Kernel Panic leads to frequent router resets

[jebus1967]

Hi I am having frequent router reset issues due to a Kernel panic in my router's firmware.

The message reads as follows:

1981-01-01 00:00:10 [Error][Alarm-Log] AlarmID:104001,AlarmLevel:Error,Device reset. Cause: System reset due to kernel panic, Terminal:OTHER

The outcome is that all of my Smarthome devices frequently lose their connection, including (most annoyingly my Sonos surround sound system, my HomeAassistant SmartHome hub and My Harmony IR remote control hub. It seems to be a constant battle to keep all my things connected.

I have attached my full system log below. But please can you resolve this issue, either remotely or directly? I reported this problem once before and you sent me another ADSL router. However it was exactly the same make and model (and firmware version) as my existing router and made no difference whatsoever! I am on your full fibre package, but am seriously considering migrating to another company unless these issues can be fixed!

Please resolve!

[jebus1967]

Still Keith, you are a private individual and not a TalkTalk employee. This makes a significant difference in terms of liability and insurance - and opens issues of the potential for 'overreach' of volunteers, over qualified (and paid for/contracted) TalkTalk employees. No one is currently above the law, as set out by current GDPR regulations. Claiming that you are is potentially somewhat worrying and may in itself be a reason for TalkTalk to reconsider how this might affect their legal liabilities going forward as a company. Even offering to view other customers details via private messages in no way negates any privacy concerns. How do TalkTalk know you in any way outside this forum? What would happen if a less benevolent actor came to these boards, hung out and built a reputation, and then used this reputation to malicious effect to harm other customers? I'm sure as I already said that you are as honest and benevolent as the day is long, but that cannot possibly be true of everyone who might frequent these boards.

However, I would politely request that we refrain from any further debate in this regard. I have already raised my concerns directly with TalkTalk staff. The problem is not so much for qualified people and advanced users such as myself (or Keith), but rather if a less advanced user may come along (of which there are many) and they may be equally encouraged to share sensitive (and potentially GDPR breaching) information with other customers.  Or indeed, as already stated, they may be led to form conclusions about their issues that are erroneous and do not help to uncover the root cause of their issues, simply because whomever they are speaking to may have been recommended by TalkTalk staff and who they might assume must therefore be adequately qualified in these topics. Second tier and third tier engineers are usually trained in 'troubleshooting' methodologies, that in many cases simply serve to exonerate the company in question, against all potential for blame. I'm not saying this was true in Keith's case, but he clearly stated before knowing anything whatsoever about my issues, that neither TalkTalk, nor its equipment, was to blame. I'm not sure how it's possible to conclude this without knowing anything about my issues. But each to their own. I have no interest in opening a debate on ethics privacy, or competency with any of your other customers. I again sincerely thank Keith for his willingness to try to help. I have nothing further to add in this regard.

[KeithFrench]

See @Debbie-TalkTalk's post #28 about me. I will not disclose my security clearance to you, but it is much higher than the GPDR and I wanted information sent to a PM, so as only I see it, not the world over.

As a customer, I cannot be expected to purchase every device that other customers might use & I have no use for any IoT devices anyway.

[jebus1967]

Hi Keith and TT staff. I just want to clarify that having scanned several of the documents produced by macOS's built-in Network analysis tools, I am not fully comfortable in sharing these details with a 3rd party, as these details may invalidate both my privacy under current GDPR rules and could create a condition in which even if TalkTalk's hardware was to blame for some major issue or other, TT could deny responsibility and any accountability in this regard might be seriously compromised. I promise sincerely that I am not simply attempting to be 'difficult'. I just feel that you as a company do not appear to have thought it through, regarding the implications of giving some customers elevated access to other customer's potentially very sensitive information. What safeguarding measures have you put in place, for example, to help mitigate this risk?

Again, I do not feel this reflects poorly on Keith, rather than the potential lapse attitude to these issues that you as a company may have fallen into. What is to stop a bad actor here hanging out for a period of time and thereby gaining your trust and the trust of other customers, only to later use any information they may glean for malicious purposes? I'm sure Keith is as honest as the day is long, but you surely cannot say the same for everyone who frequents these boards? What vetting processes do you put in place for those occasions where a customer might be asked by another customer to share sensitive details of this nature?

