[SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

NetSysFire · 2023-02-01 18:48:49

This happens with my new ISP router, called Vodafone Docsis 3.0 (or something). Randomly, often early at 4-5 AM (another weak indication it is related to changing of channels), I will get disconnected with some warnings related to bandwidth and channel changes.

This hardware is a Dell Latitude 3500, documented by myself in the wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dell_Latitude_3500. My intel wifi card works fine with other networks which change channels.

Before dumping the entire relevant part of my journal here, I want to highlight the messages I deem important:

Feb 01 13:49:07 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: AP VHT information is invalid, disable VHT
Feb 01 13:49:07 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: AP e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 changed bandwidth, new config is 5500.000 MHz, width 2 (5510.000/0 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:07 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: AP e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 changed caps/bw in a way we can't support (0x10800/0x18044) - disconnect
Feb 01 13:49:07 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: failed to follow AP e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 bandwidth change, disconnect
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: Wrong control channel: center-freq: 5500 ht-cfreq: 0 ht->primary_chan: 0 band: 1 - Disabling HT
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: RX AssocResp from e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (capab=0x1431 status=27 aid=0)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 denied association (code=27)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid=e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 status_code=27

For privacy reasons, I modified the mac address but leaving the vendor space intact.

The TL;DR of what happens:

- The random disconnect occurs. There is literally no relevant log message before the initial one here.
- NetworkManager tries to reconnect.
- It can not, because of a wrong control channel and the AP denies association with code 27.
- It still tries again, waiting an increasing amount of time. It usually works again after a minute or two, unless it gives up reconnecting before.
- After some time, it can connect just fine.

The code 27 thing really irks me. I can find two whole results in $search_engine about this, two seemingly unrelated forum posts. The most interesting thing I found so far is https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=981445 but it is ancient and does not fit perfectly.
I'd want to avoid patching my kernel if possible but I am fine with kernel (module) parameters.

Other things to know:

- Yes, I can connect to this (and other) network(s) just fine. It is literally the only one causing trouble like this.
- I am forcing connecting on a 5 GHz band. I am literally two meters from the router.
- For debugging purposes I also tried with 2.4, but I did not perceive any positive change.
- The "Disable automatic channel changing" thing in the webinterface of the router is grayed out and I am not in the mood to deal with level 1 techs again.
- Yes, the router is already set to its expert mode setting, allowing me to change more settings than usual but still not enough.
- I am suspecting that this may or may not be a router bug and I already bugged my ISP about this but their "wifi experts" did not even know about what an association is.
- My kernel is 5.15.85-1-lts due to an unrelated i915 regression.
- "SME: Deauth request to the driver failed" is probably™ benign. I get the same error with other networks, too and those work without problems.
- I would also appreciate tips on how to convince my ISP (Vodafone Germany) to take a closer look at this because right now it looks more like a router issue than a driver one but I can always be wrong, of course.
- Other than that this setup actually works fine. The issue is really annoying because it tends to happen multiple times a day but most of the time the network just works and I get decent bandwidth.
- Obligatory: https://xkcd.com/806/ and https://xkcd.com/2259/

Behold, the entire relevant part of my journal:

