Wifi on HG633 router starting to drop out

[Barry_houghton]

Hi,

I have just spent that last 2 hours trying to get Wifi working on the HG633 router, Wired access has been ok, just the Wifi dropping.

I already have 5Ghz disabled due to it being fairly unreliable so only operating on the 2.4Ghz.

Through the process of trying to get this back, I have restarted the HG633 multiple times, switched through multiple channels and carried out a channel check. I switched the router off for 10 minutes but was not able to get stable connection until I put the channel back to Auto.

Is there any way to determine if an update has been pushed to my router or is it possible that this router has a fault that is brewing.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Barry

[KeithFrench]

Slow speed, intermittent dropouts, breaks in the signal, or no signal on some or all devices, might be caused by Wi-Fi interference from other local networks, which can also lead to a permanent reduction in speed. No ISP can be responsible for your local environment, this is mainly a by-product of the popularity of Wi-Fi.

However, other factors should be investigated first. When this happens, what are the lights showing on the front of the router? Do you have any wired connections & if so, how do they perform?

The HG633 is a dual-band router & offers both the older 2.4GHz & the newer 5GHz Wi-Fi bands. The problem is these are two different networks (SSIDs), but they share the same name, so you can't tell which one you are connected to. Log into the router (http://192.168.1.1) and enter a username of "admin" and use the unique router password (see the label on the rear of the router at the top).

Go to:-
"Customise my wireless network"

Append "5G" to the end of the network name of the "Wireless 5 GHz SSID" field. Then click "Save".


This will not fix your issues, but it will make it much easier to identify the band you are connected to. This way you will know which band is causing your problems.

An alternative is to use band steering. This will automatically move any 5GHz capable device to the 5GHz band, providing better performance for the device & fewer devices are then subject to the interference on the 2.4GHz band. To enable this, first set both SSIDs to the exact same name. Then go to:-

Home Network > Wireless Settings > Enable Wireless Network Frequency Bands

Then put a tick against Enable Band steering.

Generally speaking, the 2.4GHz band suffers much more from interference than the 5GHz band, but the 2.4GHz one can sometimes have a better range, but this all depends on your local area.

You may then wonder what was really the point of this if it won't solve the problem? This is because the whole topic is too complex to be dealt with in one post. The next stage involves sending out a guide to you to help you get me some important diagnostic results, so as I can analyse them for you and recommend changes to your router configuration to solve them.

I only send this out to people who request it.

[Barry_houghton]

Thanks Keith,
As I stated in my post, I am not using 5Ghz it is disabled due to unreliability, I considered interference which is why I had already gone through testing different channels. I restarted the router a dozen times and initially signal was restored but then dropped out again. I powered off the router for 10mins but this had no affect. The only way I could connect to the router was through an Ethernet connection, throughout the whole downtime on WiFi the broadband through the cat5 connected to the router was consistent with 0 drop out.
The issue is with the WiFi Only not the fibre/broadband the fact that I disabled the 5Ghz 6 months ago due to unreliability issues and now it’s suddenly started having issues with 2.4ghz leads me to have concerns about the hg633 itself and I wondered if a firmware update applied (automatically by TalkTalk) had caused a problem as I had seen on other customers posts in December.
Thank you for the advice though.

[KeithFrench]

I'll pass it to the OCEs for you to try a router swap out.

[OCE_Debbie]

Hi Barry_houghton

I'm sorry to hear this.

I can send a replacement router for testing, would you like me to arrange this?

Thanks

Debbie

[Barry_houghton]

Hi Debbie,
It has been stable since Saturday on the 2.4Ghz but I would be happy for a replacement for testing to see if I can get the 5Ghz channel working reliably.
Many thanks
Barry Houghton

[OCE_Debbie]

Hi Barry

Thanks for your reply.

The replacement router is on its way, please allow 24-48hrs for this to arrive.

Let us know how the connection compares with this router.

Thanks

Debbie

[Barry_houghton]

Have had the router running for a week now, part way through the week switched off 5Ghz again as it hasn’t improved with this router. Having both running causes slow response and any switchover outside of 5Ghz range is appalling. 

I expected good performance on 5Ghz with iPhone 8 and 8+ devices but only if within a yard or 2 from the router. 

Today everything seemed ok but the WiFi started dropping out just after PS4 was switched on then WiFi dropping in and out for about 30 mins. PS4 is cat5 connected and doesn’t go online for games only updates as don’t have a PS Plus subscription so not sure if it caused issue or just coincidence. 

All in all I don’t see that much improvement in the replacement router. 

Barry

[KeithFrench]

You said in response to an earlier post of mine that you had considered interference, but did you actually test this with a WiFi analyser? You have now tried two routers with no real improvement, so surely it is a possibility?

[Barry_houghton]

I certainly have used an analyser, as I did last time  and made channel adjustments on both 2.4 and 5Ghz without it having much effect, I also checked with my neighbours in case they had made any changes that could have impacted the WiFi. The 5 GHz is terrible nearly all the time which is why it is off, the 2.4 most of the time is fine but when it goes the connection goes on and off, it states t the password is incorrect and I can get on the GUI but the connection drops in and out. 

Based on the frequency of the failure it certainly looks like interference but I can’t seem to find anything

[KeithFrench]

OK, that is great. About the only other cause I can think of is router & network adapter locations. Have you also considered this yet?

[Barry_houghton]

Router and filter have been in same location for past 6 years, last change of anything electronic in the router location is over a year ago. If it was location I would have seen more issues over the years. 

[OCE_Michelle]

Hi Barry_houghton,

Just to confirm, is the replacement router another HG633?

Thanks

[Barry_houghton]

Yes, I can confirm the replacement was another HG633 router. 

Barry

[OCE_Michelle]

Hi Barry,

Ok, would you like to try a 3782 router instead and we can send a router returns bag for the replacement HG633 router?

Thanks

[Barry_houghton]

Hi Michelle,

is the vpn issue with the 3782 now resolved? I use a personal and work vpn and understand that the 3782 had a firmware update pending to resolve it. 

If it is then I am happy to try it to see if it performs better than the HG633.

Thanks,

Barry

[OCE_Karl]

Hi

The new firmware for the 3782 is working well and we are getting excellent feedback from those that have tested this.

I'll get a 3782 out to you and as soon as this is connected, give us a shout and we can push the firmware to it.

Thanks

Karl. 

[Barry_houghton]

Thanks Karl,

the 3782 is up and running and my work VPN is refusing to connect so will need that firmware update. 

Is there any recommendations for setting up the bands or is default settings ok?

I have changed both channels from Auto to channels not currently in use. 

Many thanks

Barry

[OCE_Michelle]

Hi Barry,

Thanks for the update. I've tried to update the firmware, however this was unsuccessful. Could you factory reset the router and let us know once this has been completed and we can try this again.

Thanks

[Barry_houghton]

The router is now not picking up any connection on the fibre, the home page shows no information on dsl and I checked TalkTalk for service issues and nothing is reported. 

I reset the router to factory from the GUI but don’t think this worked as I would have expected the changes I made to the config to have reverted. But this is not the case. (The changes I made were to the subnet address preferring to use 192.168.0.1/24 with dhcp set from 192.168.0.50-255 and the admin password was changed). 

So I pressed the reset on the back of the router, that didn’t work so pressed and held it in for 10 secs and that didn’t work so tried reset through the GUI again and all my changes are still there. 

I have to leave for work now, not sure if there is anything you can do remotely, as I won’t be able to try anything until tonight. 

Barry