OG cam "device is offline"

Ahh you’re right I forgot about OP’s situation. This was repeated so often it became second nature lol.

I generally recommend to split the WIFi band SSID bands because there are certain IoT devices like the Chamberlain WiFi garage door opener won’t connect properly to routers. But, that can also be attributed to the behaviour of the SoC and the WiFi radio (Broadcom/Mediatek/Qualcomm) too. I also have had devices that stick to 2.4GHz band too often even when you don’t want to. It’s easier for me to troubleshoot a problem for me personally.

Coming from using Asus’ router, I had to comb through the settings and disabled majority of those settings which you’ve mentioned as well. Asus routers were notorious finicky especially the RT-AC86U 2.4GHz band. It was a good thing I had a rather popular router and there were a lot of Asus users on SNBForums so I can get actual user feedback what actually works and what is actually a gimmick or detrimental (due to firmware bug).

I’ve found the Broadcom to generally be the best at handling it but Mediatek seems to be coming along. I haven’t run into any devices in a long time that had that issue, and when they did it was often because the phone was on 5ghz and the device required something like mDNS or other multicast that couldn’t pass between them. Temporarily disabling 5ghz and moving the phone to 2.4 until it registered usually was enough. Nowadays the two bands are on the same bridge and generally not a problem. But of course it is a matter of preference/necessity in some cases (in which case the additional SSID in addition to the merged one can help). Most will prefer the convenience of a single SSID, but to each their own.

Used to be a much bigger problem, most chipsets now prefer 5ghz, but I do still have an old N laptop that will wake from sleep and pick 2.4. My router doesn’t have band steering which would normally force it back to 5, so on that device I just disabled 2.4. It just sits in my lab for console access to network gear, no long range needed. When my house ran Ubiquiti APs they had band steering and it was never an issue. My phone and work laptop (the only things I commonly bring out and in) switch back to 5 very quickly when I come back inside.

Yeah the 2.4ghz radio was a ticking time bomb in that thing, and eventually the whole SoC would just die. People would reflow them and get some more time out of them, but they just ran too hot. I’m still running an old RT-AC1900 (RT-AC68U variant), the thing is rock solid. With merlin Firmware I can customize all my firewall rules, have VLANs set up, etc. I’m hoping the AX88U Pro will start coming down in price, my current one is starting to show signs of its age and they won’t be releasing security updates after the end of this year.

I used to be active over there but there are a few users that just have to always be right and it got tiring.

This discussion went above my pay grade a while back. I’ve never really grasped how the internet/routers/modems/networks work. WELL…when I first hooked to the internet in 1994 it was through a phone modem at 56kbpm and I used AOL with a Netscape browser!!! If A website had a large picture, you’d go eat lunch and then when you got back the picture MIGHT be loaded.Anyway, I do live in a fairly rural area with no competition for radio frequencies. All that was available for the first 17 years I lived here was Verizon DSL. They charged me $120/month for lousy service that never once went above 5Mbps. No cable is available, and Starlink is unreliable in much of central Pennsylvania. When I switched carriers to T Mobile for cellphones, they mentioned 5G internet. I gave it a test run and consistently get 50-70Mbps, over 10 times faster speeds for less than half the cost/month as Verizon ($55 vs $120/month). Luckily there is a Cell Tower about 3 miles away. The Modem/router always reads “fair/good signal” and never goes up, but the speed is phenomenal. The only complaint I have is that there are quite a few VERY short dropped internet connections lasting only a few seconds, but often noticeable. I walked through the house and property with AirPort Utility (IOS has limited options for wifi mapping) and found that within my house it was about -50dBm and by the chicken coop it was -65dBm and at the far end of the property it was -79dBm. I originally changed the settings from “Auto” (2.4GHz/5GHz) to always 2.4GHz b/c I had relatively weak signal strength and little outside competition, but I noticed no improvement so when I factory reset the modem yesterday I left it at “auto”. These T-Mobile router/modems seem poor at signal strength to acquire the 5G signal, but the back of my property is over 500ft from my house and I still had (weak) signal so that is a good thing.
The Wyze OG cam is still working fine after 18 hours so the complete "cleaning " of hardware and software resolved the issue. I STILL wish I knew what the problem was b/c I hate resolving a problem without understanding what I accidentally did to fix it.

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Oof. I’ve had to do this more that once to get some finicky IoT devices on my sister’s LAN. Now that’s just part of the SOP.

That’s one of the reason why I don’t like unified SSID personally because if the router reboots for any reason then I need to redo this step.

I haven’t (yet :crossed_fingers:) encountered that issue, but I imagine that can be an issue with some routers and/or devices. There are so many possible combinations available to consumers that it’s impossible to account for every scenario, eh?