Feb 01 13:49:07 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: AP VHT information is invalid, disable VHT
Feb 01 13:49:07 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: AP e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 changed bandwidth, new config is 5500.000 MHz, width 2 (5510.000/0 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:07 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: AP e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 changed caps/bw in a way we can't support (0x10800/0x18044) - disconnect
Feb 01 13:49:07 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: failed to follow AP e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 bandwidth change, disconnect
Feb 01 13:49:08 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-SIGNAL-CHANGE above=0 signal=-9999 noise=9999 txrate=0
Feb 01 13:49:08 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 reason=3 locally_generated=1
Feb 01 13:49:08 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255748.1898] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: completed -> disconnected
Feb 01 13:49:08 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255748.1909] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: completed -> disconnected
Feb 01 13:49:08 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: Reject scan trigger since one is already pending
Feb 01 13:49:08 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: Failed to initiate AP scan
Feb 01 13:49:09 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: Reject scan trigger since one is already pending
Feb 01 13:49:09 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: Failed to initiate AP scan
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: Reject scan trigger since one is already pending
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: Failed to initiate AP scan
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-REGDOM-CHANGE init=DRIVER type=COUNTRY alpha2=EU
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Trying to authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: Wrong control channel: center-freq: 5500 ht-cfreq: 0 ht->primary_chan: 0 band: 1 - Disabling HT
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: send auth to e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255750.6396] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: disconnected -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255750.6397] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: disconnected -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: Trying to associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255750.6678] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255750.6678] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticated
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: RX AssocResp from e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (capab=0x1431 status=27 aid=0)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 denied association (code=27)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid=e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 status_code=27
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: PMKSA-CACHE-REMOVED e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 0
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Trying to authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255750.7572] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: associating -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255750.7573] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: associating -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: Wrong control channel: center-freq: 5500 ht-cfreq: 0 ht->primary_chan: 0 band: 1 - Disabling HT
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: send auth to e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Trying to authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: send auth to e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: PMKSA-CACHE-ADDED e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 0
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: Trying to associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255750.8592] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255750.8593] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticated
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: RX AssocResp from e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (capab=0x1431 status=27 aid=0)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 denied association (code=27)
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid=e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 status_code=27
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Deauth request to the driver failed
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: BSSID e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 ignore list count incremented to 2, ignoring for 10 seconds
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255750.9239] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: associating -> disconnected
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255750.9240] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: associating -> disconnected
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255751.4249] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: disconnected -> scanning
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255751.4250] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: disconnected -> scanning
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Trying to authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255751.5747] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: scanning -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: Wrong control channel: center-freq: 5500 ht-cfreq: 0 ht->primary_chan: 0 band: 1 - Disabling HT
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: send auth to e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255751.5748] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: scanning -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: Trying to associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255751.6147] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255751.6148] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticated
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: RX AssocResp from e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (capab=0x1431 status=27 aid=0)
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 denied association (code=27)
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid=e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 status_code=27
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: PMKSA-CACHE-REMOVED e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 0
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Trying to authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255751.7067] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: associating -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255751.7068] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: associating -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: Wrong control channel: center-freq: 5500 ht-cfreq: 0 ht->primary_chan: 0 band: 1 - Disabling HT
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: send auth to e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Trying to authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: PMKSA-CACHE-ADDED e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 0
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: Trying to associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255751.7745] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255751.7746] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: send auth to e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticated
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: RX AssocResp from e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (capab=0x1431 status=27 aid=0)
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 denied association (code=27)
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid=e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 status_code=27
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Deauth request to the driver failed
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: BSSID e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 ignore list count incremented to 2, ignoring for 10 seconds
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255751.8514] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: associating -> disconnected
Feb 01 13:49:11 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255751.8515] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: associating -> disconnected
Feb 01 13:49:12 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255752.8525] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: disconnected -> scanning
Feb 01 13:49:12 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255752.8526] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: disconnected -> scanning
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Trying to authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255753.0382] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: scanning -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: Wrong control channel: center-freq: 5500 ht-cfreq: 0 ht->primary_chan: 0 band: 1 - Disabling HT
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: send auth to e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255753.0383] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: scanning -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: Trying to associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255753.0784] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255753.0785] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticated
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: RX AssocResp from e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (capab=0x1431 status=27 aid=0)
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 denied association (code=27)
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid=e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 status_code=27
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: PMKSA-CACHE-REMOVED e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 0
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Trying to authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: Wrong control channel: center-freq: 5500 ht-cfreq: 0 ht->primary_chan: 0 band: 1 - Disabling HT
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255753.1951] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: associating -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255753.1952] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: associating -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: send auth to e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Trying to authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: PMKSA-CACHE-ADDED e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 0
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: Trying to associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255753.2662] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255753.2663] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: send auth to e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticated
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: RX AssocResp from e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (capab=0x1431 status=27 aid=0)
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 denied association (code=27)
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid=e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 status_code=27
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Deauth request to the driver failed
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: BSSID e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 ignore list count incremented to 2, ignoring for 10 seconds
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-SSID-TEMP-DISABLED id=0 ssid="My SSID" auth_failures=1 duration=10 reason=CONN_FAILED
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255753.3199] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: associating -> disconnected
Feb 01 13:49:13 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255753.3200] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: associating -> disconnected
Feb 01 13:49:18 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255758.3260] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: disconnected -> scanning
Feb 01 13:49:18 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255758.3261] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: disconnected -> scanning
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-SSID-REENABLED id=0 ssid="My SSID"
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: Wrong control channel: center-freq: 5500 ht-cfreq: 0 ht->primary_chan: 0 band: 1 - Disabling HT
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: send auth to e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticated
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255765.8607] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: scanning -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Trying to authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255765.8608] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: scanning -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: Trying to associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255765.8984] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255765.8985] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: RX AssocResp from e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (capab=0x1431 status=27 aid=0)
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 denied association (code=27)
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid=e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 status_code=27
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: PMKSA-CACHE-REMOVED e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 0
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Trying to authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255765.9977] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: associating -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255765.9978] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: associating -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:25 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255765.9978] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: associating -> authenticating
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: Wrong control channel: center-freq: 5500 ht-cfreq: 0 ht->primary_chan: 0 band: 1 - Disabling HT
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: send auth to e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Trying to authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: send auth to e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: authenticated
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: PMKSA-CACHE-ADDED e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 0
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: Trying to associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (SSID='My SSID' freq=5500 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255766.0722] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255766.0723] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: authenticating -> associating
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: associate with e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (try 1/3)
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: RX AssocResp from e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 (capab=0x1431 status=27 aid=0)
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 denied association (code=27)
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid=e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 status_code=27
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: SME: Deauth request to the driver failed
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: BSSID e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 ignore list count incremented to 3, ignoring for 60 seconds
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux wpa_supplicant[757]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-SSID-TEMP-DISABLED id=0 ssid="My SSID" auth_failures=2 duration=20 reason=CONN_FAILED
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255766.1420] device (wlp0s20f3): supplicant interface state: associating -> disconnected
Feb 01 13:49:26 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255766.1421] device (p2p-dev-wlp0s20f3): supplicant management interface state: associating -> disconnected
Feb 01 13:49:38 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <warn>  [1675255778.8962] device (wlp0s20f3): link timed out.
Feb 01 13:49:38 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255778.8962] device (wlp0s20f3): state change: activated -> failed (reason 'supplicant-timeout', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Feb 01 13:49:38 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255778.9514] device (wlp0s20f3): set-hw-addr: set MAC address to 06:65:47:3D:FB:6C (scanning)
Feb 01 13:49:38 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <warn>  [1675255778.9535] device (wlp0s20f3): Activation: failed for connection 'My SSID'
Feb 01 13:49:38 archlinux NetworkManager[608]: <info>  [1675255778.9581] device (wlp0s20f3): state change: failed -> disconnected (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')

