Laptop Wifi Disconnects Repeatedly

[#1]

We joined Fibre at the start of the week and have had a couple of issues since, but the main one has been the connection of my laptop to the WiFi connection.

The laptop connects initially to the WiFi fine, but after a few minutes websites do not load ('Unable to connect' messages in Firefox), then the WiFi icon in the taskbar changes to indicate the WiFi is not found.

Running the troubleshooter on the connection when it cuts out displays several messages which may help. During the process, it states 'Resetting WiFi' before the troubleshooter fixes the problem by displaying 'Default Gateway is not available – Fixed' (see attached images). It is temporary as after a minute or so the process repeats.

The weird thing is that connecting the laptop to the hub via Ethernet cable removes the issue entirely and everything works fine.

I have tried resetting the router by turning it off, unplugging it - then turning it on and then reconnecting devices to it, but the issue still persists for the laptop. I have also tried forgetting the WiFi network, rebooting, then rejoining but this does not work either. Another thing I have noticed - logging onto the laptop, the WiFi is greyed out and disconnected - so it is not remembering the network and automatically connecting at boot.

As an aside:

Laptop running Windows 10.

Also on the network - an Ethernet connected desktop PC, an iPhone, a Kindle Fire tablet, a PS4 (all on the WiFi). This type of disconnect has happened once on the desktop PC really late in the day, but not since - so that may well have been a one off incident. I have also recently plugged in the Sky+ box, but these issues started before adding it via Ethernet cable.

To really test the network, at one point I had the PC running an online game, the iPhone connecting to a website, whilst the PS4 ran Netflix. No issues or dropouts and everything was running OK.

I have attached screenshots of the troubleshooter, and from the event log when the disconnect occurs.

Any help with this would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

[#2]

Try splitting the 2.4 and 5 GHz wifi and see if your laptop works any better when connected to 2.4 or 5 GHz.

https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/2-4ghz-and-or-5ghz-best-practice/td-p/1351950

Note there is currently a separate issue with 5 GHz wifi failing with latest firmware update.

https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Could-this-be-a-bug-with-firmware-4-7-5-1-83-8-263-or-Window...

[#3]

Have you tried connecting the laptop to another WiFi network to see what happens? Sometimes its not the routers fault but maybe the laptop itself. I know my Lenovo laptop WiFi performance is pretty dire, even when sat next to the router (either band), such I have thought about using a USB WiFi dongle to see if that improves the performance. And that is running W10 too. The desktop though runs 100% rock solid and flat out on WiFi.

[#4]

I tried splitting the WiFi frequencies, however none of my devices actually could see the 5Ghz apart from the Sky box. I also tried turning off the 5Ghz completely but this did not work either.

[#5]

You need to look up the specs to see whether a device supports 5Ghz or not. But generally if the device doesn't support the 5.0Ghz band it will not see it. If the Skybox could see it that suggests its working OK.

[#6]

Most of the gear is reasonably old now so I'd imagine it just cannot use the 5GHz channel. For example, the iPhone 4s is 2.4Ghz only.

802.11b	5Ghz
802.11g	2.4Ghz
802.11n	2.4Ghz and 5Ghz

The laptop supports 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b - so should show the 5Ghz channel, shouldn't it? It isn't showing in the list of WiFi connections available.

The Kindle should be able to connect to 5Ghz as well, but also does not show on the list of wireless networks.

[#7]

As for the firmware:

Plusnet Hub One | Software version 4.7.5.1.83.8.263 | Last updated 21/05/19

I guess I would need PlusNet to try another firmware version.

[#8]

---

@Gdw1982 wrote:

802.11b	5Ghz
802.11g	2.4Ghz
802.11n	2.4Ghz and 5Ghz

The laptop supports 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b - so should show the 5Ghz channel, shouldn't it? It isn't showing in the list of WiFi connections available.

