DL16S Wifi Signal cuts in and out

[benwades]

Hey Guys,

Winter of 2018 I bought the DL16S and a new iPad 9.7" 32GB Wi-Fi Only (2018 Model, 6th Generation, MR7F2LL/A).  I had a heck of time setting it up and getting it figured out.  It seemed very buggy.  Then the firmware happened and lots of things were fixed thank goodness!  But I've been kind of waiting this out the past year on the wifi signal issue to see if anything comes of it. So far it's been crickets.... 

So our band has practice once a week and almost every week we have wifi signal that cuts in and out still.  I did get it more stable at times by following these steps:

1. turning on the DL16S first (with it off before)...let it sit/load for 1 minute
2. power up the IPAD
3. make sure MackieDL16S ssid is connected via wifi
4. Then wait another minute or so and then load up master fader 5 APP and connect the DL16S.

Following those steps I sometimes get the wifi connection more stable.  But lately it hasn't mattered as much and the Wifi still kicks in and out. Since our levels are set i just ignore it but this is just not cool imo.

Is anyone else having this issue and found a fix?  I know it's been an issue but I'd love to find an iron clad solution.  I'm going to also ask Mackie and Sweetwater where i bought the DL16S but they're usually not too much of any help.  Maybe they will be now that over a year has passed.

[WK154]

What you're experiencing is what all embedded WiFi units have depending on your environment. The only way to have peace is to add a external router that is current (min ac spec or ax) or go wired.. No Apple router products please.

[pytchley]

WK you're letting your anti apple prejudice get in the way of good advice. I've had my 1608 since they came out and bought an Apple Express router at the same time, i've done hundreds and hundreds of gigs with it, zero problems, zero grief. I bought a second one as a spare and have yet to use it.

[WK154]

Not really since Apple got out of the router business support will be gone soon. Their product was not up to the standards anyway. Why would I recommend a antique that doesn't meet today's issues?

[DigtheDL]

I also paired an Apple Express with my DL1608 which I bought when they first came out.  It's worked great.  Zero problems. Lots of shows in all kind of environments.  And if they're being discontinued you might get one cheap.

[stevegarris]

The Airport Express is rock solid with my DL as well. I've never needed support and never will. You can get them used for $50-$75. Highly recommended.

[WK154]

Look we all make mistakes and don't want to admit them but to suggest a 8 year old product is a good choice at this point in time is irresponsible. One thing I learned in the computer business is that if you snooze you loose. I worked on projects where failure was not a option such as nuclear weapons or battle communications gear or even commercial point of sale systems, all required 24/7/365 uptime. This is by no means at this level but technical issues during a gig may seem that way.
The Apple products were discontinued 3 years ago! Time to get current.

[DigtheDL]

"mistakes and don't want to admit them"?  "Irresponsible"?  "Nuclear Weapons"?  We're talking about a router right?  I mean you're funny, in a know it all mean spirited way, but how about giving the rest of us a break.  Let's see if you can use some self control and not add anymore responses to this thread.

[WK154]

"mistakes and don't want to admit them"?  "Irresponsible"?  "Nuclear Weapons"?  We're talking about a router right?  I mean you're funny, in a know it all mean spirited way, but how about giving the rest of us a break.  Let's see if you can use some self control and not add anymore responses to this thread.

So your our new self appointed judge and jury on this forum take a hike.

[Wynnd]

I get where you're coming from.  I also understand that Apple had good reason to walk away from the Wifi router business.  Whenever my airport express II dies, I will look for better at that time.  Pretty sure quality external WiFi might be available for $60.

[pytchley]

Not really since Apple got out of the router business support will be gone soon. Their product was not up to the standards anyway. Why would I recommend a antique that doesn't meet today's issues?

Because it works every time , always....

[stevegarris]

"mistakes and don't want to admit them"?  "Irresponsible"?  "Nuclear Weapons"?  We're talking about a router right?  I mean you're funny, in a know it all mean spirited way, but how about giving the rest of us a break.  Let's see if you can use some self control and not add anymore responses to this thread.

So your our new self appointed judge and jury on this forum take a hike.

Pot, meet kettle...

[JohnMHoyt]

I'm using an apple airport express in my production rack.  It's had several hundred performances in small venues with only a handful of failures.

HOWEVER, when we play for festival crowds in high RF environments with thousands of people, you can bet I'm NOT relying on that apple airport express!  I replace it with one of the more robust devices we sell at our business.  Cisco for instance.   Which I then use a directional antenna with.

I've learned my lesson, the hard way.

The little apple is prone to glitches, and it's horrible with a crowded spectrum and even worse when you have it sitting IN a rack.   It can lose signal on a large stage to iPads in front of the musicians.

It's also end of life, with zero updates.

WHY did I use it?   Especially when it's pretty well known that I don't love Apple like some of you?  Because it had the ability for me to stream audio for break music, or for weddings or cocktail hour, direct from an iPad, which I was using already for the Mackie.

But that has failed in the latest versions of IOS, causing more than one event to be absolutely ruined and serious embarrassment on my part.

Now I have switched to a bluetooth receiver and have zero problems, so now it's time to replace that apple airport express too.

Not hating on the device, just saying - it's time to let it go...    let it go... let it goooooo.........

One other thing I have in my rack that is cool is a TP-Link wireless bridge, which let's me turn on the hotspot on my phone, and provide internet access to all the iPads connected to the airport express...   So we can download a requested song.     

Maybe I can find a decent device that has powerful wireless with removable antenna, a firewall/router and ability to bridge wireless to my hot spot (I know, I could use a wifi dongle, but I don't want to pay for that when I only need it once a month)... 

[Wynnd]

Guess I must have been lucky as my Airport Express II has always worked just fine, even with an outdoor crowd of 4000 people on MLK day.  I do hook up on 5Ghz but was walking line of sight 130 feet away.

[JohnMHoyt]

Guess I must have been lucky as my Airport Express II has always worked just fine, even with an outdoor crowd of 4000 people on MLK day.  I do hook up on 5Ghz but was walking line of sight 130 feet away.

I've been luckier than a lot of my clients - I run an IT business providing IT consulting, sales and the like to small/medium businesses primarily and some enterprise applications.
Some of these businesses try to get by on a shoestring budget and they deploy less than adequate solutions, such as an Airport in a business environment.
When talking to them they say everything is great, except, jenny gets disconnected sometimes, and oh yeah, the entire wireless network "blipped" and everyone was off for a few minutes, but it's really not that big of a deal.

Then, it happens - a custom database application ends up getting totally whacked out and nobody can work.  All because one person dropped off the network during a big data move and it takes restoring a backup losing some data they already input for the day, or trying to fix the corrupted tables.

I put monitoring solutions in place and show them they are getting these glitches every day or two - it's not a lot, but it doesn't take much....
It comes down to an airport being the issue - it just stops pinging (on the wired network), or the radio resets or something and then the wireless just goes away for a few seconds.  Even right up on the device.
I had a service monitor on one once, and just happened to catch the signal vanishing.

This has happened with at least 20 clients of mine. It's always an airport... always.

We put a single AP in place from a brand such as Aruba, SonicWall, Cisco, even Ubiquiti and never another glitch - ever....


But these are businesses, I'm sure your typical home and maybe sound company doesn't care that much.

It's the same though with low end linksys, trendnet, tp-link, netgear, etc.  These are home systems and should not be on a business network.

We're all lucky to get anything that works at all on the budgets we have... hahaha