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Offline WLAN access

Is there any update to when offline WLAN access will be supported? It's frustrating to not be able to use my WLAN if my modem is offline (i.e. accessing Plex or other media services)

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  • Hi everyone —

    Thanks for your patience and for sharing your interest in this enhancement to eero networks.

    I'm happy to share that with the release of eeroOS 3.9, we have made various updates including significant improvements to LAN persistence. This means that during an outage or downtime and after a power cycle, your internal network will continue to function.

    As always, your internal network will continue to function and will come back online without having to touch a thing. However, we know this is especially useful during a power outage.

    This version is now available via user-initiated and automatic OTA.

    To initiate an update, follow the steps found here.

    Like 1
  • Hi  dchamorro —

    Thanks for your question and welcome to the eero community.

    Your LAN will continue to run during an outage or if your modem were to go down. However, at this time, it will only continue to work as long as you don't reboot your eeros. As a troubleshooting step, we recommend first rebooting your modem or checking with your ISP if your internet is down.

    I am happy to pass along this feedback to our team and will follow up here if there are any updates.

    Like
      • Holdcard
      • Holdcard
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C. Great advice, however when you troubleshoot with Cox, they DEMAND that you restart your router. If you don't they tell you to pound sand. 

      I"m considering looking for another solution now. It's been quite a while since I've asked for help and none seems to be forthcoming. It seems reasonable that EERO places little or no priority to this problem. I hate to do it here, but does anyone else have any recommendations? 

      Thanks

      Like
      • dchamorro
      • dchamorro
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Holdcard I've started a tweet to the Eero CEO to see if we can get some traction on it:

      https://twitter.com/TheRedInTheSky/status/908368481728348160

      Like
      • Holdcard
      • Holdcard
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      dchamorro Much appreciated, thank you. 

      Like
  • This is a significant issue. You shouldn't depend on an Internet connection to function as a local area network. I get that it works if you don't reboot the access points, but that's still not good. Please fix. And can you explain why it doesn't function without an Internet connection (after rebooted)?

    Like 5
  • I agree, and it is also frustrating that you can't troubleshoot from inside the network.  If I am connected to wifi but can't get to the internet, my app should still be able to talk to eero and diagnose the issue.

    Like 3
  • It's do or die for me. I'm disabled, EERO had solved a major problem but created another. My ISP is not the greatest. Up and down all the time. Although EERO has solved my WiFi issue when my provider is down EERO refuses to let me turn on the lights, mess with the thermostat, look outside. 

    I there Solution?  Thanks

    Like 2
  • Bumping this topic because this is critical for me to keep my eero. I need to be able to manage and use my network when my internet is down.

    Like 2
  • Hi Jeff C.

    Has there been any update on this issue? It's still an issue during a cable outage.

    Thanks,

    D.C.

    Like 1
  • dchamorro  Thanks for checking in! At this time, there are no updates to share regarding this feature request. If you ever experience an ISP outage, we recommend not rebooting your eeros so that you can maintain a connection to your network.

    Thanks again. If there are any updates, I'll be passing them along to you and the rest of the eero community.

    Like
      • pfgranger
      • pfgranger
      • 5 yrs ago
      • 3
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C. This is a critical feature.  I'm currently in the middle of a week long internet outage.  Verizon cannot send a tech until mid-next week.  Eero was rebooted as a part of the troubleshooting (as is to be expected).  This has essentially bricked my devices entire home.  Sonos, Plex, Nest, Smart AC, all devices that would otherwise work fine because they only require WLAN.  I was an early pre-order adopter - but this week has made me strongly consider tossing your devices post-haste.

      Like 3
      • Roy dorf
      • Roy_dorf
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      pfgranger Mine went back upon finding this thread, I didn't even pull them out of the box from Amazon.

      Like
  • Understood, keep in mind that the first thing Cox does is demand that I restart everything. If I don't do that, they stop working on my account because I won't comply. 

    (I have a LONG history of issues with them)

    Like 1
  • I agree, this is really important to be able to pre configure your WiFi setup prior to the internet being activated. You should be able to see a broadcast WiFi signal, connect to it and configure the network without internet being live or up.

    Like 2
      • Roy dorf
      • Roy_dorf
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      jmueller777 this is a big one for me and a reason that my devices may soo be returned!!!

      Like
  • It I s is really absurd and borderline insulting to someone's intelligence for this serious product issue/flaw to be called a "feature request". This is basic functionality to have local network access without an internet connection.

    We are having an internet outage due to a Hurricane in which our power and internet went out. Now the power is back but no internet yet. Since we have eeros, we cannot control any of our devices inside the house (Nest, Sonos, Philips Hue). To have the workaround be to not restart the router during an internet outage is also absurd. 

    Unfortunately we cannot return this product now as we have had it too long before we found out about this very serious limitation that any basic router does not have. 

