I have been using RBK50 (one router RBR50 & one satellite RBS50, under Firmware V2.2.1.210) for several months, everything was fine ... until I recently discovered when I walk away from my router towards the satellite, the Wifi signal on my Android phone got disconnected, then connect to 4G mobile data for a very short while, and then reconnected to the Wifi. The same appears when I walk in the reverse direction. Hence, if I'm on a wifi call or streaming a video when I walk around in the house, I got disconnections frequently. Everything else works fine so far. Is this normal under Orbi's mesh system ? If not, is there anything I can do to improve the situation ? Thanks a lot in advance.

Given that, it sounds like you may have somewhat of a dead zone in between the Orbi router and Orbi satellite, and it's just that a couple of your devices have better antennas and are able to get the weak signal, whereas some of your other devices have smaller/fewer antennas and see that spot as a dead zone. It's just like how you and someone else can be right next to each other with your different-model cell phones, and be using the same carrier, and one of you can have a weaker signal than the other, or even no signal, while the other can be fine. The signal coverage isn't uniform. As you increase the distance from the router or satellite, the signal attenuates, and is weaker. Obstructions, like walls, furniture, floors/ceilings, etc., will increase the attenuation, and decrease the signal strength at a give location. I suspect you may be able to improve your situation just by moving the router and satellite a little closer together. It may be as simple as just leaving everything connected where it is and stretching the cords to their max in the direction of the other Orbi. If you can move the router a couple feet toward the satellite, and the satellite a couple feet toward the router, that might be enough to fix your issue. If not, maybe moving the Orbi satellite one outlet closer to the router will (or plugging it into an extension cord) will. Alternatively, if you don't have any wired devices plugged into the satellite, try putting it in a different room. Basically, I think you have a dead zone, but a couple of your devices are powerful enough they aren't affected by it.

Thank you ekhalil. 1. The Satellite IP address is 192.168.1.17, which is within the preset DHCP range between 2 to 254. 2. The result of this small experiment is interesting. I set 5GHz to 25%, phone connected to 2.4GHz when I'm near Satellite, then I walked slowly towards Router which is about 10 feet away. During the short walk, the phone's wifi band changed from 2.4GHz to 5GHz & vice versa seamlessly (without disconnection / reconnection which I used to experience). I walked several times between the Satellite & Router, and got the same result, which is very encouraging; and this is exactly what I expect a mesh system should function. So, you said it's just a coverage issue, and what does this mean ? Now, what shall I do next please ?

If your backhaul status shows "good", and your router and satellite are not too distant from each other, then you could look to see if you have "fast roaming" checked or unchecked. You could play with this. Also the "beam forming". I found beam forming to be counter productive for my situation and have it disabled. Depending on your individual situation, some of that could be with your phone also. Fast roaming eliminates re-authenticaton from one AP to the other, but in some situations that is good or bad depending on the phone and environment. Also leave your phone in various spots and check how it is connected (2.4 or 5GHz) on "attached devices" to get a sense if it is changing from 5GHz to 2.4GHz before it drops and then where it drops. If available try with a different phone for comparison.

What is the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem the NG router is connected too? What is the size of your home? Sq Ft? What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials.

Thank you JoeCymru. Before I post this enquiry, my setting was Beamforming-ON, Fast Roaming-OFF. After I read your suggestion, I tried all combinations, both ON, both OFF, either one ON and other OFF. Unfortunately, none of these helped. I also tried your recommendation to see how the phone's wifi is connected, yes whenever it got disconnected/ reconnected, it's switching between 5GHz to 2.4 GHz and vice versa. Actually, I'm not so technical, all I need is a seamless Wifi in my house without any switch of SSID and dead corner. That's why I picked Orbi, not sure if that was a wrong decision.

Disconnect & reconnect when I walk between router & satellite

25 Replies

JoeCymru
Virtuoso
Dec 17, 2018
If your backhaul status shows "good", and your router and satellite are not too distant from each other, then you could look to see if you have "fast roaming" checked or unchecked. You could play with this. Also the "beam forming". I found beam forming to be counter productive for my situation and have it disabled. Depending on your individual situation, some of that could be with your phone also. Fast roaming eliminates re-authenticaton from one AP to the other, but in some situations that is good or bad depending on the phone and environment. Also leave your phone in various spots and check how it is connected (2.4 or 5GHz) on "attached devices" to get a sense if it is changing from 5GHz to 2.4GHz before it drops and then where it drops. If available try with a different phone for comparison.
- EKRW
  Tutor
  Dec 17, 2018
  Thank you JoeCymru.
  
  Before I post this enquiry, my setting was Beamforming-ON, Fast Roaming-OFF. After I read your suggestion, I tried all combinations, both ON, both OFF, either one ON and other OFF. Unfortunately, none of these helped. I also tried your recommendation to see how the phone's wifi is connected, yes whenever it got disconnected/ reconnected, it's switching between 5GHz to 2.4 GHz and vice versa.
  
  Actually, I'm not so technical, all I need is a seamless Wifi in my house without any switch of SSID and dead corner. That's why I picked Orbi, not sure if that was a wrong decision.
  - ekhalil
    Master
    Dec 17, 2018
    EKRW wrote:
    
    ............., yes whenever it got disconnected/ reconnected, it's switching between 5GHz to 2.4 GHz and vice versa.
    
