Just connected a Surf OTG in WIFI as LAN mode. Using it to connect an IP cam to my wireless network. Have strong wifi coverage (-58 to -70 DB). Works great except that the unit keeps disconnecting from my Wifi AP (Cisco e4200) every few minutes and then reconnecting. Is offline for about 20 seconds, then back on. See screenshot below.
I noticed this because my Camera system sends me an update when the camera is connected/reconnected. So far this has happened at least 16 times from midnight today. Roughly every 15-45 minutes.
Using Version: 1.0.19 (build:1085), which seems to be the latest build.
connecting to Cisco e4200, on 2.4GHZ channel
Wifi AP disabled (only used to connect IP cam on Cat5 to wireless LAN)
WPA2 security
Radio Mode: Auto, Full channel scanning
Roaming: tried both on an off, made no difference.
No other strong interfering wifi channels nearby
Puzzled, and may have to remove it from the network, as it’s not acting reliably. rebooted, reconfigured, created a new profile, all the same result.
In your screen shot of the signal timeline it looks like the signal dropped to -99 three times in a very short period. -99 is basically dead and would definitely cause the disconnect/reconnect scenario. Need to investigate why the signal from your e4200 keeps dropping out. Maybe try a different channel first and see what happens.
Already tested across several different channels, both on the 2.4 and 5Ghz bands. Same result.
Have been using the same e4200 for Sonos wirelessly, AppleTV, etc. and never saw this behavior. I even shut down all other devices, but the Surf keeps dropping wireless connection and reconnecting. Wouldn’t matter for day-day web surfing, but super important for security camera recording.
Any further thoughts?
Below is an updated screen shot showing continued drop-outs.
We will need to get a diagnostic report from the unit so we can take a deeper look, please open a ticket via our website: http://www.pepwave.com/contact/support/
Thx for the quick attention. Just submitted ticket with debug-dump file. Hopefully we can find some resolution. Really like the form factor and capabilities, just need it to perform!
Thank you - that’s a great idea, I’ll do that first.
It’s a Surf AP 200, with 9.0.44 from 2011. The online firmware check says i’m up to date, but I’ll dig around a bit when I get home for the latest version for that particular ‘major release’, as I did with the MAX!
I’m really happy that after years of waiting to be put to good use again, I’m once again using these awesome routers!
Happy to report that after further investigation I think I have tracked the problem in part down to some poorly behaved neighbors. Remotely, using the Surf’s management portal, as well as the Max in the garage (via a system i’m ssh’ed in to) I found some AP’s which are not on my property, but are absolutely blasting channel 1 and 11. One ‘Rogue AP’ was -40dBm, and must be at least 20ft away from the Surf in my neighbors house. Its possible that was making the repeater link fail, as my repeater AP was at about -69dBm.
Today I have experienced flawless video transfer - it’s handily doing about 5MBit every few minutes. Sure enough, today the Rogue AP is registering at -92dBm, another at -63dBm.
Hopefully this info might be useful to others googling “Surf AP Connection Drop”. My confidence in the high quality and general awesomeness of Pepwave/Peplink remains!
