After trying a few different things on the current hardware, along with putting OpenWRT on the AP’s, I am still not able to get any clear evidence on to what is happening. I am down now to only the “front door” camera that has issues with frequent disconnects. It’s signal to the AP is very strong through, 85% or more at times. I doesn’t seem like a signal issue, more a matter of Wifi settings.
I’m down to a hardware failure in the one AP or just congestion in the area and the TP-Link hardware does not perform well in highly congested areas.
Not sure if there are wifi settings I should look into changing to help with disconnects or help it navigate this busy network.
I mean it’s only WiFi after all, if you’re working with a bit of congestion in the air, and happen to have smart sockets, sensors iot stuff, Bluetooth, and things that all likes talking over 2.4GHz … once in a while you’re going to have 5s or 10s hickups…
depending on software in the client, and in the AP these hickups may cause disconnects.
I’ve had a lot better luck with Ubiquiti Unifi stuff on 2.4 … but prefer to use 5GHz where possible for anything that needs more bandwidth than a button. Only camera that’s 2.4 for me is my nest hello wired doorbell camera (because stupid Google geofences 5GHz in Europe for outdoor cameras because different regulatory approval might be required for DFS, according to product counsel probably, or some such weird thing) and that’s the only thing I have on 2.4 that might require any measurable bandwidth constantly. Laptops, phones, other cameras, TVs and whatever that’s all on a separate 5GHz SSID just to give this one a chance, and it works ok, I’d need to check how often it reconnects, but I don’t really notice.
If I were buying new cameras for myself today, and wanted to record to my own storage, I’d go with ethernet connected low light capable, like for example: Annke NC400 or NC800 ; and would setup Frigate NVR for object recognition and notifications.
For sure if I had my own place I’d go with wired cameras. The downside of a rental. Ya know. I’m gonna try and return this one AP for another one and see if it’s a hardware defect. After taking it out of commission and setting up another AP in its place, the problems don’t seem to be around for now. Fingers crossed.