iPhones not able to connect to AiMesh node

[David27]

I've using a TUF Gaming AX4200 as my main router and a RT-AC1900U as AiMesh Node.
Yesterday, after the first configuration, AiMesh was working perfectly. Today, coincidently or not, after I made some changes, iPhones can't connect to the node, presenting an error "unable to access (SSID)" or sometimes "invalid password".
The changes I made were enabling DNS over TLS, changed from WPA2 to WPA2 / WPA3-Personal, disabled 11b.
I thought some of this changes could be messing with the Node, so I did a full reset to the node and made e new AiMesh setup. The setup was successful but the problem with the iPhones still remains. I have IoT devices that are able to connect to the Node, just not the iPhones.
Also for some reason, my soundbar is right next to the main router, but keeps connecting to the further away Node, even after disabling Smart Connect.

 

[L&LD]

Leave the Wireless mode to Auto. Reboot the router and your phones/devices.

 

[David27]

Leave the Wireless mode to Auto. Reboot the router and your phones/devices.

It's no Auto, I haven't changed that. I've rebooted everything and tried forgetting SSID on the iPhone.

 

[Ripshod]

Your node is incompatible with WPA3. Reset and try again.

 

[David27]

Your node is incompatible with WPA3. Reset and try again.

I will try, but it should work with the WPA2/WPA3 setting, according to Asus. I had WPA3 on the main router, and the AiMesh setup itself notified me that it switched to Wpa2/WPA3 before the setup for compatibility.

Edit: After some experimenting, it really seems to be the WPA3 causing the problem. I tried forgetting the SSID in on the iPhone and then connecting it to the Node first, it worked! But after going to the main router and then come back to the Node, it doesn't work anymore.

 

[bbunge]

I will try, but it should work with the WPA2/WPA3 setting, according to Asus. I had WPA3 on the main router, and the AiMesh setup itself notified me that it switched to Wpa2/WPA3 before the setup for compatibility.

Edit: After some experimenting, it really seems to be the WPA3 causing the problem. I tried forgetting the SSID in on the iPhone and then connecting it to the Node first, it worked! But after going to the main router and then come back to the Node, it doesn't work anymore.

Nope, just use WPA2-Personal. There are some clients that do not like combo WPA2/WPA3-Personal like Apple devices. I had that issue here. And the older AC router is not WPA3-Personal compliant.

 

[Tech Junky]

compliant

Capable.

 

[David27]

Nope, just use WPA2-Personal. There are some clients that do not like combo WPA2/WPA3-Personal like Apple devices. I had that issue here. And the older AC router is not WPA3-Personal compliant.

Apple devices work fine with the "WPA2/WPA3-Personal" setting as long as it's always on the same router. The issue here seems to be only when switching back to the not compatible Node.

From what I've read, WPA3 doesn't seem to matter that much for home networks, so it's probably bot that bad... Also it's a pain to find out which devices are WPA3 compatible, many times the spec is not present in the product's page. For example, I can't find out online if my Samsung soundbar is compatible with WPA3.

 

[Tech Junky]

pain to find out which devices are WPA3 compatible

No, they just won't connect. Pretty simple to figure out. Anything not supporting 802.11AX won't support WPA3. All you have to do is look at the standards to determine what works an what doesn't. Anything older than ~2020~ most likely won't support WPA3. If the device is upgradable though you can pop a $20 wifi card into it to enable the function.

 

[bbunge]

No, they just won't connect. Pretty simple to figure out. Anything not supporting 802.11AX won't support WPA3. All you have to do is look at the standards to determine what works an what doesn't. Anything older than ~2020~ most likely won't support WPA3. If the device is upgradable though you can pop a $20 wifi card into it to enable the function.

Not true. I have AC clients that will do WPA3-PERSONAL. But I do not use it.

 

[David27]

Security wise, when talking about WPA2 and WPA3, does it matter for protection only against attackers within physical range to your Wi-Fi, or does it have any significance for the device on the internet as well?

 

[bbunge]

Security wise, when talking about WPA2 and WPA3, does it matter for protection only against attackers within physical range to your Wi-Fi, or does it have any significance for the device on the internet as well?

Just your WIFI.

 

[David27]

Just your WIFI.

Then it's not needed for the home user.
I've switched to WPA2, reset and made a new setup of AiMesh, now iPhones smoothly connect to the Node.

 

[sfx2000]

disabled 11b

The RT-68U variants on the same SDK (68U, 1900, 5300, 87u) have a bug in the broadcom WL driver in the related SDK - if you check the "disable 11b" box on those devices, you will not be able to authenticate with many clients... and it wasn't something related to the WPA supplicants - it was a miserable bug, as it was intermittent for some clients, really depended also on the client chipset and OS in use - Intel and Linux, didn't work, Realtek and Windows, it did, QCA on anything broke - Broadcom on Win worked, linux not, and same with MacOS and iOS...

Because of the inconsistency - I sorted it was a bug, and getting deep into the wires, and having a chipset where I had debug at the chip level - AsusWRT on that SDK broke the handshake on the association. Again, not specifically an AsusWRT bug, it's broadcom at the WL driver level...

I spent a couple of weeks digging into a possible fix/pull request, but because AIMesh and complications there across SDK's and Platforms, I decided it was better just to note it, and move on, as I only had the single device that I could test with... the fix would have required a sample of one or more from every supported SDK...

 

[David27]

The RT-68U variants on the same SDK (68U, 1900, 5300, 87u) have a bug in the broadcom WL driver in the related SDK - if you check the "disable 11b" box on those devices, you will not be able to authenticate with many clients... and it wasn't something related to the WPA supplicants - it was a miserable bug, as it was intermittent for some clients, really depended also on the client chipset and OS in use - Intel and Linux, didn't work, Realtek and Windows, it did, QCA on anything broke - Broadcom on Win worked, linux not, and same with MacOS and iOS...

Because of the inconsistency - I sorted it was a bug, and getting deep into the wires, and having a chipset where I had debug at the chip level - AsusWRT on that SDK broke the handshake on the association. Again, not specifically an AsusWRT bug, it's broadcom at the WL driver level...

I spent a couple of weeks digging into a possible fix/pull request, but because AIMesh and complications there across SDK's and Platforms, I decided it was better just to note it, and move on, as I only had the single device that I could test with... the fix would have required a sample of one or more from every supported SDK...

In my case it wasn't that bug. I still disabled 11b, but the router doesn't allow you to disable 11b when you have AiMesh anyway. You check the box but it never saves the setting.
If you do AiMesh with an AX router and a AC node, will the main router still use Wi-Fi 6?