Obi200 disconnects

[psteckler]

I'd been using my Obi200 on Comcast for almost a year, and it was solid as a rock. The only time I had to reset it was when power went out.

Lately, it's been disconnecting, and having difficulty working properly. It's disconnected from the Anveo E911 service about every other day. I try turning it off and on, but it will not connect to my WiFi access point.I did a factory reset, and then it worked for about 3 days before disconnecting again. Today, I had to do multiple factory resets. I'm using the wireless dongle, and it would not start the configuration server reliably. Finally, it surprised me, the configuration server ran, and I was able to get it to connect to my WiFi access point.

What would cause this behavior? I'd think if the hardware had failed, it wouldn't work at all. Instead, it runs just fine in spurts, then stops working. The usual symptom is that the green light just blinks, and it doesn't connect to my WiFi. I have three other devices on my WiFi, and they're not having any problems. I've rebooted the WiFi access point (a cable modem), and that doesn't seem to help.

[SteveInWA]

Who knows.  It could be something as simple as your microwave oven running, and swamping the 2.4Ghz WiFi signal.  Or, the power supply in the OBi could be going bad.  I'd start with at least temporarily connecting your OBi directly to your router with an Ethernet cable, instead of WiFi, and seeing if it operates reliably.

[psteckler]

Problem solved.

I connected the Obi200 directly to the cable modem via Ethernet cable. It worked perfectly, and test calls were crystal-clear. While I had the unit next to the modem, I re-attached the Wifi dongle, and power-cycled it. It connected immediately via Wifi, and test calls were crystal-clear.

When I had the unit across the room, even when it worked, I got a lot of dropouts during calls.

Diagnosis: the Wifi connection was weak, causing the unit to disconnect occasionally. The hardware is perfectly good.

The cable modem/Wifi access point was hidden behind a box, because I'm still unpacking from a move. I'll try moving it to an unobstructed location, and see if the Obi200 stays connected.