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Solved
Packet loss pattern
My Orbi satellite and router are running on firmware 2.1.1.16
Today I noticed that my VoIP calls, web browsing and online gaming all hang at the same time. This prompted me to monitor the stability of the network and came up with the following graph:
It seems strange how regular the periods of packet loss are. I have already ruled out my ISP being at fault. This also happens on the latest beta firmware. Anyone having this same issue?
After a few hours, the packet loss came back even after the change I made. Long story short: I ended up downgrading back to V2.0.0.74 where the issues is gone entirely. Beamforming and Fast Roaming are enabled in my configuration without issues. I hope this helps somebody.
9 Replies
Either it's a device on your network causing flooding or routing issue, or wireless interference. I would start by looking at your wifi signal availability by running a scanner on your network. Apple iOS devices have a built in scanner in the airport utility (go into options and turn on scanner), android devices have many downloadable apps that can scan wifi.
If that does not pan out I'd try kicking everything off your network by temporarily changing your Wifi Password and disconnecting all devices from ethernet and then test pinging to see what device could be introducing it.
Thank you for your reply.
I betting it has something to do with the wireless signal since connecting a computer via ethernet straight to the Orbi router yields flawless performance on the same test. This discards devices flooding the network or routing issues in my mind.
I have taken a look at the WiFi enviorment as you suggested. It seems a total of six networks are broadcasted between the router and the satellite:
SSID: Pyro's Wifi
MAC address #1
2.4 Ghz
Channel 4
SSID: Pyro's Wifi
MAC address #2
2.4 Ghz
Channel 4
SSID: Pyro's Wifi
MAC address #3
5 Ghz
Channel 48
SSID: Pyro's Wifi
MAC address #4
5 Ghz
Channel 48
SSID: Hidden
MAC address #5
2.4 Ghz
Channel 4
SSID: Hidden
MAC address #6
5 Ghz
Channel 157
Additionally, my neighbours' WiFi signals are all broadcasting at 2.4 GHz as follows:
Two networks on channel 1
Two networks on channel 11
Four networks on channel 8
Two networks on channel 6
All my devices connect to my Orbi system in 5Ghz making me think my neighbours' Wifi are no harm to me.
However, I see my own SSIDs share the same channel on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. Seems my Orbi devices are making interference with each other?
I did some experimentation and found that INDEED the Orbi router and satellite are interfering with each other. For my testing, I shutdown the sattelite unit completely leaving only the router unit operating. Without changing anything else, I ran my original test and came up with this:
The packet loss pattern is now gone completely. For futher testing I stressed the WiFi network with VoiP, online gaming and web browsing simultaneously with excellent results. Everything ran smoothly just as it should.
The problem now is that my WiFi range is severly limited since the satellite unit is off.