NWA50BE Causing Hardwire Network Disruption

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ianj14
ianj14 Posts: 11 image  Freshman Member
First Comment
in Wireless

Hi.

I've just bought an NWA50BE and connected it to my network, via a gigabit switch.

It seems that the unit is causing disruption on the hard wire connected devices, as things like SpeedTest get very poor figures with it switched on and normal when it's switched off.

I haven't made any changes to settings other than those required when setting it up initially, so have I missed something that needs to be done to get it to play nice with the rest of the network?

Thanks in advance,

Ian

Accepted Solution

  • ianj14
    ianj14 Posts: 11 image  Freshman Member
    First Comment
    Answer ✓

    I'm not even going to wait a week. Switching out the Belkin switch for the Netgear switch is clearly working. So the issue was an old switch that had begun to detoriorate only recently. Replacing it has solved the problem.

    Apologies for any annoyance or inconvenience I may have caused. It wasn't obvious that the switch was at fault when I first started using the Zyxel.

«1

All Replies

  • Zyxel_Judy
    Zyxel_Judy Posts: 2,537 image  Zyxel Employee
    Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 2 - Nebula Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 2 - Switch Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 2 - Security Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 1 - Nebula

    Hi @ianj14 ,

    In general, connecting the NWA50BE to your network should not affect the speed of other wired devices. That said, please check whether any wireless clients are connected to the NWA50BE or to your router (if your router also has Wi-Fi enabled), as heavy wireless traffic could impact overall network performance.

    To view the connected wireless client list on the NWA50BE, go to: Web GUI > Monitor > Wireless > Station Info > Station List

    Zyxel_Judy

  • ianj14
    ianj14 Posts: 11 image  Freshman Member
    First Comment

    Hi Judy, thanks for replying.

    Unfortunately this isn't the case. The disruptions occur even when no other devices are connected to either the Zyxel or the wifi in the router.

    My thoughts are something DHCP related, but that's just a guess based on a few things I've read online.

    It's also not consistent, sometimes are worse than others.

    Ian

  • Zyxel_Judy
    Zyxel_Judy Posts: 2,537 image  Zyxel Employee
    Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 2 - Nebula Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 2 - Switch Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 2 - Security Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 1 - Nebula

    Hi @ianj14 ,

    Thank you for your feedback.

    Please check carefully whether any Sonos speakers or other wired devices that also have Wi-Fi capability (such as smart TVs, NAS devices, or IoT devices) are present in your network. If these devices are simultaneously connected via both wired Ethernet and Wi-Fi to the same network, this can create a network loop at the switch level, causing exactly the kind of intermittent disruption you are experiencing. You can also observe the LED behavior on the switch port connected to the NWA50BE — if the port LED is flashing continuously or behaving abnormally compared to other ports, this is a strong indicator that something irregular is happening on that link.

    Additionally, please check the logs on your switch, should also be recording relevant events such as topology changes, port flaps, or error states in its log.

    To conclusively rule out any wireless client interference, please disable all SSIDs on both the NWA50BE and your Wi-Fi router, then monitor whether the wired devices still experience slowness or disruption. If performance returns to normal with all SSIDs disabled, this confirms that wireless traffic or a bridging loop involving a dual-connected device is the root cause.

    Zyxel_Judy

  • ianj14
    ianj14 Posts: 11 image  Freshman Member
    First Comment

    Hi Judy,

    I can confirm that all wifi-capable client devices are off when I test for the Zyxel being switched on and so none of them are in a dual connected state in any way.

    I will attempt to disable the SSIDs and see what happens, but I don't think that's the problem.

    I am also going to attempt turning of the router's wifi completely, to see if that changes anything, but it's not a state I want to have the system in.

    Ian

  • Zyxel_Judy
    Zyxel_Judy Posts: 2,537 image  Zyxel Employee
    Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 2 - Nebula Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 2 - Switch Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 2 - Security Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 1 - Nebula

    Hi @ianj14 ,

    Whether the wired devices perform normally when the NWA50BE is connected to your switch and disabling all SSIDs on your network?

    Zyxel_Judy

  • ianj14
    ianj14 Posts: 11 image  Freshman Member
    First Comment

    Hi,

    Sorry for the long break, there have been issues with work that have taken up a lot of my time.

    I've tried turning off the radios on the NWA50BE and the problem still exists. I've then immediately turned the unit off, and the rest of the network returns to normal. Turning the unit back on reintroduces the problem. I need to state that this is intermittent though, it's not always the exact same result, sometimes the interference is strong, sometimes weak.

    HTH

  • Zyxel_Judy
    Zyxel_Judy Posts: 2,537 image  Zyxel Employee
    Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 2 - Nebula Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 2 - Switch Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 2 - Security Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 1 - Nebula

    Hi @ianj14 ,

    It may also be helpful to check whether the NWA50BE is obtaining its IP address via DHCP and whether there are any IP conflicts on your network, as this could contribute to the intermittent disruptions you are experiencing.

    If there is no IP conflict with your NWA50BE and the disruption occurs even without any wireless clients connected, please let us know which management mode the NWA50BE is running in — standalone mode or cloud mode (Nebula)?

    • If standalone mode: Please download the diagnostic file from the device after you observe the disruption on your wired devices while the NWA50BE is connected and share it with us for further analysis. You can access it via: Web GUI > Maintenance > Diagnostics.

    • If cloud mode (Nebula): Please share your Nebula organization and site name and enable Zyxel Support access so we can investigate on our end.

    Zyxel_Judy

  • ianj14
    ianj14 Posts: 11 image  Freshman Member
    First Comment

    Hi,

    I changed the ip address to a static one just in case that might have been the problem, but it didn't affect anything.

    The device is in standalone mode.

    I will sort out a diagnostics file as and when I can, probably won't be for a little while.

    Ian

  • ianj14
    ianj14 Posts: 11 image  Freshman Member
    First Comment
    edited May 5

    I've downloaded a diagnostics file, but on this occasion the disruption was quite subtle, so I don't know that it will show much.

    —File is removed—

  • Zyxel_Judy
    Zyxel_Judy Posts: 2,537 image  Zyxel Employee
    Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 2 - Nebula Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 2 - Switch Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 2 - Security Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 1 - Nebula

    Hi @ianj14 ,

    Thank you for the diagnostic file (we removed the file on public space)

    From the NWA50BE diagnostic, we did not observe any abnormal behavior, and we were not able to reproduce the issue with the same configuration.

    At this stage, we would like to further investigate from the wired/network perspective, including switch port negotiation (speed/duplex), broadcast or multicast traffic anomalies, and potential loop or STP-related behavior.

    Could you please help confirm the following:

    • The switch model connected to the NWA50BE
    • Whether STP is enabled on switch
    • The port status (speed/duplex) when the NWA50BE is connected
    • A network topology
    • Switch port statistics (before and after connecting the NWA50BE
    • Any noticeable increase in broadcast or unknown unicast traffic from the switch log

    Zyxel_Judy

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