I would be glad to share all the data I uncovered with qualified TalkTalk engineers, however.

[jebus1967]

Keith that is a matter of design when it comes to Tuya products.  They will each individually store the network information of the wireless router (and SSID) that they were previously connected to. I'm assuming you don't own any of these devices, so this is probably news to you? The only way these devices can usually be reset is by initiating the reset process individually on all of these devices. This involves either depressing the on/off button, or inserting a paper clip (or pin) into a small hole on the device for 5 seconds, until a light begins to flash.

I have done this literally thousands of times, both for myself and for friends, neighbours and families. Normally this isn't a problem, because doing this should reset the stored WiFi data on the device, so when it is added again in the app on a new router, you are then required to enter the new network information (SSID/password) in order to enable the device to connect to the new router.

However, once again, perhaps I should explain that after having done this thousands of times in the past without issues, this simply did not work on this occasion. Moreover, the problems first emerged not due to WiFi interference, but due to regular kernel panics in the router's firmware, hence the title of this thread. This is what TalkTalk originally tried to fix with a new firmware for this router. This proved ineffective and indeed it caused a number of my IOt devices to no longer be able to connect to the network at all, no matter what I tried. It was at that point TalkTalk agreed to send a new router.

I understand that you prefer to take a methodical approach to solving these kinds of problems. I have no doubt you were a good, competent and highly reliable engineer. But there are (as I'm sure you recognise) many instances where just sheer instinct will win out over logic, or methodology. In this instance, my reasoning led me to conclude that since this was not a networking interference issue to begin with (rather, as I said, it was a kernel panic issue), it was unlikely to have suddenly become one immediately after firstly a firmware upgrade and a subsequent router replacement. Rather, my instinct led me to conclude that it was far more likely that it was of these first two factors that was the culprit, rather than issues with the network.

I nevertheless followed your advice, since rather bizarrely in my view, TalkTalk staff appear to prefer to rely on their customers to help solve other customers problems, rather than have their own qualified (and paid) engineers in situ to tackle what in many instances can be really quite complex networking issues. Moreover, while in many cases your advice would apply, it was clear from the outset that my difficulties were not the result of network interference - and that treating it as such would be likely to lead to an unhelpful blind ally. I agree that it is useful to run these tests, even if just to eliminate this single factor from the equation. But I do not like the implication from either your good self, or from TalkTalk staff that if I didn't treat it as exclusively a network interference issue, no further assistance would be forthcoming. That's a lot of power to put in the hands of one customer. Nor is it very helpful to imply that if it isn't network interference that's to blame, then it must be my hardware, or in other words, my large collection of IOt devices, all of which incidentally worked flawlessly up until the firmware upgrade and the subsequent router swap. How likely do you really feel it is that all 46 of my iOT devices would have developed an identical fault, immediately after a firmware and subsequent router change?

It doesn't take much reasoning to conclude that the chances of this happening must be infinitesimally low. Moreover, in fairness, the advice you gave can be found repeated ad-infinitum through millions of web pages through a bog-standard Google search. I'm not taking anything away from you, Keith. You are as I said clearly a very competent individual (and clearly fiercely loyal to this company, which I probably understand a little less). But it's clear that if I had followed this chain of reasoning verbatim, as many customers might, it may well have ended with a very unsatisfactory conclusion, even if your advice disproved network interference as a cause. There was clearly a tendency in your conclusions (and perhaps in the conclusions of TalkTalk staff as a result of this), that it was my equipment that was at fault in that case and in that instance, they were under no obligation to act any further. This of course would save them money. However, I don't feel that it is an appropriate role for customers on this forum to essentially write this company a 'free pass', when clearly other more subtle factors may be at play and this advice could potentially lead to a detrimental outcome for the customer who is experiencing difficulty.

