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Forum Discussion
Orbi RBR20 - buffering even at high speed
I have an RBR20 with 2 satellites that are about 2+ years old and has been performing very well in my 3500 sq ft house. Earlier this year, I switched my internet provider from Cox to TMobile. Even after the switch, the system has been performing very well. However, in the last couple of months, I have been facing a problem with buffering. Let me try to describe the salient points of the issue:
1. Videos buffering during loading on youtube, Netflix and most other apps, on all devices (TV, phone etc).
2. Apps are not downloading on phone when connected to the wifi. They download if I switch off the wifi and when the phone is on data connection.
3. When I disconnect from the ORBI sysid and connect directly to the TMobile sysid, I don't see these problems. But of course, then I lose the advantages of using an Orbi system.
4. Speed testing (fast.com) yields excellent results (100-300 MBPS in most cases).
5. I haven't noticed any issues with general web browsing, working (I work from home), video calls etc.
I have Armor disabled on my Orbi app. Also all firmware is updated.
Is there anything I can do to help the situation before throwing out my orbi? To reiterate, this problem has started recently, without any obvious/significant event, to the best of my knowledge.
Thanks a lot in advance.
- Vivek
4 Replies
Have you checked with the ISP and ISP services to see if there are recent issues there?
Does this happen with the RBS turned OFF?
Does this happen with both wireless and wired devices?
What channel configurations are currently set on the router?Has a power off for 1 minute then back ON with the ISP modem and router been performed since last update?
Be sure to restart your network in this sequence:
Turn off and unplug modem.
Turn off router and computers.
Plug in and turn on modem. Wait 2 minutes for it to connect.
Turn on the router and wait 2 minutes for it to connect.
Turn on computers and rest of network.What Firmware version is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?Thanks a lot FURRYe38. I did reset all the devices in order and restarted them. That did not resolve the problem.
This issue takes place only the devices are connected to the Orbi wireless network. It does not happen with wired connection. There are no issues even with the wifi sys-id of the T-Mobile (ISP) router. Only with the Orbi wireless sys-id.
I am sorry I am not very technical. What is RBS, and how do I turn it off? Also, how do I check the channel configurations?
The firmware version is: v2.7.4.24.
I will let you know the details of the ISP modem.
It might be useful to verify whether WiFi connections are affected to all Orbi units (router and both satellites), or just to some. The default connection between router and satellites is 5G WiFi channel 157 (in North America). Possibly a neighbor has installed a new WiFi system that interferes with this link.
The "last resort" is to perform a Factory Reset:
https://kb.netgear.com/31486/How-do-I-reset-my-Orbi-system-to-factory-default-settings
Depending on how much effort has been put into customizing the setup, this can take from 15 minutes to several hours (in my case, allowing for all the typos I am certain to make typing all that in again). I prefer this approach.
- Prepare. Use the Administrative feature "Save Configuration" to make a copy of the entire system configuration on the computer connected to the router. Open a document and then save screen shots of all the relevant configuration pages. In my case, the LAN Setup table has 60+ entries and I have DDNS & OpenVPN configured plus I defined specific DNS servers.
- Do a "quick" Factory Reset.
- Follow the reset directions, then
- Using a computer connected to the router, open the router web page, either http://orbilogin.net or the router IP address, which is usually http://192.162.1.1
- If it requests credentials, log in using "admin" and "password".
- On the first page, where it prompts you to use the Orbi 'app', go to the bottom of the screen and click the link, "I do not have a smart phone". (What business is it of Netgear's whether I have a smart phone or not. I simply do NOT want to use the damn app.)
- Follow the setup instructions, ignoring any offer to install Armor, Smart Parental Controls, or register the router. Do NOT change the WiFi SSID or password. If you do that, every device in the house will connect before the system is ready for them. Eventually you get to the page that offers a choice:
- Load a saved configuration, or
- Continue the setup manually.
- Select Load a saved configuration. Browse to the file on the computer.
- Once the configuration is loaded, the router will reboot and everything will be "as it was before", but the hope is that whatever corruption has caused poor performance will be gone.
- This process can be as fast as 10 minutes. (Okay... more like 15)
- Check the system to see that everything works and see whether the problems are gone. Give it at least a couple of hours to settle down. If "all better", then get out the orange juice and make mimosas.
- If the problem remains, do a manual reset. Follow the same steps, but instead of loading the saved configuration go through the setup one step at a time using the screen shots that were saved. The last step would be changing the WiFi SSID to match the previous versions, at which point everything reconnects.
Only people who are desperate do a Factory Reset as a "last resort". (I certainly have.)
