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Forum Discussion
AmitR
Mar 09, 2018NETGEAR Employee Retired
Orbi MR 2.1 issues update 3/9/18
Let me give you a quick update on the status since the last time we posted. Over the last several weeks, we assembled a cross functional team, locked them in a room with food and coffee and dedicate...
- Mar 23, 2018
Check out this post for an update on this issue:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-MR-2-1-Update-3-23-18/m-p/1533584#M26234
DerAusgewandert
Mar 19, 2018Star
strange, I posted a reply and my post disappeared...
Starbucky, I can confirm your findings.
I tested a Velop (2pk) side by side with the Orbi and the bottomline is that the Orbi is better in handling roaming clients. The connection on the Velop would go down to fair with very weak signal before it switched me over to the next node which was right next to me. It then switched to the 2.4GHz rather than the 5GHz as well. Lots of spots in the house with bad signal because of that. Under identical conditions with the Orbi, I never lost the 5GHz connection and the signal is always excellent throughout the house, seemlessly switching between nodes. Sure enough, this is one of the hotter topics in the Velop forum with a number of users with that exact problem - not even mentioning other threads with internet connection issues. Lots of angy users, just like here.
I will probably stick with the Orbi and return the Velop. I will test this one more time. Overall the signal and client handling seems to be much better on the Orbi - at least in my house.
cheers
Starbucky
Mar 19, 2018Apprentice
Good day DerAusgewandert,
I totally agree. I did some thorough testing with one satellite to compare to the Orbi and then added the second Velop satellite last night in our upstairs hallway. Adding the second satellite took over an hour, it just wouldn't complete sinking and kept telling me to bring it closer to the router... I ended up having to basically put it right next to the router. I rebooted the entuire system a couple of times to see if my various devices would connect to their nearest satellite and they just wouldn't. I have 7 Dlink cloud cameras and they didn't connect to their nearest AP and worst of all a basement camera insisted on connecting to the second floor satellite with barely any service making it essentially non functional. As I sit at work this morning two of my other cameras aren't connecting remotely. I also have 5 Chromecast Audio throughout the house and all of them connected to the router rather than their closest respective satellites. Those are some of the stationary devices. Our phones and tablets also wouldn't roam well at all. I tried wired backhauil too and it didn't make any difference, in fact it messed up the devices page identifying all wired clients as connected to one of the satellites when they are in fact connected to a gigabit switch on the router... All said, in my case the RBK50 2pk is much better than Velop 3pk. I'm packing up the Velop tonight and re-installing the Orbi, keeping my fingers crossed that I continue to have minimal issues.
Cheers,
- mpf541Mar 19, 2018Apprentice
I have been experimenting with a velop. So far all is working properly and I do connect to the closest node. I did notice this did take some time for this to work correctly. As the setup is all done wireless and after I moved to the correct place in my house and used wired connections. I had to renew connections from some devices to get them to switch to the closet node. Not sure if swicth while roaming i will have to test that later. But I have not noticed any problems from where devices are. There is not much roaming from room to room.
But I really hope that netgear is close to a solution for the orbi. i do have a long return policy as i got directly from linksys. Hmm that return policy is as long as netgear gives for tech support. maybe netgear should look into customer safisfaction. As I am not satified that my orbi does not work right.
- wildhorseMar 19, 2018Star
So it looks like Velop is an inferior product after all.
I have had no major issues, except for one minor problem - satellite having lots of active network sessions (3198/65536) even if unused - visible on satellite debug page. I reported that. But it does not affect stability in any way.
- mpf541Mar 19, 2018Apprentice
wildhorsewrote:So it looks like Velop is an inferior product after all.
I have had no major issues, except for one minor problem - satellite having lots of active network sessions (3198/65536) even if unused - visible on satellite debug page. I reported that. But it does not affect stability in any way.
Well i have not had an issue since i started testing a velop. I have not dropped my connection at all. I have a wired backhaul. this is not possible now with a orbi.
I would really like orbi to be working properly but if i try and user it i get aboyut 10 minutes before the internet connection drops. So to me right now the orbi is inferior. And the tech support at netgear does not know how to fix it. How mant months has this been going on now. They should have left it all back on the first firmware. It at least worked then.
Strange how they can get the orbi pro working but not this one.
- DerAusgewandertMar 20, 2018Star
Starbuckywrote:Good day DerAusgewandert,
I totally agree. I did some thorough testing with one satellite to compare to the Orbi and then added the second Velop satellite last night in our upstairs hallway. Adding the second satellite took over an hour, it just wouldn't complete sinking and kept telling me to bring it closer to the router... I ended up having to basically put it right next to the router..................... All said, in my case the RBK50 2pk is much better than Velop 3pk. I'm packing up the Velop tonight and re-installing the Orbi, keeping my fingers crossed that I continue to have minimal issues.
Cheers,
I gave the Velop another chance all day today and let it "work itself in". It didn't change/improve. Maybe I got a bad unit, but looking at posts like yours and the posts on the Linksys forum, this seems to be a more common problem. I am packing it up as I type and it's going back tomorrow. I have the Orbi back on and in my environment the Velop is simply not working well.
- ktoonsezMar 20, 2018StarI also tried the Velop before the orbi. I had nothing but problems with it. Constant disconnects, Alexa had problems connecting to the Internet all the time and my smart switches would always end up being unresponsive trying to use Alexa commands. Pnce I switch to orbi all those problems went away.
- StarbuckyMar 20, 2018Apprentice
Good day,
I could have given it a couple more days but I am pretty sure no amount of tweaking would make it as good as the Orbi. The 3pk Velop didn't provide the performance compared to the 2pk Orbi. That's in my case/setup anyway. I'm sure others have different experiences. Anyway I packed up the Velop and Circle and will return them on the way home from work. As I sit at work my remote access to all my gizmos at home is rock solid again...