Now as to the 'solution' I uncovered, this is one of those occasions where networking really does defy logic and instead depends on an engineer's instinct, built up over many years. I reasoned that somehow, despite working reliably many, many times in the past and despite having gone through this resent process an equally large number of times, there was something in the 'ether' that was causing the network details of my IOt devices to not be fully wiped. so that even though I was entering the new SSID and password information on the reset devices, there was still something that wasn't being fully reset in this particular hardware combination. I'm tempted to say that one possible candidate could have been the Mac address of the new router I was trying to connect to. For example, while it was possible to change the SSID and the password of my reset IOt devices, it is conceivable that since the old network and the new network/router shared the same SSID, that resetting these devices did not fully reset the Mac address that these devices were previously connected to. Some details on these devices do survive a reset. Like the name, location and device type of each device. But perhaps unless the SSID changes they will not scan for a new Mac address and will assume that the router (and hence the Mac address) is the same as the old router. But I fear you might leap on this to say 'you see, it was your hardware!' There is simply not possible to confirm or refute this either way. It is one possibility among many, in a complex interplay between code, individual devices and the black arts that are usually involved in dealing with complex networking issues of this nature. But it is at least a reasonable assumption that something about my configuration was being 'remembered' and was not fully wiped during the reset process.

In fairness, you did touch on this briefly in your above post. My concern is that if we had pursued this as purely a network interference issue only (as many customers might be tempted to do), it would simply have amounted to time wasted with no favourable final outcome. However, as a professional courtesy (and as one former networking engineer to another) and to assist in honing your own knowledge of an area of networking, by sharing the results of my experiences with you and with the wider TT customer base - and their engineering team.

Again, I wish to take nothing away from Keith, or any other contributor to this topic. My intention is simply to broaden the collective knowledge base on these topics, so that other customers in future can benefit from this information. However, it remains a concern that in our ever-changing word TT do not seem to be on top of a revolution that has now been taking place for several years, in the form of the ever-growing use of IOt connected devices that  are now increasingly in use by large numbers of the general public. This is no longer a 'niche product', even many OAP's are using IOt smart plugs, lights and other connected devices to help combat the limitations of advancing age and illness. It TT really wanted to demonstrate they were ahead of the curve in this regard, they should perhaps take IKEA's approach and embrace this market wholeheartedly, while providing qualified, experienced engineers to help customers to tackle issues whenever they encounter them.

PS

That said, I have sent the data you requested to finally and for all to eliminate 'network interference' as a valid area of investigation for these issues. You can clearly see from what I sent that my network (SONOS) has both high signal strength, low latency and almost no interference. It's literally head and shoulders above all other WIFI signals near my home.

PS

Just to update the knowledge base on these topics in case other customers have similar problems, and to demonstrate that even someone like myself can get caught out by doing things the same way I have always done them and expecting the same results every time. It turns out that all Tuya enabled devices have two connection modes. There is the "Smart Connect" mode that basically scans the network around you for any Tuya devices in pairing mode (rapidly flashing light/LED) and that then adds any such device to the app and your network. Then there's the AP (or access point) mode (slowly flashing light/led), which sets up a temporary WIFI access point for you to connect to. AP mode is it seems a preferred mode for when the Smart Connect Mode doesn't work, due to the vagaries of various network configurations.  In Smart Connect mode, one simply needs to pick the type of device you wish to add to the app (light, smart plug, smart power strip, camera, motion sensor or whatever), then enter your default WIFI SSID information, then begin a scan of your local environment. If a device is detected in paring mode, The app (Smart Life) will add it and enter your WIFI details automatically on the device and connect your device to the network.

In AP mode the process is very similar, but rather than simply depress the reset button (or switch) for 5 seconds to enter smart connect mode, once smart connect mode is enabled and the LED/Light is flashing rapidly, at that point you should take your finger off the reset button and then depress this button for a further 5 seconds. At this point the LED/light will begin to blink slowly, indicating that the device is now in AP mode. Once in this mode go to the Smart Life (or Tuya) app, select your type of device, confirm your WIFI/SSID details, then on the following set up page select "Light is blinking slowly" (in Smart Connect Mode, the light will blink rapidly). Once you select this option you will be instructed to connect to the devices temporary AP network. Once done and once you have confirmed that you want to 'always connect' to this network (selecting connect 'only this time may cause repeated connection requests), then hit the back button at the bottom of your Android Screen (or whatever the equivalent in Apple iPhone is) to return to the main Smart Life device setup screen. When you do this, the app will once again initiate a scan for any device in paring mode on this temporary network - and since there is usually only one device on the network, it should connect your device to the app (and your home network) very quickly.

Part of the fault in this regard lay with me. Because in the past I had never had to use AP mode, I never even bothered to look into it, or consider it this time around. I was barely even aware that this mode existed.

