17

Devices not connecting to closest eero

A quick background on my setup:

  • I am running the latest version (1.4) of the iOS app
  • I am running the latest firmware (2.1.0) on my three eeros.
  • My first eero is connected as follows:  modem -> eero --> switch
  • My other two eeros are hardwired via ethernet back into the switch.

 

Upon updating the iOS app, I started checking to see which devices are connected to which eeros. I was surprised at what I found.

  1. Most of my devices are connected to the primary eero.
  2. An iPad in an upstairs bedroom is connected (with a weak signal) to the primary eero which is downstairs in my den even though there is an eero in the same bedroom as the iPad. (The iPad stays in that bedroom, it never wanders around the house).
  3. My Rachio sprinkler controller is also connected to the den eero even though there is an eero much closer to the garage.

These are not the results I expected. I thought I placed the eeros to give me strong coverage throughout the house but the devices don't seem to want to connect to the closest available eero. I also thought since I wired them via ethernet that this would give me the strongest possible mesh network possible.

Did I do something wrong in my setup? Any suggestions on how to correct this?

Thanks,

Mike

181 replies

null
    • Ssdalton
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Why has this thread gone silent? Eero tech support, you don’t have anything further to say about these issues? I have 5 eeros throughout my home and my WiFi is still terrible. I have devices on one side of the house connecting to eeros on the other side of the house and visa versa resulting in multiple devices with poor performance. This is a massive issue. I spent multiple hundreds of dollars to avoid this headache. Isn’t it your website that says “Life is too short for bad WiFi?” And “You need a system that works” Makes me sick reading through your site. 

      • Propho
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      txgunlover so then the ability to change radio power, split 2.4ghz and 5.0ghz frequency should be an included feature.  That's a basic feature which would be the solution to all the issues in this thread ..

      • txgunlover
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Propho Well, other than violating the Wifi Certification, you'd be right.  Otherwise, clients could just follow standards.

    • EricTheRed
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I've noticed that when there is a power blip and the Eeros restart that things get messed up and my gateway typically ends up with a whole lot of connections that should be attached to closer eeros.

    Also, another thing I've noticed is that some devices do not seem to know how to connect to a mesh network and wnat to connect behind the scenes to a device ID rather than to a network name (and closest Eero). In particular, I've got six security cameras that all do this and I've got four Xbox 360s that also do this. I've also got a Black & Decker wifi slow cooker that does this.

    For the security cameras, I have to restart the devices and hope that they go to a new Eero and the results have been pretty good, however they sometimes try and connect back to the specific Eero that they originally connected to. With my previous mesh network (Nova) the cameras would show the different Nova units but all of them had the same network name so I had to guess which one was the closest. So Eero is WAY better than my previous mesh solution.

    For the Xbox 360s, which I use throughout the house as full-feature WMC extenders, they don't even give me the option so connecting to a mesh network is a bad solution for the Xbox 360s. I've had to get a Nova square instead of a Beacon for each Xbox 360 so that I can hardwire them directly into the Nova. That seems to work very well in fact - but only because they have ethernet capability!

    Eero support keeps telling us there are nuances to making wifi devices connect and that they cannot control that which I agree with to the extent that it is a challenge. But it's not creative enough. Here's my suggestion:

    Manual config capability: Give us the option to go into a specific Eero/Beacon and when we see a device that should be connected elsewhere, allow us to disallow that device from connecting just to that Eero/Beacon in the future.

    Auto config capability: When a device connects to an Eero/Beacon have the other Eero's/Beacons on the mesh network try connecting and measure which one has the best connection then auto-deny and auto-accept that device to the best Eero/Beacon.

    At least see if we can have the manual config option please! I know we already have the option to manually disallow a device from joining the network but I'm suggesting a different layer of control so we can also disallow the device from connecting to a specific Eero or Beacon while still allowing it on the mesh wifi network.

