I have Internet from Virgin with one of their hubs. The hub is in Modem only mode.
This is connected to a Deco X10 and I have 4 other S7 units around the house. (My house isn’t that big, but it is quite bad for WiFi signal and then I needed an extra one as there was no connection to my boiler).
The whole thing works perfectly and supplies fast WiFi and wired connections around the house. My Sonos even works without issues 99% of the time.
BUT sometimes our phones lose their Internet connection. They stay connected to the wifi, are still able to control the Sonos and still access the printer etc. Nothing else is affected. Sometimes it resolves itself in a few minutes, other times switching off / on wifi on the phone fixes it.
Phones are an iPhone 13 and a 13 Pro. Issue is there with both iOS 26 and older versions.
Does anyone have any great ideas to try please as TP-Link have been unable to fix it.
It’s getting a bit frustrating…
Since this seems to affect phones only, then my guess would be that they are holding onto a connection to one of your access points when they have moved out of range of it and the connection is not so great, hence turning off WiFi forces them to reconnect when they get the strongest ap from their current position. Other devices won’t be moving round between access points as much so will seem to remain stable.
our netgear omni does hold onto a less-than-perfect ap in preference to a better one sometimes, but not to the extent you describe.
I’d turn the WiFi off and on again on the phones when the connection is poor to force them to reconnect...
Have you tried completely "forgetting" the wifi on the phones and reconnecting?
Also, I am sure there is a setting somewhere in the Deco app to make such connections more stable but I can't find it yet.
Ahh - here it is: Click on "More" in the bottom right of the App then it's: Advanced > Fast Roaming (and enable it) – that should optimise getting quick connections on different units as you move around your home.
You can also go to "online clients", select the devices you are having issues with and enable "High Priority" – that might help too?
If they are able to see other devices on the LAN and not the Internet this suggests a gateway issue. Do any of the APs have a gateway configured on them which, if it is incorrect, will prevent Internet access when connected to these APs. When the internet is working check the WiFi settings on the phone and compare them to when it is not working (Settings/WiFi/"i" icon). Look specifically for the "Router" address to compare.
are all the devices on a dhcp address lease? what have you set as your DNS addresses
Since this seems to affect phones only, then my guess would be that they are holding onto a connection to one of your access points when they have moved out of range of it and the connection is not so great, hence turning off WiFi forces them to reconnect when they get the strongest ap from their current position.
Funnily enough I'm having a similar issue with phones on a Deco mesh at home too. The frustration is it worked fine, seamlessly even, til a couple of months ago; then I reset the whole network and set it up from scratch again and now the mesh isn't quite so seamless. So I'll be watching this thread with interest
Isn't it frustrating when someone opens a thread, people try to help, then they go AWOL?
I don't believe it's an ios related problem, but recently had to disable wifi6 because of a router to android problem and the symptoms sounded similar to yours, as in lot of things worked fine, but in app content on phones was partial or missing mostly. Not sure if a similar problem has surfaced in ios as it's a communication timeout between the phone and the router.
Similar set up here. Resolved by changing/turning off a security setting on the family iPhones (also 13s). I’ll have a search but it was the phone trying to be too clever for its age. Occured mostly after being connected to an external Wi-Fi (work) then coming home and it just not connecting. No issues with my iphone16. Also finding that with Virgin I get 500mb from the hub, but any deco extender gives me max 100mb….and that’s on a good day. The Virgin signal is so good I now only use one extender for the garage Zwift set up.
Since this seems to affect phones only, then my guess would be that they are holding onto a connection to one of your access points when they have moved out of range of it and the connection is not so great,
This makes sense except I haven’t moved and the phone still shows a full WiFi signal and everything other than internet still works.
If they are able to see other devices on the LAN and not the Internet this suggests a gateway issue. Do any of the APs have a gateway configured on them which, if it is incorrect, will prevent Internet access when connected to these APs. When the internet is working check the WiFi settings on the phone and compare them to when it is not working (Settings/WiFi/"i" icon). Look specifically for the "Router" address to compare.
Nothing configured any differently on any of the units.
I’ll check to see if the router address disappears / changes 👍
are all the devices on a dhcp address lease? what have you set as your DNS addresses
I’m not sure what your first question means… There aren’t any fixed IP addresses set and the Decos should be handling DHCP.
DNS is the Virgin one 194.168.4.100 and I’ve tried Google which made no difference.
I don't believe it's an ios related problem, but recently had to disable wifi6 because of a router to android problem and the symptoms sounded similar to yours, as in lot of things worked fine, but in app content on phones was partial or missing mostly. Not sure if a similar problem has surfaced in ios as it's a communication timeout between the phone and the router.
ipv6? That appears to be disabled.
deco extender gives me max 100mb….and that’s on a good day. The Virgin signal is so good I now only use one extender for the garage Zwift set up.
