Orbi (model# RBR50) keeps dropping connection during Zoom calls

Any progress on this? 

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davidhard wrote:

Hi, We have two people in our household who work from home from time to time and need to make Zoom calls from time to time. We have now been required by our jobs to work from home for the indefinite future (due to COVID19) so the frequency of Zoom calls has increased immensly. Normally, we don't have any connectivity issues. But recently we set up an Orbi Mesh router and now we're noticing that our internet will stop working from time to time. It seems to happen when we are both on Zoom calls. But that could be that it's most noticable then because the Zoom call will freeze and we have to scramble to reconnect to the internet on our laptops to get back on the call. It's entirely possible that the internet is cutting out at other times too. But It's really only when we use Zoom that we notice it. It's becoming a problem because Zoom is required for our jobs, and we need to have a reliable connection in order to make Zoom work without dropping the call.

We also use an Apple TV to stream TV shows to our TV. it has a hard wire connection to the base station, and I do notice that a "Loss of internet connection" message will pop up on the screen, and the quality of the stream will degrade a lot, or stall for a minute or two before going back to normal. So this makes me think the Orbi is stalling out pretty frequently.

Again, I do suspect that this is an issue with the Orbi because it was only after we set up the Orbi that these problems started happening. Our network was pretty stable before. We just had some dead spots in the house, which is why we wanted to set up a mesh network. I did try power cycling everything. But the issue keeps happening.

Some more details,

We both use iphones, so besides the two Windows laptops (one Surfacebook and one HP laptop) and the apple TV, the iPhones are the only other two devices using the network. The Apple TV is the only hardwired device, and everything else is over the air.
Comcast Xfinity is our ISP

We use a Arris Surfboard SB6183 for our cable modem

and the Orbi we have is model RBR50

Firmware version V2.5.1.8

We are in a 700 square foot 1 bedroom apartment. 

The base Station is in our living room, where the apple TV is. The satellite is in the bedroom (about 15-17 feet away from the base station) with a closet between the two units.

 

I did read that having the base station and the satellite too close together can cause some confilicts. So I will move the satellite to the farthest corner of the bedroom which will make it closer to 30 feet away from the base. But I would love it if anyone can let me know if there is anything else I can try to make the network more stable.

 

Thanks in advance.

David

 

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