Apple Devices Trouble: Wi-Fi Network Could Not be Joined

Apple Devices Trouble: Wi-Fi Network Could Not be Joined

Apple Devices Trouble: Wi-Fi Network Could Not be Joined
Apple Devices Trouble: Wi-Fi Network Could Not be Joined
Thursday

I'm having a very similiar problem to this thread: https://community.tp-link.com/en/business/forum/topic/592190

 

Namely my iOS and Mac devices will randomly decide they don't like being on the Wifi and will prompt to reenter the password. Sometimes it works and sometimes they will stubbornly refuse to reconnect saying the network could not be joined. 

 

 

I have tried all the debugging things I can see in this thread: https://community.tp-link.com/en/business/forum/topic/592190

 

1) I disabled Wifi6

2) I made sure I was not using WPA3. I tried WPA/WAP2 and WPA2 only

3) I tried creating a 5Ghz only WLAN

4) I've turned off Mac address randomization on the devices

5) I've forgotten the networks and rejoined

6) I've turned off Fast Roaming

 

I do have a Wifi6 devices on the network, but have disabled Wifi6. I did this by going to the 610's and setting the radio for 5ghz mode to 

Wireless Mode:

802.11a/n/ac mixed -- versus 802.11a/n/ac/ax

 

I have these devices and firmware

ER7206 v2.0 2.1.2
EAP650-Outdoor(US) v1.0 1.2.0
EAP610(US) v3.0 1.5.0
EAP610(US) v3.0 1.5.0
EAP235-Wall(US) v1.0 3.1.1
EAP235-Wall(US) v1.0 3.1.1
EAP225(US) v4.0 5.1.6

 

Obviously this is quite a few APs for a residential home, but I have the power set to low on these to try to avoid too much signal overlap. I can't imagine why that would cause such behavior on just Apple devices.

 

It seems to occur most often when taking a device into another part of the house, so I think it is something to do with roaming or maybe the device is trying to reach the old AP versus the nearby one? 

 

Any ideas appreciated. 

 

 

 

 

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3 Reply
Re:Apple Devices Trouble: Wi-Fi Network Could Not be Joined
Friday

Hi  @Justin_Seattle 

 

It seemed like you had done all the troubleshooting steps. To better understand the issue, we need more details:

1. Around how many wireless clients in total in the network?

2. Are all IOS clients having this issue? Or some yes, some not?

3. A screenshot/video when the issue happened, please include the error message;

4. How often will this issue happen? Or it's only happening when moving?

5. When did you first notice this issue? Since the installation? Or it works perfectly for sometime before this issue first happen?

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Re:Apple Devices Trouble: Wi-Fi Network Could Not be Joined
Saturday

  @Vincent-TP 

 

Thanks for responding:

 

1) l have about 50 wireless devices in the network

2) It started with iOS devices . iPhones had issues on and off but seem to be having fewer issues lately -- started about a month ago. It seemed like turning off the extra MAC address privacy was key to getting the other devices back on the network. But in addition to this in the last 2 weeks now the Macs are having issues. One Mac absolutely refused to join any network -- had to revert to hard wired via USB. That Mac did get back on the network in a different part of the house.

3) I'm not sure what diagnostics you are asking for. It's just a pop up saying unable to join network. Are you asking someone from the Omada controller side? 
4) It's periodic -- once a week. I don't think it happens without moving, but that is hard to k ow as phones and laptops are naturally mobile.

5) Worked perfectly until about a month ago and started with the phones. 

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Re:Apple Devices Trouble: Wi-Fi Network Could Not be Joined
Yesterday

Hi  @Justin_Seattle 

 

Thanks for the detailed reply.

 

So turning off the extra MAC address privacy seemed crucial for getting other devices back on the network.

 

About the Mac, how could you make it connect to the WLAN again? Require a reboot on the mac, or anything else?

 

 

In the meantime, it's recommended to do some wireless optimization on the EAP units:

How to optimize wireless performance of EAP products

 

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