    This serious issue (which is not a feature request) needs to be fixed ASAP. I will definitely not recommend this product to anyone and actively steer people away until this is fixed. It is a real shame because I was extremely happy with Eeros until I discovered this very critical flaw. 

    Like 6
      • dchamorro
      • dchamorro
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      kwtemple I agree. I'll be tweeting this thread out to Nick Weaver (@nsweaves) to see if he responds.

      Like
      • Holdcard
      • Holdcard
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      kwtemple I'm in the same boat. EERO is a great solution for my situation. However, it's failed to be useful over the long run for me. I thought the way they talked that we'd get a solution. It does not look like that's in the near future. They just keep instructing us not . to restart, but that's an impossibility for me as Cox is very bad in my neighborhood. 

      I do feel like I should have not taken their marketing at face value. What sucks, I have 6 I can't return. 

      Like
      • dchamorro
      • dchamorro
      • 5 yrs ago
      • 1
      • Reported - view
  • Same feedback here - I have been an early adopter of this solution and recommended it to many people but this limitation is really making rethink about it! I am in the same situation as previous message and been out of power because of the hurricane - just got power back and found out I can't get wifi in my house because of this limitation. This means no light control for me (and yes also Sonos, but I guess I can live without music for a while).

    It is RIDICULOUS to suggest to the solution is not to restart eero to keep the configuration - as if this was easy to do when power is out for 3-4 days (I have UPS on my main unit and cable modem - but even that does not help in case of long outages) !! 

    The solution needs to be in the software - how can a product so advanced not have such a basic functionality?

    Please solve this issue asap - you have a great product, and I really loved it until I found this out last night!!

    Like 1
  • Been without internet service for two weeks now due to storms and have been unable to access my network storage. The eero devices are pretty expensive to not be able to even use them during internet outages and this is a frequent thing here where I live. Looking at this forum I can clearly see that eero does not listen to any requests made by its customers. Most topics are around one year old without any updates.

    I'm now forced to go out and purchase some mesh wifi devices from a different company that has an offline mode and I will see how much I can get for my eero's on ebay.

    Like 1
  • Glad I'm reading about this before investing in Eero. I will not purchase this product knowing this design issue exists. Thanks for sharing everyone. 

    Like
  • I just bought a set of these and found out first hand that you can’t do anything with these offline, and it requires internet and a creating a super creepy IOT account just to set it up as a simple access point. What a joke. eero is basically the Juicero of mesh WiFi.  I can’t take these back fast enough.

    Like
  • This is a major design oversight - given the eero is supposed to be for the connected home.      In a connected home the "Fail safe" has to be that the network works in the last know state.   Even if it can't be administered or updated.  Right now - internet connection dropping + power cycle means no internal network.  
    Please fix this as a priority.

    Like 1
  • As I was looking through the Feature Requests, I noticed this particular request, which I find of real value added, does not even indicate what the status is ... is this under consideration or is this one of those items that will flat out never get implemented? If so please just say so.  An explanation as to why would be nice as well. Thanks

    Like
      • dchamorro
      • dchamorro
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Cerberus  There still isn't any traction on this. Maybe Jeff C. can provide another update.

      Like
  • WTF! I purchased eero to control my X32 rack digital mixer which will never have internet connection. This thing is useless for me now!

    Like
  • Hello. As a long time Eero owner ( I was an early adopter) I want to bump this thread and as an enterprise technologist who specializes in networking with 20 years in my field, I want provide those of you asking questions with a little insight into this problem. 

    First off, it’s obviously been this way since day one. The reason it does this, and most likely the reason they won’t comment on it, is because the way the Eeros were designed initially, in my humble opinion, had a flaw. They had no form of configuration redundancy, preventing off-line operation, but I’m sure this was intentional because of the hardware utilization gains is it provided.

    Unfortunately in today’s technology marketplace too many companies are taking shortcomings and calling them features.  Add some old person somewhere used to say, it doesn’t matter how much you polish a turd, it’s still a turd. 

    In this case, this limitation results from the way the system is built. Essentially the routers you have in your home are little more than dummy clients. In other words, the operating system, or the brains of these routers, is hosted almost completely online. This gives them the ability to run the routers with less of a footprint getting more bang for their buck out of the hardware.  The unfortunate but obvious cost is the routers themselves have very limited capabilities on their own. 

    Now, I’m guessing here but they probably won’t do anything about this because it would require a complete retooling of the software, and more than likely the hardware as well. There may be ways they could do it simpler but the scope of the effort depends completely on how the existing systems are built.

    I don’t understand why they’ve remained silent on this for so long either though. While the silence tempts me to think this isn’t a simple issue for them, choosing to ignore everyone here who is begging for this indicates customer support deficiencies more than anything else. It seems to me like they could have redesigned to allow the routers to store the last known configuration from the servers in order to fall back to it in the event of a loss of network connectivity. But, what do I know? I only do this for a living! 

