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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

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

    Hi everyone —

    Thanks for your patience and support as our team has continued work on this matter throughout the weekend.

    Starting tonight, we will be releasing an update to all networks that will provide improvements to roaming. This will come in the form of a cloud-based change to the backend of eero networks (no new firmware), and there is no action needed on your end. This will be a rolling update to networks. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

    Your feedback is invaluable. We ask that you continue to use your devices as normal. If you continue to see the same issues, please email support@eero.com. This will allow our team to efficiently track and report any feedback back to engineering.

    Thanks again.

      • Sjustis
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C.  I will test it out tomorrow thanks!

      • rtlee
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C. Thanks Jeff. Does it matter if we have FT enabled or not? Mine is currently disabled. Should it be reenabled for that testing? Also is here a way to verify when the network hanger has gone into effect for our accounts?

      • arfung
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C. Thanks, Jeff. You guys kindly pushed the test firmware to me and I don't want to miss out on the fix. Will it push to those of us with the test (3.4.0 firmware?) Thanks!

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

      arfung it will go to all eero networks. Thanks!

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

      rtlee nothing to check/change — just give it a go tomorrow once the update goes out later this evening. Thanks!

      • jblevins
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C. Thanks for the update and to the eero engineering team for your work on this issue. Judging from the eero Reddit, I'm not the only one confused about how a cloud-based fix can solve the roaming issue. Could you please elaborate on the fix, and even what the exact issue was determined to be?

      • rtlee
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C. Should I call in to have them turn FT back on tomorrow or leave it disabled for this re cloud testing?

      • travisbell
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C. Does the back end update tonight mean you've fixed FT (based on the talk here it seems like that was the issue) or are you disabling it for everyone? I'm just wondering a bit more about this update.

      Thanks. 

      • jweiss2005
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C. It is still a problem!

      • ztruempy
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      jweiss2005 Unfortunately, I do as well.

      • Sjustis
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Sjustis Jeff C.  ~ things are better for me, have not had to toggle the WiFi button yet on the iPhone since the changes

    • cMoo92
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I manage around 75 Meraki APs and have been doing so for the last few years so I'm very familiar with them. Most likely the problems you had stemmed from band-steering being enabled. Not likely the fault of the Meraki hardware; your settings probably just weren't properly configured to work best with Apple hardware.

    I've been running 3 eeros at home since the day they came out. Apple devices did have some problems with connecting to the eeros for the first few firmware versions (it wasn't a super big deal), but the last few months have been rock solid for me (I'm basically Apple only at home; iPhones, iPads, macOS computers). 

    • Commdude
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Thanks Cmoo. I did work for an MSP prior to switching over to enterprise IT, and also managed hundreds of Meraki APs. They are great for the most part; but we always had issues with IOS, even with band steering disabled. 

    Thanks for the info on the Eeros. I have it narrowed down to Eero, Orbi, and Velop. I like the two others due to their dedicated backhaul. How many devices are you running on your 3 Eero setup? 

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

    Hi  Commdude

    Thanks for your questions and for your interest in eero! Also, just wanted to say thanks to  cMoo92 for stepping in with some great feedback!

    Just to clarify, there are no known issues with Apple devices on eero networks. For what it's worth, most of us here use Macbooks and all run eeros at home with no issues.

    While eero doesn't have a dedicated backhaul, what eero does have is our own proprietary mesh called TrueMesh. Our mesh is built to quickly optimize your traffic, ensuring you always are seeing the highest speeds at each of your eeros throughout your home. Also, if your house is built for it, eero supports mixed topologies of wired and wireless so you have the option to hardwire some of your eeros while others can continue to mesh with your network wirelessly.

    As for the number of devices, each eero can support up to 128 devices.

    I hope this helps! If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to reach out!

    • cMoo92
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Commdude I average 15-20 devices connected at any given time. I never have issues with streaming and I stream a lot from my Plex media server to a couple Apple TVs, and iOS devices. I have a 200Mb internet connection at home and never have a problem maxing it out.

    I know the other competing products have dedicated backhaul radios, but that doesn't seem to be an issue with eeros (and eero was intentional about that decision based on their design/testing).

