WiFi staying connected but providing no internet on some devices

[Hylian]

I've had full fibre installed about a month ago, with a smart hub pro and 2x smart wifi pro access points.

Since using the kit I've noticed a problem with my mobile phone, a Google Pixel 8 pro. When moving around the apartment, sometimes it will drop wifi and rely on 5G. For normal connectivity this isn't a problem, but when I'm trying to connect to local network devices like my sonos kit, that's a big problem.

Sonos will interrupt my flow by saying it isn't connected to WiFi. I'll check the device and it will tell me I'm connected, strong or decent signal, but there's no internet. I have to disconnect and reconnect and everything works fine.

Problem is - this falls short of my expectations for even the most basic of WiFi. Let alone Wi-Fi 7 and the additional Wi-Fi kit that I've just ordered and am paying monthly for, with a promise of " Stronger connection, less interference. Get a more consistent connection across all your devices at the same time.".

I've used the NetSpot android app to confirm that WiFi signal coverage is now good across the full apartment. It's the *management* of that connection by either my EE broadband kit or my EE phone that is the problem. The connection to the home is fine because other stationary devices on my network can maintain a connection with no problems (except my google home mini in the kitchen which seems to be having a meltdown recently).

I've had support on the line a number of times, I've had an engineer come out and reset and reconnect the WiFi Pro access points while having them connected by ethernet (they were originally set up via WPS as per the original engineer's instructions). I've disabled the 6Ghz network as recommended by the 2nd engineer but the problem still occurs.

I'm not satisfied with downgrading my WiFi security to make this work. I'm not satisfied with disabling the 5Ghz network to make this work, it's bad enough that I tried disabling the 6Ghz (which didn't help).

Broadband support have so far been completely useless and a waste of my time. Resetting kit does not help, no matter how often they do it. Disabling/re-enabling certain bandwidths doesn't help. Does anybody here have any ideas?

I'm really hoping we have some actual experts on here, rather than staff who just follow whatever wizard it is they've got on their callcentre screen.

Screenshots attached to share additional info and demonstrate the problem.

How i notice the problemWhat android tells me at a high levelWhat android tells me about the wifi connection

Here are some router details:

Router firmware version etc.Wifi spectrum and security settingsrouter product code etc.

[JimM11]

@Hylian Have a read at the posting below for what a user did to get the pixel pro working correctly.

Smart Hub Pro client roaming - The EE Community

[Hylian]

I hadn't, but just read it now. Sounds like their solution was reset the phone?

I can give that a go but looking online elsewhere it seems like the pixel 8 pro just can't handle MLO?

It also apparently can't handle part of the 6Ghz spectrum, but at mentioned above, disabling that didn't solve the problem so it must be something else.

I'll try the reset and see if that prompts any Google updates. 

[Hylian]

So I did a factory reset on my phone, and I'm surprised to say it seems to be working a lot better now.

I don't know how that can be reconciled with the stuff online about MLO and partial 6Ghz spectrum support, maybe that stuff is not quite accurate.

All I know is after a phone factory reset I've been wandering around just as before. Same flat, same phone, same wandering - and no such issues about dropped connectivity.

It's infuriating that Android and Pixel are so bad that that factory reset step is even necessary, but that's another issue. 

[JimM11]

@Hylian Glad that it worked out for you, the 6Ghz band will be a little weaker with regards to distance that it can throw the wireless signal strength about, and as this is all still relatively new for every manufacturer of wi-fi7 control will just take a little time for them all to settle and get better at what is required. Not a phone person myself but with regards to MLO believe that it is better to have all bands on the same ssid, and all the frequency's enabled to give the best chance for the MAX etc, do not have one single wifi7 device so cannot help much that way. If you want some serious bedtime reading then go to www.wiisfi.com and read to your hearts content, you used to be able to download the info, but now just print it to a pdf and keep local on your computer.

[Hylian]

Spoke too soon, problem reoccurring today 🙄

 

enabled verbose logging to see what else it can tell me. Shows the hasInternet[] false, and shows connected but no Internet. I'm approximately 4 metres from the main hub 🙄

[JimM11]

@Hylian Your latest screenshot's you have posted show that you only have a 5G mobile connection, and are not connected to the wireless Wi-Fi network at all!

[Hylian]

That's not correct. Android will default back to mobile connectivity if WiFi fails. In the 2nd screenshot it shows I'm connected but there's no Internet. Same problem as that highlighted in the original post. 

[JimM11]

@Hylian The 2nd picture had not cleared, question do you have space characters in your ssid name, NOT a good choice to have any. Would try to see by removing the space if it is any way better.

[Hylian]

Just read up on it. It *shouldn't* make a difference, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't. Some sloppy coding somewhere is all it takes and suddenly a bunch of devices are not compatible.

I'm using the same phone that has used that same SSID with spaces in it since 2020, so I know the phone won't have an issue with that, but maybe the new hardware in the EE hub has some issue with that. Pitty if it does, we're paying a premium for this WiFi and expect modern, capable kit.

Ill give it a go and report back.