Printers do not stay connected to Spectrum WiFi router
I have two WiFi printers, Brother MFC-J9850W and Epson ET-2803, which drop their connection daily from my Spectrum internet service. Both worked fine with AT&T U-Verse but since switching to Spectrum they drop from the network (can’t ping, can’t print, and can’t discover). I can reboot the Spectrum router and they come back online and everything works well immediately afterward. But after some period of idleness during the day, they drop again. Needless to say it’s very irritating to reboot my router daily to be able to print. I have no issues with any other devices - computers, mobile devices, Ring doorbell, thermostats, and even WiFi irrigation system - only the printers. I even borrowed a Canon printer briefly and it had the same behavior. I’ve set IP reservations for the printers and it had no effect. Haven’t found anything that seems to make a difference. I’ve seen numerous postings of printer issues with Spectrum but none seem to conclusively resolve the issue.
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Just curious about the extent to which they "drop their connection". When it happens: 1. do the network parameters via the printer's built-in console show it disconnected from the WLAN? 2. does the router no longer show it connected? 3. are you no longer able to pull up the printer's embedded webapp via the browser on the laptop? 4. does it echo when you ping it? 5. does the printer software on the laptop show it disconnected? 6. does power cycling the printer and quitting and relaunching the printer software on the laptop re-establish connectivity between them?
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- No, the printers WiFi indicators still shows as though they’re connected to the WiFi. IP address and all other parameters appear to be normal from the printers’ displays.
- Correct, the router doesn’t show them connected. It does show them as devices that were once connected.
- No, can’t reach anything on the printer from any computers.
- No, says destination can’t be reached.
- Yes, it says the printers aren’t connected.
- No, only if I power cycle the router.
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OK. Thanks for the update! Are the firmware, drivers, and software all up to date?
🔗 ↳
🔗 : Downloads
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P.S.: if the firmware, drivers and software are all up to snuff, then all i can figure is that the 802.11 2.4-GHz b/g/n/ax service set of the wireless router is just not backwards compatible enough for those 802.11 2.4-GHz b/g/n printers. First thing i'd try to assuage the idiosyncrasy would be to notch the standard mode of the wireless router 2.4-GHz service set down to b/g/n or, better yet, simply g/n. If you can't do that, then i'd swap out the router with Spectrum, and then, if you get the same results with the swap-out, either upgrade the printer or else replace the router with one of your own that allows you to do that.
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Yeah firmware is all the latest. As far as buying another printer, not sure what that will gain. I bought the Epson thinking my Brother was old and possibly incompatible only to find out the Epson has the same issue. So it’s kind of a crapshoot in guessing I’d another printer will work. Unfortunately the router provides very limited ability to modify its settings so I can’t adjust anything related to the 2.4GHz settings. Seeing others having related issues but described differently, I don’t suspect changing the router will help. There seems to be a general problem between Spectrum routers and WiFi printers. And I did have my own router briefly when switching from AT&T but it caused connection problems with the TV service.
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I have exactly the same issue. My hp printers drop their connections after a time of non-use. I have to re-boot everything to use
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Same problem with HP. So, I tried a Canon instead and I had to reboot the router to get the printer installed. It was able to get a valid IP address, but wasn't visible.
This is a defect in the router. One should NEVER have to reboot a router to get a device to connect to it. Spectrum needs to beat on their supplier to fix it.0 -
me toooo! I have an HP Envy 6055 and every time I want to print something I have unplug the printer or reconfigure my printer and go through all the setup to connect the printer to my internet again. It’s so annoying. Even though the printer shows on the display panel that it’s connected. Has anyone found any solutions??
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Hi & welcome!
Please try checking out this link: Features of the Spectrum Advanced Wi-Fi Router
Our advanced WiFi routers have a feature called band steering, which allows you to open the router to for a limited time to only the 2.4gHz channel so you can connect 2g devices. Once connected, the devices will stay connected. For detailed instructions, scroll down on the link and look for Set up Smart Devices (2.4 GHz).
Let us know how it goes and let us know if you have any other questions.
Thanks!