It still does not excuse the very evident lack of knowledge from TalkTalk staff, who it seems were only too happy to throw in the towel at a very early point, while calling on the services of one of their preferred patrons to write the issue off as network interference, or failing this to claim that despite half the modern world now using this kind of equipment, that they somehow 'don't support IOt devices'. This seems the equivalent to me to an electricity/utility company saying 'they don't support lightbulbs', when a customer can't get any of their lights to work! In the letter of the law this may be correct, but in spirit, it is simply mean!

However to show goodwill, I would be more than happy to write a guide for your engineers (and perhaps your customers) on how to deal with and how to troubleshoot issues like this in the future. What I will not require however is privileged access to details of anyone's network setup, or any other potentially private or personal information that I don't have any really valid reason to be looking at, particularly when it may be evident that any starting assumptions are likely to be erroneous. Nor will I make any potentially very damaging claims that I am immune to restrictions imposed by the GDPR, or other privacy laws and regulations. (Indeed if I were a TalkTalk manager, I would be concerned at how many other people may have been exposed to similar claims?)

In any case, TalkTalk and other UK ISPs cannot afford to be left out in the cold when it comes to dealing with IOt connected devices. If you cannot answer customer's queries in this regard, this will only lead to significant dissatisfaction with your service and an increasing flight to more progressive providers.

[KeithFrench]

Hi @jebus1967 

If you read my previous post you will see that I said it could have been WiFi interference, but I have no way of knowing without proving it.  I'm sorry but I believe in proving things wherever possible, rather than just using guesswork. I also said that it looked to me that your IoT devices were not fully defaulting their network configuration, as they still held the old SSID & password & would not update to the new ones.

I am glad that it is all working now.

[jebus1967]

Keith. Thanks sincerely for your help. But network interference is almost certainly not what was going on in this case. I refer you to my previous answer in this regard. Again, sincere thanks.

[KeithFrench]

Hi @jebus1967 

As I said, it could have been WiFi interference, but I have no way of knowing without proving it. You used my guide to prove that it wasn't - fair enough. These IoT devices are not fully defaulting their network configuration, as they still held the old SSID & password & would not update to the new ones.

All of the sort of help I provide is in areas of customer's devices, which is really the responsibility of the customer, not the ISP. I just try to "value add" to TalkTalk's support on this forum. Yes, I have skills in IP networking with my previous employer, which I have always tried to maintain.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi jebus1967

I'm glad to hear that this is now working.

Please send me a Private Message if there is something you wish to discuss away from the Community.

Thanks

Debbie

[jebus1967]

I fixed it, by essentially 'jump-starting' my new router using my old router. In essence, I re-added one of my Tuya smart plugs via my old router with the same SSID as my new router. Then I unplugged the old router and restarted the new router. To my considerable surprise and delight, it worked flawlessly! However, not wanting to repeat the same rather involved process, almost 30 separate times for all my other things, I decided to take a stab at simply readding some more plugs directly from the Tuya/Smart Life app, while continuing to use my new router. This was purely a hunch. It makes no sense at all to have even tried this, but again to my considerable surprise and happiness, this also worked flawlessly! I've now re-added 4 of my remaining Tuya devices and will tackle the rest soon. Thanks so much for your guide and your help, Keith. They really should pay you. It's really very questionable that they should rely on customers to give advanced support of this nature, simply because they lack the staff or the expertise to do so.

I was not however, and am not convinced that these issues were the result of WiFi interference. If so, why no interference before - and then the instant a new router shows up, it's all anybody wants to discuss? 😛 Nothing I saw throughout each step of your networking guide showed even the slightest sign of any interference. (No point in posting the results now, since it's fixed - and in any case it will only show you what I already firmly suspected, that (as usual with TalkTalk) it is their flaky hardware that isn't well-equipped for the modern iOT home that's to blame. Some of my devices lost their connectivity, after what I'm pretty sure was a firmware update, which is what led to this entire debacle.

