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Forum Discussion
Ongoing WiFi problems with Orbi and Apple -- About to pull the plug
I'm at my kitchen table writing this from my laptop connected to my cell phone hotspot because Orbi kicked me off the network again. I am at my wits end. Moving from the Nighthawk R7000 to the Orbi...
I had an issue with my MacBook pros not responding, having to turn wifi off/on to solve it. I did an online chat with NetGear and here’s what worked:
Go to orbilogin.com. I copied/pasted the text of what the person sent to me by the person on the chat:
At this moment, I do suggest the following:
A) Change the Channel of the Orbi's WiFi. Select 11, 9,6, or 1 for 2.4GHz and 48 or 44 for 5GHz. Apply to have your changes take effect. Then, observe the connection.
B) Change the MTU Size under WAN Setup page to 1492, 1450 and 1400. The observe the connection.
C) Disable both Enable Implicit BEAMFORMING - Boosts WiFi speed, reliability, & range for all mobile devices and Enable MU-MIMO under Wireless Settings. Observe. You can also enable these then also observe the connection again.
D) Make sure the firmware of the router and satellite are both updated.
E) Power off the satellite and leave the router the only device powered on. Connect to the network then observe.
Changing the channel is under advanced, setup, wireless setup. ( I changed mine to 6 for 2.4 and 44 for 5ghz)
Changing MTU is found under advanced, setup, WAN settings
Disabling the others are under advanced, advanced settings, wireless
This worked for me. I have the latest firmware and the only issue I seem to have is improper reporting of what’s connected to the satellites. Other than that, it’s humming along (RBK43, 2 satellites).
Good luck.
- Don't use channel 9. Stick to either 1, 6 or 11.
Unless you are using PPP, there is no need to touch the MTU. Leave it at 1500. If you like, you can run ping tests to determine the optimal MTU:
https://kb.netgear.com/19863/Ping-Test-to-determine-Optimal-MTU-Size-on-Router
DudeDad wrote:I had an issue with my MacBook pros not responding, having to turn wifi off/on to solve it. I did an online chat with NetGear and here’s what worked:
...Unfortunately, netgear is still using the same script for every problem. This is the same chat I had with them months back when I updated to a V 1.x firmware at that time that was producing disconnects all the time. I ended up turning off UPNP which actually solved the problem after noticing UPNP connection issues preceeding the disconnects.
None of these suggestions actually dealt directly with your issue. I've had stability on 2.1.1.16 for about a week before I noticed some of my devices where not getting internet though they were connected on Wifi. After a router reboot they will work again for another week I suspect. I do think netgear really messed up something in this latest firmware and I am hoping they come out with an update that really overhauls this.
Worth noting that I did not have this disconnect issue at 2.0.0.74. So at this point I think I'll just reboot once a week and wait for the update.
Yep -- I did not want to be negative or imply that I did not appreciate DudeDad's reply -- I really do. But all of this "change the channel generic india call center script stuff" is clearly not going to solve whatever underlying problem Netgear has with this router.
I did get a good laugh out of the MTU stuff....took me back to the good old days of PPPOE and RS232.
It's really a bummer -- I like netgear and have recommended them so many times. I hope their management will see their way clear to give the Orbi team the needed resources to address this quickly.
I had the issue before updating to the current firmware. I tried what they suggested, and have not had any issues with MacBook Pro disconnection. I then upgraded to the latest firmware (not my choice, of course) and have not had any problems other than improper reporting of which Orbi units (router or 2 satellites) are assigned to the various devices (30+). I shared what I experienced to see if it would help anyone else -- certainly easy to try without any risk. Whether it's the "script" or not, my connectivity issue went away. Whether it was the advice given or sheer coincidence, I'm not complaining.
