Can my fingbox help me solve wifi client disconnect issues? How?

Purplex · August 25, 2019

So I have this Google Hub that almost daily seems to lose its wifi connection.
I followed all of the guidelines and suggestions I could find by google, by my router provider and common networking knowledge.
Worse is that my provider's (VDSL)router only has limited access to the end-user and they are unclear to many of its aspects, so when you call them for support, they try to sell you extra access points , tv-boxes or powerline options even when that's clearly not the solution to your issue so I'm certainly not gonna call them for this issue.
I suspect that the router drops the connection when a certain number of devices are connected, and the hub just simply doesn't reconnect. Annoying since my Hub is supposed to announce someone ringing my doorbell (Nest Hello).
Possibly adding an AP could help in this case but is it the cause and would this be the best solution...
Is there any way my new fingbox can help me diagnosing this situation? Could it log the number of connected devices to Wired/2.4/5Ghz or a/b/g/n/ac/ax in some kind of timetable? I wonder.
Any other ideas?

Pooh · August 25, 2019

What's the make and model of your ISP provided router? Knowing this would help us here in the community known if there are any issues on it that would lead to some of the issues you're observing.

In addition, it is entirely possible that the router itself is fine, but the Google Hub is receiving interference - do you know if you are you connecting on 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz? 2.4Ghz is a lot better at handling obstructions in the signal, but there are less channels for it to use. 5Ghz is faster, has more channels, but is a lot more fussy about interference. Either can manifest as issues, either a congested 2.4Ghz signal, or a 5Ghz one in a dead zone. What happens if you locate the Google Home device closer to the WiFi router, do the problems remain?

It's unlikely that a Fingbox would help in this particular situation, that said, it can help in identifying security issues on a home network.

VioletChepil · August 27, 2019

@Pooh thanks for the response.
@Purplex you could submit your request here in Fingbox feature requests if you like:
https://community.fing.com/categories/fingbox-feature-requests

Bryce · August 27, 2019

I've seen an ISP supplied router drop existing connections when it reached 32 devices, a new connection would cause an old one to fall off the routers list, even when that connection was set up with a fixed ip and port forwarding rules. So you could be right to suspect the router maybe.
You could just try running a continuous ping to the device from a PC and see if it does drop off (assuming a google hub responds to pings? Test this in first instance from Fing app under Devices -> choose device -> Ping). If it is pingable is there any discernible pattern to when it drops off. Get the ip address from your fing app for the device, then at command prompt (on windows the command is) 'ping /t 192.168.1.100' (substitute your ip address, this is example). If you are seeing 'Request timed out' then the connection is lost.
Regards, Bryce.

Purplex · March 5, 2020

Sorry I had totally lost track of the question I had posted here, so I feel I need to firstly thank @Pooh, @Bryce and @VioletChepil for your answers.

I can state that the issue got resolved by adding an Access Point in my network.

The router is indeed an ISP-provided device made by Sagem and sold as BBox3 by Proximus in Belgium. I suspect that it has a limit on the number of active wifi connections causing my issues since I have quite a few devices though I don't think it reaches 32 active wireless connections, maybe 24, but I wasn't able to determine the number where it would cause the issues since my ISP blocks all advanced menus from the end-user.

Anyways by adding the AP, my router sees the devices connected through the AP as cabled connections and the issue was resolved.

Can my fingbox help me solve wifi client disconnect issues? How?

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