I'm still considerably miffed by this and the stress, work and inconvenience I've been caused as a result. And to this end I would again like to request that you send me a second router (so that I can isolate my IOT/Smart Home things from any changes you might make on the network, by simply placing all my iOT devices on this router and keeping my main router exclusively for internet connectivity. This means that if I change modems (or suppliers) who invariably insist on using their own routers) then I will not face a similar catastrophe again, as it will just be a case of unplugging the old (secondary) router and plugging this back in again to the new router. In this regard I would request a small compact, tested and reliable router only, without a modem. If this is not possible, I would like to request that you allow me to pick a router of my own from a commercial source (such as Amazon), and that you discount me the cost of this second router.  Accordingly. Third, although I very much appreciate Keith's enthusiasm and willingness to help, I am concerned that TalkTalk staff could become too comfortable with this arrangement, and that they might expose their customers, staff and loyal supporters (like Keith) to some very necessary risks.

As a hardware engineer (with over 27 years of experience), I know how to trouble shoot networks, although I respectfully followed Keith's guide in any case, since the implication was clearly that if I did not, no further help would be forthcoming. But this is where experience and instinct come into play. Networking is 60% a black art, 10% pot luck and a 30% equal mix of patience, persistence and science. Keith's guide is very logical and assumes that if you take x, y and z steps, you will eventually end up at the root of your problem. But in reality this is often far from the case. Because very often, the true cause of the problem is some glitch or other, buried under thousands of lines of code, in the router's firmware (or if the issue is with a computer, within the operating system, which the developers and the manufacturers have probably missed and forgotten about, a very long time ago. I have installed network set-ups in a large variety of places, from homes, to offices, to hotels and to bars. But perhaps my biggest claim to fame is having installed high speed cable internet in a remote research station in the Amazon forest. This brought internet for the first time to over 500 families, living on the edges of the Amazon River.

So it's fair to say I probably do know a little about networking. Regardless, even this one stumped me for a while, until I decided to try something completely random. However, I never want to go through this again. As I said, for me, my smart devices are more than just a novelty. As a disabled person, my iOT devices also serve as a very useful form of assistive technology. (If you don't know what this is, then look it up). So being without my smart home this for several days now, has been an extremely challenging and difficult experience. Please could Debbie or another member of staff PM me so that we can discuss these matters privately?

[jebus1967]

Thanks, Chris. I've tried this and it has made no functional difference. None of my Tuya devices can connect. I have several other non Tuya devices that connect flawlessly. All my Tuya devices worked fine with the previous router.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi jebus1967,

I've switched off wireless optimisation 

Chris

[KeithFrench]

Hi @jebus1967 

I am not "blaming" WiFi interference, just saying that it is a likely cause. I think you have missed the point about @Debbie-TalkTalk comments, she is not requesting help, but just saying that this app can be difficult. It was after all Debbie who asked me to help you & that is what I want to do. WiFi interference is not something that an ISP fixes, it is down to you.

My guide is aimed at trying to identify the root cause of the problem, after all, I cannot guarantee it is WiFi interference, without using tried & tested methods to prove this one way or another.

I will PM you a link for a guide of mine on Wi-Fi interference & initially look at the section called "Are you suffering from interference – prove it first". This section includes full details of Wi-Fi analysers that I recommend for Windows, Windows phone, Android and Apple operating systems. However, I have no way of testing the Apple product. Do not worry about interpreting the results, I will do that for you.

Please post the screenshots to me in a PM (to protect your privacy), which I have requested in my guide. No photos please they can be difficult to read as text can get out of focus when zoomed in, from the analyser you are using (also in my attached guide). Please ensure that the analyser window is maximised (if Windows) before taking the screenshots & upload them via the "Insert Photos" button (in a mobile browser it's the picture icon) on the post editor's toolbar with the Size parameter set to Large. If they are too small, I will not be able to read them & although I can enlarge them, this puts the text out of focus. 

[jebus1967]

Thanks Keith. I didn't miss it. I was occupied responding to Debbie. Yes I will try. Please send. 🙂

[jebus1967]

Yes Debbie, try it and see what happens, please. Also, you should do whatever else Keith recommends. I'm aware Keith is currently blaming Wifi interference. However, the only reason I got into this mess was because I saw in the logs that the previous router was having frequent kernel panics. Functionally it didn't seem to make a lot of difference, other than that maybe 2 or 3 times a week I might need to manually reset my router. So at that time, a router upgrade seemed like the simplest way to resolve this problem. But these kernel panics were clearly not caused by "Wifi'' interference - and given that all my stuff previously worked with the last router, I don't think we can write this off as just a simple case of interference either.

