I got 99 problems but my WiFi ain't one

I had a Unifi network update that suddenly disabled Chromecast across the network.

Now that needs context, it's not actually disabling Chromecast but it's breaking multicast discovery and I think it did this because I have two WiFi networks, one for IoT things called "Things" which is a 2.4Ghz only network, and then one called "Wi-Fi" which is for phones and laptops and this is a 5Ghz only network.

To enable phones to cast to devices on Things the system needs to be aware that the whole of 192.168.x.x is one network, I VLAN Things, and yet to allow the multicast to cross the VLAN.

But... the 5Ghz network had powersaving enabled, meaning the APs would allow devices to reduce the power consumption when idle by moving the network into a low-power keepalive state which extends the battery life (fractionally) of the devices.

Here's where it gets vague... I think Unifi hadn't implemented that correctly and that the power saving mode was updated and was now implemented correctly. The power saving mode disables the ability for the multicast to cross VLANs, and so... one update and a loss of Chromecast.

I disabled this single feature, the power saving, and full Chromecast discovery and casting works again... weirdest breakage I've had for a while.

Is there any issue with having my router at the end of a 10m stretch of CAT6 from the rest of the network?

Probably not.

Is there any issue with having my router at the end of a 10m stretch of CAT6 from the rest of the network?

absolutely fine

(assuming decent cable then 100m is fine)

Is there any issue with having my router at the end of a 10m stretch of CAT6 from the rest of the network?

No issue at all, I do this.

Cable comes in the wall and hits the router, a 40M length of cat6 goes up through the loft to the other end of the house, the network equipment all lives there... and another 40M length of cat6 carries "internal network" back to near where the cable lives.

Cheers all. I'll be terminating the cable myself but I assume if it all shows as OK on one of those cable tester things and I get ~ 1Gbps when I test between two machines on the network (although I can never remember what software I use for that) then the cable is fine.

Yup.

And if the cable later shows as not being good, it's probably the connectors at that point.

software

iperf?

That's the one. Now to remember how it works.

I've just had Community fibre installed. Worked fine with their router. I unplugged their router and plugged in my Unifi Dream Machine (with a couple of AP AC Pro access points).

Wired connections are fine. Full speed.

Wireless connections I can connect to the network, see stuff on the network as expected, etc but I don't have any internet access. Anyone like to hazard a guess as to why? Same issue with phone and laptop.

DNS settings? Can you ping 8.8.8.8 in a command prompt when you are wireless?

New gateway IP for the APs ?

This sounds vaguely familiar when I set up my Brothers router/UDM setup, along time ago. Did you backup settings then/reset the UDM. I seem to recall I ended up using the Router —> (fresh)UDM then once the UDM had access wired and wireless adding the APs and binning off the router. It’s worked to this day, well at least he’s not bothered me about it.

Cheers all.

I can't ping anything external when wireless. I think I'm using NextDNS on the Dream Machine.

The APs give internet access when plugged into the Linksys router, not when plugged into the Dream Machine. The Dream Machine's built-in wireless AP also doesn't give internet access.

No resetting yet as I want to try and avoid messing with it too much and, in theory, it is just replacing one network connection (virgin modem) with another (community fibre modem). Guess that can be the next step.

Just bemused that the wired connection works and wireless doesn't (but still connects locally).

Or, should I just buy a couple more nodes for the Linksys Velop MX4200 and use those to get the faster wifi speed and flog the unifi stuff?

Anyone use the Linksys router and any idea on what it's like at setting up multiple SSIDs, restricting access between them and the various other stuff you can do with the Unifi set-up?

Just bemused that the wired connection works and wireless doesn't (but still connects locally).

Are they on different VLANs?
Are there different firewall rules for different addresses / ports / networks that allow / block access?
Have you at some point done CleverThings with dnsmasq?
Are there any queries showing in your NextDNS logs (I don't use NextDNS - Pi-Hole instead - so I'm only guessing that this is a thing)?

Haven't used a new full node, but got one of the WiFi extender nodes and setting it up was fine, no issues with the fact that it was a Community Fibre router, can't imagine any reason why the other options wouldn't work

No to all those. (Except the NextDNS logs, will have to check that).

@branwen what did you use for extending? I can't find much detail on adding nodes after you already have the router.

One of these, which seems to be surprisingly hard to find for something listed as "New" on their website

https://www.linksys.com/gb/dual-band-ac1300-mesh-wifi-5-range-extender/WHW0101P-UK.html

Works fine as a WiFi extender, but no Ethernet sockets. From my reading you should be able to just get another router and use that as an extender if you wanted Ethernet also

So there’s a prime day deal thingy on, currently have a Three 5G router which is great for speed when in a decent position near a window but there are only a couple of places it can go as I don’t want it on show and they are not great for getting coverage on the tado system and moving the router around for a decent WiFi signal means drop outs on one of the TRV’s and poor WiFi in home office, the flat is 80sqM but a central core and blockwork walls means a better WiFi system is needed.
Will possibly get community fibre but want to hide the router inside a cupboard right next to front door as I don’t want cables ruining the new decor and there is only an open passageway beyond the front door and cupboard so nowhere to hide it, they use a linksys router possibly an AX5400. Can buy a pair of these for £159 which is not far off the price of one. Any reason I shouldn’t? Presume this means I could have a 3 part mesh system with community fibre later and run a 2x system bypassing the Three routers limited WiFi now?
Not gaming but the usual streaming of film/Tidal and more importantly the uploading of PSD’s several GB in size so upload is more important than download.
I know very little about routers beyond 2.5ghz/5ghz.

Will possibly get community fibre but want to hide the router inside a cupboard right next to front door as I don’t want cables ruining the new decor and there is only an open passageway beyond the front door and cupboard so nowhere to hide it, they use a linksys router possibly an AX5400.

I've just got community fibre and they use an MX4200 (or AX4200, they seem to be the same) for their router. So far as I can tell they are compatible with a variety of extra nodes, including the AX5200 and the ones that branwen linked to above, with them all being Intelligent Mesh models.

From my brief experience Community Fibre upload speed is very good.

Thanks, I’ll take a punt on them. Community fibre is now in our block though no idea if it’s working yet as various bits of gardens dug up and drilling through concrete this last week.

I have an MR7350 as the main router with 2x MX4200, one MX5500 and a WiFi 5 wfw01w or something too.

Works fine, but I have had to do a massive reset once. Might be because I was mucking about with VMs and pi-hole and DNS settings.

Ethernet cabling advice... Wasn't sure if I should post here, PC or DIY threads.

What ethernet cable type should I be looking for a run of 20m internal and 20m external?
Cat6e, Cat7, Cat8, solid, shielded. Any go to shops.

Through house to garden office.
Eero Pro at each end.
Would be great to future proof things.

Cat5a was installed by the previous owner and already has a repair mid way along. Connection is becoming a little flaky and maxes out at 100Mbps.

If you're going outside, I would use something like this.

I've got 40m of it running outside and around my house and get a rock solid 1.1gbps wired directly from Virgin router.

That looks great.
Any reason not to look at a Cat6a or Cat7 alternatives?

I'm dreading this job and the redecorating it's inevitably going to require.