Intermittent internet connectivity outage with Orbi?

I found a solution that seems to be working for me. First let me state that I'm not an engineer, so apologies if this is a rudimentary work around, but my Nest is stable now, so I'm happy and thought this might help a few people out there.

Before i bought my Orbi, I had a Asus RT-N66U Wireless Router. In order to reach my outdoor Nestcam at the end of our driveway, I had to put a Netgear AC750 wireless extender in my garage to extend the signal to my nestcam.

Once I installed the Orbi (with two satellites) - the internet speed within my house was terrific with the mesh network, but the range to the end of my driveway was still weak. So I linked my Netgear extender to my orbi and used that extender to connect my Nestcam again.

That's when I started to experience all the intermittent "drops" with my Nestcam (several a day).  So I was reading this discussion board, and was about to try to turn off "beamforming" (whatever that is!) based on the posts, but then I saw that someone said the issue is with the 2G spectrum.

So I decided to try to extend just the 5G network using my Netgear extender. It was easy to do - just plugged in my extender to my computer, pulled up the Netgear setup site, and turned off the 2G network, so it was "only" extending the Orbi 5G network to my Nestcam.  Also, unlike the Nestcam itself (or other devices in my house), the Netgear extender software actually differentiated the signal from the Orbi satellite vs. the Orbi main router - so I was able to extend the 5g signal from JUST the closest Orbi satellite (so no problem with the extender now trying to hop back and forth between the Orbi router and Orbi satellite signal).

Anyway, first full day now without a drop. And didn't have to turn off beamforming (which I guess some people on this board said could degrade performance). I haven't noticed any interfernce in the Orbi and extender signals either.

So if you are just trying to solve a Nest cam specific problem, you might want to use an extender dedicated to just servicing the Nestcam and just extend the 5g signal from a specic Orbi device.  if  you don't have an extender, you can pretty easily reset your old wireless router to act as an extender (lots of videos on Youtube).  Anway, again, not a technical guy - but just posting in case this is helpful to anyone else.

Hi all.

I was about to buy the Orbi until I saw this thread about the problem with Nest Dropcam.  Having constant Dropcam coverage is very important to me -- I can't have it drop even once, let alone several times per day -- so now I'm considering going with the new Google WiFi instead.  Since I'd prefer to go with Orbi, could someone please educate me on exactly what this "Implicit Beamforming" is?  What does it do?  Does turning it off fix the problem?  And more importantly, what suffers if it does get turned off? Lastly, does anyone know if this problem exists with the new Google WiFi?

Thank you!

Why would you pay the extra money for features that don't work? Sure, turning it off is a workaround but if you have to do that then why even bother with it? It's frustrating more than anything. Google (or more so Alphabet) prioritizes price reduction for it's companies as well, hence why it is cheaper than Orbi (which is way overpriced in comparison to competition) or Eero (also very pricey but works really well) or AmpliFi HD (apprarantly also works really well). I personally haad problems with all my devices connected to Orbi, and speeds were slow with my smart tv and my Macbook pro (along with all other complaints here). For that high of a price it just wasn;t worth the hassle, and beamforming is not that new of a technology to usse it as an excuse, it's implemented in plenty or routers and works fine. I ended up going with a eero and have had zero problems and great performance, but again it's very pricey which is a huge con for it. Why don't you just buy both and return the one that doesn't work as well as the other? Gotta remember with wifi each home is different, so other people's issue might not be your own and vice versa. 

Hi

I am not very tech-savvy, so please excuse my terminology. I just thought to tell my story. It might help to sort out some issues if read by someone that know more, especially with the dropouts people experience. I have a 2015 MacBook pro. I use an app called "WiFi Signal" to keep an eye on connections. I have noticed that there is intermittent buffering on Youtube. This was not an issue on most of the previous routers I tried. At the exact time of the buffering, I notice a change in connection speed although the laptop is standing in the same position on a table. When the connection speed stabalize, the buffering stops. These fluctuations in connection speed can be anything from 760Mbps to 117Mbps. I live in a log-home and wifi coverage has been a big problem here. I have tried many different routers and repeaters and so far the Orbi has been the best solution as it would be difficult to run dedicated LAN wires. I do not get a "drop" in connection, but throughput is definitely affected. I can clearly see it when transferring files to a NAS server on my local network as data transfer gets interrupted momentarily. I have tried to switch beamforming and MU-MIMO off, but I did not notice any change in this issue. I use an app called "WiFi Sweetspots" on my phone. This also shows the fluctuation in speeds and graphs it nicely. It confirms the drops in data transfer rate to the NAS. I have also changed the distance between the router and satellite and swithched the satellite off completely. Still seeing the same issue, even a few feet from the router. Software is up to date and restarts done.

I hope this helps someone to get the issue fixed.

i too have been pulling my hair out with my nest products and the orbi. I was going to get google wi-fi but they were sold out and i started reading reviews with the orbi and it seemed to have better peformance. I was using my wifi on my arris modem before. I have bridged it and setup the orbi and 1 satellite. It worked fine with everything for about 4 days with no disconnects, no issues.. Then the disconnects started happening with my nest cams (3 indoor, 2 outdoor ) on a 35/5 cable connection. I have updated the firmware to the latest V1.4.0.18. Still happening dozens of times per day. I have chatted for hours with nest support and they are replacing all 3 of my indoor cams to see if it will fix the issue as they said 1 of them was overheating. I saw this forum and have just disabled beam forming, so hopefully that is a workaround for me. At least I am getting newer nest indoor cams out of it. But i want all the features of this 400$ system to work! Thats why i paid for it. I have until 12/20 to return the orbi so I will test for a day or two and see if it makes a difference with the nest cams.NETGEAR get on the ball and fix this issue! You should play nice with one of the best camera systems out there as it is a wifi product!