g3100 2.4ghz wifi access point status: disconnected

[rdm67]

For about a month now, my g3100 router will, on a near daily basis, render the 2.4 ghz wifi access point disconnected. All other connections remain connected. I’ve seen only one other post about this issue from someone else a month ago with no further help.

The only “solutions”  involve rebooting the router, factory resetting the router, and resetting the ONT. All of these actions, when complete, returns all connections to the connected status. A temporary solution, as the 2.4 ghz network will just become disconnected again within 24 hours, sometimes twice in the same period.

One time in particular, the broadband connection specifically was listed as disconnected. At this point of course, not a single connection, wifi or ethernet, had internet access. It was at this point that resetting the ONT brought the broadband connection back to connected.

At one point, the router managed to perform perfectly for several days in a row. But of course again today, the 2.4 ghz network became disconnected.

For anyone else experiencing this issue, I’m convinced it must either be a faulty router, or verizon needs to update the system firmware to solve whatever is causing this strange issue.

I’ve contacted verizon and they’ve said they’ve agreed to send a replacement router, but that was a week ago, and I‘ve received no updates or shipping information since.

I have security devices that are only able to connect to the 2.4 ghz network that are now rendered useless half the time. At first I blamed the devices, until I saw my roku tv was also repeatedly losing connection and finally checked the router settings.

I’m truly disappointed in verizon’s response, or lack thereof.

[Cang_Household]

Are you sure when G3100 says certain connections are "disconnected," the connections are actually disconnected?

G1100's ethernet, 2.4GHz, and 5GHz are sometimes always shown "disconnected." But the connection is still there regardless.

[rdm67]

Yes, they actually are. The only reason I actually discovered this in the first place is because the devices on the 2.4 ghz wifi network would lose internet access.

And if I look to find the available wifi networks from any device when the access point status reads “disconnected”, the 2.4 ghz network will be missing while the 5 ghz network will still be available and internet connected. And of course, ethernet connected devices also remain connected to the internet.

[Cang_Household]

Just to ask another question, is G3100's Self Organized Network (SON) turned on? If so, turn it off. That may be the cause of your problem. Otherwise, I would suggest you to contact the tech support department.

[rdm67]

Yes, SON is off. The problem did likely first occur when it was turned on, but it was also after months of use. However, SON has been off for the past month or so, and the problem continues to occur. 

A replacement router is on the way now, and it’s supposed to arrive Monday. The first time I requested a replacement router, the representative insisted I would have the replacement shipped to me in two days. They sent an email with a ticket number, but no further updates and they never shipped anything.

After making another call a week later, and waiting hours again with customer service, and with the help of a supervisor, they actually shipped the **bleep** thing this time. No one had an answer for why it wasn’t done the first time. Gotta love it.

[Cang_Household]

I appreciate your patience with Verizon.

Please update us here once the shipment has arrived. 

[rdm67]

Shipment arrived today. I unplugged the old router and waited an hour to connect the new one as per the guidance of the rep I had spoken to. This was to ensure we release the IP. I finished installing the new router about 20 minutes ago or so, and all seems well so far. 

Will post updates later as time goes on, especially if we encounter the same issue again. Something of note, the old router sticker stated it was HW ver:: 1103. This replacement router is version 1104. Otherwise, their appearance is identical, save for a red check logo on the new one, where the old one just had the check logo engraved and white. New router is currently running same firmware version as the old one was before I unplugged it as well.

But hopefully the hardware revision also took care of whatever was causing the 2.4 ghz wifi access point to sporadically disconnect. Granted, the original router worked fine for several months before it started giving issues, so it may be a while until we find out for sure. But I’ll try to return to this post from time to time with updates, and if I see there’s any further questions of course.

[rdm67]

About 30 minutes ago, the 2.4 ghz network was just not letting anything connect. Logging into the router however revealed that the status of the 2.4 ghz wifi access point was in fact stated to be “Connected”. All connections were “Connected”.

Regardless, the 2.4 ghz network was still selectable as an option from other devices, but would not allow the devices to connect. Suffice to say, this appears to have been a different issue than the original one.

I was on, and stayed on a facetime call on the 5 ghz wifi network the entire time this was occurring, without switch to data, so I presume it was just the 2.4 ghz wifi that was failing to connect devices to it. If this issue were to arise again, I’ll be sure to check ethernet and 5 ghz connected devices for an internet connection.

But as has become routine, I quickly rebooted the new router. As of right now, all internet connected devices appear to be working fine on every network type, 2.4 ghz wifi included.

I will say, I vaguely remember the wifi being a bit spotty when we first installed the old router. But rebooting it once seemed to solve that for many months, and well, you know what happened from there.

So we’ll see how this goes. Perhaps one reboot after installation is just par for the course. I just hope this is the last time I return here about a problem. Will of course keep updating as new things come up.

[Cang_Household]

Normally, a device would never need to be rebooted in order to maintain performance. Can you make sure there is no excessive interference in your area? Possible sources of interference including but is not limited to cordless phones, microwaves, neighbor's WiFi, Bluetooth devices, and any other devices that generate the 2.4GHz band.

[rdm67]

Oh I’m sure normally that would be the case, but I doubt there’s too much normal about the original issue at least. 

As for the new router, it’s been fine as far as I can tell after that reboot. Only potential for interference near the router would be the roku streaming device, and that’s sitting a couple feet away on a lower level of the entertainment console.

The new router is in the same spot the old one was. Like I’ve said before, I’ve had long stretches of time where the old router operated perfectly fine (seemingly including right now with the new one post reboot), so I’m not inclined to believe it’s from interference. The signal strength on the neighbors wifi from our home is very low anyway.

