Simplified instructions for Squeezebox Radio Wi-Fi fix (wlanpoke)

[KeBul]

Drop outs are just as bad as before.

I can see the neighbours ax-2.4 signal which is stronger than mine.

These two statements, to me, means unless you have a very obliging neighbour who will let you turn off or tweak their 2.4ax signal you only have one path forward with the SB Radio - stop using its wifi.

And this leads to two possible solutions for you...

1. Hardwire the Radio back to your router - either completely by cat5/6 wiring, or by using powerline adapters
2. Use a mini router in client mode (TPlink) or Repeater/bridge mode (Vonets) that connects to your wifi and provides an ethernet port for connection to your SB Radio (thus eliminating the need to use the SB Radio wifi)

Of course both options will remove the portability of the SB Radio.

For option 2, quite a few people here use the Vonets VAP11G-300 (or there's an ac version as well) as the device can use the SB Radio power lead.
I have a couple of TPLink TL-WR802N picked up cheap from eBay just for this purpose should I ever need it, they need an extra 5v PSU to power them but are physically a bit smaller than the Vonets.

Kev

[slartibartfast]

These two statements, to me, means unless you have a very obliging neighbour who will let you turn off or tweak their 2.4ax signal you only have one path forward with the SB Radio - stop using its wifi.

And this leads to two possible solutions for you...

1. Hardwire the Radio back to your router - either completely by cat5/6 wiring, or by using powerline adapters
2. Use a mini router in client mode (TPlink) or Repeater/bridge mode (Vonets) that connects to your wifi and provides an ethernet port for connection to your SB Radio (thus eliminating the need to use the SB Radio wifi)

Of course both options will remove the portability of the SB Radio.

For option 2, quite a few people here use the Vonets VAP11G-300 (or there's an ac version as well) as the device can use the SB Radio power lead.
I have a couple of TPLink TL-WR802N picked up cheap from eBay just for this purpose should I ever need it, they need an extra 5v PSU to power them but are physically a bit smaller than the Vonets.

Kev

Presumably if you powered the mini router or repeater using a 5V USB powerpack you could maintain portability.

[KeBul]

Presumably if you powered the mini router or repeater using a 5V USB powerpack you could maintain portability.

Yep, sure, this and the possibility of hooking one up to the SB Radio battery itself was why I got the TPLink, just not got round to investigating that possibility further.
On top of that my portabilty needs (listening in the garden) are resolved using a SqueezeAMP paired to an Anker Soundcore 2 Bluetooth speaker.

Kev

[P Nelson]

And this leads to two possible solutions for you...

1. Hardwire the Radio back to your router - either completely by cat5/6 wiring, or by using powerline adapters
2. Use a mini router in client mode (TPlink) or Repeater/bridge mode (Vonets) that connects to your wifi and provides an ethernet port for connection to your SB Radio (thus eliminating the need to use the SB Radio wifi)

Of course both options will remove the portability of the SB Radio.


Kev

See the following link for a picture of what I did to make option 2 portable using a large power brick.

https://forums.slimdevices.com/forum/user-forums/squeezebox-radio/94898-squeezebox-radio-keeps-losing-wireless-connection-and-won-t-reconnect-any-ideas?p=1508470#post1508470

[Patricia P]

These two statements, to me, means unless you have a very obliging neighbour who will let you turn off or tweak their 2.4ax signal you only have one path forward with the SB Radio - stop using its wifi.

Kev

If I ask her for help, what are the best solutions? She has split her signal into 2 SSIDs so she will need the 2.4 signal.
Would a metal plate behind her router help assuming it's against the wall nearest me? It could bounce more signal to her equipment and away from mine.

I could treat my window overlooking her living room with reflective film.

And this leads to two possible solutions for you...

1. Hardwire the Radio back to your router - either completely by cat5/6 wiring, or by using powerline adapters
2. Use a mini router in client mode (TPlink) or Repeater/bridge mode (Vonets) that connects to your wifi and provides an ethernet port for connection to your SB Radio (thus eliminating the need to use the SB Radio wifi)

Of course both options will remove the portability of the SB Radio.

