I just upgraded my wireless home network to a modern mesh network, and the Companion app stopped working - as in it no longer connects while I’m on a ride.
My setup used to be a simple router and all devices either on a wired network or a 2.4 GHz wireless network broadcast by the router.
I kept the router (the connection and router is paid for by work) but installed 3x “TP-LINK Deco X55 AX3000 Whole Home Mesh WiFi 6 System” units around the house (all with Ethernet backhaul) and moved all my wireless devices to a new 5 GHz mesh network powered by the Deco units.
Everything is still on the same 192.168.1.* subnet, both wired and wireless, and the Deco units are in Access Point mode (AP mode).
The Companion app promptly stopped working when I moved my phone.
Since I had only moved my phone at the time it stopped working but not my Zwift computer then I bought a new wireless dongle for the computer, a “TP-LINK Archer T4U AC1300 Wireless Dual Band USB Adapter” and moved the computer as well to the 5 GHz mesh network.
The network on that computer is much better than it was before, but the Companion app kept not working; even if I set a connection preference on the Zwift computer to the nearest Deco unit and confirmed that my phone was also connected there at the time.
What’s the solution here? Or is this a bug in Zwift’s software or are wireless mesh networks are not supported?
Until recently I had my Zwift computer and ZCA tablet (Android) connected to a full mesh network, where the access point was being selected by both. I had no issues with that setup.
I would be playing with some of the Deco settings to see if you can fix it. For example, the Fast Roaming, or Mesh Technology settings. Anything that might interfere with the ability of the Companion app and the game to find each other automatically. I don’t have the ability to test that equipment myself so I’m just guessing that something about that system is interfering with the discovery process.
But I have no idea what that might be. I made no changes to the mesh setup except to set the mesh into AP mode. And before I started then I disabled the 5 GHz network on the router and then only configured a 5 GHz network on the mesh.
I did not configure a 2.4 GHz network on the mesh; and before I started then I disabled the 5 GHz network on the router.
I had the phone forget the 2.4 GHz network to make sure it would not fall back on that, and I have replaced the network card on the computer and the new one has no knowledge of the old 2.4 GHz network.
It’s not that. All that the Companion app needs is to be able to see the Zwift game app on the same network. For some reason your network is preventing that.
Tl;dr: The Zwift Companion’s network connection was mostly going via the mobile network after I installed the mesh, even if the phone was not dropping the mesh connection and other software seemed not affected.
Debugging: After getting confirmation here that this should work, I reviewed all settings, tested more and started to try and frame better what the problem might be. An obvious candidate was that old router that is still on the network and I have got it lined up to replace it but it was not the problem.
Observations: Before, on the old 2.4 GHz network, I did notice that the Companion app would sometimes drop out of the map, but it was neither frequent enough or long enough to bother me. I tested keeping the Companion app open on an entire ride on the new mesh network and did notice that it dropped in a few times. So the connection to the game client was not completely blocked, it was just very fragile now.
Background: I have Wi-Fi Assist enabled on my phone, since my old wireless network was bad with a very dark spot in my home office but there are excellent 4G/5G networks where I live. It was still not much used; I checked the statistics just earlier and it had only been used for 700 MB over the course of 2½ months (I last reset the statistics in mid Dec just before going on vacation). In all speedtests I did (against speedtest.net and speed.cloudflare.com) and checks for my external IP address then the external IP address of the router would always come up. I also always stream music on my phone while riding and so it would show up in the statistics if Spotify was routinely using Wi-Fi Assist.
Resolution: I disabled Zwift Companion’s access to the mobile network, forcing it to use the wireless network all the time, and the map popped immediately in and was super-stable on a hour long ride just now.
Why: Good question; somehow Zwift Companion seems “sensitive” and I’m not sure what mechanism it is using to discover where the game client is; of course before then the old 2.4 GHz network had the best signal in the garage (lots of concrete) but now the 4G/5G networks have the best signal in the garage even if the mesh network is fastest and most stable. Perhaps it has to do with short bursts of UDP packets and Zwift Companion is firing them to the “best” network or all networks. I’m just guessing here.
Bottomline is that even if the phone does not seem to the losing the network connection then behind the scenes apps can be switching briefly to the mobile network via Wi-Fi Assist and then Zwift Companion loses sight of the game client.
