Devices not connecting to closest eero

Jeff C. a simple suggestion is there should be a feature to manually connect to a different eero. I.e override the default selection. My iPhone always pairs with the basement eero and won’t change to anything else even when I am two floors up. Very frustrating. 

Eero Zero Contact your phone's manufacturer... the phone determines what AP it connects to, not the AP.

txgunlover so ur suggestion is for everyone to contact the manufacturer of every device in their home not connecting to the right Eero?  So in my case, ur saying it's Samsung, LG, Google, Ring, Roku, Nvidia, and Microsoft's fault they don't connect to the correct Eero.. sounds about right.. thanks for the great tip!

Pahusker 

Experiencing the same issue on ios 11.3 & 11.4 with iphone 8 & iPhone 8 plus.  Getting slow speeds due to this. Specifically purchased this to eliminate this issue.  Waste of money

Saratoga_Steve Resetting a weak signal remote Eero is the only thing that works for my iPhone XS and other devices.  Only that way does my device then connect to the nearby Eero.  Frustrating.

stevebgcs what modem and what ethernet cable are you using?  I just upgrade my comcast internet to gigabit service, but I can't seem to get that high speed. The highest speedtest I had on eero app is 758 and 42. Usually I only got about 300 and 42 from my macbook.

Im currently using Sb8200 modem and cat6 ethernet cable to eero.

antonyku  I'm experiencing the same results with Xfinity gigabit service using xb6-a modem.  Around 750 download and 41 upload on eero app and wirelessly I'm getting around 250-300 down and 41 upload, tested on multiple devices.  When i turn off the eero and enable WiFi on the Xfinity router, i get about 500-600 download wireless.  There is zero interference where the eero is located.  Tried it with bridge mode on and off, with same results.  Nowhere near advertised speeds.  

Jzd5032 I’m gonna Hardreset modem and eero this weekend. Let see if I can solve the problem. I will post the result

antonyku XB6 Comcast modem - i have all the wireless disabled on comcast modem and also using ethernet backhaul on extra 2 eero's.   I'm a week in and things are stable.   I'm very happy with my results.

Jzd5032 so i finally figure out whats wrong with the speed.  Xfinity got stuck with my old modem with cap at 700 mbps. When i call them, i have to tell them i got a new modem and remove the old one off my account. After a few calls, they finally got my new modem in the system. Now i got over 900 mbps from the modem to computer.  When i tried to connect to eero, i only got 700 mbps. I have to figure out more from the eero side now. Hope i can get to 900 mbps from eero soon. 

Thanks for reaching out Ssdalton and welcome to the Community! We absolutely appreciate you taking the time to share your concerns with us. Based on what you've said here, I absolutely understand how that's a major source of frustration, and it sounds like something we can help improve with some discussion and network adjustment.

For ongoing feedback, we encourage you to comment on the open feature request threads such as this. Q&A threads like the one we're on are typically lower-activity since they're designed for users to get one-time answers to specific questions. 

Additionally, while myself and the other Community members are more than happy to offer guidance and insight where possible here on the forums, I'd like to stress that the best place to get direct troubleshooting assistance is directly from our Support team, reachable at 877-659-2347 or support@eero.com. For your specific situation, it sounds like there are a few key details we'll need to gather to offer further help, so a call or email to support is warranted in this case. If you'd like to email and put "Community Feedback" in the subject line, I'd be happy to make sure that this gets to a senior specialist who can help you get to the root of the problem. It's our goal for your WiFi to be the best it's ever been, so we look forward to hearing from you!

Kindly,
Drew, eero Community

Drew granted this is an issue all of us are stressing, to me it makes sense that discussion is kept on a thread like this as we all want this resolved.  It's a MAJOR problem, the interface for Eero is so unconfigurable that there is no solution for us or a support engineer on the phone to implement.  Also, keep in mind that this thread started 2 years ago and nothing has been resolved.

Appreciate your insights here Propho – I'd like to take this opportunity to clarify a little further on this behavior. As Jeff mentioned at the top of the thread, and as has been mentioned by myself and other users on related threads, at the end of the day this is normal behavior. We definitely understand that devices connecting to suboptimal nodes is a frustrating experience, but it's expected that devices on a WiFi network will choose which access points they associate with at any given time; in other words, while this is something we're exploring to improve the user experience, this isn't something we consider to be a known issue that needs to be resolved, but rather a new functionality that we're exploring for implementation.

Adding the ability in the app to manually assign a device to a specific eero requires a lot of nuance, as we'll have to account for the many devices that have their own programmed preferences when on multi-access-point networks. That said, I'd like to assure you that it's a functionality that we definitely see value in, which is why I encourage you to participate on the dedicated Feature Request thread I linked in my prior comment. As always, if you're having concerns with your network that you'd like our help with, contacting support is the best method of making sure that we do everything we can to improve your specific situation. Thanks again so much for sharing your thoughts and experience on this topic, and we look forward to hearing your feedback going forward!

Kindly,
Drew, eero Community Team

Drew 

Drew How can you say that this 'isn't something that you consider to be a known issue..."?  Clearly it is given all of the feedback.  And that is just from customers that have the time and know how to get to these threads.  How many out there are dealing with the same but have not participated here??  

Scott Devices determine what AP they connect to, not the AP.  If you really want action, you have to address the manufacturer of the device, not the AP.   Not sure what types of devices you're using, but be aware all Apple devices are very aggressive in staying with an AP.

txgunlover while this response has been given many times.. clearly other wifi setups handle this differently... Cisco Meraki, Cisco aironet,  and Ubiquiti unifi all don't exhibit this behavior..  and blaming the device is getting old .. this happens with my Rokus, Samsungs, Pixel, and all Apple products..  so all manufacturers other than Eero are at fault here?... Thanks

Propho That is correct.  It is the responsibility of the client.  Having supported one of the largest implementations of Meraki in the world, I can assure you they also don't tell a client what access point to connect to.  All clients make this decision.  They can be "poisoned" to encourage different behavior that departs from WiFi Certified behavior, but ultimately, the client makes the determination.  Not allowing the client to make that determination, among other things, would be a huge security risk. 

Clients are responsible for what AP they connect to.

txgunlover I am reading/hearing that the eeros system makes that decision(?). Ie spreads the signal based on the need of the devices

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 ..

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

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.

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 

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. 

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?  

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

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 

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 

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 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.  

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

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".

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

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..? 

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 Try Google.  They have one.