Forum Discussion

Dee2Mark's avatar
Dee2Mark
Tuning in
10 hours ago

Ring doorbell looses WiFi connection

One possible fix for a Ring doorbell randomly dropping its Wi-Fi connection is to rename your 5 GHz network on the Hub.

I'm testing this workaround by renaming the 5 GHz network and adding "-5G" to the name. That way, the Ring stays locked onto the 2.4 GHz network and the router can't try to switch it. Running with this change for the last few weeks and no issues yet.

If your router uses the same name (SSID) for both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, it may occasionally try to push the Ring doorbell from 2.4 GHz over to 5 GHz. This is a feature called "smart" band‑steering feature. Unfortunanatly a lot of "smart" tech is not really smart LOL

Since many Ring doorbells, especially older models, work best on 2.4 GHz, this can cause connection drops.

4 Replies

  • legacy1's avatar
    legacy1
    Alessandro Volta
    5 hours ago

    I fail to see how a device that only knows 2.4GHz by its hardware would go over to 5GHz....so to me its simple the hub is bad.

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    9 hours ago

    If your router uses the same name (SSID) for both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, it may occasionally try to push the Ring doorbell from 2.4 GHz over to 5 GHz.

    This is not how dual band Wi-Fi works. 

    The Ring CCTV device ( if dual band ) chooses the Wi-Fi band to use based on its ability to establish a connection to the VM Hub. 

    The key problem with Ring CCTV kit is it needs a Wi-Fi access point that is close to it to function properly.   It is up to the user of the device to provide this.

    Remember the battery powered Ring CCTV kit has a much weaker Wi-Fi signal transmission than the mains powered VM Hub,  a signal that is often too feeble to establish a reliable connection to a VM Hub installed some distance away.

     

    • newapollo's avatar
      newapollo
      Very Insightful Person
      9 hours ago

      The ring doorbell disconnecting isn't just a VM issue, although VM do state In the FAQ's on the https://www.virginmedia.com/help/how-to/broadband/wifi-pods page

      Ring doorbell
      Unfortunately, Ring doorbells can – for some reason – disconnect themselves from time to time. Should this happen, you’ll need to reset your doorbell manually if you want to reconnect them to your WiFi.

      I would imagine this applies whether or not VM WiFi Pods are used.

  • Adduxi's avatar
    Adduxi
    Very Insightful Person
    9 hours ago

    This fix will only work if the user is not using the VM Pods.  They need the Hub to be as "out of the box" settings, i.e. a single SSID etc.  Also the Connect app may reset changes to the Hub as part of the VM Intelligent Wifi solution.

    IMHO, anyone who needs granular control over their Wifi would be best to use their own networking kit.