    Depending on how much you (or your wife 😉) care about aesthetics, the eero is awesome. They are small (unlike the competition) and look very nice wherever they are placed. I also like how the status LED can be turned off on a per eero basis. I don't know if the competitors can do that, but it's perfect for the eero that's in our master bedroom. Before they released that software option, I had to cover the light on the eero at night.

    • Koolmanchu
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Jeff C. I'm surprised to hear you say there are no known issues with Apple devices connecting with Eero. I was just on the phone with your support people (who are very nice by the way) yesterday for the 3rd or 4th time since I purchased my Eero 3 pack last March due to connectivity issues with my Apple devices. Today, I've gone through all the trouble shooting steps and still can't connect my parents iPhone 6's to my network. So frustrating and embarrassing that I can't get my parents on my expensive wifi system. The support person did say that this was a known issue with Apple products and said there was no timeline for a fix. Unfortunately, I cannot return my Eeros because the 30 day return window is up. Do you think this is a hardware issue then if no one else is experiencing Apple connectivity issues with the firmware? I have to manually enter the IP address, etc to connect most of my iOS devices, as they don't connect automatically. 

    By the way, I have experienced this issue since day one, where only 5 or 7 Apple devices would connnect without having to manually enter IP info.  

    I want to keep the Eero because it does provide a nice signal (to the devices that will connect) and I love the app but I'm really frustrated at this point. Would love your thoughts. 

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

    Koolmanchu --

    Thanks for reaching out. I'm sorry to hear the issues you are encountering, and appreciate your patience as you work with our support team.

    As mentioned, there are not any known issues with an iPhone connecting to an eero network. There is no technically limiting reason they shouldn't, so we should take all the necessary steps to ensure what may be causing the issue. Our support team is happy to continue working with you, however, we will need to go through troubleshooting so that if the issue is determined to be on our side, we can get you an exchange as your eeros have a one-year warranty.

    In the meantime, I'd also like to suggest that you try some of these tips from Apple, specifically having you reset the network settings on the iPhone. Hopefully your parents don't switch between too many networks, so ideally, they'll only have to sign into your's and their network again. You can find these tips here:

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204051

    I hope this helps. Thanks again for your patience, and we look forward to getting this resolved.

    • Koolmanchu
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Jeff C. thanks for the quick response.  Typically, I'll go through all these steps and the issue is not resolved. From there, the Eero support person has me enter the IP address, etc manually as the Eero can't do it automatically on some Apple devices. Is this  something Eero can address with a firmware fix in the future? 

      • DavidCC
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Koolmanchu 

      Hi, did you ever get your iOS devices working properly on your network? I want to eventually replace my two Airport Extremes with the eero mesh system.

      • Jason.1
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      DavidCC Speaking for myself my iPhone works pretty well on the network.  However, I had inconsistency with the 5 GHz range.  Sometimes it won't connect to the nearest AP.  Sometimes when it is on the 5 GHz band it will get really poor speeds.  There definitely still seems to be an issue with it.  I have an extensive case open with support.  Last I heard they've escalated to engineering.  It's not a deal breaker, but an annoyance that I can't get the speeds sometimes that I should.

      • DavidCC
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jason Thanks for replying. I hope that it is fixed as there are four iPhone users in my home.

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

    Koolmanchu --

    I'm glad to hear you've gone through those, however, I'm sorry to hear they weren't able to resolve this matter.

    I'm going to touch base with our support team once they get in to get a better understanding on what they're seeing on their end.

    The solution they provided was to ensure your devices connected in the meantime. However, at the end of the day, I can assure you iPhones and other Apple devices are compatible with eero. Thanks again for your patience. I hope we can find a timely resolution.

    • Koolmanchu
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Jeff C. well in my experience, most Apple devices are compatible (automatically connect) with Eero, while others (regardless of model type) have to be manually configured (IP address, etc). I hope you guys can prepare a fix soon. I really want this to work. 

    • Rchamplin
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Koolmanchu I know I'm late to the discussion, but if their devices are connecting but not getting internet try reserving the IP. Eero support did it for me a while back for a stubborn connection, and I've since had to do it for all devices that connect regularly (not just iPhones). It's actually why I was on the forums, trying to figure out a real fix. 

Content aside

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