    As a heads up, this would most likely require them to increase some of the resources in the routers (i.e. memory, storage, etc), which means it wouldn’t be something they could push to existing devices. That means we would only get the new functionality by going out and purchasing completely new, expensive routers. I would imagine it’s possible to get this going on existing hardware, but I’m sure that wouldn’t be the path of least resistance.  In other words, it won’t be cheaper or quicker. Most things of this nature are little more than a function of time and money. Given the high prices each and everyone of us paid for these devices, I would venture to say they have both and are choosing to drop the ball here. 

    Like 4
      • Jeff C.
      • eero Community Manager
      • Jeff_C
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Crazgod —

      Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback and interest in this feature.

      I'd like to touch on much of what you mentioned and provide any clarity to what may be potentially confusing to others.

      We have never called this a feature, and we have acknowledged that this is a limitation of how eero currently works. As you mentioned, making this change will take a lot of work and improvements to the underlying software, and it is something our team is continuing to work towards. As soon as we have more to share, this will be one of the first channels we update.

      Most importantly, an update for this type of support would not require new hardware. Both the 1st and 2nd generation eero, as well as the eero Beacon, are designed to be fully-functioning access points. They have been built with industry-leading design and technology (you can check out the tech specs at the bottom of this page) to make eeros provide the coverage and reliability into homes with the smaller form factor compared to many others in this space.

      The main benefits of the current requirement of the cloud-connection are that this ensures your eeros are 1. healthy and stable, 2. updated with our latest eero OS, and 3. secure. 

      We hope to have more to share soon. We have always stated that eero only gets better with time, and we are still committed to that.

      Like
  • Jeff C.

    i appreciate the quick response on this topic. 

    After all that, I still do not have a clear understanding on where Eero stands on this “functionality”.   I simply wanted confirmation that this is still being looked at and if so what priority does it have comparitivley to other requests in the chain.  You guys have made so many updates so far (thanks for that!) and I am simply confused as to why externally something so basic to a “network” is not an option. 

     

    Thanks

    Like 1
  • I am a new Eero user but have just recently discovered this glaring design flaw. I get that the having an internet connection will keep the Eero's healthy, etc., but it STILL needs to boot as a stand alone LAN with no internet connection.

    I have a rather flaky WISP (wireless ISP) that goes down quite often. I bought a Netgear LB2120 device that sits between the ISP modem and the router. When I lose signal from the ISP, it will hot swap to LTE cellular data - pretty slick. However, the Eero doesn't seem to like having it's provider signal hot-swapped on it, and the network must be restarted to get it to function.  For that reason along with the inability to run in LAN mode only I may likely dump the Eero altogether.

    I DO understand that the ask is a lot of work - I make my living in IT - but this should be at the TOP of your list. Anything else I would say now would be repeating what has already been said - but I do want to add my request for this feature.

    jim

    Like 2
  • Same concern. Ready to replace Eero. Loss of Comcast combined with a reboot can’t mean losing my LAN. House now depends on WiFi for too many things. 

    Or for example, building a new house where Comcast isn’t ready yet means none of the new “smart home” devices have a LAN if I use Eero. So no Eero. 

    Like 2
  • So I have had an isp issue for the last 2 days.  I’m sure anyone working for eero completely understands that not resetting your router during the troubleshooting process is neither realistic or rational. The really funny part of this is that when my home network went out, I pulled out my 10 year old wireless router and used it to set up my home network. Good thing I am a pack rat I guess. 

    There is really no excuse that a new and really expensive router like eero doesn’t function when my 10 year old one does. Is there a fix for this issue coming?  When will it happen?  All I see in this thread is deflection of people’s very legitimate concerns. I can tell you that if I don’t hear from someone on this soon with a straight answer and a timeline for a real fix (this thread started over a year ago, you have had plenty of time to work on it) I will go to more public social media with this complaint and recommendation not to purchase. There is no excuse for this guys. 

    Like 2
  • When I first set up my eero a few months ago I just assumed that the mobile app was a convenience feature to use instead of the common web configuration. That is until I had issues with ISP and wanted to troubleshoot the network to make sure the ISP was to blame. Finding out that I can’t do any troubleshooting on the LAN is, frankly, shocking. Even more shocking is losing basic LAN functionality if you lose power. That seems like something that should have never made it out of QA, not something to sit on for over a year. Does erro even have a product management team or just app designers? I now wish I had went with Netgear or Ubiquity for my solution. I won’t be recommending erro to anyone anytime soon. 

    Like 1
  • Hi everyone -- thanks for your feedback. As of today with eero OS 3.9 this issue is fully resolved. Appreciate everyone's input and patience. 

    Like
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  • 31 Votes
  • 4 yrs agoLast active
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