WiFi access point stability

[alpe77]

Has anyone found the RPI5 WiFi AP unstable? VNC keeps freezing and disconnecting, and OpenCPN on a tablet keeps losing connection every few seconds. I've disabled power-saving on the AP endpoint, but it didn't make any difference. Spent literally two hours trying different "fixes" the AI suggested, and nothing made any difference.

From what I've read, this seems to be a common issue, but has anyone found a solution? I'm thinking it may be time to give up and get an external router.

[PaddyB]

Most disconnection issues i have had have been on the laptop/tablet connecting to the Pi, though a recent session on claude pro change a few settings which seem to have helped.

This will backup your existing settings (assuming name is OpenPlotter-Hotspot)

Code:

sudo cp /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/OpenPlotter-Hotspot.nmconnection ~/OpenPlotter-Hotspot.nmconnection.bak

Changes

Changes made on the Raspberry Pi
1. DTIM period tuning

Code:

sudo nano /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/OpenPlotter-Hotspot.nmconnection

Added to the [wifi] section:

Code:

dtim-period=1

2. Disabled AP powersave

Code:

sudo nmcli connection modify OpenPlotter-Hotspot 802-11-wireless.powersave 2
sudo nmcli connection reload
sudo nmcli connection down OpenPlotter-Hotspot
sudo nmcli connection up OpenPlotter-Hotspot

3. Hotspot reset (fixed Windows failing to connect)

Code:

sudo nmcli connection down OpenPlotter-Hotspot && sudo nmcli connection up OpenPlotter-Hotspot

4. Installed missing OpenCPN plugin (separate issue — peer discovery)
sudo apt install opencpn-plugin-send2peer
Diagnostic-only commands (no changes), used to confirm root cause:

Code:

sudo iw dev wlan0 scan | grep -E "SSID|signal|channel"
sudo iw dev wlan0 station dump
ss -ulnp | grep opencpn
nmcli connection show OpenPlotter-Hotspot