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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...
Logitech has been absolutely unhelpful. It’s the classuc pass-off. Their Hub only operates on 2.4ghz. They suggest separating the mesh WiFi. Do you have any explanation as to why the Orbi router is forced to disconnect by this device? I can understand that the Hub may not access the mesh WiFi, but why does it shut everything down? Will there be a future easy way to separate SSIDs for 2.4 and 5 ghz?
Does this device have it's own broadcast? Seems like it does. Or is it a wireless client?
Does it have any wireless settings of it's own? If it does, you might see if you can change the channels to say 1, and set your Orbi rouer to manual channel 11 and see how it goes.
MESH systems or any kind of wifi that employs smart connect, is designed to handle and connect devices to each frequency automatically depending on client device HW support. If you have some devices that have 2.4Ghz only support, then these will only connect to the 2.4Ghz radio. Dual band devices, will depend on what singal quality is best and conditions with the device. So mostly devices should connect to the 5Ghz radio, unless the range or signal is bad then the device may connect to the 2.4Ghz radio instead. It's all automatic and the designe behind having one SSID name and using Smart Connect.
If your hub seems to be causing the Orbi system to stop, it usually means that this device is broadcasing on same frequency and channel and the Orbi is encountering this interference. Two broadcast devices can not be on the same channel on the same frequency. So you have to separate the channels as far appart as possible.
WillBill wrote:
Logitech has been absolutely unhelpful. It’s the classuc pass-off. Their Hub only operates on 2.4ghz. They suggest separating the mesh WiFi. Do you have any explanation as to why the Orbi router is forced to disconnect by this device? I can understand that the Hub may not access the mesh WiFi, but why does it shut everything down? Will there be a future easy way to separate SSIDs for 2.4 and 5 ghz?
- First of all, thank you for trying to help me with this issue. You communicate to the Hub with the Harmony app via WiFi, then the Hub turns on devices using IR. I’m not aware of any way to set the wireless settings other than pick the SSID and enter the passcode. I purchased my Orbi system in August 2017. Do you think Netgear Premium Support can help me with this specific issue? I have researched on the internet and found that other people have a similar problem with the Harmony Hub and mesh WiFi.
You might contact support and file a case. I would also contact one of the form moderators and let them know what your seeing with this device. I have heard that some devices don't play well with smart connect and or MESH systems. This maybe problematic if you continue to use this device.
WillBill wrote:
First of all, thank you for trying to help me with this issue. You communicate to the Hub with the Harmony app via WiFi, then the Hub turns on devices using IR. I’m not aware of any way to set the wireless settings other than pick the SSID and enter the passcode. I purchased my Orbi system in August 2017. Do you think Netgear Premium Support can help me with this specific issue? I have researched on the internet and found that other people have a similar problem with the Harmony Hub and mesh WiFi.- From what you’ve written, it’s hard to tell if it’s some sort of signal interference issue or a problem with IP conflicts, etc. One random thought might be to see what happens if you create a guest network, which would have a different SSID than the one you’re broadcasting and connecting to for your other devices. It’s likeky that the guest network IPs would be confined to a range, and therefore, you MIGHT eliminate IP conflicts - assuming that’s causing the issue. Again, a long shot, but it would allow you to have a separate SSID being broadcast.
- Does the guest network still broadcast in both 2.4 and 5 ghz? I also had a random thought of assigning static IPs to each device. When a device is turned off and back on, it gets a different IP or when I manually reboot the RBK50, then all the IPs may change. When you use the Harmony app, I am typically starting a Denon Receiver, Samsung TV which then must get an IP address.
- You should be able to configure to use one or both... i haven’t tried to enable it for a while, but most every router allows you to choose.
Yes, set up a static IP address ON the devices if they have this option to configure this. If you do, set the routers IP address pool to 192.168.1.100 to .200. Then assign static IP addresses ON devices out side the range of this pool.
You can always set a IP address reservation as well for the devices ON the router as well.
Yes I believe both frequencies are broadcast on Guest Networks as well.
WillBill wrote:
Does the guest network still broadcast in both 2.4 and 5 ghz? I also had a random thought of assigning static IPs to each device. When a device is turned off and back on, it gets a different IP or when I manually reboot the RBK50, then all the IPs may change. When you use the Harmony app, I am typically starting a Denon Receiver, Samsung TV which then must get an IP address.Aside from the typical high traffic period slowness (50mbps instead of the 100mbps I pay for), the only issue that persists right now is the occasional drops on my Samsung Galaxy S7. It has been only dropping for a second but today the connection dropped for a full minute before coming back.
Progress is progress it seems. Steps in the right direction.
Is IPv6 enabled on the phone and or the router? Seen issues with Samsung phones and IPv6 before.
