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I can't connect all my wifi devices at the same time

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paquechu

New Around Here
Hello,

I have a 50 MB fiber connection with an RT-AC86U router (currently with the latest version of merlin at the moment) and I am having connection problems with my devices. The truth is that I have enough; In addition to the 4 computers that are used in my house normally, one nas, 4 mobile phones and other gossip such as video game consoles, cleaning robot and the odd thing that escapes my memory at the moment, I have a increasing number of "Internet of Things" (IoT) devices connected (16 at the moment).

I never get these devices connected all at the same time, there are always some that cannot be connected to the network. I have doubts about whether the problem comes from the number of maximum Wi-Fi connections that the router can support or perhaps from saturation of total connections. In the event that the router had a maximum of supported Wi-Fi connections,

I have read that this problem would occur only if the devices are connected via DHCP, but I assign these devices an IP manually and the problem still occurs. I have also read what I was commenting before the router could collapse due to having so many concurrent connections.

I don't have much knowledge in communications and that's why I raise this problem that I have in this forum.

I would like to CLARIFY once and for all where the problem is:

* Is the router's Wi-Fi connection capacity problem independent of whether they occur via DHCP or not?
* Is it a router saturation problem?
* What may be the cause of these problems?
* Is there any solution?

Thank you very much and sorry for the extension of the post.
 
You haven't actually said what the "connection problems" are. Please describe the symptoms and any error messages.
 
Hi Colin,

I find it difficult to detail what happens because I don't know much about networking.

What I observe is that if I have 17 Wi-Fi devices running, all configured with fixed ip, I never see everyone connected on the router.

These devices are ESP8266 microcontrollers with a web server booted and connected by Wi-Fi to my local network.

With the passage of time some disconnect or I think so because I do not see them in the router's connected list and at another time I do see them connected but then other devices are missing than before if they were connected.

Also, if I try to access the IoT that appear in the router's connected list, there is no problem, everything is going well, but if I try it with those that do not appear, I cannot connect with them, so I think they have lost the connection.

This has happened to me with several routers and I thought that with another more powerful one like the RT-AC86U my problems would be solved but I remain the same. My last move has been to install the merlin firmware (I thought I see that it supports up to 300,000 tcp connections).

If you need any more specific information I can send it to you.

Thank you very much for your prompt response.

Greetings.
 
The number of TCP connections should not be an issue. There was another post about the ESP8266 here but in his case it looked like he was having problems connecting more than 32 devices to each band.
 
Most IoT devices only connect when they need to - at other times they are sleeping. The fact you can't access them when they don't display in the router means they are not connected - but that doesn't mean they aren't working. You've also tried a few routers from other companies so that adds further weight to the point that they may be asleep. The real question that you should consider is do any of wifi devices not work properly? If they aren't then you have a problem - if they work fine then there is no problem?
 
The number of TCP connections should not be an issue. There was another post about the ESP8266 here but in his case it looked like he was having problems connecting more than 32 devices to each band.

Hi Colin,

I have reviewed this post, and the problem is very similar to mine, it seems that the problem could be in the code of the ESP8266 although finally there is nothing clear.

I will check the code again to see if I find a possible fault.

Thank you very much for your time Colin, I am very grateful.

If I find the solution I will publish it here.

Greetings :)
 
Most IoT devices only connect when they need to - at other times they are sleeping. The fact you can't access them when they don't display in the router means they are not connected - but that doesn't mean they aren't working. You've also tried a few routers from other companies so that adds further weight to the point that they may be asleep. The real question that you should consider is do any of wifi devices not work properly? If they aren't then you have a problem - if they work fine then there is no problem?

Hi vk2him,

It is as you say, the devices continue to function and fulfill their function, but they seem to lose the connection to the network. I do not do any sleeping management for energy saving, the ESPs are connected to the electric current of my house.

As I said to Colin, I am going to review the code for the management of network connections ... and if I find the solution, I will comment.

Thank you :)
 
Static IP or DHCP assigned should not make a difference as long as the assignment range is large enough to cover the number of devices. Static IP assigned at the device level should be outside the DHCP assignment range. I have roughly 40 devices that connect to a single router. Some wired, some wifi, some static, some DHCP.

Note: the network map of the router should not be considered reliable, if that is what you are basing your issue on.

Another possible issue you should confirm is that there are no ip address conflicts due to either the same IP assigned manually to more than one device, or a static IP that is in the DHCP range.

Checking the system logs, if available, for devices that drop off the network may turn up something as well as the router system log.
 
Are all your connection problems on only the 2.5 ghz band? If so see if you have “airtime fairness” disabled in the professional tab under wifi. I know I had issues with my printer and other IoT when I had it enabled. Now with it disabled everything have been good.
 
Static IP or DHCP assigned should not make a difference as long as the assignment range is large enough to cover the number of devices. Static IP assigned at the device level should be outside the DHCP assignment range. I have roughly 40 devices that connect to a single router. Some wired, some wifi, some static, some DHCP.

Note: the network map of the router should not be considered reliable, if that is what you are basing your issue on.

Another possible issue you should confirm is that there are no ip address conflicts due to either the same IP assigned manually to more than one device, or a static IP that is in the DHCP range.

Checking the system logs, if available, for devices that drop off the network may turn up something as well as the router system log.

Hi dosborne,

I am clear about the different IP ranges that I want to assign with DHCP and the ones I want with static IP. I think this is not the problem.

On the other hand, I have seen that the connection information that appears on the Network Map and in the system log does not match at all. Thanks for this clarification, it will prevent me from putting more questions in my head :)

The devices have all different IPs, of this I am sure.

I will take a look at the system log for devices that do not connect or disconnect many times.

Thank you very much for your directions :)

Greetings.
 
Are all your connection problems on only the 2.5 ghz band? If so see if you have “airtime fairness” disabled in the professional tab under wifi. I know I had issues with my printer and other IoT when I had it enabled. Now with it disabled everything have been good.

Hi Crazy,

As you say all the problems I am having is with the devices that are connected by Wi-Fi in the 2.4GHz band. I have activated airtime fairness.

I'm going to disable it to see how it behaves.

Thank you.
 
Good Morning,

On Monday of this week, I made two changes to my router configuration:

1.- The change proposed by Crazy, which was to disable the "airtime fairness" feature.

2.- Disable the "roaming assistant" that was configured like this:

Disconnect clients with RSSI lower than -55 dBm
because I don't have any additional access point in my house.

Since then all my devices remain connected.

I will remain attentive ...

Regards :)
 

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