WiFi network doesn't show up on devices

phunguus

phunguus

Disciple
Hi All

Background : I've been using TPLINK's TL-WR740N router for my home WiFi needs. It has been in service (and has served me very well) for 3 almost years now.

Problem : Since the past 1-2 months, I noticed that after the router has been up for a day or so, the WiFi network doesn't show up on devices that have entered the WiFi network's range.The devices that are already connected work absolutely fine.

Suspicion/Analysis: My suspicion is that my router isn't able to handle greater than x number of WiFi connections (The number of WiFi enabled devices in my house have slowly doubled over the last 1-1.5 years). Unfortunately, there is no section on the router admin page where I can check how many devices are connected to the router.

Long term solutions tried : I have tried hard reset using the pin hole switch on the router and also tried a firmware upgrade. No luck.

Does this pattern indicate router death/wear out in any way? I definitely think it's high time I get a router upgrade. But if the above problem is something minor and can be fixed with minimal time/effort, then I would rather prefer continuing with this one.


Router details:-
Model : TL-WR740N
Firmware Version: 3.17.0 Build 150105 Rel.61576n
Hardware Version: WR740N v4 00000000
Warranty status : out of warranty
Official TP LINK page:- http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/TL-WR740N.html?direct
Mods done : had contemplated flashing DD WRT but didnt do it
 
Damn, Just saw that there is a separate Networking section.
@mods Please move the thread to the Networking section. Sorry for trouble.:(
 
Nice tip!
There is an android app but it works only on hardware versions v5. Mine is v4.

But I found one way to track the number of devices connected.
In the System Tools > Statistics section in the router admin page, I can see the data packets sent/received for all the different IPs in the LAN. But that includes even those IPs which were connected before but are not connected now.
So to get the latest list of connected IPs, I just delete all the logs and refresh the page in 5-10 seconds. Whatever IPs show up in the 10 seconds are the devices that are currently connected. And right now the count is 5.


TL;DR : 5 devices are currently connected.

With 5 devices , the problem is not seen. Will keep monitoring this section until i see the problem again. Maybe it has a threshold after which it doesn't accept more connections.
 
Double check if WLAN country is set to "IN" and channels are between 1,6 or 11 (13 and 14 won't work). Also try setting channel width as 20Mhz instead of 40.
 
I've faced problems every time I tried 13-14 in the 2.4 Ghz band. It could be the AP hardware or client side problems, not sure. If I am not mistaken, as per law only 1-13 are allowed in India.
 
rock_ya_baby said:
I've faced problems every time I tried 13-14 in the 2.4 Ghz band. It could be the AP hardware or client side problems, not sure. If I am not mistaken, as per law only 1-13 are allowed in India.
Click to expand...

I was asking because I too am facing difficulties on Channel 13 on my Unifi, and my idevices have connectivity issues. Chromecast/MBP/MBA/PC all connect fine. So i'm going to have to do a quick channel change and see if that helps

OP, apologies for derailing your topic.
 
It is probably a channel issue. Set it to channel number 11, and let all your devices reacquire the SSID. You wifi station and its corresponding signal is totally local to your vicinity. If your router page does now show you how many devices are connected, you can physically also verify how many are connected. I am sure the number of connections count is not saturated. Is it not a high number like 15-20 devices.
 
Sorry to pile on to this thread, but (for my noob query) shouldn't the channel be left to "auto" to avoid interference (after selecting country to IN/India if that option is available?)
 
vivek.krishnan said:
Personally, I have never seen the WiFi Channel being an issue. Any update OP?
Click to expand...
Channels can be an issue - My LIFX bulbs refused to switch on one fine evening for no apparent reason.
I ended up resetting them all and realized they couldn't see my primary router SSID
They would however detect the other APs

What I had done the night before was switch the primary AP to channel 13 because the wifi scanner app on my phone recommended channel 13
However, US allows for only channel 1-11 and the bulbs designed for complying with that.

Wasted so much of my time troubleshooting - shouldn't really fix what ain't broken

for the OP, try fixing the channel on 2.4 ghz to 1 or 6 which are the safest (albeit noisy if you live in an urban area) channels to be on
 
superczar said:
Channels can be an issue - My LIFX bulbs refused to switch on one fine evening for no apparent reason.
I ended up resetting them all and realized they couldn't see my primary router SSID
They would however detect the other APs

What I had done the night before was switch the primary AP to channel 13 because the wifi scanner app on my phone recommended channel 13
However, US allows for only channel 1-11 and the bulbs designed for complying with that.

Wasted so much of my time troubleshooting - shouldn't really fix what ain't broken

for the OP, try fixing the channel on 2.4 ghz to 1 or 6 which are the safest (albeit noisy if you live in an urban area) channels to be on
Click to expand...

OK, I have not seen this at all. Not much of any USA devices. Does the OP have any such device? Something to look out for now :D
 
vivek.krishnan said:
OK, I have not seen this at all. Not much of any USA devices. Does the OP have any such device? Something to look out for now :D
Click to expand...
Nope, not a US device. It's TP-LINK. ,manufactured in the backalleys of Guangdong China.
And dude, I got it from you only ...like 3 years back :D.
vivek.krishnan said:
Nah, that wont be the issue. Is the WiFi SSID hidden? I would suggest to do a complete reset via the WebUI and check.
Click to expand...
SSID wasn't hidden. i even tried manually entering the SSID but no luck.

Criminal said:
if your router doesn't have a dedicated service to tell you which all devices are connected to it then use this popular utility:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wireless_network_watcher.html
Click to expand...
Downloaded the installer exe. The setup started downloading the installation package ...stopped at 64KB :dead:

rock_ya_baby said:
Double check if WLAN country is set to "IN" and channels are between 1,6 or 11 (13 and 14 won't work). Also try setting channel width as 20Mhz instead of 40.
Click to expand...
The country is India. Channel is set to Auto, so is the width. Have set it to 20Mhz and 1. Let's see if anything changes.

Powersurge said:
I was asking because I too am facing difficulties on Channel 13 on my Unifi, and my idevices have connectivity issues. Chromecast/MBP/MBA/PC all connect fine. So i'm going to have to do a quick channel change and see if that helps

OP, apologies for derailing your topic.
Click to expand...
No sweat bro. More gyaan is always welcome.

asingh said:
It is probably a channel issue. Set it to channel number 11, and let all your devices reacquire the SSID. You wifi station and its corresponding signal is totally local to your vicinity. If your router page does now show you how many devices are connected, you can physically also verify how many are connected. I am sure the number of connections count is not saturated. Is it not a high number like 15-20 devices.
Click to expand...
Have set the channel to 1 for now. Number of devices barely reaches 10.
 
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