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So far that seems to have improved the situation somewhat. I changed modes as instructed and rejoined the printers. It didn’t work even after a printer reboot so I rebooted the router while still in 2.4 mode. The printers then showed up as they usually do. The new Epson printer, however, fell off the network a couple hours later. After a day the old Brother printer is still connected. So it appears it helped with the older printer. I’ll try some more with the Epson and see if I can get it going.
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Eventually the Brother printer fell off though it did last a couple days. Couldn’t get the Epson to ever stay up. So while that fix extended the time one printer remained available, ultimately they still fell off the network.
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Just for extra information, I repeated the process again, this time rebooting the router first and completely clearing and reconnecting the network on the printers. Both printers were no longer able to be contacted after a day. So it doesn’t appear this procedure really helped at all.
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- Disable UPnP on the router and then reboot it and then re-enable UPnP just to make sure it's alive and kicking.
- Enable UPnP aka Network Discovery on the laptop.
- Next time it happens, just for troubleshooting, before doing anything else, run the firmware update check directly via the printer control panel just to get an idea of whether the printer still has Internet connectivity, and then furthermore connect the laptop to the router via Ethernet, temporarily disable Wi-Fi on the laptop, verify local network connectivity via Ethernet by, for example, pinging the local IP address of another device on the local network, and then see if the printer software on the laptop then shows connectivity with the printer and let us know what you find out.
🔗https://www.spectrum.net/support/internet/advanced-wifi-advanced-settings
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New to Spectrum Internet with WiFi and I have recurring issue as well during the first 3 weeks of service. After printer is idle for a period of time, the WiFi router just loses it. Often I can power cycle the printer and the router will re-discover, but not always. A support call to Spectrum was fruitless. The tech switched my printer from the 5 GHz network to the 2.4 GHz network to no avail. Then he declared it must be the printer and I need to reach out to Canon. I couldn’t print any for the rest of that day. The next day, it was printing fine again. This is a Canon business printer with latest firmware and never experienced this issue in 3 years on AT&T Uverse with WiFi. Clearly a printer protocol or port issue on Spectrum’s network that they won’t admit to.
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Hi @SSBN625, welcome to our community!
I'm sorry to see you're having similar issues. @HT_Greenfield had some good suggestions, including adjusting UPnP settings and checking your printer control panel to see if it's disconnected from WiFi, connected with no internet, etc. I do also think contacting the router manufacturer would be good, if there's some kind of protocol or port issue like you've suggested they may be able to recommend a port to forward or router setting to adjust. I suspect it may be an issue with our routers band steering function which helps your device determine if the 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz, or 6Ghz network is optimal. You could get your own router to test/resolve the issue if this is the case.0 -
I tried the UPnP settings recommendation. The printers are able to check for a firmware update so it appears from the printers’ perspectives they are still connected to the network while I still can’t reach them from any computers on the network. When plugging in hardwired (note the only Ethernet ports are on the router itself) I get the same behavior as connected wireless. I cannot find the printers and cannot ping them. I can ping other devices without issue. As to the comment preceding this, I alluded to it earlier in the chain that the printers will work with my own router and even just a range extender if they connect to it, but the TVs using a Xumo box experience service interruptions - specifically buffering regularly as I expect there’s either interference, incompatibility, or confusion on the connection point by the devices so that’s not a sufficient solution.
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My thanks and compliments to you for that, @Hispeedg8r. Lousy but not too terribly uncommon of an idiosyncrasy now of days between various makes and models of printers and wireless routers: 2.4-GHz-only 802.11n printer loses app layer if not media access control layer local networking connectivity on 2.4-GHz service set of 802.11ax router. No hugie, just:
- Connect the printer to router via Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi and forget about it, or…
- Use the printer's own built-in 802.11n stand-alone ad hoc Wi-Fi Direct access point instead of connecting the printer to the router at all, or…
- Swap the router out at your friendly neighborhood Spectrum store and hopefully the replacement will be of a more accommodating hardware or firmware version, or…
- Replace the router with one of your own and then, if you get the same idiosyncrasy, no sweat, just change the standard op mode of the 2.4-GHz service of your router to just "g/n" (instead of e.g. "b/g/n/ax" or "g/n/ax".)
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