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jonthrasher's profile

Tuesday, May 5th, 2020 8:21 PM

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WiFi Disconnecting and Reconnecting Constantly

I am having an issue with my Simplisafe system where my system loses it's wifi connection and then reacquires it, over and over. This can occur as often as every 10-30 seconds. The only solution to resolve this is for me to go to the keypad and restore the wifi by re-entering the wifi password and waiting until it is restored. Then, it will function correctly until the next time, which may a month or less. Then it all starts again.

It's worth noting that the wifi is typically restored within a few seconds of being lost, when this occurs. But I receive messages on my phone via the Simplisafe App. over and over and over, until I go to the keypad and resolve this.

This is unacceptably annoying, but more importantly, if this occurred when we are not at home, I would not be able to resolve it and my system would not function correctly or would fail.

I need a solution to this problem ASAP.

This conversation has been merged. Please refer the main conversation:

Base Station repeatedly disconnecting and reconnecting from WiFi

2 Messages

5 years ago

I'm having this problem as well. I'm getting it at least 5-10 times a day. This has been incredibly frustrating as I have changed nothing on my end. How are you "resolving" it on the keypad?

I do nothing, and the wifi simply restores itself until the next time. The "outages" seem to happen for only a few minutes at a time.

2 Messages

4 years ago

I'm also having this problem.  My system is new and there is strong signal at the base.    Thus far, this only occurs in the middle of the night and is just an annoyance.  These generally recover themselves in less than 1 minute with no action on my part.  

I've reviewed my wifi router and network logs which show no indication of a problem.  Nor do any of the other devices on my wifi network ever have this issue.

4 Messages

2 years ago

I am having the same problem.  Rep said move base station closer to router.  Didn't help.  I also rebooted router.  Didn't help.  I also switched to an alternate Wifi system.  Didn't help.  Has anyone been able to resolve this problem?

83 Messages

You can read many posts here where SimpliSafe has spent hours with customers (12 hours for me) in trying to understand what is going on.  They have blamed everything else in my network but their own hardware and system.  NOTHING else in my home network is having problems.  I'm dropping SimpliSafe.  So sad, but they have really lost it.  I don't think they can compete financially with the Ring and Google systems out there, not to mention Abode, etc.

(edited)

2 Messages

2 years ago

Recently moved and prior to moving I had no issues, then after moving my base station has been doing this. "Technical support" has been worthless, reading off a script which contains all the troubleshooting steps I've already tried (I have a background in IT)

4 Messages

@cengelhardt95​ Yes, their technical support is very weak.  I had a false smoke alarm, and the rep kept trying to get me to unscrew the detector.  It really just needed to come off the ceiling so you could access the battery, but no matter how many times I told him I had taken the detector off the bracket and down from the ceiling, he kept telling be to unscrew and open the smoke detector.  He clearly had never actually seen one of their smoke detectors.

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

@cengelhardt95​ when you moved, did you also get a new WiFi router? It's possible that there might be some sort of compatibility issue, or else a security or other setting that's causing the connection to drop.

It would also be useful to know what troubleshooting you have tried, because each step eliminates possibilities and will help us narrow down to the root cause.

83 Messages

I have many devices connected to my router, and the router has a lot of capacity for the number of devices.  NO OTHER devices on my network have issues, and these devices range from 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz and over a span of 10 years of WiFi technology.

Do you mean to tell me that a compatibility issue is our fault and not SimpliSafe?  Have you heard of robust WiFi design?  I'm guessing you guys cheaped out on your WiFi modules to save a few pennies.  Sad.

(edited)

5 Messages

1 year ago

Was having the same issue.  I have a wifi analyzer and saw one signal that was stronger than the router wifi.  
I looked up the MAC address of the stronger signal and found out it was a wifi Roku streamer that was only 4 feet from my SS3 base station, running on the same band as the SS3.  Once I changed it to the 5 Ghz wifi band, the problem went away.

16 Messages

9 months ago

Frequent WiFi drops are a classic symptom of interference. If your router is too close it might be interfering; if it is too far or behind too much “wall” the signal might be too weak (or too inconsistent, despite showing strong strength). If other WiFi-connected devices are too close, they may be interfering. It’s all really trial and error of moving candidate devices closer to/further from each other to hopefully find placements that work. You want your router and other devices to be far enough away to not cause interference but at the same time router not so far away the signal is too weak or inconsistent. 

83 Messages

When a system works for over 2 years and all of a sudden starts having issues right after a firmware update with no other changes to the network or other attached devices, it's the fault of SimpliSafe.  Not too mention, they didn't offer a cabled Ethernet option to connect to the base station.  Dumb.

(edited)

12 Messages

9 months ago

This continues to be a  problem for many people. And the solutions of "design your network around our POS" are ludicrous. It is NOT our networks! 

Since yesterday morning, my Simplisafe lost wifi at:

07:57

08:30

09:08

12:06

22:16

02:48

The last of which woke me up due to notification, which is why I'm typing this at 04:30. This is a typical pattern; it goes for days with no problems, then 2-3 days with constant problems. 

I have an AC5700 router and I can simultaneously wirelessly stream multiple HD streams on my 2.4 ghz band, near or far away from the router. I rarely use 2.4 for that but it can be better for far rooms or outside. The point is it can be done without issue. I also have other IoT devices on my 2.4, with zero issues. 

Simplisafe is the only device that struggles. It consistently has signal strength lower than other devices, whether close or far away from the router, and the strength wildly fluctuates from bad to worse, without anything changing in setup. Right now my printer is one floor up in a room 35 feet away, and it has signal strength of - 53 db. Simplisafe is 15 feet from my router and is at - 84 db. A micro pc in the same room as the Simplisafe is at - 35 db and it's inside a cabinet with audio equipment and all kinds of interference generating things. I can stream MP4s at 30+ Mbps on that with no issue and copy files from a server on the network at 18+ MB/s. That's megaBYTEs. 