Last edited by NetSysFire (2023-02-04 07:51:32)

seth · 2023-02-01 20:30:21

"Vodafone Docsis 3.0" aka the Horrorbox… and I've once almost punched a monitor to death ot of frustration about their Kundenservice… back on topic:
First and foremost disable https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Networ … domization - a lot of APs hate it.

Feb 01 13:49:07 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: AP e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 changed bandwidth, new config is 5500.000 MHz, width 2 (5510.000/0 MHz)
Feb 01 13:49:07 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: AP e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 changed caps/bw in a way we can't support (0x10800/0x18044) - disconnect
Feb 01 13:49:07 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: failed to follow AP e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 bandwidth change, disconnect

isn't "no reason"

The "Disable automatic channel changing" thing in the webinterface of the router is grayed out.

would probably be very helpful to change, because it changes the frequency to a crappy one
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_W … j/n/ac/ax) - 100 is only 20Hz and this is why

wlp0s20f3: Wrong control channel: center-freq: 5500 ht-cfreq: 0 ht->primary_chan: 0 band: 1 - Disabling HT

happens.

Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: e4:f7:5b:00:00:00 denied association (code=27)

is

reason=27 "Disassociated because session terminated by SSP request"

what means that the switch (part of your router) told you to fuck off.
I suspect this *might* be because of the randomized scanning MAC, but you'd have to check the routers log …
There's an Ereignisprotokoll under Status & Hilfe here. Can't tell whether it logs these WLAN incidents though, the thing is degraded to a modem.

==> Can you post a screenshot of the config?
I've a "Vodafone Docsis 3.1" (that I most certainly don't use a router…) and in WLAN/Einstellungen I can choose mode, channel and width.
Maybe you need to disable bandwidth steering?

NetSysFire · 2023-02-02 06:37:26

My MAC randomization is set to Stable (aka decides on one random mac addr and it is used forever), the default for wifi networks, is this enough or do I need to change the randomized scanning mac (which is afaik not the one which it associates with)?