    • ttt
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

     Here is another post with the same issue I have a 10 minute video of this issue happening on two iPhone xs max’s at the same time.  I suspect all my devices would be the same if I moved around with all of them.  both iPhones stay on the the main eero connected to modem while I’m right next to the remote  eero on the otherside of my house.  I’ve toggled WiFi on and off, airplane mode,  I open and close other apps,  load safari pages and nothing just won’t switch  force close the eero app open it back up and it still stays on the wrong eero!  It’s really odd to me that my device is deciding to stay on the one bar connection across the house versus the full bars right next to it and it’s really odd to me that you guys don’t have a feature/toggle where I can just press to  connect to this eero!  I think that’s the best feedback everyone on this topic has given y’all!!!  seems like it would be a simple fix to add an eero force connect toggle for each eero on the app.  This is pretty  disappointing for me because the whole reason I return my Xfinity equipment and Xfi pods was for pretty much this same reason, I had to  constantly toggle my Wi-Fi on and off  every time I moved 5ft around in my house  except that actually worked when I did it, this doesn’t matter it will just switch whenever it wants too.   $500 bucks just seems a little steep for something that can’t handle switching devices properly  or $1200 iPhones seems a little ridiculous when they can’t handle switching.  Either way it’s one of these devices that we buy at steep premiums that don’t work properly or as advertised.  It gets super frustrating and very rare to find a product of any kind that the consumer doesn’t end up paying to be an R&D consultant lol and in the end no real solutions just the next version.  You’d think by 2019 these things wouldn’t be an issue since we have autonomous cars.  Wait doesn’t that tech rely on some kinda networking and mapping and clear device  communication to work properly as well??? 

      • Dmbtay
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      ttt my surface studio (ridiculous high end) still connecting to downtstairs eero and getting terrible d/l rates (<100 on a gigabit service).  Its nuts.

      • ttt
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Dmbtay ya it’s nuts!  I have speakers, Dj equipment, TVs, computers, phones, Mesh’s, hues,  and even my tooth brush and shaver have all had problems lol smh 

      • Propho
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      ttt Hopefully Amazon cleans house.. the developers for Eero are terrible and Support may as well be non-existent because they have no power to fix anything due to developers being incapable of implementing simple requests.

      I'm mainly frustrated at the inability to turn off 2.4GHz or split it off onto a different SSID.  Then obviously, blacklisting MAC Addresses on certain beacons for devices that aren't moving around would make so much sense.  But again, we're at the mercy of developers that don't know what they are doing. 

      • ttt
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Propho   Luckily I’ve only had this eero pro for 2 days so I can still return them!!   But it’s pretty telling that I found most of eero’s problems in two days, and that this thread/topic is 2years old and still an issues!!  Anyone have suggestions on a new mesh system to replace eero?  

      • Drew
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Hi, ttt – Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and feedback, and welcome to the eero Community. We appreciate your thoughts here, and sorry to hear about any frustration.

      So, to offer a little additional context and insight from our end, I'd like to stress that devices choosing which access point to associate with is not only expected, it's intentional, and that it's not anything broken that needs to be "fixed," per se. This is a core standard that's true of all mesh WiFi systems, not just eero (although we've done a lot under the hood that distinguishes us from other systems). 

      Because devices being able to choose their own connection point is so crucial for ensuring a consistent and predictable connection, it's not quite as simple as just being able to add a toggle to the app – that said, please rest assured that the question of improving and streamlining the ability for devices of all kinds to connect consistently and smoothly to eero is something we're continually exploring, and it's something we hear loud and clear from users!

      Additionally, every home environment is different, and there are a variety of workarounds, improvements, and suggestions we can make that will very likely improve the behavior that you're currently seeing. We encourage you to reach out to us directly at 877-659-2347, or email support@eero.com with the details of your situation and we'd be happy to offer assistance any way we can to make sure you're getting the most out of your system. If you have any other feedback, we encourage you to share on the main feedback thread here rather than on individual Q&A threads like this one, for greater visibility and interaction with other users!

      Thanks again so much for your valuable thoughts and insights, and welcome to the Community!

      Kindly,
      Drew, eero Community Team

      • ttt
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Drew So it’s intentional and crucial to let the device choose the worst connection point?  Sounds backwards..  

      Can I ask why there is an option for “band steering”  then?   

      I did reach out and called and the person I spoke to offered no help really.   He was able to see my devices weren’t switching to the closest connection point while on the phone with me. 

      he said he gets a few calls a day about this problem, and there’s really nothing he can do after taking a look at my system remotely.   

       I also noticed yesterday I left my house to run an errand at a stoplight I open the eero app for some reason.  While miles away from my house the app was still showing that my device was connected to the worst connection point.  it took a few more miles before the app cleared my device off of the connected list.

        That makes me think that it’s a communication issue with the app and the devices not being able to update properly the connection in real time.   For example maybe the device is connected to the faster or better connection point but the communication between the device and the app doesn’t show that in real time until the communication between the two catch up...?  

