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Eero iPhone Connectivity Issues

Hello, 

I have not yet purchased an Eero system yet; I am in the research stages deciding between Google Wifi, Orbi, Luma, Unify mesh, Amplifi, and Velop. 

I have seen many reviews and threads in forums in regards to Apple IOS devices failing to 'roam' between APs, or randomly dropping connections, or staying connected to the furthest AP rather than switching to the closest one. 

A couple years back I set up a $1000 Cisco Meraki AP for my home network. After countless issue with our iPhones and iPads not being able to connect, not seeing the SSIDs, and randomly dropping connections I switched back to my $100 Asus router, which has superior performance (for Apple devices) to the enterprise grade AP. I am looking for a modern WiFi solution to power all of our devices, including many Apple devices.

In any case, it seams Apple devices always have issues with WiFi, I am looking for a solid solution to this, I thought Eero was the winner until I started reading it also has the same issues with Apple. I have read that people have open cases with Eero regarding this, but it's still a known issue. 

At my office we have a ton of Enterprise Cisco APs, in which iPhones can seamlessly roam between without loosing a video call. Obviously at the price point of Eero we cannot expect enterprise grade features, but I am looking for some input if others are having this issue with their iPhones on Eero, and what support / development teams are doing to solve this issue? 

One other item of interest is outdoor WiFi coverage. With other mesh WiFi options on the market; outdoor weather resistant APs are offered. Does Eero have any intentions or future plans to offer the addition of outdoor APs to the mesh network? 

Thanks in advance. 

252 replies

    • pclaar
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    3.4.0-442 appears to have mitigated the issue. I have not done any hardcore testing yet, but I have not had a lock-up today. That alone is a significant improvement!

    Feeling optimistic!

      • pclaar
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      pclaar I'm not sure if 3.4.0-442 is a new firmware upgrade or this was the aforementioned cloud update. Anyway, anecdotal evidence remains positive...

    • mattv123
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Since my network was updated Sunday night, I have not had a single drop out. I think it is safe to say the issue is "fixed" with the current configuration.

    My guess is that anyone still having problems either a) didn't receive the software update or b) is suffering from another problem.  It would probably be good to contact eero support if you are still having problems as of today.

      • pclaar
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      mattv123 Agreed. No problems here at all -- been on WiFi all day. Thanks eero for seeing this through!

    • Armydoc214
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Still a problem!  My phone will not stay connected while in my bedroom. It can’t decide on connection to the kitchen or office. Both equidistant one the main router and the kitchen a beacon. 

    • petercw2
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    weird update:  not sure if another fix was delivered since earlier in the week but now I'm again having the roaming issue, and it's happening to both my wife and my iPhones (iOS11).  

      • eero Community Manager
      • Jeff_C
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      petercw2 have you updated your network yet to 3.4? 

      To confirm:

      • Open the eero app
      • Tap the menu button
      • Tap on Network Settings
      • Find Network software and:
        • If it says up-to-date, you have 3.4
        • If it says update available, tap to begin your update
      • Armydoc214
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C. Yes sir, it’s up to date. It will only happens occasionally. My speed suffers when connected to the beacons.  Overall, much better. 

      • Armydoc214
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view
    • rtlee
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I've definitely seen some improvement, but still lose Wifi and drop to LTE for no apparent reason once in a while. For instance I went maybe 3-4 days with no issues at all, other than it taking a while on its own to go to Wifi upon returning home (eventually it does).  However today for no reason whatsoever I found that my phone was on LTE after spending a half hour or so from one of my Eeros, which is hard wired to the main Eero and Sweetspots gives me around 400 Mpbs when testing from here. So at that point it was the same "MO" - "No internet connection" shown in settings even though my SSID was selected in the Wifi settings but it was on LTE.  Left it for a while and it did not switch back to Wifi even after say 15 minutes. So I had to toggle Wifi on/off to get it back, then it was OK.