I suspect this *might* be because of the randomized scanning MAC, but you'd have to check the routers log …

The log is usually completely empty. But I just checked again for you and found this:

02/02/2023 07:06:36 [info][WiFi][ WG-MAC=e4:f7:5b:00:00:00; STA-MAC=42:b3:4f:e1:15:ee; IF=wlan2.0; SSID=No; ConnectionState=connected; WirelessMode=802.11ac; LastTxPhyRate=0Mbps; LastRxPhyRate=0Mbps; EncryptMode=CCMP; RSSI=-35dBm; Channel=5530MHz; Radio=5G; Bandwidth=80M; TxFailPkts=0; RetransPkts=0]

Because I literally just woke up, found out I was disconnected again and when I connected successfully, this was emitted. Might not be of much use though.

Maybe you need to disable bandwidth steering?

I just did that. And it caused that, forcing two seperate SSIDs but tbh I dont care:

https://0x0.st/s/v9tD-hek7CXRGmksIw3Ttw/oFFu.png

The contents of the band steering menu:

https://0x0.st/s/FCSuP2mOMJEGiZqRE0ZULg/oFFS.png

And the auto channel thingies are still greyed out:

https://0x0.st/s/CegV4IrWC6uPvmnkWbkDhw/oFF1.png

and in WLAN/Einstellungen I can choose mode, channel and width.

As you can see, still grayed out. Another, quite possibly unrelated thing, is that it tells me my landline/Festnetz number is "n<potentially private>_1". Seems buggy.

what means that the switch (part of your router) told you to fuck off.

Interesting. Where did you find that out? Do you have a link for me so I can read up on that?

Thank you for your helpful tips so far.

Last edited by NetSysFire (2023-02-02 08:09:08)

seth · 2023-02-02 07:41:23

do I need to change the randomized scanning mac

That's the idea, yes. There've been multiple reports of APs not responding well to the shifting MACs between scan and association.
Wether security or bug in the AP, it has a tendency to be an obstacle.

is that it tells me my landline/Festnetz number is "n<potentially private>_1".

That's your NGN internal number, that's normal.

Interesting. Where did you find that out?

At somepoint I googled up https://www.toomanyatoms.com/computer/d … codes.html and made a copy of the info in /usr/share/doc and an alias to grep it, so "wpa_reason 27" told me that

Can you switch the WLAN Modus away from something that doesn't have AX and does that allow you to filter channel and bandwidth
(You end up w/ AC anyway, thanks to the not so great channel selection)

The GUI looks the same as the thing I got blessed w/ but mine apparently isn't AX capable and therefore I'll probably run on a differen FW.

Sidenote: Please replace the oversized image with a link, the board has a 250²px² max rule.

NetSysFire · 2023-02-02 08:18:59

Sidenote: Please replace the oversized image with a link, the board has a 250²px² max rule.

Whoops. Fixed.

Can you switch the WLAN Modus away from something that doesn't have AX and does that allow you to filter channel and bandwidth

Only for 5 GHz, which I just did (Mixed 802.11 n/ac). 2.4 GHz only accepts n/ax. And yet the automatic channel selection thingies are still grayed out in the webinterface.
Since I instructed NetworkManager to connect via 5 GHz only, the former should not be a problem.

Wether security or bug in the AP, it has a tendency to be an obstacle.

Thats meh. I already did some changes, disabling band steering and stuff, to the routers configuration and I need to wait to reproduce because it is quite random. If that still happens, that will be my next step to debug but I want to avoid disabling this in general. Especially since this is the very first wifi network having problems with this for me.
I will report back later if the problems still occur.

seth · 2023-02-02 08:41:12

automatic channel selection thingies are still grayed out

Maybe the experts at https://forum.vodafone.de/ can at least speak to that - it's really not ideal and w/

Feb 01 13:49:07 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: AP VHT information is invalid, disable VHT
…
Feb 01 13:49:10 archlinux kernel: wlp0s20f3: Wrong control channel: center-freq: 5500 ht-cfreq: 0 ht->primary_chan: 0 band: 1 - Disabling HT

(that's n and ac) you might also be rejected because the AP doesn't support older a/g connections (a for 5GHz, b for 2.4GHz)

NetSysFire · 2023-02-04 07:51:01

So far, no disconnects. Hooray! I did notice some bandwidth problems which become apparent when VNC'ing in my local network. The nm-applet in my tray also displays bad reception sometimes for whatever reason despite me being 2 meters from the router.

I think I will re-enable ax for 5 GHz and hope it will stay without disconnects and improve my bandwidth again. The other things look like router bugs and I will need to report them somewhere to Vodafone, which will be fun.
Thanks for your help with this Horrorbox!

seth · 2023-02-04 08:20:03

The nm-applet in my tray also displays bad reception sometimes for whatever reason despite me being 2 meters from the router.

