Warning: The solutions offered in this article require using the advanced features of your wifi router. Be sure you are comfortable using these features before trying any of these solutions.
If your devices are continually falling offline, the problem is almost always related to poor wifi connectivity caused by signal fluctuations, channel congestion or data loss. In rare cases, however, this can be caused by settings in your router.
This article will provide several possible solutions that involve adjusting various router settings.
Things to try first
- Check for low upload speeds. To determine whether or not the problem is caused by poor upload speed, run a speed test to determine if your network can support Ring devices.
Click here for more information on running a speed test.
- Check for poor signal strength. A poor wifi signal can cause connectivity with your Ring device to be unreliable. Check the Device Health section of your Ring application to ensure the device’s RSSI is within an acceptable range. The recommended range for optimal performance is 0 to -60 for the RSSI.
Click here to learn more about RSSI.
Click here to learn more about how to make wifi work for you.
- Router reboot. If your networking equipment hasn’t been power cycled in a while, try unplugging it for 30 seconds and plugging it back in.
Suggested router setting adjustments if your devices repeatedly falling offline
Once you have verified that none of the above are the cause of your issue, try the following suggestions one at a time. Try to set up your device again as you finish each suggestion to see if it worked.
- Adjust your router channel. Wireless networks utilise different channels for communication. The 2.4 GHz band uses channels 1-11 within the United States and 1-13 in some other countries. The 5 GHz band utilises select channels through 36 and channel 165. In some cases, setting up your Ring device(s) can fail due to wireless interference or congestion.
- If you are receiving a message that the network cannot be found or is too far away when connecting devices to the 2.4 GHz frequency, it could be due to this congestion. We recommend switching your router’s channel to 1, 6, or 11 as they do not overlap other channels.
- Make sure your device is 5 GHz compatible if you're connecting to a 5 GHz network. You can also try connecting to a 2.4 GHz network first, then switching to a % GHz network.
- Change the name of your 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks so you can tell them apart easily.
- A wifi analyser application can be used on Android devices, or sometimes within your router, to evaluate which channels have the most congestion. We recommend doing this when you are experiencing setup problems, poor audio and/or video quality, or delays with notifications.
- Adjust your DHCP lease time. The average home router will have a lease time of 8-24 hours. Every time the lease renews, there’s a chance your devices will be assigned a different IP address and fall offline for a period of time as a result. To resolve this, you can set a longer lease time, give the device a reserved IP address, or set it up with a static IP.
Open up your Ring device’s ability to communicate
- Create a DHCP reservation. A DHCP reservation is a permanent IP address assignment that is reserved for the use of one device. Using the Mac ID listed on the back of your Ring device or on the box, create a DHCP reservation to ensure that every time your Ring device connects to your router, it will be given the same address.
Note: there are many different terms for this option; please check your router’s manual to be sure.
- Set a static IP. You can also set a static IP during the setup process in the Ring application.
Note: Ensure the address you provide is outside the range of your DHCP server in order to prevent an IP conflict.
Encryption/SSID and password changes
Once you have verified that neither your internet connection nor your wifi password are the cause of your issue, try the following suggestions. Try to set up your device again as you finish to see if it worked.
- Verify that you're using the optimal wireless settings on your router
- Change the encryption type to WPA2. While Ring devices are compatible with WPA, WEP, and WPA2 security protocols, we strongly recommend using WPA2 for the most secure connection and broadest compatibility. WEP encryption is the oldest and least secure of these options and, for your safety, we do not recommend using it with Ring devices.
- Check your SSID. Check the SSID (name) of your network. If your SSID has special characters or blank spaces before or after the name, rename the network to something simpler. Unusual characters or spaces in the SSID can cause problems during setup.
Note: When changing the encryption type, your other wireless devices will need to be reconnected to your network using the new SSID and Password. Don’t forget to write that down somewhere safe for future use!
