Zwift keeps dropping the connection mid-ride. Last week I had one ride interrupted for 3 or 4 times for several seconds. Yesterday I was 1 mile from the finish, gobbling up the competition one by one, when the connection dropped. I’m hustling my ■■■■ off, but by avatar stopps pedaling and I register 0 watts. This is beyond frustrating and only started happening after the latest update. I’m using a MacBook (10.15.7) and Wahoo Kickr Core.
Sounds similar to what I am getting too with the same setup. Are you on ANT+ or BLE?
Are you sure that Zwift is losing your trainer signal, as opposed to something being wrong with the signal your trainer is transmitting? And are you running on WiFi, or hardwired? If WiFi, you might check to see if your router is set to us a fixed WiFi channel, or ‘best signal’. If not a specific channel, set it for channel 1 or 11 and see if the issue ceases, or not.
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How would you test for the quality of signal coming from the trainer?
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Good question. I suppose that you could try connecting to another virtual cycling app, if you have one, or possibly to the manufacturer app If the trainer itself has an issue (the first Core I had wasn’t transmitting any power), I would think the issue would persist across all platforms.
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You can also drop your log file onto Zwiftalizer.com to see if that highlights any ANT/Bluetooth issues.
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It could be a good idea to check in the Wahoo Fitness app if there is a firmware update for your trainer which you can install. Some of the connection issues are known to be linked to an out-of-date firmware version, across all trainers.
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BLE on my trainer, ANT+ for my HR monitor which, I believe, was still picked up. Honestly, I was so disturbed by the loss of power I don’t remember if my HR was still recording.
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I’m running WiFi and it would appear I can’t access my port settings without hardwiring into my router (I can access some settings over WiFi) and I don’t think I own ethernet cables anymore. In any case, I assume my settings didn’t change the same day Zwift updated and my connectivity problems started.
Thanks for taking time to reply. I checked my Core and it’s current, updated in June to 1.0.13 so nothing has changed there in the last week or so when problems started.
Strange, I have the trainer on ANT+ but am getting similar sounding dropouts. I’m switching to HR on ANT+ then trainer on BLE to see if it improves.
Since the back end of November I’ve seen this very same thing happen. At first it was just a random blip but it’s got progressively worse throughout December and at times impossible during January. I had to bail on Stage 3 of the TdZ the other week as the power connection was up and down like a YoYo. My wife persevered through one of the other stages as she’d got so far she didn’t want to quit but she counted 45 dropouts in the power reading during the course of a 1 hour ride! We have been using ANT+ via a dongle on my PC to connect to our Kickr Core since last February and until recently it’s been rock solid. I also have a Tickr and I use the Speed/Cadence sensor on the bike to send the cadence to Zwift. When the power dropped all the other devices were still connected and sending data perfectly!
What I have noticed is that when there are over 25000 people in game and big events on such as the TdZ these problems are far more common. This morning (8.20am UK) I logged on and immediately I could see no signal via ANT+ from the trainer so I switched to using the Companion App and Bluetooth. Did a 30 minute warmup ahead of the 9am TdZ A ride with no problems and entered the pen with 5 minutes to go. The stage started and I put the hammer down then within seconds – appeared against the Watts and the companion app had dropped the map! Went into the settings and swapped to ANT+ which seemed to be OK and fortunately that stayed connected for the rest of the event. (I was streaming this on YouTube live and my reaction says it all!)
On other days when the overall numbers have been lower and the events have had less than a 1000 participants we haven’t had a single problem and the connection has been perfect. As a test I have used other apps (CADESport, RGT, BKool) and these have all worked perfectly with no problems so this has to be a Zwift issue.
Just a thought, steps outlined in this article may be helpful.
ANT+ is just a connection between your computer and your trainer. What may be happening, is that more and more people spend a lot of time working from home and set up more routers or wi-fi extenders in their homes which may interfere with ANT+. Check the channel on which your wi-fi router runs, as the article above suggests, and check that your ANT+ dongle is not along the beam from your wi-fi router to your computer (or other connected device), and Zwiftalizer suggests. Bring your dongle as close to your trainer as possible (use USB extension cable if needed). This might help.
Companion app relies on your home wi-fi to connect to the computer which runs Zwift, which adds one more possible weak link. So, BT over companion app might not be the most reliable way to go…
To add to it… there is a free program for Android phones called WiFi analyzer, and I am sure there is a similar program for iOS which name I do not know, of course, as I am an Android user. It can show you on which channel your wifi router is running, how strong is the signal, and what other sources of wi-fi are detectable and at what level. This will give you a useful insight into what is going on in the radio frequencies world… Meaning, how many of your neighbors use wi-fi… and especially if any of their routers run on channel 10 (the worst for ANT+) or channels 9 or 11 (not perfect, either).
My home network and WiFi is all Ubiquiti (Switch, 2 AP’s, Security Gateway and Cloudkey controller) I configure and use this kit at work on an almost daily basis. I am able to tweak a lot of the settings and see what’s going on inside the network so you can be sure when I tell you it’s not a WiFi conflict issue. All the 2.4ghz on the WiFi is on Channel 1 so there’s definitely no overlap. I can also see what other networks are in close proximity and what channels they are broadcasting on and there is nothing close that could cause an issue. As I also stated in my rather lengthy response this has been working fine since last February up until back end of November. Having experienced this issue a number of times recently it is always under similar circumstance, 25k + in game with over 1500 entered into the event. When there are less people in game the connection works perfectly so there is a direct relationship between volume of people in game and ANT+ connection drop outs. When there is such an obvious connection and it is shown that using the same equipment with other Cycling Apps show no faults then the issue has to lie with the software.
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With no proof, I would have to agree 100% that Zwift has over sold there tech capacity. I have struggled with connection dropout for weeks. One day is good, today for example I lost connection twice. My wife rides beside me on the same trainer. I set up her system. I am the one who gets dropped. I switched trainers with her. Still i am the one with the issue. I am wondering if I there is something in my zwift file that is corrupted. I plan on cancelling my subscription next week, and using a different email signing back up. I am at a loss and it is no fun! I may just stick with The Sufferfest where i have zero connection prorblems.
Update: this analysis function is no longer available. Sadly…