So i somewhat recently (end of last 2021) purchased an AX89X to replacing my Netgear Nighthawk AX4, because ive added a ton of smart home devices and the Nighthawk, while it was a great router for when i had less devices, was having issues keeping connected to all the devices due to both signal strength and just a lack of simultaneous streams.
I went with the AX89X because of the forward-looking higher bandwidth ports (10Gbe), since i intend to upgrade the rest of my wired infrastructure in the house (to my NAS, etc, and the NAS itself) in the nearish future.
Since i got it, it has been nothing but trouble with Google Home/Cast devices and/or my TP-Link Kasa smart devices.
With older firmware, the Kasa devices will remain connected to the network. With newer firmware (and this is apparently a known bug, at least on the Reddit for Kasa devices) the Kasa devices will vanish from the network and not reconnect. Its definitely an issue with the firmware on the router. I can roll back the firmware and it will immediately fix the issue.
.... problem is, though...
That doing so then screws up my Google Home/Cast devices. We have a Google Home Mini/Nest Mini in most rooms, a pair of Home Hubs (one Gen 1, one Gen 2), and a pair of Lenovo Smart Clocks (1 regular, one Essential). In addition, the living room TV has a Cast device in it (VIzio M-series), and we use two Google Chromecast w/Google TVs (one in our bedroom, one in our sons).
The problem is, the devices will randomly just vanish from the list of castable devices.
For the Google Home/Nest Home devices, and the Lenovo clocks, the REST of the device functionality works just fine - you can still talk to them, etc, and they will function just fine.. but they do not appear as a device that can be cast to from any app that can cast.
The other devices also still work - the Google TVs can still play TV and do all the other things they do, the Vizio TV's built in apps work for streaming and whatnot, not that i use them (there is an nVidia Shield TV Pro on the main TV but it is wired, so its not an issue)... but they also do not appear on the list of devices that can be cast to.
To be clear, im not saying that they all dissappear at once. Its totally random. And it changes. MOST of them are there at any given time, but 3-4 will not be. It TENDS to happen far more frequently to the devices that are 2.4Ghz only, but not exclusively.
I can clear this problem up by updating to the newest firmware (i had zero problems with devices dissappearing from the Cast list on the two or three newest releases, but then the Kasa devices would randomly vanish), but thats a non-viable solution as then i cant reliably use my smart home devices.
Are there any settings in the firmware (particularly if im using the older firmware for Kasa stability) that might clear up the Google Cast issues? The entire point of having the Home/cast devices in each room is so we can play music in each room, so losing that functionality sorta sucks. If i just needed them for their voice control, i'd only need 3 or 4 since the one in the living room can usually hear me anywhere on the main floor.
All in all, its rather dissapointing and id really like to get this issue cleared up. Ive factory reset everything (frequently), tried various firmwares (newest to all the way back to April 2020), etc. Set the bands to be separate SSIDs and used the SmartConnect (SmartConnect seems to be more reliablye, oddly enough). The router is otherwise great, with very strong signal (i can watch YouTube videos in 1080p at my sons bus stop on the corner over 100ft from the house), and the firmware is easy to use and well laid out (even if i dont understand all the higher end features), plus it looks nice (my wife is crocheting an Eye of Sauron to suspend in the middle of the antennas).
But its too late to return it, and id rather not be out the expense of buying a different brands' router that doesn't have these issues.
I went with the AX89X because of the forward-looking higher bandwidth ports (10Gbe), since i intend to upgrade the rest of my wired infrastructure in the house (to my NAS, etc, and the NAS itself) in the nearish future.
Since i got it, it has been nothing but trouble with Google Home/Cast devices and/or my TP-Link Kasa smart devices.
With older firmware, the Kasa devices will remain connected to the network. With newer firmware (and this is apparently a known bug, at least on the Reddit for Kasa devices) the Kasa devices will vanish from the network and not reconnect. Its definitely an issue with the firmware on the router. I can roll back the firmware and it will immediately fix the issue.
.... problem is, though...
That doing so then screws up my Google Home/Cast devices. We have a Google Home Mini/Nest Mini in most rooms, a pair of Home Hubs (one Gen 1, one Gen 2), and a pair of Lenovo Smart Clocks (1 regular, one Essential). In addition, the living room TV has a Cast device in it (VIzio M-series), and we use two Google Chromecast w/Google TVs (one in our bedroom, one in our sons).
The problem is, the devices will randomly just vanish from the list of castable devices.
For the Google Home/Nest Home devices, and the Lenovo clocks, the REST of the device functionality works just fine - you can still talk to them, etc, and they will function just fine.. but they do not appear as a device that can be cast to from any app that can cast.
The other devices also still work - the Google TVs can still play TV and do all the other things they do, the Vizio TV's built in apps work for streaming and whatnot, not that i use them (there is an nVidia Shield TV Pro on the main TV but it is wired, so its not an issue)... but they also do not appear on the list of devices that can be cast to.
To be clear, im not saying that they all dissappear at once. Its totally random. And it changes. MOST of them are there at any given time, but 3-4 will not be. It TENDS to happen far more frequently to the devices that are 2.4Ghz only, but not exclusively.
I can clear this problem up by updating to the newest firmware (i had zero problems with devices dissappearing from the Cast list on the two or three newest releases, but then the Kasa devices would randomly vanish), but thats a non-viable solution as then i cant reliably use my smart home devices.
Are there any settings in the firmware (particularly if im using the older firmware for Kasa stability) that might clear up the Google Cast issues? The entire point of having the Home/cast devices in each room is so we can play music in each room, so losing that functionality sorta sucks. If i just needed them for their voice control, i'd only need 3 or 4 since the one in the living room can usually hear me anywhere on the main floor.
All in all, its rather dissapointing and id really like to get this issue cleared up. Ive factory reset everything (frequently), tried various firmwares (newest to all the way back to April 2020), etc. Set the bands to be separate SSIDs and used the SmartConnect (SmartConnect seems to be more reliablye, oddly enough). The router is otherwise great, with very strong signal (i can watch YouTube videos in 1080p at my sons bus stop on the corner over 100ft from the house), and the firmware is easy to use and well laid out (even if i dont understand all the higher end features), plus it looks nice (my wife is crocheting an Eye of Sauron to suspend in the middle of the antennas).
But its too late to return it, and id rather not be out the expense of buying a different brands' router that doesn't have these issues.
