diff --git a/roles/network/templates/hostapd/50-hostapd b/roles/network/templates/hostapd/50-hostapd
index b663599b3..47a769639 100644
--- a/roles/network/templates/hostapd/50-hostapd
+++ b/roles/network/templates/hostapd/50-hostapd
@@ -1,12 +1,20 @@
 
 if [ "$interface" = "wlan0" ]; then
-    syslog info "50-hostapd-ap0"
-    sleep 2
-    # wpa_supplicant wants MHz for frequency= while hostapd wants channel..... whatever
-    # FREQ=`iw wlan0 info|grep channel|cut -d' ' -f9`
-    FREQ=`iw wlan0 info|grep channel|cut -d' ' -f2`
-    sed -i -e "s/^frequency.*/channel=$FREQ /" /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
-    syslog info "50-hostapd restarting hostapd"
-    systemctl daemon-reload
-    systemctl restart hostapd
+    REASON="$reason"
+    if [ "$reason" = "CARRIER" ]; then
+        syslog info "50-iiab CARRIER change wlan0"
+        # wpa_supplicant wants MHz for frequency= while hostapd wants channel..... whatever
+        # FREQ=`iw wlan0 info|grep channel|cut -d' ' -f9`
+        FREQ=`iw wlan0 info|grep channel|cut -d' ' -f2`
+        syslog info "40-iiab set channel $FREQ"
+        sed -i -e "s/^channel.*/channel=$FREQ /" /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
+        # will need a reboot for hostapd if the channel changed
+    fi
+    # spams the logging
+    #syslog info "50-iiab set ap0 spam $REASON"
+    if [ -e /sys/class/net/ap0 ] && ! [ "$reason" = "ROUTERADVERT" ]; then
+        syslog info "50-iiab set ap0 up $REASON"
+        # keeps ap0 up so hostapd works
+        ip link set ap0 up
+    fi
 fi