FYI: Wireless Network Name (SSID) length BUG affecting Firmware versions prior to 02.01.01

dunawayfamily

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Based on interaction with someone struggling to get WiFIRE working (Ironwood 885 with Firmware 02.00.00), after multiple engagements with Traeger Support, including replacing the grill, then replacing the WiFIRE Controller, it was "revealed" that a BUG fixed in Firmware 02.00.01 was the problem this user was running into with Firmware 02.00.00 ...

Via WiFIRE Status Page (https://www.traegergrills.com/status):
02.01.01 - RELEASED 5/6/20
  • Fix character count when decoding SSID
  • MQTT broker/connectivity improvements during pairing and run time
  • Pairing improvements regarding pairing token issue
  • Fixed misreported OTA status
Once they shortened their Wireless Network Name (SSID) to 25 character or less, they were able to connect and update ...

The IEEE spec for SSID length is 32 bytes/characters ... so this BUG was causing the WiFIRE Controller to be out-of-spec ...

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5416
Page 34:​
SSID: The SSID attribute is the service set identifier that will be advertised by the WTP for this WLAN. The SSID field contains any ASCII character and MUST NOT exceed 32 octets in length, as defined in [IEEE.802-11.2007].​

More info here:
https://standards.ieee.org/standard/802_11-2007.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_set_(802.11_network)


This is another example where Traeger Customer Service reps are not being made aware of the specifics of a BUG that could have helped this owner avoid a lot of time wasted having to change out a grill, then change out the controller, and continually call back to escalate ... Notwithstanding the fact that the lack of specific details documented around the issue within the Release Notes for 02.01.01 via the WiFIRE Status Page could have made this a non-issue via end user self service ...

As an IoT-device vendor, Traeger really needs to setup a Knowledge Base Support Document system to provide more detailed information ... The highlighted text above should have included additional information calling out that SSIDs longer than 25 characters were causing WiFIRE Controllers to not be able to join a Wi-Fi Network ...
 
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Funny, not funny, but I suspected an issue with how it was handling SSID names after the release you mentioned in your post above
Post 31 in this thread
Screenshot_20200718-060628_Chrome.jpg
It was a possibility for some of the issues that people were seeing.
I agree that Traeger needs to be better at advising of possible issues and better at training their tech support
 
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