Please perform the following troubleshooting steps.
Check the LEDs on the ONT/Modem (the box on the wall with the fibre connection). The “Power”, “PON” and “10GE” LEDs should be green.
- If the Power LED is off, please ensure the Modem is plugged in and switched on.
- If this remains off, if the PON LED is red, or the 10GE light is off, skip the remaining steps and raise a ticket via our online portal or give us a call.
Check the LEDs on the Zyxel Router (the freestanding box). The “Power”, “Globe”, “2.4G” and “5G” LEDs should be green.
- If the “Globe” LED is red, check that the router WAN port (blue) is plugged in to the ONT/Modem 10GE port and as in the step above ensure the 10GE LED is green. If the “Globe” LED remains red raise a ticket via our online portal or give us a call.
- If either the “2.4G” or “5G” LED is off, please turn the WiFi off and on again using the “WIFI ON/OFF” button located on the bottom right corner of the back of the router (please note that this button needs to be held for 5 seconds and will take a minute or so to take effect).
If you have a wireless extender, please check the LEDs on this, if not skip to step 4.
- If the “Power” LED is off please ensure this is plugged in and switched on.
- If the “Link” LED (3 bars) is off, your extender is not paired and will need to be re-paired.
- If the "Link" LED (3 bars) is red/amber the extender is too far away or too close to the router to work effectively.
If at this point issues remain there is likely a problem with the device being used to connect to the internet. Please refer to the following section on connecting devices.
Some older devices were manufactured pre-WPA3 and as such have issues connecting to the Zyxel router if the security is set to WPA3. If you are having difficulty with connecting some devices, please follow the below steps to change the security to WPA2.
1. On a device that is connected to the WiFi, go to a browser and type in 192.168.1.1
2. Login with the username admin and Login Password on the back of the router. You can skip the change password prompts if you wish to leave that as standard.
3. From the router home screen, click the three horizontal lines in the top right to open the menu, then go to Network Setting > Wireless.
4. Scroll down to Security Level and set this to WPA2 PSK.
5. Click Apply, wait a few minutes whilst this takes effect, then try again.
This should rule out there being a problem with the device failing to use the WPA3/WPA2 authentication.
Please note that these instructions are for Zyxel routers only. The Tenda router is WPA2 by default.
Location can make a big difference in WiFi connectivity. If you are attempting to connect a device too far away from the router they may not be able to connect. Try connecting to the WiFi by the router, if this connects walk away from the router and you will see where the device is dropping – you can then consider extra extenders to further WiFi coverage if desired.
Assuming the steps noted in 1) have been followed and there are no problems with the router or the modem there are limited causes of drop outs using a wired connection.
- If possible use an alternate ethernet cable.
- If possible attempt to connect using a different wired device (if this is the cause there could be a problem with your device port).
Wireless dropouts are most frequently limited to two categories: devices or extenders.
If the connection drops are only occurring on a specific device it could be an issue relating to that particular devices. It is worth looking to see if other people online have had similar issues as there may be something interfering from the router settings or your device settings.
We have previously noted problems with iPhones and other Apple devices dropping from the WiFi, showing as connected but using data (Zyxel only). If this is the case please contact support to confirm that your router is on the latest firmware version.
Sometimes the extenders can lose their signal from the router causing them to become unpaired. Despite being unpaired your device can remain connected to the extender despite having no connection. Often this will result in a “Connected, but no internet” message on your device. This can be diagnosed by looking at the lights on your extenders, unpaired Zyxel extenders will have the signal strength (3 bars) LED off and the Tendas will have a red light. In both cases the extenders will need to be repaired, you can do this by following the below instructions for Zyxel/Tenda respectively.
Press and hold the reset button on the back of the extender for 5 or so seconds until the power LED flashes and the extender reboots.
Restart the router.
Download the MPro Mesh app (MPro Mesh – Apps on Google Play, MPro Mesh on the App Store (apple.com)) on your phone, this will allow you to sign into the router to re-add the extender. Connect to your routers (not extenders) WiFi network, open the app and you will have to sign in using the details on the back of the router (admin and the login password). Then, next to "Mesh Devices" tap the +. Select "Use WiFi" then "Next". You will then need to press and hold the WPS button on the back of the extender for 5 seconds until the LED for the circular key icon flashes amber. Then tap "Start Pairing" on the app.
After 15 seconds or so the extender should sync with the main router. It will then take a few minutes for the WiFi networks to sync so please wait for this process to complete.
If step 4 fails and the app shows them as failing to sync, please try the steps again from 1.
1. Reboot the node that isn't working (unplug the power from the node and plug it back in).
2. If the node remains offline reboot the router (the primary node plugged in to the ONT).
The above steps should resolve any issues with the mesh nodes. If it does not, please follow the remaining steps below:
3. Manually re-add the nodes via the Tenda WiFi app (Tenda WiFi - Apps on Google Play, Tenda WiFi on the App Store (apple.com)) by going to Settings > Add Nova.
4. Factory reset all nodes by pushing the reset button on the bottom of each.
When testing a devices wired connection speed, please ensure that the device is wired directly from the router in to the ethernet port of your device.
- Use of devices such as powerline (adapter plugged in to mains electricity) will drastically limit the wired speed, usually to around 60mbps – it is important to note that this is a limitation of powerline, not our speed.
- Wired connections to extenders also limit the speed – in these cases the signal has to wirelessly travel to the extender prior to travelling via the wired connection to your device.
- Ethernet cables can get damaged, usually this will be accompanied by dropouts but testing with an alternative cable if possible will rule this out.
- If wired speeds are just under 100mbps (95mbps or so), it’s likely your device has connected at 100mbps, see the following link on how to check this on a Windows laptop: How to determine Wi-Fi and Ethernet connection speed on Windows 10 | Windows Central
WiFi speeds are a lot more complicated to deal with. It is important to note that we guarantee speeds equivalent to your purchased package to the modem. Regardless of where you test your device you will never get the same speed and consistency with WiFi as you do with a wired connection. Most WiFi issues are either related to location, extenders or frequency bands which are discussed in more detail below.
WiFi signal is heavily dependent on the location of the device. Property size and materials used in construction quite heavily affect signal. WiFi signal travelling through thicker walls with metal for example are significantly hampered. Unfortunately, there is no magic fix to this problem, short of suggesting either moving the device, adding in extenders or wiring the device there is not much we can do.
Extenders are good ways of boosting WiFi signal. Despite this, even in a good location you would expect a drop in speed as the signal has to wirelessly travel from the router, to the extender and then to your device. Often the location of your extender requires some trial and error, usually it should be placed halfway between the router and the area that has poor signal. As mentioned previously however location can affect the “optimal” placement and sometimes you will get a better signal somewhere else. You can check the signal strength of your extender by looking at: the signal strength LED (for Zyxel), if it is red/amber it is too far away/too close; or the Tenda app for the Tendas. Make sure that if you move the location of the extenders, you turn the WiFi off/on on your device to ensure it connects correctly.
Extenders are good ways of boosting WiFi signal. Despite this, even in a good location you would expect a drop in speed as the signal has to wirelessly travel from the router, to the extender and then to your device. Often the location of your extender requires some trial and error, usually it should be placed halfway between the router and the area that has poor signal. As mentioned previously however location can affect the “optimal” placement and sometimes you will get a better signal somewhere else. You can check the signal strength of your extender by looking at: the signal strength LED (for Zyxel), if it is red/amber it is too far away/too close; or the Tenda app for the Tendas. Make sure that if you move the location of the extenders, you turn the WiFi off/on on your device to ensure it connects correctly.