iPhone 11 connect issues

[Ola Malmstrom]

I have an AX88U router that works fine for all devices - up until iPhone 11. All other devices work fine; iPhone X and below, Android, as well as all other devices.

The iPhone 11 sometimes connect to the 2.4 GHz band, sometimes to the 5 GHz band. Most of the time, they do NOT automatically reconnect to the 5 GHz band. Sometimes they leave the 5 GHz band and jump to the 2.4 GHz band. Sometimes the other way around.

I don't use Smart Connect. I have tried, but it doesn't make much difference.

The only way I can get the iPhone 11 devices to stay on the 5 GHz band is to put the iPhone 11 devices on the REJECT list for the 2.4 GHz band.

I have very good coverage in my house as well as in my garden using 5 GHz.

Seems like there is some kind of logic built into the iPhone 11 devices. Is there any way this can be changed? I don't really like using the REJECT lists to get the iPhone 11 devices to work as expected.

 

[Wadadli]

I have an AX88U router that works fine for all devices - up until iPhone 11. All other devices work fine; iPhone X and below, Android, as well as all other devices.

The iPhone 11 sometimes connect to the 2.4 GHz band, sometimes to the 5 GHz band. Most of the time, they do NOT automatically reconnect to the 5 GHz band. Sometimes they leave the 5 GHz band and jump to the 2.4 GHz band. Sometimes the other way around.

I don't use Smart Connect. I have tried, but it doesn't make much difference.

The only way I can get the iPhone 11 devices to stay on the 5 GHz band is to put the iPhone 11 devices on the REJECT list for the 2.4 GHz band.

I have very good coverage in my house as well as in my garden using 5 GHz.

Seems like there is some kind of logic built into the iPhone 11 devices. Is there any way this can be changed? I don't really like using the REJECT lists to get the iPhone 11 devices to work as expected.

You"ll have to disable "Private address" on your iPhone. Do a search for "iOS14 private address" for all the info.

 

[Smokey613]

You"ll have to disable "Private address" on your iPhone. Do a search for "iOS14 private address" for all the info.

That was a stupid idea by Apple. It causes nothing but issues on every wifi network I connect to, even my work wifi. I am just glad they provided a way to disable it.

Use private Wi-Fi addresses on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch - Apple Support

To improve privacy, your device uses a different MAC address with each Wi-Fi network.

support.apple.com

 

[Wadadli]

Don't care if it's there or not. It should just default to disabled.

 

[beboptrumpet]

I have an AX88U router that works fine for all devices - up until iPhone 11. All other devices work fine; iPhone X and below, Android, as well as all other devices.

The iPhone 11 sometimes connect to the 2.4 GHz band, sometimes to the 5 GHz band. Most of the time, they do NOT automatically reconnect to the 5 GHz band. Sometimes they leave the 5 GHz band and jump to the 2.4 GHz band. Sometimes the other way around.

I don't use Smart Connect. I have tried, but it doesn't make much difference.

The only way I can get the iPhone 11 devices to stay on the 5 GHz band is to put the iPhone 11 devices on the REJECT list for the 2.4 GHz band.

I have very good coverage in my house as well as in my garden using 5 GHz.

Seems like there is some kind of logic built into the iPhone 11 devices. Is there any way this can be changed? I don't really like using the REJECT lists to get the iPhone 11 devices to work as expected.

I have had this same issue on an AC5300.
actually, the connection usually works on 2.4ghz with private on, but struggles on AC1, doesn’t work on AC2...
and that’s with me trying 5 different model iPads and 4 iPhones.

As suggested, changing private off mode off seems to fix it, but I suggest setting a manual static IP address for your ios device. After doing this to our 7x iOS14 devices, they all work.
Note that I am referring to setting manual up on the phone WiFi settings.

personally, I also Did it In fw.

if you aren’t wanting to do ip dhcp reservations it in fw, then give dhcp a limited range of addresses to just assign, then use ones form thoe unassigned address range for devices.

so 192.168.1.101-230 gives it 100 addresses for local IP’s for unassigned devices
(which gives me .1-.100 and .231-.254 for manual)

for most people, just starting the dhcp range at
.50-.254 is pro how I would set it up for most people.

then give iOS device ip between 192.168.1.2. And 192.168.1.49

 

[tallytr]

I have an AX88U router that works fine for all devices - up until iPhone 11. All other devices work fine; iPhone X and below, Android, as well as all other devices.

The iPhone 11 sometimes connect to the 2.4 GHz band, sometimes to the 5 GHz band. Most of the time, they do NOT automatically reconnect to the 5 GHz band. Sometimes they leave the 5 GHz band and jump to the 2.4 GHz band. Sometimes the other way around.

I don't use Smart Connect. I have tried, but it doesn't make much difference.

The only way I can get the iPhone 11 devices to stay on the 5 GHz band is to put the iPhone 11 devices on the REJECT list for the 2.4 GHz band.

I have very good coverage in my house as well as in my garden using 5 GHz.

Seems like there is some kind of logic built into the iPhone 11 devices. Is there any way this can be changed? I don't really like using the REJECT lists to get the iPhone 11 devices to work as expected.

I also don't use Smart Connect but keep separate SSID for both bands, no issues at all that way with iPhone "Private address". I keep all our iOS devices as "Private" because that is what they are
Another advantage...no need to use the router Wireless MAC Filter to prevent clients to use either 2.4 or 5GHz bands, sometimes automation simply does not help if you know what you are doing...
All our iOT devices connect to 2.4GHz SSID called iOT, simple. All iOS connect to 5GHZ SSID, no need to use 2.4GHz for the iPhones, the router 5GHz band is powerful so covers our house just fine...

 

[Ola Malmstrom]

Thank you all for your answers!! Will try manually assigned DHCP addresses first!

 

[Ola Malmstrom]

So.... manually assigning IP addresses to iPhone 11 devices doesn't work.

Sometimes the client with a certain MAC address will connect to the router on the 2.4 GHz band - however with a DIFFERENT internal IP address than specified in the manually assigned list. To me, this means that the MAC address visible to the router is the PRIVATE MAC address and that I would need to switch off the "private" setting as well.

I would prefer if I could avoid doing anything at all on the iPhones..... Seems like my alternatives are two:
(1) Use the REJECT list for the 2.4 GHz band, or
(2) Use a completely different SSID for the 2.4 GHz band IOT devices as suggested above

 

[KevTech]

Use separate SSID for 2.4 and 5.
Connect to the 5 network then after your are connected to the 5 go into your iPhone and forget the 2.4 network.
Now the iPhone should connect to the 5 all the time.

 

[Ola Malmstrom]

I have a Samsung S10e. I have noticed that it seems to have the same functionality as the iPhones. Apple has just given it a separate name.

On the Samsung, it is found under "Advanced" settings for each network. You can choose either "Telephone with MAC" or "Random MAC address". I assume that by selecting "Telephone with MAC" I use the real MAC address for the telephone. Seems to be the same functionality as for the iPhone, ie that "Random MAC address" is used by default. The difference is that my Samsung has always worked the way I expect, but newer versions of iPhones does not behave correctly unless I remove the "Private" setting.

Can anyone confirm that this is the way it works?