NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Orbi RBR10 connection to samsung phone.
Here's my setup: My Orbi RBR10 mesh router is connected to the Starlink router and has 6 satellites, distributed around the house, detached garage and greenhouse.
I use the system for wifi calling because cellular service is weak, and also for all entertainment. I can't use the starlink wifi because it's signal does not cover enough area, that's why I rely on the Orbi mesh.
All was working well until Samsung installed a OneUI update on my Samsung A54 mobile phone. Since then incoming voice on phone calls is so distorted that wifi calling is unusable. Also internet speed on the phone can go as low as 1 - 2 Mbps, while our other mobile phones are seeing speeds of 50Mbps. Likewise with the computers and TV's, no problem with speed.
If I switch the phone over to the Starlink wifi, the A54 has no problem, and sees the same speeds as the other phones, sometimes in excess of 150Mbps. So, during phone calls, I have to switch from Orbi to Starlink.
Samsung has checked the phone and claims it is OK, and that the problem is being caused by the Mesh wifi. Telling them that there was no problem until there update does not convince them.
The A54 phone works fine everywhere else, Starlink, cellular and other wifi connections. I have gone through the Orbi setup multiple times but cannot find any issues. Also, because I have a spare RBR10 router, I switch routers and re-sync'd all satellites and gave the new network a diferent SSID name, but the problem remains. So, for some reason my phone now dislikes Orbi RBR10 mesh networks.
As far as the slow speed is concerned, I don't know if it is network speed or internet speed, because, on the A54 phone, when checking the network properties, the phone doesn't show the speed, whereas my other phones will show the network speed, i.e 390Mbps.
Question: Do different wifi networks work on different frequencies or some other differences? Is there something different about the Orbi wifi signal compared to others.
10 Replies
What a crazy situation! It seems so obvious: Samsung changed software in the phone and now it doesn't work. But....
Changing the User Interface (UI) is not necessarily the same thing as changing the mechanics of how the phone functions. The sense I get from the problem description is that voice quality when using internet calling was what led to the investigation of network speed. i.e. the A54 is just "slow" now when it was speedy before.
No, there is nothing different about Orbi WiFi compared to other similar products. IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac is a standard. The "10-series" product is similar to the original Google Mesh in being a Dual Band system, where the same 5G WiFi radios are used for both user devices and communication between router and satellites.
Sad to hear that the A54 does not display the network speed in WiFi settings. (My Samsung tablet does.)
There are two ways that the Orbi network connection and the Starlink connection are 'different':
- When connected to Starlink, none of the other devices connected to the Orbi are visible to the A54. (The original post did not mention which 'mode' the Orbi router is using.) If the A54 is consuming resources communicating with some other device on the Orbi network, that usage would stop when the phone connects to Starlink directly. It's a real frustration that Orbi routers do not provide useful information about which devices are using the network.
- When connected to the Orbi system, we assume that the phone is correctly implementing IEEE802.11r (often called Fast Roaming - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11r-2008 ) to be connected to the optimal Orbi unit at all times. With six satellites in that layout, there is a good chance that some are "Daisy Chained" and this may affect speed at the farthest satellite. Would it be possible to temporarily power off the satellites and test the phone against only the Orbi router? The Orbi Attached Devices (Device Manager on the Orbi app) display which unit each device is using. The Orbi app also displays the Link Speed which it appears that the A54 does not reveal. It is frustrating that the attachment information takes quite some time to update. (we think of computers as being "instant". The Orbi Attached Devices information can take several minutes to change, and often requires an actual "Refresh" of the screen.)
The A54 has probably been restarted?
Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.
The Orbi router is in Router mode, as it always has been, and it shows the phone connected with 5G. I have cleared cache, reset all settings, and also done a factory reset, but with no improvement in performance. I suppose I could power down all satellites, then check the wifi speed from the Orbi router.
I don't remember which was the 1st symptom, whether speed or voice communication. I think possibly it was speed, because when trying to connect to a page, say FB, the screen would start blank, and the progress bar would freeze at the halfway point. Eventually, if I waited long enough, the page would finally load. Sometimes though (rarely), the phone works relatively normally, with clear voice and speed similar to my other Samsung phones.
My Orbi network is set up with fast roaming and daisy chain enabled. I have run tests with the phone in close proximity to several of the satellites, with the fastest connection being obtained when close to the satellite connected to the phone. Moving around the house, the phone does not switch to the closest satellite. Well, maybe it does if I would wait long enough.
I have run speed tests with the A54 located next to my old J727 and a Samsung A71. Sometimes, but very rarely the A54 will run slightly faster, but generally the A54 will show less than 5Mbps, while, at the same time, the other phones will be anywhere from 30 - 60Mbps.
Recently, I checked the starlink network speed close to the Starling router, it was 167Mbps. I immediately switch networks to the Orbi router, which showed the A54 as the connected device, and ran the test again, but got only 2Mbps.
In town, I ran the same test using the Puretalk (AT&T) cellular connection, and got 87Mbps.
I have no idea why the phone discriminates against the Orbi network, and it's difficult to argue with Samsung when they have tested the phone and found nothing wrong, instead claiming that the Mesh network is to blame, and asking me if I set up the network, as if to insinuate that I made a setup error. My answer to them is, as you wrote, that the phone connection was fine before the One UI update, but then, after updating, the problems started, so it has to be the update.
I've also told them that, to troubleshoot the problem, it would have to be done in my home where the problem exists. But, they will only do that if I pay for the home visit.Is there a way to factory reset the A54?
I run an app called GSam Battery Monitor Pro on my Android which displays the usage of each application. (Maybe your newer phone does this without an 'app'?)
I accidentally found a fix.
I set up a guest network for some friends who are visiting. When I connect my A54 to that network, the speed is fine. I will get 50Mbps, But, when I switch back to my home network, the A54's speed drops back to 2Mbps.
Any ideas what might be happening?Thanks.