I will follow Keith's guide if he wishes to send it to me. However, it seems to me that you are just as capable of following this guide from your end?

As for whether the Smart Life/Tuya app is poorly designed? I wouldn't say that. Functionally, at least it is usually fine. But there are literally millions of iterations of it in use, as it is as I said currently the most popular brand of sub £30 Smart Home devices in existence. If the app was to blame, I would have had issues in the past as would millions of others.

This is a bit frustrating also, because clearly the user settings for this router have been significantly dumbed down, to the point where it seems only TalkTalk staff are able to undertake many of the actions are troubleshooting steps that were previously available to the user.

[KeithFrench]

Hi @jebus1967 

I did offer some help.

[jebus1967]

Tuya devices are normally easy enough to set up Debbie, especially if you know what you are doing. As I said, I've done this many times in the past. In this case the process (for Tuya smart plugs for simplicity), is to reset the device, by depressing the little button on the side until the blue light begins to flash rapidly. Open the Smart Life or Tuya app (I'm using Smart Life, but these apps are both functionally and version identical), click on + the icon to add a new device. Select Smart Plug Wifi, then enter the network SSID and password credentials on the following screen, then initiate a scan for the device. On the 4 separate (and differently branded) Tuya smart plugs I have tried so far, all have failed on multiple occasions and this router is unable to detect them. And yes I'm certain my phone and the app is on the correct 2.4 GHZ SSID.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Thanks @KeithFrench 

@jebus1967  Would you like me to switch the WIFI optimisation off?

[KeithFrench]

Hi @jebus1967 

@Debbie-TalkTalk has asked me to help you. First off there is a bug in the router's current firmware that means when you disable one WiFi band, the router will not correctly function again if it is re-enabled. The only workaround currently is to do a factory reset of the configuration of the router. I did make the developers aware of this bug and I am waiting to hear when the next release of firmware will be. Please return your router to its factory configuration.

It is impossible for either WiFi band to interfere with the other one. They work at totally different frequency spectrums - 2.4GHz & 5GHz.

The only real reason to split the names up of the two WiFi bands is to get around an issue of badly written apps that control IoT devices in general. I have no experience with these devices that you have, so I am not saying that their app is poorly written, I don't know.

The Sagemcom router is not the problem here (unless your one has some fault on it). The problem is either, the user is entering WiFi credentials incorrectly (very unlikely in your case, with the time you have spent on it), or WiFi interference.

Slow speed, intermittent dropouts, breaks in the signal or no signal on some or all devices or no internet access 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 byproduct of the popularity of Wi-Fi.

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.

Have you had TalkTalk’s Wi-Fi optimisation disabled on your Sagemcom FAST5364/5464 router? When this is enabled, as it is by default, it has the power to override any Wi-Fi configuration changes that I might suggest that you need to make. This will not help rectify this type of problem if Wi-Fi Optimisation is allowed to change my suggested settings. Only TalkTalk can do this for you, you cannot do it yourself. If not, just request they disable this for you in your reply.


The next stage involves sending out a guide to you to help you get me some important diagnostic results so that 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.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi jebus1967

I'm using a Tuya smart device myself and the same router (Sagemcom WIFI hub)

Mine connect on 2ghz. I found the Tuya devices/app not the easiest to set up. Are you using the Tuya smart app?

[jebus1967]

I think I 100% will need further help Debbi. I'm pretty sure now is not a good time to step back and leave the solution to the vagaries and black arts that are Wifi troubleshooting issues. I know what I'm doing. I have done it 100% correctly and what's more I've done it hundreds of pervious times with my old hub. Going back further, I did it hundreds of times with the old router you sent prior to even this. There is no issue with my WifI. I live in a small 1 room city centre apartment. My Wifi is very strong and reaches every small space in my home. There is no sensible reason why my devices should not be able to connect to this router.

For sure I'll (happily) play ball and do the network diagnostic thing. But I would like to know what happens if after doing this, your friend diagnoses that the router you sent is indeed incomputable with over half my smart home/assistive technology devices?

What then is the next step after this? What you probably should be doing is treating this as a test case on how to make your devices compatible with the largest range of smart home devices and manufacturers on the market. Not withstanding the largest of them all, which is Tuya.