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I am running into a weird issue with my WIFI/internet setup. I have a router and a NETGEAR extender that I am connecting with through a thick wall.

Unfortunately, about once every 2h, I can't use the internet anymore. I am on NixOS and network manager shows that I am still connected to the extender WIFI (that is the Gnome network manager applet shows an active WIFI connection), but opening a website doesn't work anymore, I can't ping anything not even the router, and open Google meets stop instantly.

I can fix this with a nmcli connection down XXX && nmcli connection up command which takes 8-9 seconds.

Now the very weird thing is that recently I had a zoom call open in the zoom desktop application and it continued to work although the rest of the computer didn't have internet access anymore.

I have a few questions regarding this:

  • How is it possible to be connected to the WIFI, according to network-manager, but not able to ping the default Gateway? What does a deconnect && reconnect do so that the state differs? I have already deactivated DHCP and moved to a fixed IP because I thought that might have an influence.
  • Is there a faster way to refresh a connection instead of a full nmcli connection down && nmcli connection up?
  • How can a zoom call stay active when I can't even ping the default gateway anymore?

Thanks for your thoughts, ideas and help

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  • 0) too many questions for only one post. 1) why not? the GW may not be pingable. 2) try ifconfig wlo1 down and up but it can be worst 3) Look here for ports and fixed IPs used by zoom (in case DNS was down it can continue started sessions, or maybe start new ones) and again if GW is not pingable yes.
    – Hastur
    Feb 15, 2021 at 17:38
  • Without more information about the router, computer, IP addresses (including the gateway) etc. it's impossible to give any answer that is not a guess.
    – harrymc
    Feb 16, 2021 at 9:16

2 Answers 2

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+25
  • How is it possible to be connected to the WIFI, according to network-manager, but not able to ping the default Gateway?
    • Your computer is showing your connection to the extender but the default gateway is the router. It sounds like there is an issue with the connection between the extender and the router.
  • What does a deconnect && reconnect do so that the state differs? I have already deactivated DHCP and moved to a fixed IP because I thought that might have an influence.
    • The reconnect is likely prompting the extender to re-negotiate its connection to the router. DHCP vs static IP is unlikely to make a difference here. Even if the DHCP lease expired, unless another device connected and got that IP address, the computer would just re-request the same IP from DHCP once it re-established connection to the router.
  • Is there a faster way to refresh a connection instead of a full nmcli connection down && nmcli connection up?
    • If I'm correct that the extender is the actual source of the problem, there might be a way to prompt the extender to re-establish its connection without first dropping the connection between the computer and the extender. I'd check the extender settings for things related to keepalives or a way to reset its connection to the router.
  • How can a zoom call stay active when I can't even ping the default gateway anymore?
    • This one is a mystery to me.
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  • The last question in the bullet point is what convinced me to put a bounty onto it, as I experienced a similar issue but with different applications. But great answers otherwise.
    – Phoenix
    Feb 17, 2021 at 17:47
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    @Phoenix I could see potential situations where established connections remain open but there are challenges creating new connections, such as what Hastur mentioned in his comment about DNS being down. I don't know enough details about either the exact situation or networking nitty-gritty to even make an educated guess about what's causing Zoom to still work in this case though.
    – DavidP
    Feb 17, 2021 at 19:51
  • @DavidP I remember a time when Skype wasn't Microsoft and the connection with the provider wasn't flat yet. Back then It was necessary to connect to a web page in the provider's intranet to start or close the connection. Only once the connection was open, you were allowed to establish connections with websites and via skype. Once closed, connections with internet sites were impossible, even knowing the numeric IP ... but the ones started via Skype remained open. The firewall handled connections differently depending on the ports... There are fixed IP and ports used by Zoom, link above.
    – Hastur
    Feb 18, 2021 at 0:39
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How can a zoom call stay active when I can't even ping the default gateway anymore?

Whatever mix-up happened with routing the pings to the gateway, this doesn't affect connections that were established before this problem happened.

Therefore Zoom, ftp, download, or any other long-term connection will continue to work even though newer connections may fail.

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