Interference.
1. Neighbours
2. Bluetooth or DECT (operate on 2.4GHz as well)

Otherwise shielding, but that would be a static problem and not if between your and the AP is only air (otherwise walls in buildings constructed in the 60ies and 70ies can be surprisingly effective in blocking radio … I wonder what they put into those and then I probably don't want to know)

NetSysFire · 2023-02-04 08:25:00

I am still connected via 5 GHz, so 2.4 GHz interference should not be a problem, but yes there should be plenty of DECT, microwaves and bluetooth here. I am wearing a bluetooth headset right now, too. There is only air between me and the AP. The behavior changed after I disabled band steering and set n/ac/ax to just n/ac on 5 GHz. Neighbors can most definitely be a problem, but I think this is more or less of a configuration problem. It is still fine for basically everything but VNC.

seth · 2023-02-04 08:52:17

Missed the AX
"DECT, microwaves and bluetooth" are not going to be a problem on 5GHz.

Neighbors can most definitely be a problem, but I think this is more or less of a configuration problem.

Their interference could explain why the AP wants to change the channel (to evade collision), but of course resorting to a 20Hz band is probably not helpful.

Did you get any "AP VHT information is invalid, disable VHT" or just even channel changes after disabling the MAC randomization?

NetSysFire · 2023-02-23 07:15:40

Here is an update to my situation:

I did call Vodafone and the first thing they told me when "measuring" and "testing" the network was that my device supposedly does not support 5 GHz.
I disabled mac spoofing on connect so their tool, which apparently does a OUI lookup of the MAC of connected devices, does tell them correct information.
So far though, using my real mac address did not change anything. They told me their "SuperWLAN" does so many optimizations(™) per device and I should use my real mac address.
Note that this is not the mac randomization on scanning. When associating, the configured mac address will be used.
Modern android devices, which they do and have to support, do mac randomization while scanning, too.

They also told me I should urgently do a router reset (not a restart) for whatever reason and this also did not change anything.
And I should avoid playing around with the settings for debugging purposes, but as expected, the default configuration also did not.

2.4 GHz with band steering enabled: 5 megabytes/s to the gateway.
5 GHz with band steering enabled: Insane speeds to the gateway. I did not measure properly but I counted 50 megabytes/s to the gateway.
However, the "AP VHT information is invalid, disable VHT" problem occurs with that.

2.4 GHz with band steering disabled: not tested, but quite probably the same or slower speed.
5 GHz with band steering disabled: 3 megabytes/s to the gateway.

TL;DR: Nothing changed and I will need to keep bugging them. And potentially get them to open this very forum post so I do not need to read my syslog aloud via telephone. Its gonna be fun spelling out the URL.

ewaller · 2023-02-23 14:56:45

Wow, that looks like a bunch of corporate nonsense. In any event, the only thing I can think of that has not been mentioned here is whether you have properly set your regulatory domain is set correctly. It can impact power mapping, and I can imagine it might impact channel mapping for high bandwidth configurations.

seth · 2023-02-23 15:05:56

Vodafone's support staff has an IQ of 200 !

Could one of the geniuses comment on why you cannot select a 5GHz channel yourself (or filter the selection)?
That's a software thing, even the UI is there, it's just blocked for probably no good reason.

… it's just split across 200 employees

Last "resort" - degrade that thing to a modem and attach a private AP/switch/router (DD-WRT or OpenWRT)

NetSysFire · 2023-02-24 16:42:04

In any event, the only thing I can think of that has not been mentioned here is whether you have properly set your regulatory domain is set correctly.

NetworkManager is taking care of it automagically. In any case:

phy#0 (self-managed)
country EU: DFS-UNSET
	(2402 - 2437 @ 40), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-80MHZ, NO-160MHZ
	(2422 - 2462 @ 40), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-80MHZ, NO-160MHZ
	(2447 - 2482 @ 40), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-80MHZ, NO-160MHZ
	(5170 - 5190 @ 80), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5190 - 5210 @ 80), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5210 - 5230 @ 80), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5230 - 5250 @ 80), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5250 - 5270 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5270 - 5290 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5290 - 5310 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5310 - 5330 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5490 - 5510 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5510 - 5530 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5530 - 5550 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5550 - 5570 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5570 - 5590 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5590 - 5610 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5610 - 5630 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5630 - 5650 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5650 - 5670 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5670 - 5690 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5690 - 5710 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5710 - 5730 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5735 - 5755 @ 80), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ
	(5755 - 5775 @ 80), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ
	(5775 - 5795 @ 80), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ
	(5795 - 5815 @ 80), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ
	(5815 - 5835 @ 20), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-80MHZ, NO-160MHZ

This is literally also the only wifi network causing trouble for me.

