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Forum Discussion
bluefish10
Aug 02, 2017Guide
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...
mich1973
Feb 17, 2018Tutor
As an update, it's interesting to see that Netgear now shows firmware V2.0.1.4 as the current firmware and all of V2.1.* is flagged as previous. So, I just downgraded for my RBR50 and RBS50 and it did solve the problem of the disconnecting satellite for me.
Have a look .. You don't need to throw your Orbi away ..
Michael
- myriad_rockerFeb 17, 2018Apprentice
mich1973wrote:As an update, it's interesting to see that Netgear now shows firmware V2.0.1.4 as the current firmware and all of V2.1.* is flagged as previous. So, I just downgraded for my RBR50 and RBS50 and it did solve the problem of the disconnecting satellite for me.
Have a look .. You don't need to throw your Orbi away ..
Michael
Yeah, that is pretty interesting. An article on their page claims that it fixes a memory leak. Article here. There's nothing there that says it was a rollback or any other details at all.
I've been having some issues lately. The previous (2.1.2.18) worked fine for me for about a week or so. No issues at all. Then I started getting drops on my Android phone. Then my laptop would start having drops. Also, general slowness across the network. I did a reboot on the router, but that didn't seem to fix anything. If the memory leak thing is true, it definitely makes sense. Hope they get it resolved in a new firmware update.
I hate that they push things to market and test on consumers. They do the same thing with games and a multitude of other things. It's easy these days because they can always push out an update. The speed to market has to be quick or else you'll be last to market.
- myriad_rockerFeb 20, 2018Apprentice
Things are getting really bad on my end with regard to drops and network speeds of somewhere around crawling. Last night I tested at less than 1mbps. Tonight while running a speedtest, the network dropped. Laptop, phone, all devices. It's like the Orbi had some sort of failure...which seems to be consistent with the memory leaks thing they posted the article about. I haven't had a chance to update (downgrade) the firmware. I'm still on 2.1.2.18. Maybe tonight. I'm well beyond the return period, so I just kind of have to suck it up until they fix this thing. Which is pretty sad. I do still have my old router, but I'd really like internet out in the shop, which is the entire reason I purchased the Orbi to begin with.
- myriad_rockerFeb 23, 2018Apprentice
I ended up downgrading to 2.0.1.4 and it was just more of the same crap. Dropping internet, dropping connections, and also getting horrible internet speeds. I haven't bothered even measuring network throughput because of everything else. I did some testing this morning and ended up connecting my work laptop directly to the modem. It was blazing fast at over 100mbps. My personal laptop (via wireless because it doesn't have a cable connection) was still getting 1/4 the speed I should see.
The speed thing has been so much of an issue lately that I thought it was my ISP. There was an issue some time back where our pool for the area had an issue and internet speeds were crawling. It impacted the entire neighborhood (I checked with others). Anyway, they sent someone out to fix it and it was fine then. I thought that maybe it was that again since I saw someone working on the pool location about a week ago. They sent someone out to look at the pool. They said nothing was wrong so they ended up "resetting my connection". Whatever that means. Per the tests today, I think it was the Orbi.
I ended up rebooting the router again and plugging the modem back into it. I then tested my work laptop wirelessly. I verified it was connected via 5Ghz and it was testing well at over 100mbps (I should mention I had unplugged the RBS50 after the router reboot).
Anyway, fast forward to this evening and the upstairs computer (which is connected via cat 5) is getting over 100mbps and my work laptop is getting at or above 100mbps mostly. My personal laptop is not getting quite there connected at 5Ghz. Not sure why, but I'll assume it's a client side issue. I haven't checked the protocol it runs at. In short, I'm ok with it. I think it tested as high as 75mbps before the router forced it over to the 2.4ghz connection. it's now testing between 50mbps and 65mbps. Ping times are all over the place, but I don't put too much stock into that.
Anyway, this is all with the main satellite unplugged. The garage satellite is still plugged in (RBW30) and, oddly enough, Orbi reports that it is connected to the main router. This surprises me since it's so far away. I'm sure the speed is horrible, but it's cold and wet out so I don't feel like walking across the yard to the shop. lol
I'm not sure when I'll plug the RBS50 back in. Probably not tonight. I want to keep doing some baseline testing before I do that. That was a lot to type and I'm not sure people will read all that. So I'll stop there. :)
- JvreemanFeb 17, 2018Star
Thank you for responding to the thread with this! I just downgraded the firmware to the new old V2.0.0.53 firmware for the RBR40 and RBS40 units.
Have Wifi Explorer running and will be monitoring the connections. Fingers crossed this resolves the issue.
Thank you, again!
- QuickscanFeb 17, 2018GuideHi, how are you ‘downgrading’ the firmware. I can’t see an option to do this.
Thanks
Dan
- mich1973Feb 25, 2018Tutor
mich1973wrote:As an update, it's interesting to see that Netgear now shows firmware V2.0.1.4 as the current firmware and all of V2.1.* is flagged as previous. So, I just downgraded for my RBR50 and RBS50 and it did solve the problem of the disconnecting satellite for me.
Have a look .. You don't need to throw your Orbi away ..
Michael
Update - One week after downgrading to firmware v2.0.1.4, I did not encounter a single issue. So, from my side, this is now SOLVED.
What remains is a very disappointing experience with how Netgear handles firmward upgrades. It's hard to believe that testing is done so poorly that such major bugs are not detected before releasing the firmware to the customer.
Michael
- myriad_rockerFeb 25, 2018Apprentice
mich1973wrote:What remains is a very disappointing experience with how Netgear handles firmward upgrades. It's hard to believe that testing is done so poorly that such major bugs are not detected before releasing the firmware to the customer.
Michael
Glad it worked for you. It was more of the same from my end. Downgrading did nothing to help things out once the system had been up and running for some time.
- wase4711Feb 25, 2018Luminary
the orbi pro has updated to firmware 2.1.3.2; any sign of that on the "regular" orbi?
- diggleFeb 25, 2018Apprentice
My system still showing firmware V 2.1.2.18 as current with no updates available....in Australia.
As an aside...I am now connected to our much vaunted NBN...National Broadband Network....a hugely expensive national fibre optic supply...and I chuckle when I see you guys talking about being limited to only 100Mbps....my Maximum at the moment is about 45 Mbits/sec.....although I am paying for premium connection advertised at least 78Mbps.
i am still avoiding dropouts by manually connecting each device in the house...again...shouldn’t have to do this!!!