Not to mention the fact that all devices, regardless of location, were unable to connect to the 2.4 ghz wifi network in the case of both router issues in the moments they occurred. 

I can’t speak much for the new router just yet, but I assure you the issue with the old one was not caused by something with a normal solution. My gut says it was a hardware issue potentially solved with the new revision.

With the old router, when the issue occurred, it was as if the 2.4 ghz network no longer existed. When I had an issue with the new router today, the 2.4 ghz network existed, but devices couldn’t connect to it.

I’m inclined to believe these were two different issues, and that hopefully that problem with the new router was just a fluke. But we’ll see how it performs from here.

[rdm67]

Lo and behold, the issue has returned. Just 15 minutes ago or so, I received a notification that my security cameras were not responding to remote requests. I check the router status, and once again, the 2.4 ghz wifi access point was the only one stated to be “Disconnected”. I checked to see if the roku was connected to wifi - it was not. 

Our amazingly frustrating problem is back ladies and gents. Unfortunately, seeing as new hardware did not solve the problem, I can only assume this is being caused by a firmware bug that only Verizon can fix. And who knows how long that’ll take. None of the representatives I spoke with before seemed to have a clue what was going on anyway.

The old router went several months before this issue cropped up. This new router lasted what, a week? The only information I can glean from this is that this likely firmware bug is relatively new. 

Hopefully someone at Verizon that works on the firmware ends up reading this. Until then, I’m heavily debating switching to a provider that doesn’t force me to deal with this headache on my own.

[OrangeDSL]

We have been struggling with the same issue for two months now. Even after 1.) replacing the router 2.) replacing the ONT 3.) disabling SON 4.) setting the router's 2.4 GHz to "compatibility mode" and allowing it to select whatever channel it wants, the 2.4 network will disconnect whenever. 5 GHz just keeps trucking along as if everything's fine, but of course, you have to reboot the router to get 2.4 GHz back. 

I believe it's a firmware issue, too, because your problem sounds like my problem exactly. In short, it's madness, and we need this solved.

[kindmadre]

I do not believe this is a Verizon router issue. I do not use a Verizon router and have been having the same issue.

[smith6612]

Just curious. Have you tried playing around with channels and moving the router off of automatic channel selection? Noisy or dense environments may have the router hopping all over the place, getting interference, and making devices unhappy. Start with channels 1, 6 and 11 first. Use the other channels only as a last resort, since they are overlapping. See if any of them have a positive effect on your network stability.

I would also start ruling out certain devices from your network. If the problem happens frequently enough to take note of which devices are chatting or connecting when the radio fails, that will be useful info. Could be a bad device, could be a driver issue in the FiOS router. Could be anything.

[rdm67]

I think the best way to explain that it is most certainly a firmware issue lies in the fact that I have changed literally nothing in the time since my last post. I do not have the energy to exhaust any further needless hours diagnosing an issue I cannot solve anyway nor am being paid to solve.

The results? The issue occurred maybe once or twice a few days later, and then never again up to current day. For everyone else having this issue, I am sorry to say I have absolutely no clue why any of it is happening (or as of right now for some reason, not happening.)

But for the love of god, can someone at Verizon at least try to look for some bug in the software that could cause this behavior? 

[dcd122]

Having the same issue here. Has anyone seen any resolution?

[Greg611]

Another user said this...

Important Update: In August 2021, Verizon is forcing a major firmware update of the G3100 that will include a new UI.

Upgrading the Verizon G3100 Firmware

Facts first – there’s no official way to manually upgrade the firmware through the Verizon G3100 system settings.

There is a painful workaround and that it is to a full hard system reset.

To do a full hard system reset on the Verizon G3100, while it’s plugged into power, you need to press the red reset button on the back for about 15 seconds. But be warned it erases ALL your settings!

Why does a factory reset upgrade the Verizon G3100? Talking to Verizon support on the phone as part of a factory reset, when the G3100 router reconnects to Verizon it will download and reinstall the latest firmware as part of the process.

I know this isn’t ideal, don’t blame me, I don’t work for Verizon. But it did work for me when my G3100 got corrupted during one of Verizon’s overnight forced firmware updates.

[Greg611]

The new firmware update should be ver. 3.0.0.14.

[Cang_Household]

Why would you need to manually upgrade the firmware? If your G3100 is the primary router on your network, meaning it has its WAN port directly connected to the ONT, then it should automatically pull the update from Verizon backend. The only probable reason for manual firmware upgrade is if you have the G3100 behind another NAT and/or firewall.

I am not sure where you got the information on the update, but it is not entirely accurate.

The firmware rollout of 3.1.0.12 (not 3.0.0.14) just started this Tuesday, and will continue likely to the end of the month. G3100, unlike the G1100, does not have a hidden firmware upload feature. A complete factory reset is required if you would like to receive the update after the normal rollout. After the upgrade, users may have their prior port forwarding rules wiped out. Verizon has sent or is in the progress of sending email notifications to affected customers; however, the firmware may already got upgraded by the time the user saw the email.

The new UI is a minor point of the upgrade. Other major features include tri-band control, IoT SSID/subnet, and security/firewall patches.

[rsheftel]

After having my G3100 router work perfectly fine with both 5GHz and 2.4GHz (SON is off) for about 4 months this issue just started for myself as well in the last week. Same problem as the other, it will work after I reboot, but then the 2.4GHz will change to "disconnected" status and all my 2.4GHz devices will disconnect. A reboot fixes the problem, but then the issue happens again in a few days.

It could be coincidental, but when the issue appears the UI (accessed from 192.168.1.1) is very slow and unresponsive.

Firmware version is 3.1.1.20

Anyone from Verizon have input on this issue?

[kh-gary]

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