NetSysFire · 2023-03-01 15:05:00

Sorry for the double-posting but here is an update:

A tech just called me and did some additional debugging and said that the "WiFi-Doc isnt synchronized". This is something which can not be seen in the router interface.
The tech said this may be a hardware issue and he will be sending me a new router. This one is an Arris (2nd generation of their Station router) and I will be getting a Technicolor one, which is the 3rd generation.
I also reported seeing the internal NGN phone number instead of the prettier "normal" one with the area code as a minor bug.

seth · 2023-03-01 15:47:07

I could ever only the the NGN number - if that's a bug, it's pretty widespread and exists for a loooong time.

the "WiFi-Doc isnt synchronized"

Is that literal or a phone transcript?

google wrote:

WiFi-Doc is an application that allows you to do high quality wireless presentation ... WiFi-Doc supports Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, Excel and PDF files.

This is something which can not be seen in the router interface

"oUr iNvIsIbLe tEcH Is bRoKeN" … predominantly because it's probably not a thing.

will be sending me a new router

https://www.vodafonekabelforum.de/viewtopic.php?t=44454

seth wrote:

Last "resort" - degrade that thing to a modem and attach a private AP/switch/router (DD-WRT or OpenWRT)

NetSysFire · 2023-03-01 16:29:07

Is that literal or a phone transcript?

This is what I heard on the phone. Wi-Fee Doc. Because of the german language it could also be dok but doc is more likely as it is supposed to be the Automatic Problem Solver™.

"oUr iNvIsIbLe tEcH Is bRoKeN" … predominantly because it's probably not a thing.

Honestly, he sounded genuine. It might be something internal that is little known.

And yeah, I am aware of the possibility of getting a dedicated AP but I am not desperate enough yet. So far most of the employees I talked to were caring.
As pathetic ISPs at a whole are sometimes, let us not forget its humans and most of them try their best. Not everyone has the energy to fight the dumb,
inefficient or outright nonsensical processes they have in place. Those were probably enacted by managers anyways and not the techs.

Let's hope it really is a hardware issue and it will be resolved by new hardware. My wifi card does not support wifi 6 yet afaik and I am perfectly content with just normal stuff, as long as I have more than 10 megabyte/s.

I could ever only the the NGN number - if that's a bug, it's pretty widespread and exists for a loooong time.

No idea. I mentioned it to them that it looks that way even in the non-expert mode and it will put off many users. I mentioned that as a minor, low priority thing so if they fix it: great. If not, then *shrug*.

NetSysFire · 2023-03-27 06:30:29

I got my new router on March 5th (22 days ago) and it did not solve anything. I noticed it did get a bit better though: I have not debugged this specific thing but when I got disconnected the 5 GHz SSID vanished briefly, at least this is what nmcli device wifi list told me. The SSID was temporarily ignored due to unsuccessful association, so this might very well be the cause, too. I have seen more success with auto reconnects with the new router, though.

In any case, I was on the verge of telling the Vodafone folks that my issue still persists, was busy and for whatever reason the problem solved itself 9 days ago. According to the journal, the last reconnect due to this was March 18 20:30:4.
I have no idea what happened and have not changed anything. No -Syu's, no visiting the router webinterface, no blood sacrifices for the wifi gods. And the router was not rebooted either.
The only explanation I can think of is that maybe they silently pushed an update, maybe some calibration data for the wifi or something else that does not require a reboot of the router. I can not confirm any of this, since there are no logs visible to me regarding this.

9 days without connection issues. Let's hope it stays that way.

seth · 2023-03-27 07:18:20

Does the journal still indicate that the AP changes the 5GHz band at all?
If not, did one of your neighbours move out/go on vacation/switch to nightshift?

NetSysFire · 2023-03-27 07:25:28

It does:

Mar 27 06:48:30 archlinux wpa_supplicant[787]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-CHANNEL-SWITCH freq=5260 ht_enabled=1 ch_offset=1 ch_width=80 MHz cf1=5290 cf2=0
Mar 27 06:48:29 archlinux wpa_supplicant[787]: wlp0s20f3: CTRL-EVENT-STARTED-CHANNEL-SWITCH freq=5260 ht_enabled=1 ch_offset=1 ch_width=80 MHz cf1=5290 cf2=0

did one of your neighbours move out/go on vacation/switch to nightshift?

