Not necessarily new information, but not in a clear post.
Some have been having problems with wifi routers with their legacy IOT devices (including Hubitat?). I found a support article from ASUS that gives some guidance.
Basically, the article recommends disabling (on the 2.4 Band?):
Enable Smart Connect
802.11ax / WiFi 6 mode
Wi-Fi Agile Multiband
Protected Management Frames
Target Wake Time
Of course, this is the ASUS terminology. It may vary by router brand - but this may provide some guidance on where the issues are coming from.
What I am reading here is that IoT devices will not work with all the new fancy "bandwidth" and "frequency" management techniques in Wifi 6(AX) devices. Since most IoT devices are 2.4 GHz making the change to that band is ok but if they start saying turning it off for the 5 GHz bands then we have a real problem.
I use Unifi AP's and they also have IoT option for the 2.4 GHz band that handles the configuration settings.
I have 2 Asus wifi 6 routers (one wifi 6E router) (recently purchased)AXE-11000 and RT-AX88U) and I don't have any issues with with any of the devices on Hubitat using them. I did have some funkyness after reconfiguring my network after adding the most recent wifi 6E, but also I had my hubitat down for several hours so I attributed it to the mesh rebuilding.
The only thing I did do was turn OFF the automatic 2.4 ghz channel seletion because I notice it was selecting channel 9. And everything I've read says with 2.4 wifi to use either channel 1, 6, or 11 as all others overlap. So I chose 11 because my neighbers are using 1 and 6. I do NOT use smart connect, I prefer separate SSID's to connect to.
Yes. I set mine for 2.4 GHz only (except the global "Smart Connect"). Since I have NO 2.4 GHz ax devices, I had the wifi 6 enabled w/o problem.
Biggest worry from my perspective is Target Wake Time which puts inactive interfaces to sleep to save power. (I just updated the original post.) But the AX protocol will cause problems is a ax communication is on-going.
Had never noticed this setting, due I think to uninformative (to me) naming that totally leaves out any mention of IoT. I have all my IoT on a separate IoT VLAN/SSID (5 GHz and 2.4 GHz) and haven' t had any issues w/them connecting/staying connected to Wi-Fi. Did this setting make a difference for you?
Never used that feature in the network app on Unifi. I know many times the documentation of the features are usually lacking when they are first released. Looking at my cloudkey and network for wifi there are very few advanced settings:
Love the discussion. My main point - if you are having issues with you IOT devices (or Hubitat?), this thread may be helpful. I found some discussion scattered throughout the community - but way too scattered to be useful for problem resolution.
Good idea. However, some settings (wifi 6) are set for the entire band vice the individual SSIDs on a band. I like my IOT devices on one SSID (guest?) with my secure devices (laptop, tablets, phone, LAN Storage). I am still tinkering with streaming devices (TV, Fire TV, OTA recorder).
Aside from the security issues, I really want to garner best-practices when people are experiencing problems. (And the answer is NOT to forget security.) Some notes:
Legacy (wifi 5 and below devices) can have issues on a wifi 6 network. (If a wifi 6 - wifi 6 interchange is happening on the band/ssid and other issues). So, wifi 5 and 6 devices on the same band/ssid do not play well together. Wifi 6 devices can be bullies.
Hubitat on Wifi. One device of note is the Hubitat WiFi dongle (TP-Link) which are not wifi 6.
Amazon devices (most)
Samsung TVs. Many Samsung TV models; including, the 2021 models that are carry overs from other models, use wifi5.
Most smart home devices (lights, locks, bulbs, appliances, etc).
My first step is pinging the device from Hubitat. (Currently no app to ping individual devices; but, my integration app has it built in (the other day, I saw a ping time in excess of 2 minutes from one user).
Second is to direct wire Hubitat to your router and try ping again (taking the HE -> wifi interface out of the issue or identifying that as the issue).
Need other step ideas (easy for users to do generic items for the wifi router to
But it has some other hints - such as changing disconnect signal strength to improve roaming. Dependent on the setting, this could impact iot devices with their low-energy implementations?????
I don't have any idea. Ubiquiti's documentation is horrible and they are in a cycle of making regular significant changes that are also not well documented.
I have all my IoT on a separate IoT VLAN/SSID (5 GHz and 2.4 GHz) and haven' t had any issues w/them connecting/staying connected to Wi-Fi. Did this setting make a difference for you?
