Forum Discussion

Longy1234's avatar
Longy1234
Joining in
3 months ago

Google Wifi Drops Each Time Broadband Drops

I've used Google Nest Wifi for many years with my current Virign Media router (in modem mode), but I have noticed through this time that when my broadband connection drops it also makes my local wifi connection turn off too.

In my mind the way it should work (and I am sure I have observed other home networks operating this way) is that the home lan (wifi and wired) operate independantly of the internet connection. Why would a user still not be able to continue to use local LAN resources (via wifi and wired) just because the gateway has stopped working. How do people who use things like plex (via a local wifi connection) continue to do so locally?

I have home automation like Hubitat and Home Assistant that are wired into my lan. When my broadband connection fails these continue to work fine on the LAN but when the broadband drops my wifi drops and I cannot even see a wifi connection is even present. Its very frustrating, if I wish to access my hubs or network locations on my network to administer them I have to connect a wired connection to my laptop into my switch in order to do so.

I'm not 100% sure but I think external and local ought to operate independently, or at least local wifi should continue to operate like the local wired lan does and continue to be able to utilise local resources like shared folders etc?

Welcome others thoughts and experiences

My setup is as follows

1 Google Wifi Access point in my house with the virigin broadband router in modem mode connected to it in one port, the other port connects to my lan/switch.

I have a wired network that goes out to my office with another Google Wifi router connected to it via cable.

I have 3 Google Wifi wireless pods around the house. These work fine with only an occasional reboot when they show they have a weak signal.

My network operates on 192.168.86.X

The Router LAN Address is set to 192.168.86.1

I can recreate the problem just by turning the power off to the Virgin router (in modem mode), as soon as I do this all wifi connections drop. A simple example of the issue I have having is if I am using WIFI fine but pull the plug on the virgin router (in modem mode) all wifi devices across my network fall off the wifi - all wired devices continue to work fine.

Thanks

Connection
Gateway
WIFI
  • legacy1's avatar
    legacy1
    Alessandro Volta
    3 months ago

    maybe a case of smart WiFi on your Google Nest? look at another router?

  • Tudor's avatar
    Tudor
    Very Insightful Person
    3 months ago

    All VM hubs have a low level CPU so when the WAN connection fails the hub spends all its resources trying to regain the connection and the WiFi suffers. The Ethernet cabled devices are controlled by a switch chip in the hub so do not use much CPU, so they remain active.

  • Longy1234's avatar
    Longy1234
    Joining in
    3 months ago

    @Tudor, I'm not sure I understand the relevance of your answer. I dont doubt there is CPU effort in providing both WAN and Local LAN/WIFI, however with the Virgin Media Router in Modem mode I'm not sure why it is spending any effort in maintaining anything but the WAN access.

    My setup is using the Google Wifi for my LAN and Wifi? Yet somehow the lack of WAN is switching off the Wifi (but not the wired LAN).

    I'd look to purchase another Wifi router but would love to hear about what is expected behaviour with my setup, are others also seeing this happen? What if I swap to another and have the same thing?

    Thanks 

    • Tudor's avatar
      Tudor
      Very Insightful Person
      3 months ago

      The same could go for your router. WiFi needs processing power, switching is just switching with a low CPU usage. I don’t use so call retail ‘routers’ because they are not just routers, but have a lot of other functions on board. I only have a plain router with separate network switches and wireless access points. Any bit goes wrong and it’s less money to replace.

      • Longy1234's avatar
        Longy1234
        Joining in
        3 months ago

        Thanks for your reply and insight, I dont doubt the logic but there must be consumer/retail units that can keep a persistent wifi/wired network in place with full local connectivity in the event of a WAN failure? I'm not sure this is too much to expect?

        I recall in the past getting messages on a device that was connected to the wifi - when the WAN dropped it would indicate this in a message, but I would retain my connection to my LAN (and its resources).

        I'd be open to replacing the Google part, but want to be sure I have not set it up wrong in the first instance, or risk replacing it with something that does exactly the same thing

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    3 months ago

    Are your laptops or mobiles dependent on a Public DNS or a cloud based Antivirus or a VPN like Apple Relay, all of these and similar services would unavailable during a VM outage and if configured / enabled would prevent access to the LAN.

    GSM or SIM enabled devices are a special case, mobiles and the like do drop the Wi-Fi connection if it fails to provide a working route to the Public Internet and they will connect to GSM data and change to an IP from the mobile provider, an IP that is not on your home LAN resulting in loss of access to say a LAN printer.

     

    • Longy1234's avatar
      Longy1234
      Joining in
      3 months ago

      Thanks for your reply.

      The lack of wifi occurs across all devices, mine and my wifes phones (which have SIMs) but also laptops, Ipads, Chromecasts, TVs.... the loss of wifi occurs across all devices. No unusual DNS or antivirus or VPNs are in place or set up in my network.

  • mgilbert3's avatar
    mgilbert3
    Tuning in
    3 months ago

    Hi,

    I've not used Google Wifi, but I do get similar behaviour from my mesh system that is using TP-Link Deco hardware.

    I've not looked into it in detail to try and resolve, because apart from it being the odd annoyance, it hasn't caused any substantial issue. However, this page or links within may provide an insight: https://community.tp-link.com/us/home/forum/topic/231338 (Deco M9 plus prevents access to local network when internet is down)