We seldom have 5G wireless signal at home. In fact, at the back of our house we only have 1-2 bars. It doesn’t seem to matter, we rarely get dropped calls and the internet works reliably. It seems strange that a 5G tower right down the road from us can’t give us 5G service for our phones but can for our WIFI…

-65 in the coop is actually borderline, keep in mind the camera antenna and chipset is not as strong as your phone/computer that you were testing with. But that doesn’t seem to be your issue so as long as it works, that’s all that matters. I do have one that hovers around -68 to -70 as seen on my router but it generally performs pretty well, not quite as responsive as the others.

Sometimes the “bars” can be misleading, but how old are the phones? T-Mobile has moved to use a lot of new bands for 5G and some phones don’t support them all (but ones in the last 3-4 years should have them). They are using “Long Reach” 5G in many rural areas, their router probably has larger higher gain antennas in it which may be enough to keep it on 5G.

Their router may actually be using 4G/LTE, in reality T-Mobile’s 5G is typically 4G plus an extra band for additional bandwidth (called NSA 5G). 4G is capable of decent speeds where bandwidth is available. In areas that have 5G UC (Ultra Capacity) people can get speeds close to a gig on the home internet and even their phones. But you’d need to be a lot closer than 3 miles from the antenna (that isn’t actually as close as you’d think, especially at these higher frequencies).

I’m about 250 feet from one of their antennas hidden in the steeple of an old school building. It hasn’t been upgraded to UC yet but I get around 150M when doing speed tests on my phone using the older PCS Band 2.

Phones are brand new I phone 13s…Got them free when we switched to T Mobile

iPhone 13 is not brand new, it is three years old and it’s not 5G phone. I own the same phone.

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Interesting. My 3 year old S21 has 5G.

I can’t remember if my previous s10e did.

I should rephrase that, it is 5G compatible as long as the provider is capable of providing 5G. Also you need a SIM that supports 5G otherwise it will drop to LTE.

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I’m not an iPhone expert but anything made 3 years ago should support all the T-Mobile 5G bands. If the antenna is 3 miles away, what you’re seeing is probably correct, that’s pretty far especially for the higher frequency bands. The phone will typically prefer a weaker signal on a higher capacity band vs. a stronger one on a lower speed one. As long as it works, in combination with wifi calling fallback when needed, that’s all that matters. My guess is your TMHI router has better/larger antennas in it than your phone so can hold the signal a bit better.

I had AT&T on a Samsung years ago, I don’t know how far the nearest antenna is, but I’d show 1-2 bars in my house but never any issues with calling or data. I remember many years ago one of the companies (I think it was apple) got crap for showing a strong signal meter when it was actually weak, so they all probably went the opposite direction to be safe. 1 bar is often perfectly fine, vs. wifi where that would be a lousy signal.

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I was concerned when I first switched from Verizon to T mobile b/c I went from 4 bars to 1 or 2. BUT after 3+ months I’ve never had a dropped call and Like I said, I went from 3Mbps to 70Mbps switching, so I’m happy

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Verizon also now offers wireless home internet, if you had a much stronger signal with them you might be able to get hundreds of megs. But for most, 70 is far more than enough so I wouldn’t sweat it.

I have 300/300 FIOS (fiber) for 30 bucks a month, so I’m spoiled.

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I live in a very rural county. Verizon refuses to offer anything except DSL and that is 3-5 Mbs for the last 17 years. Changing to T Mobile we saw a 10+ times increase.IfI get no dropped calls and have internet 70Mbps vs 5Mbps I’ll keep T Mobile…

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Verizon has typically been offering the 5G wireless to areas where they only serve with DSL (and obviously areas where they have no offering at all). So it may come to your area. But not saying anything against T-Mobile, just saying you may at some point have competition (always good pricing wise) and the option for higher speeds and better signal if it becomes an issue. Sounds like it isn’t a problem though.

The thing that Ruins it for Verizon for me is that while my parents spend $100/month for FIOS and have Excellent internet and FIOS TV, I was paying $120/month, NO TV, and only 5Mbps internet. They don’t price based on what you get, but what is available…I’ll stick to T Mobile b/c they offer AND deliver 60Mbps for half the price of Veriizon

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I guess the rural advantages outweigh Internet & TV convenience.

I have always lived in the suburbs where ever I live. I live in a well established middle-income neighborhood. Best I can get is 100MB down and 20MB up. No fiber in my neighborhood.

I was looking into T-Mobile Internet, but want to do more research. My current speeds are fine but faster is always desirable.

Good luck and enjoy faster speeds.