XB5 limiting number of wifi devices connected?

[abeasom]

I've noticed over the last week I'm having to reconnect devices back to my wifi.  Sometimes they connect, other times they don't.  yesterday I added some smart plugs to my network and none of them would join at first.  I went and disabled the wireless on some other devices and sure enough the new smart plugs connected.  Why can I only have 30 or so wifi devices on my network?  

My DHCP is set to 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.210 so there's plenty of open IPs.  Lease time is set down to 8 hours.  

I'm planning to exchange for another XB5 today and assuming the one I have is bad maybe?

Any other thoughts?  Also, is there anyway to export the setup I have now on my gateway?  I have a lot of open ports and don't like that I'll have to set them up again.

Thanks!

[darkangelic]

You can very rarely have more than 25 devices connected to your WiFi at any given time - that's a feature of the WiFi protocols to allow for efficient network management. Radio wireless interference from various devices, for instance, will lead to connection conflicts. So if a device is not being used, it's disconnected. 

You'll need to either tinker with your wireless QoS settings, use Ethernet for some devices to reduce the load, or configure a separate Wireless Access Point on the network and let some devices connect there. YMMV. 

In my case, I only have mobile devices (laptops, phones, tablets) or those with no ethernet ports (IoT ) connected via WiFi, everything else in my home is Ethernet connected to minimize wireless interference. 

[abeasom]

I disagree with that.  I should be able to put 200 devices on my Gateway if I wish.  

What I have discovered is happening is the XB6 is kicking off devices when new ones join.  I have seen it happen with my Apple Watch and Kasa smart plugs.  When my parents were down to see me this weekend their three devices got on my Wifi, and sure enough 2 of my Kasa devices and my Roomba iRobot all dropped off of DHCP.  

This never used to happen and it looks like Comcast updated the firmware on the router recently.  Very disappointing.  I'm going to try to set up my older router in bridge mode and connect some devices to that.  I realize the XB6 is still dishing out DHCP but maybe devices won't get kicked off if I connect some to the router's extended netork radios.

[darkangelic]

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@abeasom wrote:

I disagree with that.  I should be able to put 200 devices on my Gateway if I wish.  .

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You're perfectly within your rights to disagree with me, but feel free to procure a high end router and attempt to connect 200 devices on it and have them all run at the same time without absolutely killing your bandwidth or getting most of them kicked off the WiFi... and let us know how that experiment went. 

[abeasom]

My previous setup was an old Xfinity Arris Dual-band gateway and a Apple Airport Extreme.  I ran the Gateway in bridge the whole time I had it and let the Airport administer DHCP, port forwarding etc.  Towards the end of it's life, I had roughly 115 devices connected via wi-fi (iphones, iPads, apple watches, smart plugs, smart lights, Amazon Echos, thermostat, iRobot Roomba, Garage door opener, laptops, Smart TVs, etc) and two 24 port Netgear switches full.  This is roughly 170 devices on the Airport.  Not once, did I ever experience a slow-down or a device being kicked off the network or not being able to join.  These 115 devices weren't always active at the same time, but they always showed as connected devices, so they never dropped off.  

Currently, on my XB6 via xFi app, I see I have 61 connected devices.  22 via ethernet and the rest connected wi-fi.  Looks to be a lot more 2.4 than 5.  This morning, again, my Withings scale reported it was offline, as well as my Roomba says it can not connect to the cloud (which is what it says when it has no internet connection.)  I reconnected both of these devices last night.  I assume when I turned on Samsung smart TV this morning it kicked one of those off, and something else must have came on to knock off the other.

This is what bothers me.  There is no reason these devices can't stay connected, I did it before.

I would love to go back to my old setup, however I have these XI6 cable boxes now that require MOCA from the XB6 gateway to work correctly, as they have no RG6 input and connect via wifi or ethernet.  I have 1 of them hard-wired but the others are wifi.  So putting XB6 into bridge will knock off the wifi ones, so I am told.

I think this weekend I'll hook up the Airport extreme, bridge it, and create another wireless network and move a handful of devices to it.  Hopefully that will help.

[ComcastChe]

Hi @abeasom, 

Were you able to do any testing over the weekend? Any changes on your end? 

[abeasom]

I did.  I setup my Apple Airport and moved about 15 devices to it.  They have stay connected.  Devices to the XB6 continue to disconnect.  Additionally, the XB6 restarts itself at least twice a week during the night, probably to install more firmware updates that continue to plague it and render it useless.

The XB6 is the biggest piece of junk I have ever used in my life and I am sorry I switched to it.

[ComcastTambrey]

We really appreciate your update on this! Resets after firmware updates are necessary, but I would love to take a closer look at this and help fix the disconnects so you can enjoy more consistent service.  Please send me a private message with your first and last name as well as your service address so I can assist. 

 To send a private message, click my name "ComcastTambrey", then click "send a message".