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Forum Discussion
Orbi satellite dropping connection
Right to the point: my Orbi system has 2 satellites and 1 main tower. The internet drops/slows down (to the point where internet browsing is not possible) 2-3 times per day randomly without warning o...
rickatron wrote:I have both RBK50 base unit and RBS50 satellite. Now running Router Firmware Version
V2.0.0.74. It is now January 18, but same Firmware version as of October 16. Not sure if it is auto-updating. My satellite keeps on dropping signal to my Samsung S6 (Android) phone. There appeeard to be no rhyme or reason. I get a message on my phone tat says "Authentication error occured." I can fix it by restarting my phone. (My phone does not have any problem auto-connecing to other secure Wifi networks in other locations when I travel. Just at home with Orbi system. ) At home with the Orbi system, multiple other devices connect to base system router with no problems. (Note: My iPad connects to stellite with no problem although signal sometimes drops from 5G to 2.4G. )
Although NetGear states this reply is an accepted solution, the solution seems to say that one should abandon the Orbi and buy a Google router. Is there a software fix for this "satellite" problem?
Currently auto-update of Netgear firmware for the Orbi is turned off on the Netgear end, so no auto-update until Netgear turns that back on. You can, of course, manually update your firmware anytime you want:
You can also go backwards in firmware versions, should that be what works best for you.
Sorry I can't help with the Samsung Galaxy S6 problem...no problems here with the iPhone 7 or 8, or Pixel phone on the Orbi.
I manually updated the firmware on both satellite and then router base. Ugraded to V2.1.1.16. Upgrade was successful. Reconnected my wireless devices. Now I will have to see if my Samsung S6 stays connected to the satellite. Thanks to the community for help!
Well, I did what I didn't want to do and power cycled the RBW30. It reconnected and my devices still stayed on the RBS50. I started Googling around and reading...didn't find much. Then, all of a sudden I go to the attached devices page and they are now connected to the RBW30. I'm getting full speed again. Maybe the signal finally dipped to where it forced it over to the RBW30, not sure.
I'm wondering if rebooting the RBR50 every once in a while would help? I wish you could schedule reboots. It's always good to get a thearaputic reboot in.
EDIT: I spoke too soon. Before I could post this, my connection switched back over to the RBS50 on my laptop. This is really frustrating. My phone remained on the RBW30 and was still getting full speed.
EDIT2: I moved the laptop further into the shop and it finally connected to the RBW30 again. So far so good. However, I'm getting about half the speed I expect.
Not sure if anyone is following what I post, but I'm trying to throw out some updates for people. I went back out to the shop today to do some work and ended up working on the Orbi instead. Why? Because as usual, my devices were stuck to a different sattelite instead of the RBW30 like they should have been connected to. Speed tests sucked, of course. Also, I've been getting drops a lot even in the house with my Samsung Galaxy S7. Nothing new here to those of you having that issue. I keep getting authentication error issues.
So then I started looking into things and noticed a new version of firmware was available. I figured why not. So I updated the main router to the latest (2.1.2.18). Then I ran into issues updating the RBS50. It kept saying things like Service Unreachable and Update Failed. Some Googleing revealed that maybe a re-sync on the sattelite would work, but I tried a power cycle first. Once it was back up, I was able to update the firmware on the RBS50 as well. Kind of a frustrating process up to this point.
I then brought the RBW30 into the house from the shop. On the OrbiLogon page, it kept saying "Config Sync" and it also wasn't showing up in the firmware update page. I plugged it in inside the house and was able to get it to update firmware, which was actually more than a few versions behind. I plugged it back out into the shop. I'm posting this from the shop now and so far so good. I don't like the trend of power cycling the RBW30, but maybe this new firmware will help.
Also, so far, I don't have any drops on my Samsung Galaxy S7. Maybe now I can do some shop work. I'll report back if anything changes.
- Hey - Thanks for the update. I updated to the newest firmware as well. Satellites still drop periodically, and router occasionally. While less frequent, it still isn’t acceptable. As you might recall, I purchased Google WiFi several weeks ago out of frustration with Orbi reliability. Of course, Google WiFi hasn’t had one single issue. It isn’t as fast as Orbi, and it is exceptionally frustrating to see a $600 investment sitting in a box and not being used, but reliability has to come first. Hope others have better luck than I have. Netgear needs to make this right for everyone who has had to deal with this headache. Look at the amount of time everyone has invested trying to help solve this...