    ..............
    
    If the device changes between bands while moving between the base stations (router and satellites) then this shows that your base stations are far away from each other and that you don't have enough overlap between them. Do you have the possibility to get the units closer to each other and see if you get any improvement?
FURRYe38
Guru
Dec 17, 2018
What is the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem the NG router is connected too?

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials.
- EKRW
  Tutor
  Dec 17, 2018
  Thank you FURRYe38.
  
  Actually I just moved into this new build townhouse several months ago. I'm using Hyperoptics and there is no ISP modem provided, just a cable from the wall socket in the utilities room.
  
  The size is around 2,600 sq.ft with four stories including the ground floor. The router is placed in the utilities room at the center of the ground floor while the satellite (only one) is placed on the 2nd floor on one end. The backhaul status of satellte usually shows "Good"; and signal of Wifi is acceptable almost everywhere except I got disconnected / reconnected when I walk towards either towards the router or satellite. Suspect it's a switch between 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz and I presume a mesh system can perform this change seamlessly without disconnecting/ reconnecting the wifi on my phone.
  - FURRYe38
    Guru
    Dec 17, 2018
    Is Fast Roaming enabled or disabled?
    
    Possible the phone can't switch seamlessly as well.
    
    https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-features/33195-wi-fi-roaming-secrets-revealed
    https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-features/33196-wi-fi-roaming-secrets-revealed-part-2
    https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-features/33197-wi-fi-roaming-secrets-revealed-part-3
    https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/basics/wireless-basics/33180-how-to-fix-wi-fi-roaming
    https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-features/33100-why-you-don-t-need-mu-mimo
    
    EKRW wrote:
    
    Thank you FURRYe38.
    
    Actually I just moved into this new build townhouse several months ago. I'm using Hyperoptics and there is no ISP modem provided, just a cable from the wall socket in the utilities room.
    
    The size is around 2,600 sq.ft with four stories including the ground floor. The router is placed in the utilities room at the center of the ground floor while the satellite (only one) is placed on the 2nd floor on one end. The backhaul status of satellte usually shows "Good"; and signal of Wifi is acceptable almost everywhere except I got disconnected / reconnected when I walk towards either towards the router or satellite. Suspect it's a switch between 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz and I presume a mesh system can perform this change seamlessly without disconnecting/ reconnecting the wifi on my phone.
randomousity
Luminary
Dec 17, 2018
I'm going to take this in a different direction and ask about your phone. Have you looked in the wifi or data settings to see if there's anything there that could help you? E.g., something like fast switching between wifi and cellular? It's possible that when your phone is being handed off between the ORbi router and Orbi satellite, that your phone is deciding to switch to cellular data, rather than to the other Orbi access point, and that this is causing the drops. Also, if you have the ability, I'd look at the wifi signal strength in the area of your house where you get dropped. It's possible your Orbi router and satellite are too far apart and that you have a dead zone in the middle.
- EKRW
  Tutor
  Dec 18, 2018
  Thank you randomousity.
  
  I tried several mobile devices after your comment, and got mixed results as follows:
  
  Worked - i.e. No disconnect / Reconnect when I walk towards router / satellite or vice versa:
  
  1. Samsung Android phone
  
  2. Lenovo Window 10 notebook
  
  Not worked
  
  3. LG two different models of Android phones including mine
  
  4. Apple iPad mini
  
  5. Apple iPhone 7
  
  And I do not aware any settings in my phone which allows fast switching between Wifi and cellular.
  
  One item I want to add is the disconnection/ reconnection on my phone (and also those devices lable 3 to 5 as above) happens when I "walk into a 3-5 feet distance of the router or satellite and stop for around 10-15 seconds". All other locations are fine including the mid-way between router & satellite; so seems like there is no dead zone between them from my view. So strange.
  - randomousity
    Luminary
    Dec 18, 2018
    Given that, it sounds like you may have somewhat of a dead zone in between the Orbi router and Orbi satellite, and it's just that a couple of your devices have better antennas and are able to get the weak signal, whereas some of your other devices have smaller/fewer antennas and see that spot as a dead zone. It's just like how you and someone else can be right next to each other with your different-model cell phones, and be using the same carrier, and one of you can have a weaker signal than the other, or even no signal, while the other can be fine. The signal coverage isn't uniform. As you increase the distance from the router or satellite, the signal attenuates, and is weaker. Obstructions, like walls, furniture, floors/ceilings, etc., will increase the attenuation, and decrease the signal strength at a give location.
    
    I suspect you may be able to improve your situation just by moving the router and satellite a little closer together. It may be as simple as just leaving everything connected where it is and stretching the cords to their max in the direction of the other Orbi. If you can move the router a couple feet toward the satellite, and the satellite a couple feet toward the router, that might be enough to fix your issue. If not, maybe moving the Orbi satellite one outlet closer to the router will (or plugging it into an extension cord) will. Alternatively, if you don't have any wired devices plugged into the satellite, try putting it in a different room.
    
    Basically, I think you have a dead zone, but a couple of your devices are powerful enough they aren't affected by it.

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Disconnect & reconnect when I walk between router & satellite