As of late last week, an issue came to light (was revealed) that due to a major internal bug, WiFi networks were being killed. At the outset, it appeared as if the problem was with Google Home Max smart speaker, and that it was affecting only TP-Link routers (specifically the Archer C7).
But at the moment, given that more users have been reporting their use cases, it seems the issue is more widespread than what was initially thought of. Not only the users with different TP-Link routers, but even those using Linksys, Synology, and other routers are also reporting the same problem.
Also, in addition to those using Google Home Max, users with other Google Cast devices devices such as the Chromecast 4K and the Google Chromecast are causing major temporary WiFi blackouts for users all over the place. Home Max is apparently sending thousands of these packets in a short span of time, thus overloading the router which results in jamming the network. Cast sends multicast DNS (MDNS) packets as a keep-alive for connections to products like Google Home.
Users are reporting that taking their unit off the network resolves the issue for them. Some users are also suspecting their Android phone (with latest Oreo update) is causing the issue; then again those reports are very few.
The WiFi disconnect issue mostly happens when a Google Cast device of some kind is hooked up to a network with other Android devices that are running a recent version of the Android OS. TP-Link engineers even replied to a user, acknowledging the root cause of the issue. These packets normally sent in a 20-second interval.
TP-Link has for its part brought out a new beta firmware for the Archer C7 that is aimed at getting a solution to the problem, but it hasn’t worked for all users. However, you can still give firmware a try and see if works for you.
Even though Google hasn’t officially responded the problem yet, an expert at the company’s official forums had earlier said the company is working to fix it.