WIFI connected devices not showing up as WIFI clients

WIFI connected devices not showing up as WIFI clients

134 Reply
Re:WIFI connected devices not showing up as WIFI clients
2020-05-14 17:19:08 - last edited 2020-05-14 17:21:24

@swady6 

 

I would really hope they didn't just say "live with it".  can you let me know what mode your Deco is in?  Is it AP or Router mode?

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#32
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Re:WIFI connected devices not showing up as WIFI clients
2020-05-14 17:31:51
I'm facing this issue with TP-Link Archer AX11000 in AP mode. No wifi clients showing.
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#33
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Re:WIFI connected devices not showing up as WIFI clients
2020-05-14 22:47:58

@Carl 

 

Well to be honest we have been "Living with it". No patches or any notices that this will be fixed. I think one of your replies from the dev was something along those lines aswell, just stated in friendly way. 

Can you confirm if there is any intention of fixing this? 
 

I would consider this a security issue. I can't tell who's connecting to my business via Wifi which is a pretty big deal. 

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#34
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Re:WIFI connected devices not showing up as WIFI clients
2020-05-15 00:02:02

@Carl 

 

It's about time to get this issue fixed already! Getting a list of all connected wireless devices so basic and a very necessary feature for the most of us, network administrators. I don't understand why TP-Link doesn't take this issue seriously. Will we have to replace our TP-Link devices for other brands that simply work as expected?... Please escalate this issue to the highest level - if we don't hear about it anymore or as we expect it, we'll know what is the only option left to us.

 

angry

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#35
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Re:WIFI connected devices not showing up as WIFI clients
2020-05-15 16:15:18

@alien-link 

 

 

That was not how it was intended and the use of the word issue was not correct.  I was further update and provided this:  "Basically its not a bug but a fact of how some client devices/client NIC adapters are desgined.  The client will only show up in the AP's client list if there is an Arp instance. If the Client does not send an Arp request it will not show up.  Arp request can be forced by actions such as pinging to the router's default gateway."  

 

Now this information is specifically for devices working in AP mode.  If the client device does not create an ARP instance it will not show up in the APs table.  There is likely not much we can do because its based on if the Client device sending an Arp request.  However R & D have been made aware users in Router mode are also experaincing this, while the aswer may be the same we have none the less requested further investigation.

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#36
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Re:WIFI connected devices not showing up as WIFI clients
2020-05-15 16:22:35

@RodrigoFaustini 

 

Rodrigo,  

 

A few things.  1.  issues may be regionally based; you are in Brazil so you may want to post your concerns on our global community @ https://community.tp-link.com/en/home.  This particular community is really geared to US customers and US based products exclusively  2.  As is was stated perviously the concern actually comes if the Client device does not initiate a ARP request.  If it does then a client device should appear in the client list if it doesn't there is a chance it won't.  This is specifically for products running in AP mode and to my knowledge SoHo products.  You mention Network Admins so if you are using large scale SMB products I do not know if this is a concern they have as well.  I would suggest creating a post in the SMB Community https://community.tp-link.com/en/business.  3.  Has there have been users stating this is also happening on products in router mode as well it has already be escalated to our system engineering team.  

 

 

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#37
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Re:WIFI connected devices not showing up as WIFI clients
2020-05-15 16:25:36 - last edited 2020-05-15 16:34:09

@Carl The list is empty when DHCP Server is set to Off in either Access Point mode or Router Mode. That is the bug (at least one of them) and has nothing to do with the devices sending ARPs.

 

I've explained it before and even opened this thread .

 

When DHCP Server is set to Off, after the next reboot the Archer C6 and other models won't inspect the ARP packets and hence won't generate the list. That's what your engineers need to know to fix it.

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#38
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Re:WIFI connected devices not showing up as WIFI clients
2020-05-15 18:00:15

@mocelet 

 

Thank you I'll add that to our conversation with the engineers.  I don't maintain the EN/Global community so i didn't see that thread until you provided it now.  

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#39
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Re:WIFI connected devices not showing up as WIFI clients
2020-05-15 20:40:16

@Carl Thanks for your reply.

 

1) As far as we all know, this issue is not a regionally based issue; it happens due to what you explained in item #2. But if it is, it's an issue that affects routers with US version firmwares, and since it happens in a router I bought in USA, which I keep updated with its latest US version TP-Link firmware, it makes no sense to discuss this matter in a "global"/foreign forum where most people don't use the same product/firmware versions I use, just because I'm not a US resident...

 

2) My router is used in a residencial condo with a few users and around up to 15-20 wireless devices simultaniously - so, there's no business or large scale SMB use here. And it just happens I'm an information security professional and the network admin of my condo LAN & wireless networks.

 

3) My device is an Archer A9 v6.0 router running in router mode with its latest available US firmware (v. 200416). And it doesn't matter if DHCP is enabled or not.

 

And yes, I'm aware of the ARP thing and, as all of the other customers complaining about it, I just can't accept it as being an "expected behavior" by design. As @mocelet pointed out, this is a bug indeed (when associated to DHCP=OFF), as well as a bad implementation on how a router should discover which wireless devices are connected to it (well, at least in my large experience in this area I have never seen no other brand of router working like this, neither due to a bug, nor by design) - and in my case, even with DHCP enabled my router still can't show me a full list of currently connected wireless devices (which suggests there's no bug envolved in my case). Also, of course it is a security issue (as stated by @alien-link), for pretty obvious reasons.

 

So, I really would like that TP-Link developers/engineers consider a different approuch on how to implement this wireless discovery feature, because the ARP-based one is clearly not working as needed and expected by us. 

 

Best regards,

 

Rodrigo Faustini

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#40
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Re:WIFI connected devices not showing up as WIFI clients
2020-05-16 03:25:50

Given a WiFi AP must authenticate it's clients and then only permit traffic from these already authenticated clients, there must exist a lists of WiFi clients in the software already otherwise the router/AP couldn't function properly.  It appears that a developer was asked to create a list of network clients for the tp-link web GUI (both LAN and WLAN) and didn't even bother to check with his or her peers in the organization to find out how the information on WLAN clients could be included properly.  Instead, they just used a ARP table hoping this was the right approach -- but it's not even in the right ballpark.

 

I sure hope someone at tp-link can fix this obvious glitch quite soon, strange that this behavior was developed, tested and shipped and no-one noticed that it was so poorly conceived.  Doesn't someone test the software so at least 2 qualifed people should have looked at this before it was sent out to the customers?

 

-Craig 

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#41
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