No idea. I have a LOT of neighbors in wifi range due to living in a densely populated part of the city. I do doubt that anyones network is causing that, as e.g even my phone hotspot worked flawlessly over 5 GHz.

seth · 2023-03-27 08:04:12

It switches to channel 58 which is a nice 80Hz channel instead of the previous 20Hz channel 100, so for whatever reason, the AP now makes a smarter choice.
Can be because of an update (should™ be logged in the modem, though) or because the collision-free area changed (because of a neighbour)

even my phone hotspot worked flawlessly over 5 GHz

Because the phone (likely) didn't clown itself w/ bandwidth selectio - either because it just stays on one band or because it's making smarter choices when changing the band.

NetSysFire · 2023-05-07 13:53:08

I think this one is solved for good now. Recently the problem returned worse than ever, and I bothered Vodafone again about it. This time I got an actual competent tech and he suspected the cause might be the Homespot functionality.
It is supposed to be opt-out when you sign the contract but I was not given any choice about this. The tech said Vodafone is great at hiding that possibility.
He disabled it and it immediately solved my problem! I'd bet 10 $currency that the router got upset about the Homespot SSID overlap with my upstairs neighbor, who is also Vodafone customer (if he was away in march, it would also explain why I had very few issues back then).
On the other hand, that Homespot SSID is 2.4 GHz only but is still very strong down here. The mystery continues.

        Vodafone Hotspot         D6:3F:CB:XX:XX:15  6     405 Mbit/s  2437 MHz  94      ▂▄▆█  --
        Vodafone Homespot        D6:3F:CB:XX:XX:35  6     405 Mbit/s  2437 MHz  82      ▂▄▆█  --

As a bonus, said tech found a hardware issue while doing routine diagnostics. Something about a too high TX value and also something about voltage? No idea, not my area of expertise but he sent out a field tech, the Telkotec guys, to deal with it.
I had some exceedingly weird problems with connections, especially my wireguard ones, dying for no apparent reasons and this might have resolved that. The docsis amplifier down in the basement was on its last legs and got replaced.

NetSysFire · 2023-10-06 17:45:39

So I uh got an unfortunate update to share. I am quite upset and annoyed about the outcome.

Earlier, some weeks ago, I had unrelated internet troubles, packet loss between router and the internet, and they made me factory reset the router for troubleshooting, because not doing so for half a year is apparently considered not optimal.
It immediately started again. Just as if homespot is enabled but without broadcasting the SSID, as if it is stuck in some weird partial state. All the exact same errors in the logs, everything.

I talked to the techs again, I had the glorious idea of suggesting to turn homespot on and off again to maybe remedy this weird messed up state.
So they transferred me over to another department and a nice person enabled it for me, but it takes some time for the change to propagate and due to customer influx she could not stay on the phone to wait until the change is properly applied, but she said she would turn it off again, if she remembered some 20 minutes later. She did not.
However, now the SSIDs started broadcasting, along with another mysterious "Vodafone-XXXX", where X [A-Z0-9].
The mac addrs of these are somewhat odd though. My main SSIDs in use all have mac addresses starting with B0:5D:D4.
The "Vodafone-XXXX" thing has one starting with A0:E7:AE and the homespot thingy A2:E7:AE.

IN-USE  SSID                     BSSID              CHAN  RATE        FREQ      SIGNAL  BARS  SECURITY
        My SSID                  B0:5D:D4:XX:XX:XX  1     540 Mbit/s  2412 MHz  100     ▂▄▆█  WPA2 WPA3
*       My SSID                  B0:5D:D4:XX:XX:XX  52    540 Mbit/s  5260 MHz  100     ▂▄▆█  WPA2 WPA3
        Vodafone-XXXX            A0:E7:AE:XX:XX:XX  108   540 Mbit/s  5540 MHz  95      ▂▄▆█  WPA2
        Vodafone-XXXX            A0:E7:AE:XX:XX:XX  11    540 Mbit/s  2462 MHz  92      ▂▄▆█  WPA2
        Vodafone Hotspot         A2:E7:AE:XX:XX:XX  11    540 Mbit/s  2462 MHz  92      ▂▄▆█  --
        Vodafone Homespot        A2:E7:AE:XX:XX:XX  11    540 Mbit/s  2462 MHz  92      ▂▄▆█  --

However, the signal strength is extremely high and the SSID started appearing just after that person enabled homespot.
Also, after they enabled it again I almost immediately noticed that I also had the well-known trouble of NetworkManager giving up on connecting again, because of too many association attempts because the router is being wonky.
So one previous status successfully restored.