That may be because the Deco you have only has a 100 mbit port... When fibre came to here, I spent a few weeks doing IT support for others who had 100 meg routers. They were complaining about speed, but it wasn't the ISPs fault!
When I had to rebuild our six node deco from scratch (which is a massive pain especially as I have to spoof a mac address for thje ISP side), it actually fixed a problem with the TV losing WiFi. All seems a bit of a lottery.
Similar set up here. Resolved by changing/turning off a security setting on the family iPhones (also 13s). I’ll have a search but it was the phone trying to be too clever for its age. Occured mostly after being connected to an external Wi-Fi (work) then coming home and it just not connecting. No issues with my iphone16. Also finding that with Virgin I get 500mb from the hub, but any deco extender gives me max 100mb….and that’s on a good day. The Virgin signal is so good I now only use one extender for the garage Zwift set up.
I have had a play about with some of the phone security settings but I’ll try switching off everything and see if it improves.
Regarding your speed issues - mine dropped to 100Mb/s on one of my units and it turned out to be a dodgy cable. New cable sorted it and I never get any speed issues (assuming the connection is still working!)
Might be a DHCP lease renewal issue where the lease runs out but the phone doesn't ask to renew it when it should or something similar.
Have you tried increasing the lease time (if available) or you may have the option to always assign the same IP addy to those phones.
Might be a DHCP lease renewal issue where the lease runs out but the phone doesn't ask to renew it when it should or something similar.
Have you tried increasing the lease time (if available) or you may have the option to always assign the same IP addy to those phones.
No option to change the lease time I don’t think. I can try setting a static ip and see if it makes any difference.
ipv6? That appears to be disabled.
Hah, yep, not WiFi6, I should have re-read my comment, sorry I couldn't be more helpful!
Also finding that with Virgin I get 500mb from the hub, but any deco extender gives me max 100mb….and that’s on a good day.
Hang on, let me just find my teeny-tiny violin...
No option to change the lease time I don’t think. I can try setting a static ip and see if it makes any difference
👍
Is that a life choice or no choice?
I recall IHN not being a million miles from me in the Cambridgeshire area, Fibre arrived the week before Christmas 2025, despite being a ride out of 'Silicon Fen'! Before this it was copper only and if you are too far from an exchange you get minimal speeds.
12.34 does feel too consecutive to be real though!
The answer to no fibre is Starlink - works amazingly.
As per OceanSkipper. If you can see internal devices on your phone then it's not a WiFi issue as such. Is odd that you can't see external internet resources at the same time.
On your iPhone can you change the DNS server to the Google or other external one on the WiFi settings. Means your phone won't be able to access internal stuff but a good step to help identify the issue.
Additionally you don't have any time or bandwidth limits on Mac or IP addresses on the router do you? May be that it's cutting internet access based on the above and when you reconnect you get a new IP address and most devices will/can allocate a random MAC to avoid tracking on public WiFi. I think it's under Private WiFi Address in settings for the WiFi network on your phone.
Isn't it frustrating when someone opens a thread, people try to help, then they go AWOL?
Perhaps they haven't toggled their wifi yet.
My money is on phone staying on a particular AP that isn't connecting to router properly
"My money is on phone staying on a particular AP that isn't connecting to router properly"
But if that was the case you shouldn't be able to access any internal devices on the phone either
Although saying that I was connected to 4G 30 miles away from home and was able to stream to my home speaker using Spotify. So may be worth disabling 4/5G and seeing if you have the same issue. As I know my Android phone will fall back to that whilst still connected to WiFi if the WiFi doesn't give me internet access. I assume iPhones do similar.
For a quick and dirty test can you screen mirror or whatever it is on iPhones from your phone to the TV when the internet access stops working on your phone. That will confirm if you can access internal devices.
Is odd that you can't see external internet resources at the same time.
It just sounds like the TP link wifi AP is losing its connection to the Virgin hub/modem, or the virgin modem is dropping its connection to the internet.
Check the log on the modem and the router if it has one, see if there are any messages about links dropping.
Record the IPs of the TP link wifi AP, the virgin hub/modem and next time there's a problem start a ping -t * going to those two addresses and 8.8.8.8 from a device on the Wifi connection.
