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Orbi RBK50 - Cannot connect to the internet unless I use a VPN
Hi,
For the first 2 months or so after installation the ORBI system worked great. Now I find that often we are connected to the wifi with full strength however there is no internet connection (...
mark_sink wrote:
ekhalil Thanks for your quick response. When I review the lease obtained it is showing a huge value of 49710 days:
.............
I suggest to reduce the lease time so that Orbi will periodically renew the DHCP lease from the ISP. Please do the following:
- From browser go to the router's debug page (http://192.168.1.1/debug.htm). Use your router's IP address or http://orbilogin.com/debug.htm
- Enter admin as user name and your router’s management password
- Tick "Enable Telnet" option
- Use Telnet to connect to your Router telnet 192.168.1.1 and enter admin and the same password as above
- Enter the following commands:
- root@RBR50:/# config get wan_lease --Should give you --> 86400 which means 24 hours
- root@RBR50:/# config set wan_lease=3600 --3600 means 1 hours
- root@RBR50:/# config commit
I recommend that you have your ISP check the cabling going to the ISP modem, check signal levels going to the ISP modem. For DSL or Fiber service lines, ensure that the ISP is using good working phone or cable lines to the DSL modem and that the phone lines are filtered correctly. For cable Internet, RG-6 coaxial cable is needed, not RG-59. Check for t.v. line splitters and remove them as they can introduce noise on the line and lower the signal going to the ISP modem. I recommend having the ISP service physically check the lines going from the out side to the ISP modem. Connecting to the ISP modem could result in a false positive as the signal to the modem could be just enough to that point then adding on a router, could see problems. The router operation is dependent upon getting good data flow from the ISP modem and the modem is dependent upon getting good signal from the ISP Service.
You might reset your modem back to modem/router mode and try one of the following options:
1.Disable ALL wifi radios on the modem, configure the modems DMZ for the IP address the Orbi router gets from the modem. Then you can use the Orbi router in Router mode.
2. Or disable all wifi radios on the modem and connect the Orbi router to the modem, configure AP mode on the Orbi router. https://kb.netgear.com/31218/How-do-I-configure-my-Orbi-router-to-act-as-an-access-point and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7LOcJ8GdDo&app=desktop
Just to see if the internet connect resolves better or not.
mark_sink wrote:
Hi,
For the first 2 months or so after installation the ORBI system worked great. Now I find that often we are connected to the wifi with full strength however there is no internet connection (this happens on multiple devices including laptops, phones etc.; as well as devices that are plugged in via ethernet cable). When I go in to the Orbi router settings it shows that the internet is connected (internet status is "good" under the Home Page). To get it to work again I need to either physically restart the Orbi Router or go advanced -> internet port -> connection status and then hit disconnect and then connect on the pop up window. This was happening on average twice a day.
My setup is a TP-LINK modem/router that is running in bridge mode and the Orbi is doing all of the routing work. My orbi is running firmware V2.2.1.210.
In these specific occurences I could however get an internet connection if I enabled a VPN first on my computer or phone. Netgear support originally suggested changing my DNS settings to the Google DNS servers and this seemed to fix the problem for about a month before it came back again and now changing the DNS server settings doesn't seem to make any difference..
I've now tried to troubleshoot the problem further by changing my setup such that the TPG modem acts as a modem and I have the Orbi running in DMZ mode. When I first set this up this afternoon it was working perfectly. Now I'm back to the same old problem. My Orbi router is showing that it is connected to the internet but none of hte devices can connect to hte internet unless I enable a VPN first. Additionally if I connect directly to the TPLINK modem (i.e. not through the Orbi) then the internet works perfectly.
Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions about what settings I should change within the Orbi to overcome this issue?
Thanks in advance!
FURRYe38 Thanks for your response.
I have previously replaced the cable between the wall outlet and my modem without any improvement. I have also called out the ISP who have come and run line tests (both remotely and then physically at my address) and confirmed that the connection is solid. I also do not have any line splitters installed.
FURRYe38 wrote:
1.Disable ALL wifi radios on the modem, configure the modems DMZ for the IP address the Orbi router gets from the modem. Then you can use the Orbi router in Router mode.
2. Or disable all wifi radios on the modem and connect the Orbi router to the modem, configure AP mode on the Orbi router. https://kb.netgear.com/31218/How-do-I-configure-my-Orbi-router-to-act-as-an-access-point and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7LOcJ8GdDo&app=desktop
Just to see if the internet connect resolves better or not.
I tried Option 1 yesterday (Configuring the modem into DMZ Mode) however this did not resolve the problem. It was in this mode that I was able to directly connect to the modem and confirm the internet was still working despite the fact that no devices connected to the Orbi Router were able to connect to the internet.
I would prefer not to go down the path of Option 2 if possible as I need a lot of the advanced routing features of the Orbi which I would lose if I set it to AP mode.
You might try this, do a full manual FW re-load on the Orbi router with the same verion of FW. Then factory reset and setup from scratch and see if the problem continues.
Also swap out LAN cables in between the modem and Orbi. CAT6 is recommended.
You may want to see if the new beta thats available can help as well:
mark_sink wrote:
FURRYe38 Thanks for your response.
I have previously replaced the cable between the wall outlet and my modem without any improvement. I have also called out the ISP who have come and run line tests (both remotely and then physically at my address) and confirmed that the connection is solid. I also do not have any line splitters installed.
FURRYe38 wrote:
1.Disable ALL wifi radios on the modem, configure the modems DMZ for the IP address the Orbi router gets from the modem. Then you can use the Orbi router in Router mode.
2. Or disable all wifi radios on the modem and connect the Orbi router to the modem, configure AP mode on the Orbi router. https://kb.netgear.com/31218/How-do-I-configure-my-Orbi-router-to-act-as-an-access-point and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7LOcJ8GdDo&app=desktopJust to see if the internet connect resolves better or not.
I tried Option 1 yesterday (Configuring the modem into DMZ Mode) however this did not resolve the problem. It was in this mode that I was able to directly connect to the modem and confirm the internet was still working despite the fact that no devices connected to the Orbi Router were able to connect to the internet.
I would prefer not to go down the path of Option 2 if possible as I need a lot of the advanced routing features of the Orbi which I would lose if I set it to AP mode.