iOS devices stop responding to network for up to 30 seconds

[Iamslick]

Hi All,

I'm trying to troubleshoot an issue that has seemingly cropped up lately where my iPhone 16 Pro Max and iPad M4 Pro on iOS 18 stop responding to the Wi-Fi network for up to 30 seconds. It will eventually kick in if I let it sit.

Router: GT-AXE16000 with Asus-Merlin 3004.388.8_4
Network: iOS devices are connected to the 6Ghz and 5Ghz, they roam back and forth using Smart Connect based on signal strength (this has seemingly worked well).
iOS: Private Wi-Fi Address is off

When the issue occurs, the following shows up the in the router system log:

Feb 17 16:14:16 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(695): eth9: ReAssoc <Mac Address>, status: Successful (0), rssi:-60
Feb 17 16:14:58 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(645): eth8: Deauth_ind <Mac Address>, status: 0, reason: Disassociated due to inactivity (4), rssi:-54
Feb 17 17:03:06 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(685): eth8: Auth <Mac Address>, status: Successful (0), rssi:0
Feb 17 17:03:06 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(695): eth8: ReAssoc <Mac Address>, status: Successful (0), rssi:-70
Feb 17 17:03:28 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(645): eth9: Deauth_ind <Mac Address>, status: 0, reason: Disassociated due to inactivity (4), rssi:-60
Feb 17 18:40:36 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(695): eth9: ReAssoc <Mac Address>, status: Successful (0), rssi:-70
Feb 17 18:41:12 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(645): eth8: Deauth_ind <Mac Address>, status: 0, reason: Disassociated due to inactivity (4), rssi:-64
Feb 17 20:01:58 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(685): eth8: Auth <Mac Address>, status: Successful (0), rssi:0
Feb 17 20:01:58 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(695): eth8: ReAssoc <Mac Address>, status: Successful (0), rssi:-86
Feb 17 20:02:08 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(645): eth9: Deauth_ind <Mac Address>, status: 0, reason: Disassociated due to inactivity (4), rssi:-83
Feb 17 20:04:55 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(662): eth8: Disassoc <Mac Address>, status: 0, reason: Disassociated because sending station is leaving (or has left) BSS (8), rssi:0
Feb 17 20:04:55 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(645): eth8: Deauth_ind <Mac Address>, status: 0, reason: Deauthenticated because sending station is leaving (or has left) IBSS or ESS (3), rssi:0
Feb 17 20:09:45 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(685): eth8: Auth <Mac Address>, status: Successful (0), rssi:0
Feb 17 20:09:45 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(722): eth8: Assoc <Mac Address>, status: Successful (0), rssi:-86
Feb 17 20:58:33 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(695): eth9: ReAssoc <Mac Address>, status: Successful (0), rssi:-60
Feb 17 20:59:02 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(645): eth8: Deauth_ind <Mac Address>, status: 0, reason: Disassociated due to inactivity (4), rssi:-48

I changed Wi-Fi DTIM Interval from 1 to 3 and disabled Universal Beamforming based on some threads out there, but no luck with fixing the issue.

Perhaps it's Smart Connect rules, but I don't recall this happening before or at least it wasn't this noticeable. The main goal with this was to keep the devices on 6Ghz, as without it they would keep falling back to 5Ghz and never switch back to 6Ghz.

If anyone else is running into this same issue or has some ideas, thanks in advance.

 

[degrub]

Looks like some of the RF power levels are marginal and the radio in the IOS device is not being heard well enough by the AP. Likely that is the 6GHz radio as it does not penetrate obstacles (walls, furniture , etc) very well if at all. 5GHz band is a little better - can usually penetrate 1 gypsum board wall, but not 2. IOS devices will cling to a radio even if they cannot really talk to it.

If you have direct, clear line of sight to the AP antennas, does the same behavior occur ?

What is the wifi environment - neighbor's signals overlaying yours ?

Yes, turn off smart connect and set your 5 GHz radio to 80 MHz wide band, 6 GHz to 80 or try 160, and 2.4 GHz to 40 or 40/20 MHz. Should be more than enough available bandwidth for IOS devices at those settings.

You can't do anything about the wifi radios in the IOS devices. All you can do is position additional APs where the signal from the IOS device falls off too far. Usually shoot for -65 dB RSSI. In ASUS devices you don't have very good control over RF TX power, so you have to be careful of overlap between the main wifi router and the node wifi .

 

[sfx2000]

2.4 GHz to 40 or 40/20 MHz. Should be more than enough available bandwidth for IOS devices at those settings.

Apple does not support 40MHz channels in 2.4, so better perhaps to keep 2.4 at 20MHz channel widths...

 

[Sander_H]

I had the same issues with 2.4/5 Ghz on AX86 (Pro), but wasn't able to figure it out. I just put Apple devices on 2.4Ghz only.