What is the 20/40Mhz Coexistence setting? Enabled? Try disabled.
What wireless features are enabled? Beamforming, MiMo? Cant remember what you said was disabled.
myriad_rocker wrote:Aside from the typical high traffic period slowness (50mbps instead of the 100mbps I pay for), the only issue that persists right now is the occasional drops on my Samsung Galaxy S7. It has been only dropping for a second but today the connection dropped for a full minute before coming back.
Progress is progress it seems. Steps in the right direction.
WillBill wrote:
First of all, thank you for trying to help me with this issue. You communicate to the Hub with the Harmony app via WiFi, then the Hub turns on devices using IR. I’m not aware of any way to set the wireless settings other than pick the SSID and enter the passcode. I purchased my Orbi system in August 2017. Do you think Netgear Premium Support can help me with this specific issue? I have researched on the internet and found that other people have a similar problem with the Harmony Hub and mesh WiFi.My Harmony Elite hub connected instantly and problem-free with its nearby Orbi satellite. It is 2.4 GHz only. I’m running Orbi 2.2 beta fw, maybe a fw update would help you.
Hoping the problem is fixed with the Harmony Hub. I didn't change any more settings. For the record the normal default settings are intact, Daisy Chain is enabled and 2.4 ghz channel is set to auto. I had faithfully updated when new FW was available, but the problem never seemed to disappear and sometimes got worse. But here's the thing, when I reset the units after every FW update, I just pushed in the slot with a paperclip and then released. Yesterday I reset all the units, but this time allowed 40 sec for each reset before releasing. That seemed to work so far. I have not been able to get the Orbi router to disconnect from the wifi with the Harmony Hub.
Sounds like new beta FW is helping.
If you don't have more than 1 satellite, you can disable Daisy Chain, even if you do have two satllites, depending upon placement you don't need it enabled.
WillBill wrote:Hoping the problem is fixed with the Harmony Hub. I didn't change any more settings. For the record the normal default settings are intact, Daisy Chain is enabled and 2.4 ghz channel is set to auto. I had faithfully updated when new FW was available, but the problem never seemed to disappear and sometimes got worse. But here's the thing, when I reset the units after every FW update, I just pushed in the slot with a paperclip and then released. Yesterday I reset all the units, but this time allowed 40 sec for each reset before releasing. That seemed to work so far. I have not been able to get the Orbi router to disconnect from the wifi with the Harmony Hub.
Spoke too soon - back to the Orbi RBR50 (FW 2.1.3.4) losing connection with the internet when using the Logitech Harmony Hub. I disabled Daisy Chain Topology, but that does not stop the diconnects. I removed an additional satellite (RBW30) that I had added and that didn't matter. It appears after a hard reset, things are smooth for 24 to 48 hours and then its back to the router losing internet connection. I'm not sure what to do next, other than separate myself from El Diablo Orbi.
That's a cop out imho
I've heard that in many of the multitude of threads reporting this disconnect issues
I have no Google Pixel phones or devices - nor do I have any android devices but I get all the same symptoms and experiences of random dropouts, occurring with random frequency and persistence - sometimes 10-30 minutes others times hours
This is a problem with all orbi devices - occurs in the "business" version and no solution in site running the latest firmware V2.1.4.16
Looks like this is a persisting issue with the Orbi system. I've tried resets, different firmware, etc, and nothing seems to fix the disconnects. My orbi satellite starts up, connects, shows a blue connection, and then innevitably drops the signal for a minute or so before re-finding the blue signal strength. This is unacceptable for such an expensive "mesh" system. My base and hubs are not that far apart, maybe ~20 feet - all show good connections. I'm going to try one more test today... base and hubs in the same garage. If the signal continues to drop when the hub and satellites can actually see each other, then I'm going to return this POS to Best Buy and try a different brand. People on here say they have luck switching from Orbi to TP link Deco, Eero, and the google system ... there's no point in spending hours trouble shooting with Netgear when other systems work out of the box, and this problem seems to be present regardless of the firmware version.
Also, I must mention, the early messages in this thread received multiple netgear responses with "PM me", but without any attempt at a public solution. Why can't the Negear support staff on here actually help within the forum? All of these private message requests from Netgear staff make it seem like Netgear doesn't want this problem openly discussed.
sanforce wrote:
My base and hubs are not that far apart, maybe ~20 feet - all show good connections. I'm going to try one more test today... base and hubs in the same garage. If the signal continues to drop when the hub and satellites can actually see each other, then I'm going to return this POS to Best Buy and try a different brand.