      Thanks for the reply 

      • ttt
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Drew  I was also thinking that may be a force refresh button or pull down on the app would be nice so that i could force a refresh to get the most up to date info on  the app 

      • dharkness
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Drew I understand the desire to follow spec.  But I don't have this issue with enterprise systems, mesh or not.  And the AP knows the signal strength of the client connect and can choose to force a disconnect forcing the client to make it AP selection again.  Given that Eero is in the same price point as entry level enterprise WiFi system seems like they should behavior at a similar technical level.  From my analysis this problem gets worse the large the coverage space and the more Eero's added for coverage.  If I have a 1600 sq/ft house with 3 eeros anything works more or less as expected.  Or works well enough not to capture my attention.  But 5 eeros in a 2600 sq/ft house results in me power cycling most devices and most of the eeros daily.  Reducing the # of eeros actually makes the problem better while making signal strength worse.  I find I get best results if the eeros are far enough apart to almost not work.  At that point the devices really have to switch on their own.

    • Craig.2
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    This is an absolutely ridiculous problem and to have Eeros support bask in ignorance with a grin about function of design is disgusting. Wake up Eeros support!! This is a major problem. We all bought into this system purchasing extra devices thinking we'd get better service throughout our homes. But instead we have poor connections with devices stuck on far away end points. This makes absolutely zero common sense. I am furious with this terrible design and I'm happy to let all friends, family and review site know about this flawed product that I would never recommend anyone to waste their money on like I have.

      • Propho
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Craig yes, sadly I spoke highly of the product due to countless review sites promoting the product.  Probably all paid off because anyone remotely technical would absolutely hate this product.  

      • txgunlover
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Craig The client device determines what AP it connects to, not the eero.

      • Craig.2
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      txgunlover Yes we know that, but the underlaying issue is the eero network devices. If I turn wifi off on my device and back on again I will continually connect to the eero device that is twice the distance from my device causing a latent connection that "feels slow".

      • Propho
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Craig I find it funny that the blame keeps getting pushed to the client device.. I don't have this issue on the mesh wireless network at work.  And if we could separate the 2.4GHz in all likelihood I probably would have moved on because that's my main issue.. devices connecting to 2.4GHz far away vs 5GHz nearby

      • ttt
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      txgunlover how do you know the device is deciding for sure..?  when any of my devices are connected to eero and i turn off the wifi on any of my devices, the eero app just keeps showing its connected for quite awhile.  i have two iphones and at this moment i’m on wifi with this device yet eero shows that i’m not connected and my wifi is off on my other iphone and eero is showing its connected with full bars. is that my device deciding to tell eero to show its connected while the device shows not connected and vice versa..? 

      • EricTheRed
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      txgunlover 

      and it’s exactly this stuck-in-the-mud mentality that’s driving us all nuts! Eero devs - be creative! Stop using excuses. Stop blaming devices as if you have no control. 

      Eero can ban devices from the entire network just fine right? Yes. That is true. 

      So give us the same ability to ban a device - but from a single Eero device/node. Problem solved. 

    • ttt
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    do any of you recommend a different better system ? 

      • Craig.2
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      ttt Try Google.  They have one.

    • Dmbtay
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I just bought my 7th unit, going to install right next to the computer which is connecting to downstairs unit, and will post pictures and results 

    • Propho
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    ttt I can't recommend any competitors as I am unsure if it violates ToS on here..

    Dmbtay my Samsung TV is roughly 2 feet away from the nearest eero.  It frequently ends up on the eero a floor above or below. Because of that I have it wired in now..

    • ttt
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    i now have to turn my phone completely off and on for erro to register its not even  on the network because my device is in airplane mode with the wifi turned off in the settings, same thing for connecting to the closest erro....   so is this the device still deciding to stay on the app? 

    • Jag100
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Eero Support, I respectfully submit that when our devices don’t connect to the Eero with the best signal strength that the value of a eero mesh network ceases to exist. When I go into my master bedroom and my iPhone connects to a Eero on the other side of the house with crappy connectivity this is a SERIOUS problem. As a baby step in the right direction, why can’t we use the Eero app to choose which device to connect to?  I would tell my stupid iPhone to connect to the Eero 2 feet away rather than one on the other side of my home.  While this isn’t an ideal solution, it’s a hell of a lot better than being completely shit out of luck. For the love if God, why can’t you deliver this feature?

Content aside

  • Status Answered
  • 17 Likes
  • 1 mth agoLast active
  • 181Replies
  • 46031Views
  • 80 Following