Google Rolling Out Fix For Wi-Fi Killing Bug

[rgMekanic]

In a post on a Google Home Help page, Google has announced they have identified the bug that was causing many users' router to be hammered with requests and subsequently freezing.

The post by Google is a bit confusing to me, while it's on the "Google Home Help" page, it says it's a bug for people with Android phones with Cast software. We first reported on this issue 3 days ago, and a fix coming out this quickly would be nice, the support page leaves me puzzled.

The team has identified the issue and is actively releasing a fix, which will start rolling out via a Google Play services update this Thursday, January 18. ln the meantime, try rebooting your Android phone, and check that your Wi-Fi router is running the most recent firmware version.

 

[Babbster]

This actually makes a lot of sense. I have neither Home nor Chromecast, but I do have an Android phone from which I occasionally cast and my router has been taking a dump on a fairly regular basis recently. I just assumed it was my ISP since I had changed nothing and, frankly, they're usually to blame.

 

[alxlwson]

Garbage home routers.
Get a proper gateway and some UBNT AP's.
Of course, not sending buggy firmware out helps the most.

 

[Axiomatic]

Garbage home routers.
Get a proper gateway and some UBNT AP's.
Of course, not sending buggy firmware out helps the most.

I'm with you. I have Ubiquiti WAP's and do not observe this issue with my Google Home. If you look at the controller though MDNS on/off is an option and its is OFF by default.

 

[toast0]

Yeah, I'm not sure what rebooting the phone will do, other than mostly waste people's time. It may drop any pending large queues of broadcast traffic, and possibly help trigger a Play Services update. Router firmware might help, if the new firmware adds something to block / rate limit broadcast/multicast, but I don't imagine most routers are going to add that, because it's hard.

The reality is broadcast on wifi uses up a lot of airtime, because it runs at max TX power and minimum data rate, so it causes more interference to neighboring signals as well as those on the same AP. You can fit maybe 500 broadcast packets per second. Google really fucked this up by queuing these mDNS broadcast packets while in sleep mode, and then dumping them all on the network at once.

 

[Babbster]

Yeah, I'm not sure what rebooting the phone will do, other than mostly waste people's time. It may drop any pending large queues of broadcast traffic, and possibly help trigger a Play Services update.

I believe that last was the point of the recommendation.

 

[thesmokingman]

I really hate that google cast shit.

 

[Mazzspeed]

The only issue I've experienced with this is the one where my daughters iPad keeps mistaking the Chromecast for a wifi access point and connecting to it out of the blue.

It's the end of the world when your child can't access the Internet.

 

[alxlwson]

The only issue I've experienced with this is the one where my daughters iPad keeps mistaking the Chromecast for a wifi access point and connecting to it out of the blue.

It's the end of the world when your child can't access the Internet.

Oh, I thought it meant you had a dumb child...

 

[blandead]

Garbage home routers.
Get a proper gateway and some UBNT AP's.
Of course, not sending buggy firmware out helps the most.

I have a Ubiquiti Unifi router and ap ac pro I switched to but the Wi-Fi still crapped out sometimes from congestion. Frequently using Chromecast from multiple Android devices but thought my isp was to blame (sometimes it was the isp)

I ended up creating various user profiles on the controller with different speed limits and assigned one to all Wi-Fi devices which fixed issue.

Wish Google fixed this a long time ago and save me all that hassle

 

[alxlwson]

I have a Ubiquiti Unifi router and ap ac pro I switched to but the Wi-Fi still crapped out sometimes from congestion. Frequently using Chromecast from multiple Android devices but thought my isp was to blame (sometimes it was the isp)

I ended up creating various user profiles on the controller with different speed limits and assigned one to all Wi-Fi devices which fixed issue.

Wish Google fixed this a long time ago and save me all that hassle

Ubiquiti's router is the EdgeRouter, which is not part of the Unifi ecosystem. Do you mean you have the USG?

 

[trparky]

It's the end of the world when your child can't access the Internet.

You need to teach your daughter how to fix stuff on her own. Connecting to the right WiFi and knowing which WiFi network to connect to should be common knowledge today and if you don't know how to do that, you need remedial tech classes.