I setup informal concerts for a travel club, and I often have to setup as quickly as possible, and as cleanly as I can. I was hoping that the internal wifi would be good enough, knowing that everything is controllable on the console itself should something go wrong.
I setup concerts in about 12 locations in ten days, some indoors in high traffic areas, some outdoors in remote areas, with about 80 guests in attendance each time. The wifi cut out constantly in every location beyond 10ft or so.
A friend told me that the qsc touchmix had a similar problem, but that after a firmware update, the internal wifi worked much, much better.
Any chance that we’ll see improvements to built in wifi? Or is there anything I can do to improve it?
The mixer otherwise worked very well, sounded great, and was reliable throughout the trip. Thanks for building a great and extremely compact device
I don’t know why anyone would trust the built in Wi-fi in a mission critical situation. The system uses a single small antenna that is attached to a big metal box that is usually placed where it makes the most sense for the audio connections, not Wi-Fi coverage. I mean what could go wrong!?
Buy a decent but inexpensive Wi-Fi router (something from gl.inet for example) and be done with it. Place the Wi-Fi router where it makes the most sense for Wi-Fi coverage. Place the CQ console where it makes the most sense for routing all the audio connections.
That said it does take a little set up to optimize WIFI, try only the 5g connection, as mentioned get the antenna up high and not buried in a rack.
I don’t have a CQ system but that is what I do with my external routers for my QU’s.
Also I have a WIFI channel scan APP that gives me an idea of what is in use in the area
I’m working in and will set my router accordingly, actually I carry four routers with me
that are set to different 5g channels so most of the time I just pick the needed router.
This isn’t Behringer, it works great for me as expected.
Whether or not it has the performance of a separate router in a prime position is another question. There is an Ethernet port to use for an external router if you’re not getting what you need.
As I said, after multiple gigs I’ve had no problems with drop off or range with my CQ18T.
Performed a few gigs now with my CQ-20B and I have found the built in wifi to be very reliable. And I have the CQ setup right next to the drum kit on stage and not positioned up high above heads. Setup to use the 5g spectrum.
When I use my QUSB on hire jobs I use an Apple Airport Express router that I position on the top of one of my column array speakers. Way above peoples heads and give good line of sight no matter where you are in the room.
@vsthem
You must have a faulty unit, a faulty tablet or incorrect settings!
I have yet to experience any problems in busy venues with ranges often over 20m.
My QU rig with Apple Airport used to drop out frequently until:
I set it up with manual IP
Switched off “auto join” to every stored but unused network.
Disabled the “new network “ request tab on my iPad.
Hope you get sorted!!
The CQ’s WiFi is far better than many older routers and access points, and definitely much better than the built-in WiFi on competing units. I’ve had no issues so far with the onboard WiFi, and even when I’m in my shop which has 3 other commercial grade APs of mine in-use, as well as many others from neighboring devices. I can still easily go 50’ to 60’ away and in a crowded area with many obstructions in the way (no line of site), and still have a good connection to the CQ. Out in the field it is even better.
Even the Bluetooth on the CQ seems to get better range than many other devices I’ve worked with.
I have the CQ-20B and CQ-16T and both have exceptionally good onboard WiFi.
as a cq18t owner with 4 months old and used for 3 gigs, i am jealousy to all of your unit work so well with the built in wifi of cq18t.
it is because my unit CAN NOT even use the wifi properly, 4 out of 5 times it stuck at “network initialising”, i reset the machine twice and it only happen to work one time.
A&H! please fix it asap with firmware or anything solution soon!
I use both the cq18t and the 20b and have did sound for many gigs indoors and outdoors.
I have had no issues with the wifi on either unit.
When I do do sound for outdoor festivals I am a good 100/150 feet sometimes doing sound checks and it works flawlessly.
Agree! Perhaps there exist other disturbing units we do not use, or A&H had issues in the poductionstart. But my 18t works properly as the 20B did before.
So If there is WIFI trouble better return the unit.
G’day
I use the built in wifi on my CQ18t and originally had multiple disconnects until I selected a fixed channel on the 5GHz band. I now find the connection very reliable over 20 Meters or more. I think my original issue was the Auto channel feature which kept looking for a free channel within the 2.4GHz band…
A&H recommend 5 gig as Bluetooth lives in the 2.4GHz band which is therefore pretty congested especially in a live gig environment.
there is a option,“hide network”(or so) wich i use on my routers (d live ilive q, sq) as well on my cq wifi , by being hidden the router does not get pinged from cellphones e.t.c. less work for the device.
helps as well and of course 5ghz only.
Actually the idea that “hiding” your network will reduce the traffic pinging your network is not only false - the truth is actually the opposite of this.
Devices will not automatically try to connect to a wireless network unless they have connected to it previously. So normally when you are broadcasting a non-hidden SSID, nothing is going to be attempting to automatically connect to it unless the device has previously connected to a network with the exact same SSID.
However, when you create a “hidden” network, the device cannot see the SSID to know if it has connected to it previously or not. Basically this means that any device that has connected to any “hidden” network previously is going to CONSTANTLY ping your hidden network to see if it’s the hidden network they connected to before. This isn’t a “single attempt” either. Because the device cannot see the SSID of your hidden network, it will ping your network over and over and over and over again in an attempt to connect to it. Therefore you will generate a lot more connection attempts on your network if you hide it vs not hiding it.
Just to be clear - all of this happens at the device level. It requires zero input from the audience outside of bringing their device in range of your network.
Furthermore, hiding your SSID does not improve the “security” of your network either. It is trivial for a person to get the actual SSID name from the wireless access point if they wanted to. However it does make connecting to the network harder for all the “non-hackers” out there. So any band members or other people who legitimately might need to connect to your network are going to be a lot more irritated with you because the network is “hidden”.
Long story short, hiding your SSID actually increases the amount of unwanted traffic trying to connect to the network, while at the same time making it harder for legitimate people to connect to your network, while also not increasing the “security” of your network at all. Basically it is a lose, lose, lose scenario when you “hide” your network SSID.
PS - the fact that your devices have now connected to your “hidden network”, anytime you are near another hidden network, your devices will constantly be trying to connect to their hidden network. Not only are you clogging up their bandwidth, you will be using up your device’s battery on unnecessary connection attempts.