The Kindle should be able to connect to 5Ghz as well, but also does not show on the list of wireless networks.

---

Depends what mode the 5Ghz is set to. I tend to have my own router's 5Ghz mode set to use 802.11ac only. Any 5Ghz equipment using N just doesn't see it. That tends to gets connected to 2.4Ghz side. As you mention, older kit just won't see 5Ghz anyway.

I will say I do have a mini computer running W10 that used to drop the Wifi connection on a frequent basis. I ended up uninstalling the wifi adapter (device manager) and reinstalling. That seem to cure it.

[#9]

Hi @Gdw1982,

I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing this issue. Just to clarify, are the Wi-Fi disconnects only occurring for the laptop, or are other devices connecting through Wi-Fi dropping out as well?

[#10]

Hi. Yes, these disconnects happen on the laptop only, everything else has been running OK.

The laptop, when connected via Ethernet cable directly to the hub, works without issue. It just has the issue when using WiFi. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the driver for my wireless adapter using the device manager, but this has not made a difference. The laptop was fine on our previous providers WiFi, albeit standard broadband.

[#11]

Hi @Gdw1982,

Thanks for confirming this. As you've already tried splitting the channels and it only appears to be an issue with the laptop, there's not much more we can do in terms of supporting this particular issue from our end of things I'm afraid.

Given what you've said so far, it may be worth trying to see if there's any known issues with the mode/make of the laptop in use and see if this is something that can be resolved from another approach. Other than that, I would always recommend to connect via Ethernet cable where possible as this will always provide a more stable and reliable connection than a Wi-Fi connection will.

[#12]

Did you look at the first post on the second link the bill888 posted earlier @Gdw1982?

As what you've described is what I also witnessed (and posted for future readers) on that link.

Anyway, if you didn't, then the fix I found was to connect our W10 laptop via direct ethernet (making sure the wifi was not also still connected), manually checking for windows updates, which in my case it found some and installed them, the laptop then rebooted as part of the update process and the wifi then started to work (clearly with the ethernet cable removed after the reboot).

Since posting about it, it was also discovered that a windows update did break the wifi for certain wifi enabled W10 laptops/PC's, the fix back then was as I'd already done - ethernet -> update -> reboot -> wifi.

If that still doesn't work, do you use the same wifi passkey for all routers?

(I did, for BT and PN routers, and found it could create certain issues)

Lastly, as you use a Plusnet Hub One, I would try and use only the 2.4GHz SSID as some of us have wifi issues when using the 5GHz SSID, with the no networks showing too.....

[#13]

I can't really understand why the laptop would would perfectly well with our old Sky WiFi, but within 48 hours (due to the delay in the router being sent out after activation) it would not work, which to me suggests a problem with Plusnet. There were no updates applied to the laptop in that time (obviously) so nothing changed with the setup of the laptop, apart from what it was connecting to.

I have seen some people suggest that the firmware on the router may be an issue and they had it downgraded to test whether or not the issue resolved itself. Is there nothing the Plusnet can test?

This is hugely frustrating.

[#14]

I did go through it yes, tried to pick out some of the suggestions.

I tried using the Ethernet connection to check for updates in windows update, but there were none.

I am only using the single Plusnet router.

I have tried turning off 5Ghz completely.

At a loss to be honest.

[#15]

Hi @Gdw1982, I'm sorry to hear the wireless issue persists. From my understanding and from those affected by the latest firmware issue that is currently being investigated  it only occurs on the 5GHz wireless frequency so if you've disabled this and the issue persists it hints the firmware issue isn't behind problem you're seeing. From your description of the issue and what you've ruled out trouble shooting so far it does seem something on the laptops side more so than the router if other devices have connected fine. Although there's not much support we can offer on singular devices a few things I'd suggest if you haven't already would be going into the network adapter options for your machine and then disabling and re-enabling the wireless network card. It may also be worth searching for an update for the network card driver and seeing if this helps.