Wi-Fi driver crashes and and Bluetooth disappearing on multiple devices

[Ati]

I’m experiencing a consistent and reproducible Wi-Fi issue that appears to be related to the Bell Giga Hub / Giga Hub 2

A few months ago, my phone started randomly losing Wi-Fi, and shortly after that Bluetooth disappeared as well.

Rebooting did not help. At the time, the issue was intermittent and difficult to diagnose.

Last week, I received a new Giga Hub 2. After installing it, my laptop also started experiencing the same issue.

I contacted Bell, and they sent a technician to my home.

The technician replaced the Giga Hub 2 with another brand-new unit, but the problem remained exactly the same.

What I have confirmed:

• As soon as my laptop connects to the Bell Wi-Fi, the Wi-Fi driver crashes
• Windows repeatedly retries connecting
• Eventually, Windows disables Wi-Fi completely
• Bluetooth disappears at the same time (shared chipset)
• Rebooting temporarily restores connectivity, but the issue returns
• The same devices show the same behavior, even after a full modem replacement
• The same affected devices work properly when connected to other Wi-Fi networks; the issue only occurs when they connect to the Bell Giga Hub or Giga Hub 2

I’m confident this is not a device issue, but rather a modem firmware or Wi-Fi behavior issue.

Has anyone else experienced:

• Wi-Fi driver crashes after connecting to a Giga Hub / Giga Hub 2
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth disappearing together on client 

Please note: suggestions to reboot, restart, or factory-reset devices are not helpful, as these steps have already been tried multiple times and do not resolve the issue.

[Vanadiel]

If the home hub has been replaced, and the symptoms stay, the most likely conclusion is the issue is with the laptop.

If the driver crashed, there should be an entry in the event viewer for that crash: Event viewer 

[Ati]

As mentioned above, this issue does not occur when the same devices connect to a different Wi-Fi modem. The problem only appears when they connect to the Bell Giga Hub or Giga Hub 2, which strongly indicates a firmware-related issue with these modems.

[carmen1]

having the same problem reboot de modem many many times worked for few minutes and down again. Talked to Bell support and they asked todo it 3x and still the same problem.  The technician will come to check the problem.

[BellPatricia]

Hi there @Ati & @carmen1. Thanks for posting in the Bell community 🙂

@Ati Are you still experiencing this issue now?

@carmen1 How did everything go with the technician, were they able to resolve this on site or provide additional feedback?

@BellPatricia 

[Ati]

Hi @BellPatricia ,

I’m still experiencing the issue, and my nest doorbell camera is also affected. It goes offline for several hours at a time, and I have no way to restart it remotely.

I also forgot to mention that when the technician visited, we tested my old Giga Hub 4000 and my computer worked fine. As soon as we switched to the Giga Hub 2, the issue started again on my computer.

Please let me know if you need any logs from my computer or other connected devices.

[Ati]

Hi @BellPatricia 

I made several changes to the Wi-Fi configuration on the Giga Hub 2 and would like to share the results.

First, I disabled the Guest Wi-Fi.
I also disabled the Whole Home Wi-Fi setting for the primary Wi-Fi network.
In addition, I turned off the option “Keep a common network name (SSID) and password across all bands (recommended)” so I could assign different SSIDs to each supported band (2.4 GHz, 5.0 GHz, and 6.0 GHz).

After applying these changes, I tested the different bands using multiple devices: two Samsung Galaxy phones, two Windows-based laptops, a MacBook Pro, a Google Nest doorbell, several Google speakers, and a few IoT devices (lights, switches, etc.).

As expected, each device was able to see different Wi-Fi networks. Both Samsung Galaxy phones detected all three networks. One laptop detected all three bands, while the other could only see the 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz networks.

During testing, I noticed that when all three networks were available, devices would randomly lose connectivity and require a Wi-Fi driver restart or manual reconnection. I also observed that the 6.0 GHz network would randomly disappear from the list, and any device connected to it would become unresponsive.

After running multiple tests, I found that turning off the 6.0 GHz band while keeping the 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz networks enabled significantly reduced connection and reconnection issues. This leads me to suspect that the problem may be specific to the 6.0 GHz mode.

I was able to stabilize the Wi-Fi by turning off the shared SSID option, assigning a different name to each band, and turning off the 6.0 GHz band. However, this workaround introduces new issues. Some IoT devices only support 2.4 GHz, so I have to switch networks to manage them from my laptop or phone. Additionally, the Bell Wi-Fi app asks me to select a default network name between the two remaining SSIDs, which is inconvenient.

I would appreciate it if a permanent solution could be identified so I don’t have to rely on this workaround long term, as it limits the use of the Giga Hub 2 features that were initially promised.

[BellPatricia]

Hey there @Ati 

Thanks for getting back to us, and for the additional testing you have done.

We would like to review this a bit more and have sent you a private message. Please check your Messages within your profile avatar in the top right corner.

Unsure how to check or send a private message? See How to send a private message

@BellPatricia