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Function as WiFi network without Internet

Please add ability to use as a Wi-Fi network even when internet service is down such as following a power outage when power returns but internet is out for hours or days afterwards. WiFi is still needed for wireless printing, Airplay content from phone to TV (especially useful during cable/internet outage), etc. Every other router I have ever owned had this capability to manage wireless LAN locally when internet went down.

This needs to be added, hopefully soon, as a firmware update for EXISTING customers, not just for next generation hardware.

34 replies

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    • eero Community Manager
    • Jeff_C
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Official response
    • Reported - view

    Hi everyone —

    We have added support for LAN persistence with the release of eeroOS v3.9.0-1113. This version is now available via user-initiated and automatic OTA.

    To initiate an update, follow the steps found here.

      • ladvm
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       hey Jeff its 5 years later and you guys are still having same problems. what gives.

    • Pete
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Here's an update after testing

    Test #1
    Unplug cat 5 from cable model, leave it plugged into one of the ports on Eero
    Walk away for 10 min & come back.  Red light is on Eero indicating no internet connectivity
    All devices are still connected to Eero wifi ...
    All devices on local lan can ping & I can stream local media from my nas

    Test #2
    Pull power plug on Eero which is still not connected to modem
    Wait 10 min to boot up. Red light is on
    All devices are automatically disconnected from the wifi, indicating that this device is unable to get a local config & get the local network up & running


    This is major design flaw in my opinion

    I thought I replied to this thread earlier yesterday, not sure what happened to my comments

      • nsteinmetz
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Pete Totally agree. Eero technical support said that this is not a bug but a deliberate design choice. Like you I believe that it is a serious design flaw that needs correction.

      • MarcW
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      nsteinmetz I ended up with a ups just for the eero gateway

    • Engineer
    • David_C
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    1. It doesn't take 10 min to boot--it happens in seconds--that's just the eero searching for connectivity.

     

    2. This issue has been evaluated internally that's all I can say right now. Just be patient (=

      • nsteinmetz
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      David C. I hope we don’t need to be patient much longer. I have a large home covered with six eero units, and this is a serious flaw in a product I would otherwise enthusiastically recommend to my friends and family for their homes.

       NDS.

      • CEO & Co-founder
      • weaves
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      nsteinmetz it's resolved today with eero OS 3.9

      • nsteinmetz
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      weaves Thank you.

      • CarpNCod
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      weaves 

      I am running 3 eero units on 3.19.0, each is connected via gigabit ethernet to a switch.  They are running in bridged mode with my Cisco firewall handling the connection to the Internet.  I was told by two separate eero service employees that the eeros will not provide a wifi network if there is no Internet connection.  

      The second person I spoke with said there are no wireless access points that will provide a wireless network without an Internet connection!

      I have been a network engineer since 1998.  This is patently false.  The wireless network has NOTHING to do with the Internet.  Of course, I understand that I won't be able to access anything off of my local network when the Internet is down, but the wireless network itself should still be there.

      What makes this situation worse is that the eeros aren't even directly connected to the Internet in this case.  They are in bridged mode, with the default gateway being my firewall.  From the point of view of the eeros, the default gateway never goes down.  

      Can I please get an explanation as to why eeros requires a functioning Internet connection to broadcast my wireless network, outside of configuration?

      • CEO & Co-founder
      • weaves
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      CarpNCod We support full LAN persistence as of eeroOS v3.9.x. We closed this over 2 years ago. The eero network will continue to provide LAN access if your WAN goes down, even if it's in bridge mode.

    • Pete
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi David,

      Thanks for the clarification on item #2 and I look forward to the firmware update.

    For item #1 I suggest a change of state or maybe blinking the lights at a periodic rate instead of just "red".

    My primary Eero Pro is connected to the cable modem & the 2nd port goes to a 24 port TrendNet gig switch. Everything else including home cat5e goes to that switch.

    I remember asking support about the boot times & what chip was in there x86 or arm, as I expected it to be up in under 10 secs, as with most embedded devices.

    • Pete
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Could we get an ETA for a firmware update fixing this issue ? Doesn't have to be an exact date.

    1 week, 2 weeks ? I have a 2 week return window for the eero pro 3 pack and I can wait 2 weeks if this will be resolved as I do need local lan running at all times due to my work.

      • CEO & Co-founder
      • weaves
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Pete it's resolved today with eero OS 3.9

      • Pete
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      weaves 

      • Pete
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Pete Thank you very much for addressing this issue.

    • Cody_B
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I am having a similar issue. I would like for the EERO router to provide a wireless network with no internet connection. My goal is to connect an iPhone / iPad to an Apple TV and Sonos speakers. I would like for thus to be possible even without an internet connection. I was able to setup the WiFi and get everything working. I then disconnected the internet cable and everything functioned properly. When unplugged the power to the router I was no longer able to airplay a movie to the Apple TV. The Sonos would work and there was some connectivity but I couldn’t get the movie to play. I tried multiple devices and all had the same issue. The content was downloaded to the devise so there was no issue with streaming that could be causing the problem. 
     