No problem so far, right? So I called again a day later and asked them to turn it off. Different person, for context.
No, suddenly I need a "my vodafone" account for that. Oh and apparently it is already turned off, both in their and my interface.
What? Someone turned it on for you just yesterday? Nonsense. Its forbidden and can mean a serious fine for the employee because pRiVaCy (???), even with my explicit consent.
I get transferred around at least 6 times in a ping pong match between departments, each time I had to wait with atrocious hold music and then tell them the whole story again because some of them do not have access to the tickets.
Some of them could not even transfer me properly, resetting my state in the hotline and I had to do the whole "No. No. Landline. Cable. NRW. No. Yes." thing again with it getting my inputs wrong so often.
The last time I had to rattle down my customer ID, full name, area code and date of birth like a robot this was apparently even perceived as rude by the employee and I got talked down to like a little child.
That one now randomly decided I should get a replacement router and I was told some nonsense like I should make sure my homespot password (there is no password) is the same as the one of my main SSID.

Let's just say I am exceptionally displeased and questioning my own sanity right now.

seth · 2023-10-06 19:07:16

Welcome to Vodafuck…
1st off all, their customer service is useless. They might be nice or jerks, but they're all incompetent.
2nd and wrt, it's kinda beyond me how the homespot would impact the automatic channel selection - or, more importantly, your ability to configure that.
3rd, still itr: "yOu nEeD To rEpLaCe tHe rOuTeR" is just item three or so on whatever cardboard they're reading from

4th, do you have a customer account? ("MeinVodafuck")
You should™ be able to toggle it there, https://www.vodafone.de/privat/internet … rvice.html
That should™ allow you to get rid of the homespot, but won't do anything about the automatic channel selection… selecting an inferior channel.

But

seth wrote:

degrade that thing to a modem and attach a private AP/switch/router (DD-WRT or OpenWRT)

NetSysFire · 2023-10-07 15:46:38

seth wrote:

1st off all, their customer service is useless. They might be nice or jerks, but they're all incompetent.

The actual technicians can be pretty cool though. Like the one who I talked to in May.
Unfortunately they did not want to create a ticket because "the technicians wont be able to fix it".

seth wrote:

2nd and wrt, it's kinda beyond me how the homespot would impact the automatic channel selection - or, more importantly, your ability to configure that.

Actually, one of the level 1 techs I talked to was pretty fascinated by my issue and said it makes sense to him now when they advise to split up the SSIDs when someone is having stability problems like me.
Apparently this is a known issue now?!

seth wrote:

4th, do you have a customer account? ("MeinVodafuck")

Okay, so here is the thing: In both MeinVodafone and their interface, Homespot shows up as disabled, only asks me if i want to enable that.
But it is undoubtedly enabled. So something has broken pretty badly, maybe even internally in their system due to them meddling with it on my request.
So this is where it starts getting interesting but they refuse to believe me.

Last edited by NetSysFire (2023-10-07 15:47:10)

Arch Linux

#1 2023-02-01 18:48:49

[SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#2 2023-02-01 20:30:21

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#3 2023-02-02 06:37:26

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#4 2023-02-02 07:41:23

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#5 2023-02-02 08:18:59

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#6 2023-02-02 08:41:12

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#7 2023-02-04 07:51:01

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#8 2023-02-04 08:20:03

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#9 2023-02-04 08:25:00

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#10 2023-02-04 08:52:17

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#11 2023-02-23 07:15:40

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#12 2023-02-23 14:56:45

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#13 2023-02-23 15:05:56

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#14 2023-02-24 16:42:04

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#15 2023-03-01 15:05:00

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#16 2023-03-01 15:47:07

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#17 2023-03-01 16:29:07

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#18 2023-03-27 06:30:29

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#19 2023-03-27 07:18:20

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#20 2023-03-27 07:25:28

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#21 2023-03-27 08:04:12

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#22 2023-05-07 13:53:08

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#23 2023-10-06 17:45:39

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#24 2023-10-06 19:07:16

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

#25 2023-10-07 15:46:38

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to reconnect to AP after channel change(?)

Board footer