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Turning on GUEST WIFI boots 10+ devices off

This is a new problem for me. I have always had guest wifi enabled and never questioned it. I turned it off yesterday then reactivated it today. Instantly at least 10 devices got booted off my network.

I can easily reproduce this time and time again simply by turning on guest wifi - it will always boot a bunch of devices off my network until they reattach again. 

Is it normal for my devices to connect to guest wifi even though my main network is the one I want to use ? (Seems the ones bumped off are 2.4 - Lifx bulbs, external Nest cams etc).

I'll submit a support request within the eero app. 

13 replies

    • Drew
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi, Dan – 

    Thanks for reaching out to share your concerns. I'd like to assure you that this behavior is expected, and not indicative of any issue or error with your eero network. Toggling the guest network refreshes several processes on the eeros, with one side effect being that connected devices need to re-associate with their nearest access point. 

    Hope this info helps, please don't hesitate to let us know if you have any other questions or concerns!

    Kindly,
    Drew, eero Community Team

      • Fan of tinkering with new hardware. Canadian dude.
      • cotedan87
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Drew Thanks much Drew. I am currently on a call with support - just wondering why 10+ of my usual devices (mostly lifx bulbs and a few others things) should get booted each time my guest network is activated. It's a pain to have the devices disconnect.

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

      cotedan87 —

      Just to clarify, this is expected. When you enable (or disable) the guest network, your network will go through a brief reboot.

      • Fan of tinkering with new hardware. Canadian dude.
      • cotedan87
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C. Thanks once again.  What is clear for me now is that if I turn off / on the guest network, at least 20 devices will drop off (as observed by eero support while I was on the phone with him). I can understand what you're saying in that it's normal behaviour ... but it does mean that I have 20 or so devices that lose connection and that it takes 5-6 minutes to come back online.

      Please understand that from the user end of things, it's a pain to have that many devices drop off suddenly, then to have to wait 5-6 mins for them to reassociate, so my request to eero is to change this in a future update. 

      Thanks for your assistance. At least I know now.  

      • cMoo92
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      cotedan87 eero isn’t kicking devices off your network. The eero devices are literally rebooting when you enable/disable the guest network, so actually *all* your devices on your network are getting disconnected. Some of your devices are just reconnecting faster (due to their internal software being better at that). Your LIFX bulbs just take longer to reconnect—which isn’t an eero issue, but rather a LIFX issue.

      • Fan of tinkering with new hardware. Canadian dude.
      • cotedan87
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      cMoo92 yup I understand. Might be helpful in the eero app /guest network screen to add a few words saying that some network devices may disconnect temporarily. 

    • Fan of tinkering with new hardware. Canadian dude.
    • cotedan87
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I can't go without complimenting the eero team here online and at phone support for thorough and professional service and problem-solving. Whether or not I'm able to mold the way eero works to my way of doing things is another issue, but seeking and receiving assistance from eero has been excellent.

    • rdlink
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    cotedan87  The language you're discussing, telling you that some network devices may disconnect temporarily is not accurate.  When the configuration change is made your entire WiFi system is rebooting.  What the app should do is warn you anytime a configuration change is going to reboot the router(s).  

      • Fan of tinkering with new hardware. Canadian dude.
      • cotedan87
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      rdlink Indeed. Have mentioned this as a recommendation for future updates of the eero software. Takes just a simple quick sentence but helpful to users. 

    • WatermarkShaun
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    It's been a year+ now when this issue was brought up, but nothing has been done about it.

    Eero team - this is a big deal.  And simply having a note that says "this will disrupt your network for a few minutes" - while important to warn - is also not a good solution.

    When the guest network is disabled, you're really completely removing that guest network which causes a reboot.  But in many circumstances, removing the guest wifi completely is not necessary.  PAUSING the guest network is actually what is desired, just as pausing certain assigned IP devices in groups on the main network.  

    It would make sense that a good solution is the ability to PAUSE, in addition to a full DISABLE.  Pausing will basically block those logged into GUEST (kids for example, or their friends) until it is unpaused.  This has multiple benefits:

    1) NOT giving out your main home network Wifi password to guests - something increasingly important not to do as SmartHome devices become more prevalent

    2) The guest network is then self-filtering, without having to assign each and every new device that logs onto the main network.  Everyone on the guest network is deemed disruptable, while the main network (security cameras, etc) remain solid and not disrupted when the guest network is paused.

    Giving your current app structure, it would appear from the outside that this new functionality would not be extremely difficult to incorporate, as you basically already have this concept designed into the main WiFi settings.

    Thank you for continuing to strive to be the best home WiFi mesh network.  I rave about and recommend Eero constantly.  

    • Paullevinson
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    This is a really bad experience. Google WiFi managed guest network on the fly without a reboot. It’s possible. Rebooting a whole network just for guest is not smart. Please fix ASAP 

    • ebonovic
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    My bigger problem right now, is when I turn on Guest Mode... my network performance absolutely bottoms out.   And there are no devices connecting to Guest at that time (As I can make the network name random).     

    Connected devices (even hard line ones), completely lose their bandwidth and throughput.   And once I turn the guest mode off, everything goes back to normal

    • markwiese
    • 4 mths ago
    • Reported - view

    I have the same issue with multiple devices disconnecting when Guest Access is enabled or disabled on my Eero 6 Plus Mesh, however, the behaviour is different than when I restart the whole mesh. On a normal restart, generally all of my devices will eventually reconnect by themselves (unless WPA3 is enabled, but that's another story!) When I enable/disable Guest Access, many of the connected devices will NEVER reconnect and I have to do a network restart to resolve the issue. So... there is a problem, here. Something is broken, it seems.

Content aside

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