WIFI CONNECTION: a phone is considered at home is either within the home's addess geofencing or connected to the home registered wifi network.
For the phone to be considered as away (not at home) both geofencing and wifi connection must fail. BOTH!

Recently the Google Home app has been detecting, a few times per day, my phone as being away. ONLY MY PHONE, not my wife's.
Now the probability that a few times per day, for my phone only, both geofencing and wifi connectioin fail at the same time is almost null.

By sending the logs to Google they answered back that the logs for the times I noted the problematic location point to an "unstable connection" being the root cause. They found my location rapidly entering and exiting the mome geofence while my Wi-Fi connection is quickly disconnecting and reconnecting.
Again, I doubt that both conditions may fail AT THE SAME TIME and A FEW TIMES PER DAY, yet I decided to have a look at the modem logs.

This morning I woke up and looked at the Google Home app action history and found out that tonight my phone was detected as away at 01:05 and at home again at 01:11.

In the logs this is all I found about my phone's MAC between 11:04 and 11:13

Dec 6 01:04:17 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(662): eth5: Disassoc 6E:F1:74:5D:46:72, status: 0, reason: Disassociated because sending station is leaving (or has left) BSS (8), rssi:0
Dec 6 01:04:17 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(645): eth5: Deauth_ind 6E:F1:74:5D:46:72, status: 0, reason: Deauthenticated because sending station is leaving (or has left) IBSS or ESS (3), rssi:0
Dec 6 01:04:20 kernel: Can't add zero mac!
...
Dec 6 01:05:43 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(685): eth5: Auth 6E:F1:74:5D:46:72, status: Successful (0), rssi:0
Dec 6 01:05:43 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(722): eth5: Assoc 6E:F1:74:5D:46:72, status: Successful (0), rssi:-70
Dec 6 01:05:43 kernel: Can't add zero mac!
...
Dec 6 01:07:12 roamast: determine candidate node [6A:BF:B8:267:11](rssi: -56dbm) for client [6E:F1:74:5D:46:72](rssi: -67dbm from client)(rssi: -71dbm from ap) to roam
Dec 6 01:07:12 roamast: Roam a client [6E:F1:74:5D:46:72], status [0]
Dec 6 01:07:19 kernel: Can't add zero mac!
...

Could someone explain what this means?
Does this mean my phone is kicked out of the wifi at 01:04 and back in at 11:05?
And what happens instead at 11:07?
What does "cant add zero mac" mean?

Also, I still do not believe that disconnection from home wifi is the REAL problem for the wrong location detection of my phone by the Google Home app, for two reasons
1- if phone disconnects from wifi, tehre is still the GPS geofencing (and again, it's almost impossible that gps fails at the same time many times per day)
2- if I configure presence sensing to use only GPS geofencing (so, no wifi) the problem still happens

Any help, suggestion, tip would be very much appreciated

 

[Ripshod]

Different router but I feel the cause will be the same

After Upgrade to 3006.102.5: "Can't Add Zero Mac!"

Router: BE86U Firmware Version: 3006.102.5 I've upgraded the firmware from the previous version and now I keep getting the message below. There's no other information or errors. Why is this happening? How can I troubleshoot and find out what's causing it? Thanks. Log: Aug 5 12:24:02...

www.snbforums.com

 

[thegios]

Different router but I feel the cause will be the same

After Upgrade to 3006.102.5: "Can't Add Zero Mac!"

Router: BE86U Firmware Version: 3006.102.5 I've upgraded the firmware from the previous version and now I keep getting the message below. There's no other information or errors. Why is this happening? How can I troubleshoot and find out what's causing it? Thanks. Log: Aug 5 12:24:02...

www.snbforums.com

Well zero Mac is one thing, then there's also "Disassociated because sending station is leaving".

Not sure if things are related.

 

[Ripshod]

To me the disassociation messages are just background noise. I see them all the time (in my case a Lenovo tablet), and as they cause me no problems in real life use I just ignore them.

 

[degrub]

wifi and other RF signals ( GPS, FM radio, etc.) are not uniform blankets that we often think of them as being. Close, but not quite. If you have ever been driving and reached the edge of a broadcast area for a FM radio station where you hear the station get fuzzy with static and drop out and come back, you will know what i mean. If i remember correctly, GPS requires minimum "view" of 3 or more satellite signals. LTE triangulation needs minimum 3 as well . The home wifi only needs one radio connection from the client above the minimum power level (-dB) . All RF signals are vulnerable to reflections, absorption, and interference from other electronics. Remember hearing a "pop" of static on your AM radio when a electric motor started ? For example, i have one spot, a rough cube actually, in my kitchen where 2 of my AP signals or the client radio signal is insufficient for a successful wifi communication. If i move a foot in any direction , the radios establish connection again.

So all of the messages and the drop out of geofencing (GPS + LTE ? ) and wifi on your phone while inside your house are not surprising. The client wifi radio determines when to switch between AP radios on your two XT boxes. You may have a "force client to roam if RSSI drops below -70 dB" default setting in the config. Perfectly normal and this is used to encourage the client device to look for another wifi station to communicate with as clients like to hang onto an existing connection. Maybe tweaking that value, if available to you in the config, to -75 dB would still allow decent communication ?

The phone's radio is often a weaker broadcaster than the wifi AP it is trying to connect to .
Are your wife's phone and yours the same model ?
You could try putting your phone overnight near the location she keeps hers and see if the same issue occurs. Or just put yours where you get better signal level at the XT unit.