FYI This is not a Wifi sync problem since both of my satellite devices are hard-wired connected - this is a software issue
Does not matter how close or far your satellite systems are they will disconnect even when connected via Cat5e cable back to the rbi main unit
All this adds up to a problem with software/firmware and not a physical location issue or even a wifi connectivity issue
Wow, thank you for doing the heavy lifting here. Been these exact issues this starting about a week ago, driving me nuts! At least now it seems Orbi is the cause.
- Wowsers. Same issue. Works for 10min maybe 30min then satellite drops connection to 1% of previous signal strength. All kids kindles and iMac start showing WiFi with exclamation marks. All this started to happen when I blocked a couple devices then did a firmware upgrade check (now on 2.1.4.16). Wish I never tampered with anything. Now kids internet pages say they are still blocked even though they are not in the Orbi app on my iPhone. Not a wireless techie here but dropping half my homes devices only to have to reboot or resync satellite for another 10mins of internet is the crappiest thing I’ve ever experienced. So frustrating and my triplets are going insane without internet. The router appears unaffected and 2 wired devices appear unaffected. I don’t have time for hours of t/s and phone support. Is there a way to roll back firmware or just send me a new satellite will ya?
Have you tried a factory reset on the setellilte first after the FW update, then re-add it?
Might try a full factoy reset on the router and satellite as well the set up from scratch and see if the problem continues.
Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on the base.
Disable MIMO, Daisy Chain and Fast Roaming on the base and reboot.
What is the distance between the base and satellite? Feet?
Mcguyvr wrote:
Wowsers. Same issue. Works for 10min maybe 30min then satellite drops connection to 1% of previous signal strength. All kids kindles and iMac start showing WiFi with exclamation marks. All this started to happen when I blocked a couple devices then did a firmware upgrade check (now on 2.1.4.16). Wish I never tampered with anything. Now kids internet pages say they are still blocked even though they are not in the Orbi app on my iPhone. Not a wireless techie here but dropping half my homes devices only to have to reboot or resync satellite for another 10mins of internet is the crappiest thing I’ve ever experienced. So frustrating and my triplets are going insane without internet. The router appears unaffected and 2 wired devices appear unaffected. I don’t have time for hours of t/s and phone support. Is there a way to roll back firmware or just send me a new satellite will ya?- Doing factory reset now. I’m on the new network I set up after factory reset but only on the main router. Not sure how to make the settings changes you mentioned above(fastbeam, mummies etc) . Will have to research that as I’m not finding them in the APP on my phone. Should I try to add the satellite first (I skipped that at setup) before altering the above suggested settings?
Use a wireless or wired PC conntected to the router and log in to the routers web page and make changes there.
What is the distance between the base and satellite? Feet?
Mcguyvr wrote:
Doing factory reset now. I’m on the new network I set up after factory reset but only on the main router. Not sure how to make the settings changes you mentioned above(fastbeam, mummies etc) . Will have to research that as I’m not finding them in the APP on my phone. Should I try to add the satellite first (I skipped that at setup) before altering the above suggested settings?- Thanks. Found it. The satellite somehow auto connected even though I said skip. Distance is only 20ft as crow flies just down an open stairwell. Did I mention it all worked fine since feb. well....it is using daisy, and...so far it has worked the rest of the day. I won’t hold my breath ....will update tomorrow if still going without drops...I made no other mods to setting aforementioned. Appreciate the replies. Will let ya know.
Can you move the satellite farther out? 20 feet is a bit too close. The router can cover around 30feet depending upon building materials. Mines at 40 feet as crow flies, two walls and a roof in between mine. LOL.
Mcguyvr wrote:
Thanks. Found it. The satellite somehow auto connected even though I said skip. Distance is only 20ft as crow flies just down an open stairwell. Did I mention it all worked fine since feb. well....it is using daisy, and...so far it has worked the rest of the day. I won’t hold my breath ....will update tomorrow if still going without drops...I made no other mods to setting aforementioned. Appreciate the replies. Will let ya know.- Well did it again. No mi-mumu, no beamforming...just surfing for 20mins YouTube on the iMac and wham...crawl to 0.03-.10 mbps. When I reboot the pc, it reconnects again for the short while. Then the satellite appears to drop again. I’ll try with beamforming on and mimu on. But I think there’s some hardware issues with the satellite.
Also pleast try testing with the satellite turned off and your PC connected to the router. Let us know if you see same problem or not. if not, I recommend that yout get in contact with NG support and ask for an RMA.
Mcguyvr wrote:
Well did it again. No mi-mumu, no beamforming...just surfing for 20mins YouTube on the iMac and wham...crawl to 0.03-.10 mbps. When I reboot the pc, it reconnects again for the short while. Then the satellite appears to drop again. I’ll try with beamforming on and mimu on. But I think there’s some hardware issues with the satellite.