I'm not dismissing the big issues other longer term users are having though, I'm still worried and I hope NG resolves them before I start experiencing issues too. I'd really like to start using wired backhaul too. That said I, I've been waiting for more than a year to get a mesh consumer setup and from what I see with all the different manufacturers is that no one has a mature product without issues. They all suck to a certain extent. It should only get better....Maybe I should have waited another year. lol.
- FURRYe38Mar 20, 2018Guru
Did you test the wired back haul while using the current version of FW? I though this version supported wired back haul.
Starbuckywrote:Good day,
I could have given it a couple more days but I am pretty sure no amount of tweaking would make it as good as the Orbi. The 3pk Velop didn't provide the performance compared to the 2pk Orbi. That's in my case/setup anyway. I'm sure others have different experiences. Anyway I packed up the Velop and Circle and will return them on the way home from work. As I sit at work my remote access to all my gizmos at home is rock solid again...
I'm not dismissing the big issues other longer term users are having though, I'm still worried and I hope NG resolves them before I start experiencing issues too. I'd really like to start using wired backhaul too. That said I, I've been waiting for more than a year to get a mesh consumer setup and from what I see with all the different manufacturers is that no one has a mature product without issues. They all suck to a certain extent. It should only get better....Maybe I should have waited another year. lol.
- StarbuckyMar 20, 2018Apprentice
No FURRYe38 I haven't because I thought that wired backhaul was one of the issues why they pulled v.2.1.2.18. I loaded this firmware also because I wanted better parental control for my tecno addict children. I've had the Orbi for just over three weks now on wireless backhaul but I think.I might want to move the satellite a little further away and use wired backhaul. At the moment though I'm just happy that thesystem is stable so although I'm itching to play around with config I think I'll wait until the next release before I start tweaking/experimenting. Speaking of firmware I was asked if I wanted to join the beta testers and I accepted and then all comms went dark and I haven't heard back.
- FURRYe38Mar 20, 2018Guru
Well something you can try. You can always disconnect the LAN cable if it doesn't work.
You might make contact again and see if beta can be made available to you.
Starbuckywrote:No FURRYe38 I haven't because I thought that wired backhaul was one of the issues why they pulled v.2.1.2.18. I loaded this firmware also because I wanted better parental control for my tecno addict children. I've had the Orbi for just over three weks now on wireless backhaul but I think.I might want to move the satellite a little further away and use wired backhaul. At the moment though I'm just happy that thesystem is stable so although I'm itching to play around with config I think I'll wait until the next release before I start tweaking/experimenting. Speaking of firmware I was asked if I wanted to join the beta testers and I accepted and then all comms went dark and I haven't heard back.
- StarbuckyMar 20, 2018Apprentice
Ya actually I will try it, I want to test moving my satellite a little further anyway and wireless backhaul would probably suffer. I guess if I try wired backhaul and it messes things up which aren't reversed when I revert back to wireless backhaul I can reset Orbi and re-load saved config.
- FURRYe38Mar 20, 2018Guru
There ya go.
What is the current distance between the router and Satellite. Mines about 40 feet. Not sure how much farther I can go in range. Mines currently on wired back haul.
Let us know how it turns out.
- DerAusgewandertMar 20, 2018Star
Mine is more than 40feet. 45feet is the projection and then it's an additional 10 feet in the vertical because the satellite sits in the hallway of the second floor. There is a wall and a stairwell and ceiling in between. I had concerns when setting this up initially, but so far I have had no problems at all. Excellent signal throughout the house. I'm not using wired backhaul.
- StarbuckyMar 20, 2018Apprentice
So are you saying that at 40 feet you could still use the wireless backhaul and get acceptable performance?
My satellite is under 30 feet away but the signal goes through three sets of walls (framed/drywall).
So you are using 2.1.2.18 with wired backhaul?
- DerAusgewandertMar 20, 2018Star
Starbuckywrote:So are you saying that at 40 feet you could still use the wireless backhaul and get acceptable performance?
My satellite is under 30 feet away but the signal goes through three sets of walls (framed/drywall).
So you are using 2.1.2.18 with wired backhaul?
yep, v2.1.2.18. NO wired backhaul. No problems with performance so far. It's cool to see when I walk up the stairs and my phone switches over to the Satellite without a problem, while the signal stays on excellent. None of the clients on my 2nd floor have issues with connectivity. The main Orbi router has no problems covering the entire downstairs level, even though it's located at one long end of the house. My house is a little less than 4000sqf.
One nice side effect of the good connection is that response of my Philips Hue lights to Alexa commands is almost instant, while it often took seconds.
- JMU1998Mar 21, 2018Luminary
Anyone experiencing with wired backhaul in AP mode?
- JMU1998Mar 21, 2018Luminary
Anyone experiencing issues with wired backhaul in AP mode?
- spewakMar 21, 2018Luminary
Yes! Connected devices would drop and not reconect. No bueno....
- JoechangMar 22, 2018ApprenticeApril is coming but still they mentioned “soon” didn’t happen.......
- Yld2robMar 22, 2018Luminary
I dealt with the issues for over a year. Thank god I purchsed from Costco and they took it back. Went to an eero pro system connected to ethernet and guess what? No more issues. Getting between 350 and 400 Mbps to each client wirelessly. It just works! No more hearing screaming from my son and wife that the internet is down again. Guys, if they have not been able to make a stable router in over a year, they never will. Leave now while you still have your sanity