    • bdplatt
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Feels like the disconnect issue came back with the 3.5.0.312 update. Suddenly my iPhone is dropping wifi again as I move through the house, which is causing me to drop calls & webcasts.

    Anybody else?

      • pclaar
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      bdplatt Not had any problems here.

      • Armydoc214
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      bdplatt I had a dropped connection two days ago which is new with this latest update. 

      • eero Community Manager
      • Jeff_C
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Armydoc214  bdplatt  —

      Thanks for checking in. There haven't been any reported issues with iPhones since 3.5.0.312. Please contact support so we can take a look.

      • bdplatt
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C. I had already sent in a report when I posted this question. Support got back to me this morning, and I’ve sent data back to them.

    • rtlee
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I also have been experiencing dropouts again. Once the beta firmware was pushed out a few weeks ago things significantly improved, but I would still have a wifi drop out every few days (instead of multiple times a day). At one point I went about a week with no dropout so I thought it was fixed.

    However starting a few days ago, which I assume corresponds to a newer firmware update, especially based on the recent reports here, I started having more frequent dropouts again. Yesterday I had two which is definitely unusual, considering the progressed that seemed to be made with the beta firmware.

      • eero Community Manager
      • Jeff_C
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      rtlee  —

      Thanks for checking in. As mentioned above, we haven't been seeing any reported issues similar to what was reported here in the past. If you haven't yet, please contact support. We'll be happy to take a look and work with you through what you are experiencing.

      • rtlee
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C. Thanks Jeff. That is the point of these recent posts - something seems to have caused a bit of a step backward. I have reported this to the level 2 support agent I've been working with all along.

    • petercw2
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Was seeing other start to report new dropout instances and now today I am again having them. Oddly the old trick of turning off Wi-Fi on my device and then back on doesn’t seem to be fixing it.   

    • scolley
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    This seems to have gone quiet. So I'm adding myself to the set of people having this problem.

    For me it is with a brand new Eero Pro kit (aka three gen two Eeros) and an Apple iPad Mini 2, IOS 11.1.1. My Eero software is up to date. There is no hardwiring except an unmanaged hub hanging off one of the two secondary Eeros, the primary Eero's connection to my cable modem, and the primary Eero's Ethernet connection to my NAS.

    The problem is dropouts in wifi connectivity - only to be reestablished in Settings/Wifi and selecting my home wifi network. The dropouts occur anytime the iPad goes to sleep more than a few seconds. Or - more specifically - it appears to drop immediately upon the iPad waking back up.

    It used to also drop out when I rotated the device, or roamed around the house. Thankfully that stopped after I deselected "Ask to Join Networks" and turned off Eero's guest network, so there is only - ever - one network to choose from.

    Until this problem cropped up, I was overjoyed with the performance of the Eero Pro kit, and started a thread on an audio forum to sing its praises. Unfortunately after discovering this problem (my iPad had initially been out of commission the first few days I had the Eero), I've had to retract those praises and warn the forum's prospective buyers to exercise caution before purchasing an Eero, should they have any IOS devices running version 11.0 or later.

    As much as I use my iPad, I find myself forced to strongly consider returning the Eeros. It is my sincerest hope that Eero can find a solution. Soon. Very soon.

    • scolley
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    After posting the above, I've got an update. For me, it's fixed!

    I'd had my iPad setup with only one SSID to chose, when I deselected “Ask to Join Networks”, and also eliminated the guest network. That eliminated drops upon rotation and upon roaming. But sleeping still killed it. Every time.

    But today I went into that single SSID, where I expected to find “Forget this network”, having heard that was a solution for some. But I also found something I’ve not needed in the past, and did not realize was there: an “Auto-join” option. It was in a deselected state. Now with it selected, I cannot get my device to disconnect upon sleeping! Woo hoo!

    Now it wakes up and does not even appear to have ever disconnected. Awesome! So for me, this problem is fixed.