- If TP link + modem work, but 8.8.8.8 doesn't: probably modem has lost internet connection
- If TP link works, but modem and 8.8.8.8 don't: TP link has lost connection to the modem somehow (or modem has crashed)
- If none work: something is wrong with the tp link wifi AP
- If all three work: **** knows, probably DNS is dead or there's a routing problem at the ISP
(* assuming you have a laptop with wifi to hand, otherwise you could use a ping app on the phone. A traceroute would also work but the results can be hard to interpret)
"My money is on phone staying on a particular AP that isn't connecting to router properly"
But if that was the case you shouldn't be able to access any internal devices on the phone either
Can you tell it's friday lol... I was thinking more a lack of default gateway on the AP, type issue but worded it poorly lol.
Just fed your initial query into Gemini and this is what it thinks...
This is a frustratingly common issue with TP-Link Deco systems and iPhones, often nicknamed the "ghost connection." Because your Sonos and printer remain accessible, we know the local network (WiFi) is staying alive, but the routing between the Deco and the internet is stalling specifically for your mobile devices.
Since your Virgin Hub is in Modem Mode and the Deco is your router, the issue usually stems from how the Deco handles "handshaking" with Apple’s aggressive power-saving and privacy features.
Here are the most effective fixes, ranked from "quickest" to "most technical":
1. Disable "Private Wi-Fi Address" (The Most Likely Culprit)
iPhones use a feature called "Private Wi-Fi Address" which Spoofs a different MAC address for your phone. This often confuses mesh systems during a "hand-off" between nodes, causing the internet to drop while the signal stays full.
On your iPhone: Go to Settings > Wi-Fi.
Tap the (i) next to your home network.
Toggle Private Wi-Fi Address to OFF.
Note: This is safe to do for your own home network; it just gives the Deco a consistent ID for your phone.
2. Disable "Fast Roaming" in the Deco App
While "Fast Roaming" (802.11r) sounds like a good thing, many iPhones (especially when moving between nodes) fail to complete the security handshake correctly, leading to a "Connected, no Internet" state.
Open the Deco App > More > Advanced.
Find Fast Roaming and toggle it OFF.
Many users find this solves the intermittent dropping immediately without affecting speed.
3. Change DNS Servers
Sometimes the Deco’s default DNS (which usually points back to the Virgin Hub) hangs. Forcing the network to use Google or Cloudflare DNS can bypass these "pauses."
In the Deco App: More > Advanced > IPv4 > DNS.
Change it from "Auto" to Manual.
Primary DNS: 8.8.8.8 (Google)
Secondary DNS: 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare)
4. Switch to WPA2-AES Security
If your Deco is set to "WPA2/WPA3" (Mixed Mode), iPhones sometimes struggle when they try to negotiate the higher WPA3 security and fail.
In the Deco App: More > Wi-Fi Settings.
Change Security to WPA2-PSK (AES) only. This is highly stable for the iPhone 13 series.
5. Check for a "Signal Overlap"
You mentioned your house isn't large but has 5 Deco units (1x X10 and 4x S7). This is actually a very high density. If nodes are too close together, your iPhone may "ping-pong" between two units constantly because the signals are equally strong.
The Test: Try turning off two of the S7 units for a day.
If the drops stop, it means you had "too much" WiFi, and your phone was getting stuck in a roaming loop.
Would you like me to guide you through how to check if your iPhone is "ping-ponging" between two specific Deco nodes using the app?
Thanks all.
Some things to try.
Now I don’t want to anger anyone else but I’ve just gone away on holiday so won’t actually be able to test these things out. But I will definitely try and report back in a couple of weeks.
Cheers!
How old is the Virgin Hub. 3 or earlier have a problem with the Puma chip fault that is an absolute pain in modem mode. Change DNS to Cloudfare on the Deco (1.1.1.1 & 1.0.0.1). If you wish to annoy your partner then a Pi-Hole with Bind running will remove a lot of ads and break sponsored links (this is the annoying bit) and there a USS Enterprise theme for the Pi-Hole controls too.
Is that a life choice or no choice?
Well, I guess it's a choice about where we want to live, which is slightly remote, but not very. We're a whole one mile from the A6 corridor south of Manchester
I recall IHN not being a million miles from me in the Cambridgeshire area,
Nope, I'm near Stockport/Macclesfield.
The full FTTP connection is 'coming soon'. In fact, the loop of cable has been hanging on the telegraph pole by our drive for coming on four years, teasing us...
To be honest, I think we're waiting ages as we're kind of stuck in a grey area between 'normal' urban/suburban places that get FTTP upgrades easily cos there's loads of people needing it and you can do loads at once, and places that are properly remote that get prioritised because they're properly remote.
The answer to no fibre is Starlink - works amazingly.
Except that See You Next Tuesday will never get a penny of mine.