I have a static IP reservation for Simplisafe so it is not a DHCP issue. I have tried creating a guest network solely for it. Every crazy nonsense that Simplisafe suggests. 

Hack companies will always resort to nonsense about the customer's network setup. 

The denial is almost as annoying as the problem itself. Face it, there is a problem with your hardware. If I had to guess I'd say it was whatever antenna configuration is in there for the three kinds of wireless this thing uses are all interfering with each other.

If I didn't have so many Simplisafe devices I would switch away. 

5 Messages

@jcmaedl

check to be sure you have NO wifi /bluetooth device within at least 6 feet from the base station.

I had a bluetooth device for my hearing aids close by.  Once I moved it away the base station dropout went away

83 Messages

@jcmaedl​ says it all.  "Simplisafe is the only device that struggles."  SimpliSafe is taking a page out of Apple's playbook and blaming the consumers on this one.  Weak.

83 Messages

@bcmckim​ I don't have this issue and the SS base station still has issues.  It started right after one of their firmware updates.

16 Messages

9 months ago

Neighbors' WiFi can also cause interference, especially if living in close quarters with them (apartment, condo, townhouse, or even houses that are less than 30m (~95 ft) apart. To deal with this, you may have to do one or a combination of the following:

  • Try different 2.4GHz channels on your WiFi network - specifically 1, 6, or 11 - if your WiFi network hardware allows it.
  • Try moving your base station to a location away from the perimeter of your home, that is more toward the center of it, to get it further away from the range of neighbors' WiFi networks.
  • Of course, you still need to avoid your own sources of interference, such as being too close (1m / 3ft) to other electronic devices, WiFi-connected lights, kitchen appliances such as microwaves, or "dumb" LED lights (meanings ones not designed specifically for some kind of non-WiFi wireless control like Philips Hue), while still being 3-6m (10-20ft) from the the SS3 base station's connected WiFi access point.

It's very frustrating, but unfortunately, this may require a holistic approach in which you may have to consider the relative-to-each-other locations of many of your electronic and WiFi-connected devices, but it is really the only reliable way to troubleshoot and resolve sources of interference.

The explosion of WiFi-connected IoT devices over the last number of years has created a really crowded airspace in our homes, that SS3's connectivity hardware is clearly not designed for the way our phones, computers, and TV streamers are. If you're not able to find a holistic spatial configuration of all your connected and electronic devices, you're probably best off cancelling your Internet/App-based interactivity and just use your pin pad to arm/disarm the system; no need to pay the extra $25/mo if you can't get it to work reliably.

Or better yet, you might just be better off looking into an alternate security system that can better handle today's crowded home airspace, with all the IoT devices we're filling them with, since this doesn't seem to be a priority for SS.

83 Messages

@phantomsoul​ Yet, all of my many other devices work except for the SS base station.  They haven't upgraded to 5 GHz WiFi or any new standard.  That's on them.

12 Messages

9 months ago

Thanks for the time you put into your response. However I feel almost like you didn't read what I wrote. I literally spent my entire post talking about how adapting a network around this device problem is insane. What I didn't mention is I even went so far as to try another router connected to mine in as an access point and connecting to that, and further changing my router out altogether to a spare. Same nonsense. Half the time the base station won't even see a network. When it does, it gets stuck on "securing the connection." It manages to get past that, we go into the disconnect cycle. 

Imagine if all the devices you mentioned had the same kinds of adjustments required? Channels? Locations? Neighbors? Too many devices? How would wifi ever be a thing that worked?? 

It's just designed poorly, and it clearly isn't a priority for them. They continue to deny there is anything wrong with these units. As I said before, denial of this, blaming the users, and making no efforts is what makes this beyond just annoying and into the realm of poor business practices. Again, as for moving away from them, I should say goodbye to hundreds of dollars of equipment? And for disconnecting as a default, I don't see the point in having an unmonitored alarm system. 

Not to flex, but I have a degree information technology with specialization in network design and service provision. I've designed and deployed networks for three different businesses in media manufacturing that have tens of thousands of square feet filled with all sorts of manufacturing equipmment, and labs filled with PCs. All of these things cause radio frequency, mechanical, and electromagnetic interference. The devices connected wirelessly ranged from laptops, tablets, phones, shipping and scanning hardware, printers, environmental controls, just about anything you can think of. I can count the number of problems I had with those deployments on one hand. 

It's time to own up. 

(edited)

16 Messages

Indeed, having to go to such great lengths to escape potential interference is nothing short of absurd, especially when literally every other wireless device present in the house can function without any kind of technical attention to radio interference. On top of that, having to pay extra for app/Internet-based control just adds further insult to the abysmal quality of service.

83 Messages

@jcmaedl​ Isn't it frustrating to understand and "get" something that others don't?  I'm with you.

12 Messages

9 months ago

Oh yeah, forgot about this:

Definitely on me though, right? 

(edited)

83 Messages

8 months ago

Same problem here.  The support person on the phone noticed it was a firmware problem with many of the base stations.  They sent me a new base station and said it would have the latest firmware that wasn't broken.  It arrived today and had multiple firmware updates as soon as I turned it on.  My keypad wouldn't connect to it at all.  Since I can't configure WiFi on it they tried to use the cellular radio but that wasn't working.  They then had me open the new unit and unplug and plug in the radio module but that didn't fix it.  So, the new base station is junk as well.  The online support help was a total joke.  I wish I had enough room to post the entire text chain.  I'm done with SimpliSafe.  My, how they have fallen.

(edited)

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