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Forum Discussion
Intermittent Failure on Orbi RBS20 and 2 RBS20 Satellites
I am 70 years old and have worked with computers my whole life, but I bought an ORBI 20 and two RBS20 Satellites for my 5000 Sq foot home and cannot get it to work without losing connections on 2.4 o...
Hah, you kids think 70 is old.
The Orbi "app" has limited capability, whereas the Orbi web interface has tons of options.
Open a web browser to http://orbilogin.net
The credentials are "admin" and the administrative password.
On the Advanced Tab-> LAN Setup, IP addresses can be assigned to any device (including satellites) by entering their MAC address into the table.
Your observation is correct. Each Orbi unit broadcasts WiFi on both 2.4G and 5G channels (3 units = 3 WiFi access points @ 2.4G and 3 @ 5G)
The "unknown" access points are the "backhaul" links between the router and satellites.
I have used Netspot to make a "heatmap" of the WiFi in my house (which is why I purchased Orbi in the first place, because some parts had miserable signal strength).
One step that might be interesting is to log into the Orbi router "debug" page and turn on telnet:
http://orbilogin.net/debug.htm
Then, telnet into the Orbi router (by IP address, with the same admin credentials) and type this command:
satelliteinfo wifi
This should describe how the satellites are comunicating with the router.
Well, i turned 71 while working on this. :)
I set the satellites to fixed ip addresses based on mac address... So thanks for reminder of how to do that. I went into router via telnet using the satelliteinfo wifi command. Here is the result: root@RBR20:/# satelliteinfo wifi
[
{
"mac address" : "38:94:ED:AC:1F:93",
"hop" : "1",
"bridge mac" : "38:94:ED:AC:1F:93",
"backhaul conntype" : "5GHz",
"backhaul rssi" : "-60",
"backhaul macaddress" : "3E:94:ED:AC:1F:95",
"backhaul phytxrate" : "702",
"backhaul phyrxrate" : "650",
"backhaul parentmac" : "38:94:ED:B3:79:C9"
},
{
"mac address" : "38:94:ED:AC:11:15",
"hop" : "2",
"bridge mac" : "38:94:ED:AC:11:15",
"backhaul conntype" : "5GHz",
"backhaul rssi" : "-60",
"backhaul macaddress" : "3E:94:ED:AC:11:17",
"backhaul phytxrate" : "866",
"backhaul phyrxrate" : "866",
"backhaul parentmac" : "38:94:ED:AC:1F:93"
}
]
Still, it evades me as to how this relates to the problem of why 2.4 and 5 wifi...just drops at random times on both Macs and PCs...even though the wifi radio signal is strong...and internet connection at the router is always good.. Are the channels fighting each other or two strong?
kpimichael wrote:Well, i turned 71 while working on this. :)
I set the satellites to fixed ip addresses based on mac address... So thanks for reminder of how to do that. I went into router via telnet using the satelliteinfo wifi command. Here is the result: root@RBR20:/# satelliteinfo wifi
...Still, it evades me as to how this relates to the problem of why 2.4 and 5 wifi...just drops at random times on both Macs and PCs...even though the wifi radio signal is strong...and internet connection at the router is always good.. Are the channels fighting each other or two strong?
This information verifies that the two satellites have "Good" connections, to each other and to the Orbi router.
I agree that this provides no clue as to what would cause both 2.4G and 5G WiFi to "drop".
Does WiFi drop "across the board" (router and both satellites), or only on one of the units?