      • bwulfe
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Any form of Airplay Streaming our other communications between two Apple Devices should function, regardless of your WiFi Network, so long as they are using relatively current versions of their applicable OS. (iOS, TvOS, MacOS, etc.). I don’t recall how far back the change was implemented, but Apple devices now create an ad-hoc network between each other. Aside from allowing Apple devices to communicate, when WiFi is unavailable, it also provides a more secure connection, when you are using public WiFi.  I would recommend checking this out in further detail, on the Apple Community Forums.  Worst case, try an Apple Support Online Chat (Since most Stores / Genius Bars are unavailable, until the COVID crisis tapers off considerably.)Cody B 

    • bwulfe
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    SOLVED ??? I have experienced the same problem from day one (about 1 year) on a very large mesh (7 euro Pro’s & 2 Beacon’s). The last straw for me was when my internet went down (for system maintenance) just before I went to sleep on Thursday, and I was unable to turn off several dozen LIFX Bulbs (attached to smart, WiFi switches). I ended up having to turn off Circuit Breakers, so that I could turn off the lights and go to sleep.

    I spent over 2 hours on the phone with tech support yesterday. Over half of that time was spent talking to a “Tech” who didn’t even understand the basics of IP Network Protocols.  I was able to FINALLY reach Level 2 Tech Support after about an hour (and persistent demands to speak to someone who actually understood how networking hardware & software work.)

    The “Solution” was to force a mesh rebuild, to insure that all devices were utilizing the firmware version 3.9 protocols.  The tech asked me to disconnect my Gateway Eero and move one of my other eero units to the location, previously occupied by the Gateway unit.  This apparently forced the mesh to fully reconfigure itself. Regardless, after the unit swap, I was able to disconnect the Ethernet from my Cable Modem (Replicating an Internet / WAN outage), while my Wireless LAN remained functional.

    NOTE: All of my eero devices switched over to a Red LED indicator, the entire time that the WAN was disconnected, however the eero’ s continued to broadcast the network SSID and permitted wireless communications on my LAN.  ALSO NOTE: While the Mesh rebuilds and re-optimizes itself, you will likely notice slower than normal response times, and devices may drop offline and back online, periodically. ( Devices that do not maintain persistent connections will be the most susceptible. In my case, this was very noticeable with LIFX Light Bulbs.). Depending upon the number of units in your Mesh configuration, it could take a while for the WiFi Mesh to fully optimize itself.  I would recommend performing this, just before going to bed, or leaving for work (if no one else at home.). This way, all of the background optimization will take place at a time that you are not heavily dependent upon your WiFi Network.  

     

    I performed my eero device shuffle in the evening, and assume that the optimization completed, while I slept.  I performed a couple more Internet Outage Tests, (Disconnecting my Cable Modem) during the day. Both times, while the status LED’s on my eero units all changed over to a steady Red, without internet connection, my LAN connections remained active, with no apparent impact upon communication speed.  Ping tests on local wireless devices remained relatively consistent, regardless of whether or not I had an active WAN connection. 

     

    Within a minute of reconnecting my Cable Modem, after each test, the status LED’s on all of my eero units, returned to a solid white display.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this fixes the LAN outage problems, for good.  Hopefully, a similar mesh shuffle can fix this problem for everyone else.  FINAL NOTE: If you are using a limited number of eero units and unable to permanently swap unit locations (Such as swapping out a Beacon with a Pro Unit), I’d recommend trying the swap twice.  The first time, to force a mesh rebuild / re-optimization, then return your devices to their original locations, which will force another mesh rebuild. 

    Best of Luck !!!

    • Thom4308
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I'm on v6.4.0-2092 with Eero Pro and I have no local Lan with my internet down. I thought this was fix in an earlier version.

    • Nastacio
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

       I work for an ISP, and so far, we have been recommending Eero devices for people who need mesh systems because they work well. However recently, it came to our attention that Eero devices will not work without an existing internet connection. In fact, you cannot set up a new eero device without an existing cellular data connection, or without existing internet.

       This is an issue for some of our customers since they live in very remote areas where they do not have cell service. In cases where they are new customers, they do not have an existing working router. Recently, we had a new customer who needed to set up a new eero device, but it would not work since the technician did not have cell service even though it was plugged into a working connection and we could see it passing traffic to amazon IP addresses. We had to set up a spare router that we had, plug the eero into that router, set up the eero, then swap the eero and the spare router for it to work.

       Eeros should be capable of working as a standalone network device even if there is no internet. I consider this to be a major design flaw, and I'm not sure I will continue recommending eeros if this is the case. Some customers have security cameras and other systems that require local network connectivity even when there is no internet to function. It should be completely possible to set up an eero device without internet. There is no reason an eero device cannot register itself once it does actually have an internet connection.

       Based on the comments, I would have assumed that the issue has been resolved, but obviously not since we still ran into it.

    • ADT2000
    • 1 yr ago
    • Reported - view

    So i have experience this for the first time at the weekend!!  After having my Eero 6 Pro for over 6 months.... due to a fault on the line we lost internet....  assumed everything would be fine in the house... like lots on here we have a Smart house!!  Thermostat for, printer, alarm and CCTV systems all went offline!!! Went on the app and it basically said "Soz but your haven't got any internet so i can't help"

    I have used other Mesh products and if there is an internet outage for some reason there was no issue with the LAN Wireless or wired!!  

    Surely this is a given in this day an age........  internet access shouldnt mean you cant work things within your local network???

    • jeffk208
    • 1 yr ago
    • Reported - view

    My internet was down today and confirmed had no wifi.   In this thread it's mentioned that this was fixed in a prior update.   Do I need to configure my device to work with no internet access?

      • ADT2000
      • 1 yr ago
      • Reported - view

      jeffk208 It seams no one monitors this community thread.....  or people have just accepted the issue!! 😞

      • jeffk208
      • 1 yr ago
      • Reported - view

      ADT2000 Thank you

Content aside

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