All of these are using b/g/n which suffers from interference now; not a need to provide a better signal. But I don't get drop outs when my iPhone uses 2.4GHz in the same area.

I don't need portability, and the drop outs are now automatically resolved.

[Paul Webster]

Early step would be to confirm that the neighbour's WiFi is causing an issue.
if they are cooperating then maybe ask them to turn off their WiFi when they have no-one home for a few hours ... and let you know ... then you can check wlanpoke logs for that period and compare it with when their WiFi is on.

[KeBul]

If I ask her for help, what are the best solutions? She has split her signal into 2 SSIDs so she will need the 2.4 signal.
Would a metal plate behind her router help assuming it's against the wall nearest me? It could bounce more signal to her equipment and away from mine.
I could treat my window overlooking her living room with reflective film.

I doubt these sort of attempted fixes would be the way forward, Tweaking her router settings, may well fix it - but exactly what will probably require knowledge of what equipment she has.
Turning off wifi 6 in the 2.4Ghz band would be a good start.

All of these are using b/g/n which suffers from interference now; not a need to provide a better signal. But I don't get drop outs when my iPhone uses 2.4GHz in the same area.

On the whole it's only the SB Radio that suffers from these incompatibility/interference issues with wifi 6, what we know is it's an old chipset and it's not running the latest firmware/drivers that were available. At this stage we cannot get them updated, they are in an area that has not been released to the public by Logitech.
Most other b/g/n devices do not suffer from these compatibility/interference issues so should work fine in your environment, hence the suggestion to stop using the wifi on the radio itself and switch to a mini router to do the wifi work.

I don't need portability, and the drop outs are now automatically resolved.

OK so that's good, it leaves all options open. Wlanpoke is obviously doing its best.

TPLink TL-WR802N nano routers can be purchased from eBay for around £15, you would also need a 5V 1A usb power supply (quite possibly you'll already hove one) and a short ethernet patch lead, (although there's one available at the moment with PSU and all leads for £14.99)
The Vonets are around £30 again on eBay, and do not require additional psu or leads.

Hardwiring is probably the most reliable fix - but far more difficult and costly to achieve, also will depend on your house layout.

Kev

[yeomanspc]

FWIW, I turned on wifi 6 AX on my DRAYTEk 2927AX router a month ago. 6 radios, and no issues thus far.This does not help folk with problems, but I held off AX for a year when clearly I did not need to.. The Draytek gear ( we use their APs too) does not seem to mess with the radio wifi.

[Patricia P]

I doubt these sort of attempted fixes would be the way forward, Tweaking her router settings, may well fix it - but exactly what will probably require knowledge of what equipment she has.
Turning off wifi 6 in the 2.4Ghz band would be a good start.

I don't think that would be easy to explain and test. I believe she relies on her son to sort out the internet, so unless he is available it's more practical to make my own solutions.

On the whole it's only the SB Radio that suffers from these incompatibility/interference issues with wifi 6, what we know is it's an old chipset and it's not running the latest firmware/drivers that were available. At this stage we cannot get them updated, they are in an area that has not been released to the public by Logitech.
Most other b/g/n devices do not suffer from these compatibility/interference issues so should work fine in your environment, hence the suggestion to stop using the wifi on the radio itself and switch to a mini router to do the wifi work.

I found the TP Link details. Best case is 270ft for 70%

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/wifi-router/tl-wr802n/

No WSA2 for client mode. Looks like I can bind the radio MAC address to the tp link so that should help the signal.

OK so that's good, it leaves all options open. Wlanpoke is obviously doing its best.

TPLink TL-WR802N nano routers can be purchased from eBay for around £15, you would also need a 5V 1A usb power supply (quite possibly you'll already hove one) and a short ethernet patch lead, (although there's one available at the moment with PSU and all leads for £14.99)
The Vonets are around £30 again on eBay, and do not require additional psu or leads.

