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Critical wifi roaming (MAC learning?) regression in TL-WPA4220(EU)_V4_22040. Stick to 2019 version

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Critical wifi roaming (MAC learning?) regression in TL-WPA4220(EU)_V4_22040. Stick to 2019 version

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Critical wifi roaming (MAC learning?) regression in TL-WPA4220(EU)_V4_22040. Stick to 2019 version
Critical wifi roaming (MAC learning?) regression in TL-WPA4220(EU)_V4_22040. Stick to 2019 version
2022-08-17 14:45:43
Model: TL-WPA4220  
Hardware Version: V4
Firmware Version: ver4-0-4-P1-20220408-rel36351

There is a critical regression in wpa4220v4_eu-up-ver4-0-4-P1-20220408-rel36351-APPLC.bin, don't use it. It took me many hours of testing to isolate.

 

Workaround: stick to wpa4220v4_eu-up-ver4-0-3-P1-20190326-rel43406-APPLC.bin instead. You will lose the interesting new feature "DHCP server: No" but at least the most basic features will work.

 

The issue happens when you "roam" from one Wifi Access Point to the WPA4220 v4 wifi. Then the MAC address learning seems broken: using wireshark you can see that all traffic is flows normally  to you through the  WPA4220 except traffic to your device! After a 5 minutes downtime packets to your device finally make it through the WPA4220.

 

Roaming from the WPA4220 to another Wifi Access Point is not a problem, roaming is broken only one way.

 

Strangely, wired Ethernet is not affected. If you unplug the cable from another switch and to the WPA4220 then there is no downtime.

 

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Re:Critical wifi roaming (MAC learning?) regression in TL-WPA4220(EU)_V4_22040. Stick to 2019 version
2022-08-18 01:06:30 - last edited 2022-08-18 01:09:16

 Hello  @archer4ever 

Thank you for report the issue with us. Can you help confirm some case details here and we'd like to your case for analysis

 

  • the Wireshark traffic log or some photos of the log when problem occurs
  • The model of router and network topology:

e.g. ISP X Archer C7 router <Ethernet>PA4010 ___house powerline __WPA4220 V4-<>Switch --PCs ;  Router <Ethernet> AP model

 

When a network device roams from AP to the WPA4220 and a problem occurs, will all the Wi-Fi network devices connected to WPA4220 lose internet at that time?  

For ' wired Ethernet is not affected. If you unplug the cable from another switch and to the WPA4220 then there is no downtime.' do you mean the PCs wired to WPA4220 is not affected? Thanks in advance. 

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Re:Critical wifi roaming (MAC learning?) regression in TL-WPA4220(EU)_V4_22040. Stick to 2019 version
2022-09-10 16:02:59

  Hi @Solla-topee , thanks for looking at this report.

 

As already mentioned in the initial post, the model is wpa4220v4_eu (hardware V4). I tested two devices of that same model and they behaved the same.

 

I didn't record a wireshark trace but I remember it very clearly. When roaming from the main wifi router to the WPA4220 wifi, only the device just switched is affected, other devices are not affected. After switching to the WPA4220 the device that just switched immediately sees all a lot of traffic but it must wait about 5 minutes before seeing any unicast traffic to itself. After 5 minutes everything works fine.

 

My main router has a "broadcast" DHCP option that was off by default, that really helped identify the problem. Before I turned it on I had to wait 5 minutes to get an IP address. After I turned "broadcast DHCP answers" on I get an IP address immediately - but still no internet, still have to wait for 5 minutes for unicast packets.

 

The problem does not affect "wired roaming", it affects only wifi roaming. In other words, if I turn off wifi then I can connect, disconnect and reconnect an Ethernet cable back and forth between the main router and the WPA4220 and everything works immediately.

 

This all took me hours to isolate and understand but once you understand the problem this roaming test is really very easy to perform, it's one of the most basic tests that should be part of your QA.

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Re:Critical wifi roaming (MAC learning?) regression in TL-WPA4220(EU)_V4_22040. Stick to 2019 version
2022-09-14 06:38:14

 Good day @archer4ever 

Thank you very much for providing more case details, I'd share your feedback with our team for further investigation.  

At the same time, we created a support email TKID220914870 for your case and our engineer might reach you and confirm some case details to solve it.

Thank you again for reporting this with us. 

>>Landscape Mode - Tapo App for Pad. >>Smart Action 2.0 Explore and meet the next level home automation. >>How to position my TP-Link camera for optimal performance.
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