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Forum Discussion
RBK40 — Orbi AC2200 Tri-band WiFi System - Drops WiFi Constantly
Hello, all. I am currently using a RBK40 — Orbi AC2200 Tri-band WiFi System connected directly to my Frontier (nee, Verizon) FiOS ONT that is mounted on the exterior of my house in a weather protected box. We've been using the system for two years, and starting in about December of 2019, we would experience a significant number of WiFi drops. Our house's main PC is plugged directly into the Router (not the Satellite) and will never lose the connection -- but the rest of the house loses the signal regularly. When it is up, the signal at the farthest point away from the Router is a full signal -- and the speeds are fantastic. It's just that the WiFi drops so often that it is making the system unusable. This is obviously a problem for us right now as my son has started his remote schooling (Kindgergarten .. so that's a whole different problem!) and both my wife and I are working from home full time and need our internet to be up all day! I've seen other posts on bad signals and such, so here are my answers to the questions that are always asked of posters. However, nothing I've seen seems to hit exactly on what our issue is ...
ONT: Alcatel-Lucent 0-211M-H Manufactured in 20011 -- Connected to router via 20 foot long direct CAT-6 Ethernet Cable
Router Firmware: V2.5.1.22
Satellite Firmware: V2.5.1.22
Orbi System operating in Router mode
2,700 Sq Ft. House
50 to 60 Feet between the Router and Satellite.
2.4Ghz is on Channel 6
5Ghz is on Channel 48
WPA Security Mode: WPA2-PSK [AES]
There are a few neighbors with WiFi, but their signals are very weak in my house.
Right now we have 27 devices attached to the system (mainly smart devices, Ring, Wyze Cameras, security cameras, Roku, etc.)
Current Advanced Wireless Settings (2.4Ghz): SSID Broadcast; Enable 20/40 MHz Coexistence; Enable WMM (WiFi Multimedia Settings), CTS/RTS Trheshold 2347; Preamble Mode: Automatic; Transmit Power: 100%
Current Advanced Wireless Settings (5Ghz): SSID Broadcast; Enable WMM; CTS/RTS Threshold 2347; Preamble Mode Automatic; Transmit Power 100%.
Daisy-Chain is OFF.
Beamforming is ON.
MU-MIMO is ON.
Fast Roaming is Off.
IPv6 is Disabled.
I also turned on the Debug Log so that I can have the log when it happens again (It happened twice this morning alone).
I think those are all of the questions I've seen asked repeatedly on the forums. I hope that someone can help me! Again, our signal is fantastic throughout the house when it is up -- fast speeds, no problems -- but it just drops too often for how expensive this system was a couple of years ago ...Thanks for any help you can give!
12 Replies
The current official firmware for the RK40 is 2.5.1.16. So since this started to happen, the WIFI issue you are having may be because you are on V2.5.1.22.
You could try changing WIFI channels on 2.4Ghz and uncheck Enable 20/40 MHz Coexistence. I use NetSpot to see what other WIFI networks are close and what channels they are on. Daisy-Chain is OFF, Beamforming is ON, MU-MIMO is ON, Fast Roaming is Off, IPv6 is Disabled is all good.
I'll try it. I just updated the Firmware on Sunday night. I didn't realize that Orbi would download something that was not the "official" firmware ...
BdgrKM wrote:I'll try it. I just updated the Firmware on Sunday night. I didn't realize that Orbi would download something that was not the "official" firmware ...
It appears that depending on what version firmware is on the router and satellites, different versions are getting pushed to the system. My RBK53 system was on a previous firmware and updated to 2.5.1.16. Since then, several users have reported newer firmware automatically getting updated, but my system shows no new updates and the NG wesite still shows 2.5.1.16 as the current firmware.