Putting your phone near a window may help with detecting GPS and LTE signals.

Regarding the ZERO MAC notification, here are some things to look at -

After Upgrade to 3006.102.5: "Can't Add Zero Mac!"

Router: BE86U Firmware Version: 3006.102.5 I've upgraded the firmware from the previous version and now I keep getting the message below. There's no other information or errors. Why is this happening? How can I troubleshoot and find out what's causing it? Thanks. Log: Aug 5 12:24:02...

www.snbforums.com

 

[thegios]

wifi and other RF signals ( GPS, FM radio, etc.) are not uniform blankets that we often think of them as being. Close, but not quite. If you have ever been driving and reached the edge of a broadcast area for a FM radio station where you hear the station get fuzzy with static and drop out and come back, you will know what i mean. If i remember correctly, GPS requires minimum "view" of 3 or more satellite signals. LTE triangulation needs minimum 3 as well . The home wifi only needs one radio connection from the client above the minimum power level (-dB) . All RF signals are vulnerable to reflections, absorption, and interference from other electronics. Remember hearing a "pop" of static on your AM radio when a electric motor started ? For example, i have one spot, a rough cube actually, in my kitchen where 2 of my AP signals or the client radio signal is insufficient for a successful wifi communication. If i move a foot in any direction , the radios establish connection again.

So all of the messages and the drop out of geofencing (GPS + LTE ? ) and wifi on your phone while inside your house are not surprising. The client wifi radio determines when to switch between AP radios on your two XT boxes. You may have a "force client to roam if RSSI drops below -70 dB" default setting in the config. Perfectly normal and this is used to encourage the client device to look for another wifi station to communicate with as clients like to hang onto an existing connection. Maybe tweaking that value, if available to you in the config, to -75 dB would still allow decent communication ?

The phone's radio is often a weaker broadcaster than the wifi AP it is trying to connect to .
Are your wife's phone and yours the same model ?
You could try putting your phone overnight near the location she keeps hers and see if the same issue occurs. Or just put yours where you get better signal level at the XT unit.

Putting your phone near a window may help with detecting GPS and LTE signals.

Regarding the ZERO MAC notification, here are some things to look at -

After Upgrade to 3006.102.5: "Can't Add Zero Mac!"

Router: BE86U Firmware Version: 3006.102.5 I've upgraded the firmware from the previous version and now I keep getting the message below. There's no other information or errors. Why is this happening? How can I troubleshoot and find out what's causing it? Thanks. Log: Aug 5 12:24:02...

www.snbforums.com

I understand all this, but what drives me crazy is that all has been working fine with Google Home app presence sensing for years, then suddenly I started having these false/wrong away detections.
This happens under two scenarios for presence sensing:
- 1 - only gps geofencing
- 2- gps + wifi

Under scenario 2 I understand it is perfectly normnal that either gpos or wifi fails, but again the probability this happens at the same time and multiple times per day is close to null. After all, if gps fails the wifi is tehre as a backup, and if wifi fails the gps is there as a backup, so for Google Home to detect me as away both must necessarily fail at the same time.

Under scenario 1 I get the same problem, and in any case this has worked for years.

I am clueless...

 

[degrub]

software/firmware update - client device or wifi stations, perhaps recently before issues started ?
Had any lightning or power issues before the wifi issues started ?

Both phones are the same generation and/or model ?

Perhaps, both GPS and wifi signal are "failing" at the same location ?

Power to wifi radios does degrade over time. Radios are sensitive to insufficient power delivery. Both internally on the motherboard or at the wall plug. Perhaps a wall brick power supply is weakening ? You could try swapping the wall brick between the two units. Replacements bricks are possible. Hardest is to get the matching DC power plug tip diameter and polarity on the XT unit end.

 

[thegios]

software/firmware update - client device or wifi stations, perhaps recently before issues started ?

Problem started after Google home app itself updated migrating from routines to automations.

Had any lightning or power issues before the wifi issues started ?

No

Both phones are the same generation and/or model ?

Mine Android, wife's iPhone

Perhaps, both GPS and wifi signal are "failing" at the same location ?

For years all has been fine.

Power to wifi radios does degrade over time. Radios are sensitive to insufficient power delivery. Both internally on the motherboard or at the wall plug. Perhaps a wall brick power supply is weakening ? You could try swapping the wall brick between the two units. Replacements bricks are possible. Hardest is to get the matching DC power plug tip diameter and polarity on the XT unit end.

The problem happens also if only gps is enabled for presence sensing.
I start thinking it's a power saving feature in the phone, I'm going to disable adaptive battery.
Wonder why hasn't been a problem for years...

 

[degrub]

i would file a "bug/change of behavior" report if possible with Google. And disable GPS trigger for presence sensing. You may get a few false alarms out in the yard if the wifi doesn't reach that far. You may also have to change the roaming setting to a lower power (-75 dB instead of -70 dB or whatever it is ) or work on improving wifi coverage.

"The problem happens also if only gps is enabled for presence sensing."

"Problem started after Google home app itself updated migrating from routines to automations."

 

[thegios]

i would file a "bug/change of behavior" report if possible with Google. And disable GPS trigger for presence sensing. You may get a few false alarms out in the yard if the wifi doesn't reach that far.

"The problem happens also if only gps is enabled for presence sensing."

"Problem started after Google home app itself updated migrating from routines to automations."

I did... I did... To no avail... As a Senior IT Services and Delivery Manager I can tell you that Google support is useless if not dangerous...

Not possible to di disable GPS for presence sensing