USG20W-VPN Wifi Still Dropping - Firmware update not working.

RapidEye_IT

Depending on neighboring WiFi routers or firewalls configured with automatic channel selection, you may find that you might achieve more stable results with your WiFi situation by configuring the AP Profile for your AP and switching your Channel Selection to "manual". So many other devices from other manufacturers tend to automatically configure their best channel via similar mechanisms, which can be bad if everyone in the vicinity is set to automatic. On my client's USG60W, I configured the WiFi via the Configuration->Object->AP Profile. From there I disabled DCS to manual by editing an active profile. For USG20W you may have only one 2.4ghz band, so any channel from 1-11 will be okay, but I'd start with 3 or 6. Save the profile. Let everyone else be automatic, you be manual. This will cause other WiFi firewalls to work around your configuration.

alehzn

I have to agree (unfortunately) with @User1. For months now and after several firmware updates clients are still getting kicked out periodically or can't even connect anymore. This is really annoying. Were are talking here about a device for small/mid size business! Please fix it ASAP. If this problem won't be fixed after the next firmware update I will do a tech change. Enough is enough.

RapidEye_IT

alehzn said:

I have to agree (unfortunately) with @User1. For months now and after several firmware updates clients are still getting kicked out periodically or can't even connect anymore. This is really annoying. Were are talking here about a device for small/mid size business! Please fix it ASAP. If this problem won't be fixed after the next firmware update I will do a tech change. Enough is enough.

Alehzn, I think the issue is related to software/firmware. When my client's workstations were dropping WiFi very often, I would check the logs and see very frequent channel changes referenced with a lot of disassociations. I would set a manual channel first and start with the basics. Once I set the channel to a manual channel, my clients stopped complaining about frequent disconnections. I think the DCS setting is broken. Unfortunately, the WiFi parameters by default are weak, and the setting explanations are not thorough enough, which requires a lot of technical expertise and lots of reading. ZYXEL needs to simply the WiFi configuration immediately. The radio power settings are also in DB, and most people are not going to know what the optimal settings will be, which could cause admins to set the value too high or too low. ZYXEL must support the customer with better help and documentation right out of the box. It's too easy to make mistakes with these devices while configuring them, partly because some of the default settings are simply BAD with no reference to best practice scenario or anything of the sort. Also, I'm using a device that is continually reporting a high WiFi error count of roughly 10% of all ACKs resulting in errors. There's something wrong with the software. The newest firmware also removed or moved the error count display.

alehzn

@RapidEye_IT thank you for your comment. I was reading your suggestion above and did the changes accordingly with no luck. I dare to say that I have technical expertise and was in charge of around 300 ZyXEL USG firewall for almost 7 years - so I know the product. I have to admit that the quality and customer support decreased during that period. 

MarkoD

@RapidEye_IT, @alehzn I agree... I've been using ZyXEL devices for the last 10 years, and for the last couple of years firmware releases had introduced new bugs (password lockout, NAT 80/443 port problems, WiFi dropping just to name a few), so I always wait a couple of months after a FW is released before using it in production environments.

I strongly appell on ZyXEL to put more focus on testing new firmware releases rather than introducing new features we don't actually need. A couple of years ago, there weren't any serious bugs and I wasn't afraid to update firmware immediately upon release.

Moreover, it's not safe to stay on older FW for a loger period, since security fixes are not backported and you need to update to the latest firmware to be secure on one hand, but suffer from unexpected bugs on the other hand...

Zyxel_Stanley

Hi @alehzn  

The current released firmware has fixed local WiFi connection unstable issue.

You can download firmware by official FTP server.

@MarkoD

Thanks for your suggestion on this.

We will keep improving our firmware quality continually.

RapidEye_IT

Zyxel_Stanley said:

Hi @alehzn  

The current released firmware has fixed local WiFi connection unstable issue.

You can download firmware by official FTP server.

@MarkoD

Thanks for your suggestion on this.

We will keep improving our firmware quality continually.

Hi Stanley,

Which firmware version resolves the WiFi software issues? I have USG60W's deployed

Zyxel_Stanley

Hi @RapidEye_IT

You can download USG60W firmware by official FTP server.

User1

@alehzn , @MarkoD or @RapidEye_IT , can anyone confirm that the above posted FW actually fixed the WiFi issue after using it for a week or more? 

alehzn

Hi @User.

Unfortunately I can't say anything in regard to WiFi as after applying the weekly build firmware my IKEv2 stopped working. So I reverted back and disabled the DCS again and configured the channel manually like suggested above by @RapidEye_IT.

I will wait now for official release.