    But my only IOS 11 device is an iPad that never leaves the house. Anyone else with a more mobile IOS 11 device (like an iPhone, or iPad with cellular), there’s still could be a problem. I assume they could be temporarily fix it by changing the settings I did. But once you leave the house, you’d have to change them again. And then when you return. A bit of a PITA.

    But I wanted to share my work around for any with similar problems.

    • mattv123
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    For the sake of the thread: things have been perfectly stable for the last few months now.

    Even on an iPhone X running 11.2 beta 3, things are working perfectly as expected.  Other people I know with eero are back to being happy campers as well.

    Thanks again to eero for resolving this issue, and hopefully FT will reach primetime one day.  FWIW: I believe the KRACK WiFi vulnerability exploited a weakness in FT, so chances are it will be even longer until this feature is available to the ecosystem.

    • scolley
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view
    mattv123 said:
    Thanks again to eero for resolving this issue

     This issue is not resolved.

    Not for everyone. It's great that Eero's work helped you, and others you apparently know. I'm truly glad for you. But a problem persists, and by simply taking my iPad off "auto-join", I can prove it. That's as I just did with apple support connected to my iPad. I wanted to make sure it was no their radar too. As many appear to believe that Apple is where the problem resides.

      • mattv123
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      scolley Fair enough, I'm not saying a problem doesn't exist for you but the original issue that comprised the bulk of this thread was (likely) a global problem that is definitely now under control.  If your issue is with Auto-Join, you may want to try to Reset Network Settings on your iPad, especially if that is the only device having a problem.  Failing that, I'm sure the guys at eero support will be able to help you out.

    • scolley
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Did you read my posts @mattv ? I ask because my problems are exactly the same problem everyone else has had. And I have not problem with auto-join. To my delight, that makes the underlying problem go away. So I'm a happy camper. But that does not mean that an underlying problem does not persist. So now we get into semantics. You say "the" problem is fixed. I say "your" problem is fixed, but since there are still problems with the exact same symptoms, "the" problem is not fixed. Instead, "part" of the problem has been fixed. But not all of it.

    I can back that up with a quote from Eero's tech support, after having described the same problem I documented in this thread, he revealed to me in a chat a couple of days ago. He stated:

    "We do not formally have a rock solid solution however we have many Apple engineers from their dismantled router program actively seeking a solution everyday."

    So unless he was pulling my leg, this is on-going.

    And yes - thank you - I did reset the network settings on the iPad. Even did it with an Apple tech, and he was able to see that there was no change. I was talking to Apple, because I gather that many feel this problem is really one with IOS 11, something for Apple to fix. So I wanted to make sure it was on their radar too.

    And I'll note, this thread shows a few people that appear to be experiencing problems as recently as two weeks ago. So it would not appear that all have seen a fix. So it appears to not be limited to me. Again, also evidence by the quote from the tech.

    • rtlee
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Hello all! After nearly a year of finally having this issue resolved, starting about a month ago this issue has come back for me. Has anyone else been having this issue? I tried the basic things such as hard resetting the iPhone and Eero units (power cycle too), but the problem persists.

    Nothing has changed, other than more recent iOS updates. Eero equipment is the same and in the same location, and our iPhone 7 phones (running the latest iOS 12.1) are the same.

    The issue is as originally covered by many posters here, myself included. When I pick up my iPhone after it sits idle (screen off) for a while, it goes to LTE for something like 1-2 minutes. Then it reconnects to my wifi and stays connected just fine as long as I active use it. Then I put the phone down on my desk for 15 minutes. The next time I pick it up, and from the same spot so not even roaming, it is back to LTE and rinse/repeat.  This is exactly like the original issue covered by this entire thread. However I think one difference is that as I recall before, it would stay on LTE and you would have to turn wifi on/off to get it back. Whereas now it seems like it is able to recover on its own, but after 1-2 minutes.

    How can we troubleshoot this further? Thank you.

Content aside

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