Hardwiring is probably the most reliable fix - but far more difficult and costly to achieve, also will depend on your house layout.

Kev

We already have ethernet upstairs, but on the other side of the hall. We didn't think of that when we put down new carpet.

I found a 8 port switch which will increase the ports upstairs and we can run a cable across the hall.

This is my preferred option of the three.

Thanks again Kev

[drsoils]

Thank you so much for the detailed instructions, they worked great and I have high hopes my SB radio will quit having memory problems on its wi-fi hookup!!!!!!!!!!!!

[astehn]

Thank you to both the author of wlanpoke and rojikewl for the exceptionally clear step-by-step instructions. After switching to a new Unifi WiFi system at home, my four SB Radios were driving me crazy, especially since my wife and children were also frustrated by the red WiFi signal and constant need for hard reboots.

This is an amazing fix! What an incredible service to the SB community. Thanks again!

[cb4kda]

upgrade wlanpoke: wlanpoke.sh 0.8.7.1a 12/02/2022, works great.

[POMdev]

upgrade wlanpoke: wlanpoke.sh 0.8.7.1a 12/02/2022, works great.

Good to hear. Yours is the first user feedback on this release. Do you have any data or observations regarding any improvement over the previous version to share? And have you tried it in a battery operated portable radio moving about?

[cb4kda]

i have two radios, one is without a battery, the other is with a battery. Other versions of wlanpoke worked very well and no problems at all, The routers i have are a RT-AX88U and a RT-AX58U, the radio's are in a guest network with only 2.5 G.
Wlanpoke is a very good upgrade for the radios,

Squeezebox Radiok wlanpoke.sh 0.8.7.1a 12/02/2022 launched 2023-03-05_15:35:46 1678026945 Options: -W slow -Wp 8080 logging to /var/log/
Mon Mar 6 17:00:13 CET 2023 ( 17:00:13 up 1 day, 1:24, load average: 1.39, 1.28, 1.30 )

eth1 AR6000 802.11g ESSID:"hop1"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.472 GHz Access Point: 3C:7C:3FB:7A:E9
Bit Rate=48 Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity=0/3
Retryn
Encryption keyff
Link Quality:32/94 Signal level:-63 dBm Noise level:-96 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:3 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:6 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:2
Ping: settings, events, and failed pings [0..n]; Step: full reset results, status; Gaps, Resets: # and recents

Ping 2s3q6f Events, Fails[0..7] 91457s : Qr:0 Fr:0 Wr:0 Wc:0 [ 28111 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 ]
Step 0:0, limit:results: [ 12: 18: 26: 37: 53: ] Wlan: Rate=54 Quality:32/94 level:-63 retries:6 AP: "hop1" DB:7A:E9
Gaps:2 @1678118402 -Gap+OK secs: +10904,-3+5622,-4+74924,
Resets:0 @1678118402 -Gap+OK secs: +91457,

[POMdev]

...
Ping 2s3q6f Events, Fails[0..7] 91457s : Qr:0 Fr:0 Wr:0 Wc:0 [ 28111 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 ]
Step 0:0, limit:results: [ 12: 18: 26: 37: 53: ] Wlan: Rate=54 Quality:32/94 level:-63 retries:6 AP: "hop1" DB:7A:E9
Gaps:2 @1678118402 -Gap+OK secs: +10904,-3+5622,-4+74924,
Resets:0 @1678118402 -Gap+OK secs: +91457,

Thanks for the report. However, this time you were very lucky, in that you enjoyed basically perfect reception for a day, and the wlanpoke script was never called upon to actually do anything. The scanning reduction feature is activated after a full reset, but your status report so far indicated no resets of any sort. This sometimes happens that after making a great effort to overcome a problem, the problem goes away on its own...

Let's see what happens after a week, or after your neighbor activates their new WiFi system. In the meantime, those suffering multiple outages per hour are encouraged to try the development branch update mentioned earlier.