# [solved(??)] 2.4Ghz ping spikes/packet loss on TP-LINK Archer C5 v2 AC1200 router



## TRWOV (Feb 17, 2017)

EDIT:
SOLUTION: For my case, disabling IPv6 and setting the wireless to B/G only was the fix. 

- Lag seemed to be fixed by disabling IPv6.
- The packet drop issue was fixed by disabling Wireless N. Only my Roku Express is affected by this but Wireless G is enough for streaming to the Express with it being 720p. The connection is solid and without losses so it's the preferable setup I suppose. 



PROBLEM:
I have a TP-LINK Archer C5 v2 AC1200 wireless Dual Band router that experiences intermittent and seeming random ping spikes/packet loss on the 2.4Ghz band:






The connection does not drop. The connection and signal keeps strong; is just that no data passes through the router intermittently at random intervals.

I have it connected to an ARRIS TG832 router in bridged mode but that isn't the culprit since a wired connection to the TP-LINK router doesn't present any kind of problem so it isn't ISP related.

I have also determined that the 5Ghz band doesn't suffer from the issue either. Running a ping while the 2.4Ghz band experiences packet loss shows a steady 2ms ping.



TROUBLESHOOTHING:

1. I ran a wifi analyzer tool and found that there is practically 0 congestion issues.





Nevertheless, I went and setup channel 1 for the 2.4Ghz band although the auto setting had already selected it as shown in the screenshot. That didn't make any discernible difference.


2. I saw this wordpress post:

https://kempniu.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/wmm-and-delays-on-tp-link-routers/

and disabled WMM as indicated. Again, there's no discernible difference in performance.


3. This might be a clue: whenever the packet loss begins to happen, if I disconnect from the network and connect again the issue seems to go away. I tested by having two laptops side by side looking at the same youtube video. When the video chocked I re-connected to the network with one of the laptops and left the other as is. The laptop that reconnected to the network began to run the video right away while the other kept buffering for 10 more seconds or so.

I thought it was related to dynamic IPs so I set static IPs for them but that doesn't seem to help either.



CURRENT 2.4G SETTINGS:


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## Kursah (Feb 17, 2017)

I have read with some of the C5 V2 AC1200 units that disabling IPv6 might fix the 2.4GHz dropout issue, have you tried that?

Go to IPv6 support and uncheck IPv6 Enabled, reboot the device.

I would also consider changing to DD-WRT firmware to see if that helps resolve an issue with what could be a bug in the TP-Link firmware.


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## TRWOV (Feb 17, 2017)

Kursah said:


> I have read with some of the C5 V2 AC1200 units that disabling IPv6 might fix the 2.4GHz dropout issue, have you tried that?
> 
> Go to IPv6 support and uncheck IPv6 Enabled, reboot the device.
> 
> I would also consider changing to DD-WRT firmware to see if that helps resolve an issue with what could be a bug in the TP-Link firmware.








That helped immensely, although I still see some packet loss but the issue isn't as dire as before. ping average is down nevertheless, although still very far from optimal. Thank you very much for the suggestion. 

I'll see if I can correct the situation 100%, if not I'll try DD-WRT. I don't know if the Archer is supported though.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 17, 2017)

No cordless phones right?


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## TRWOV (Feb 18, 2017)

eidairaman1 said:


> No cordless phones right?



No


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## TRWOV (Feb 18, 2017)

Still having the issue, although not as bad as before disabling IPv6


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## TRWOV (Mar 16, 2017)

I finally got the 2.4Ghz band working fine. In fact what gave me the tip were the recent PS4 wifi issues.

I disabled Wireless N in the 2.4Ghz band and everything is peachy now (running just B/G). Bummer that you have to disable features in order to get a working connection.


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## eidairaman1 (Mar 16, 2017)

That is something to report to Sony and TP - link


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