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Forum Discussion

KobeW50's avatar
KobeW50
Aspirant
Jan 01, 2023

(RBK50) Wifi devices randomly don't recieve data for short periods of time.

My configuration: I use 2 RBR50s connected via ethernet with one in AP mode. I also have 2 RBS50s which are connected wirelessly to the AP router via a daisy-chain. All the devices in my home are onl...
Troubleshooting
CrimpOn's avatar
CrimpOn
Guru - Experienced User
Jan 01, 2023

The information did not specify whether the router WiFi SSID is the same as or different from the AP WiFi SSID.  Since none of the WiFi devices are using the router, it would be interesting to see what happens when the Advanced Settings option is set to not broadcast the WiFi SSID on the primary router.

 

Even if they happen to have the same SSID/password, these two RBR50s remain separate WiFi systems.  WiFi features such as Fast Roaming, MIMO, etc. are independent. They will not propagate from the router to the AP.  If satellites are connected to one of the RBR50s, they should remain connected only to that Orbi.  Also, WiFi devices will not "roam seamlessly" between the two systems.

 

KobeW50 wrote:
Here are the possibilities I thought of and I'd like to get your guys' opinions on them.

1: Some of the settings such as Beamforming or Fast roaming are causing issues (perhaps interfering with the AP router configuration). Pretty sure not.
2: I have too many devices on the network simultaneously (perhaps the backhaul is clogged due to the AP router or daisy-chain configuration). Pretty sure not. People report 50-60 devices on this model Orbi all the time.
3: There is some sort of bug that the main router randomly thinks that the satellite is indeed connected directly to it and that causes issues with the entire Wi-fi network (ethernet devices are always stably connected). Pretty sure not.

Is there a way to isolate the problem:

  • Does it ever happen to the PC attached to the main router?
  • Does it affect devices wired to either of the satellites?

I often use a "ping tool" (there are many), such as the free Ping Info View for Windows from Nirsoft:

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/multiple_ping_tool.html 

Running on the computer connected to the router, have it ping a couple of internet IPs, such as 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 and an assortment of IP's connected to the AP and satellites. (including the IPs of the AP and satellites)  Set the ping options to every 1 second.  Ping places almost zero load on the network.

 

 

KobeW50's avatar
KobeW50
Aspirant
Feb 20, 2023
Hi there. Thank you for your lengthy response. It took me a long time to do maintenance on the network because I'm lazy and restricted to times when my family isn't using the network so that's why I'm only responding now.

A few weeks ago I did a factory reset on the network and made it so it's all under one router/SSID. Now the pc that was connected via ethernet to the main router is connected via wifi. So there's no AP mode or any of that. Unfortunately, this didn't solve the issue and the exact same behavior of wi-fi randomly not delivering data kept persisting.

Just now I turned off daisy-chain, Beamforming, Fast-roaming, and MU-MIMO and rebooted everything but it hasn't fixed the issue.

I don't know what to do.
  • CrimpOn's avatar
    CrimpOn
    Guru - Experienced User
    Feb 20, 2023
    KobeW50 wrote:
    So there's no AP mode or any of that.

    In the current setup:

    • There is one RBR50 router connected to the Internet Service Provider device.
      This router is broadcasting WiFi.
    • There is another RBR50 router  connected to the first router using an Ethernet cable.
      This second router is also in the default 'router mode.'
    • There are two RBS50 satellites, which are connected using WiFi to....which router?
      The first one, the second one, or perhaps one to each?

    Putting the second router into Access Point (AP) mode achieved one goal:  all devices, both wired and WiFi, are in one IP subnet.  The first router assigns IP addresses to every device.

     

    If router number two is now in 'router' mode, then it really matters which Orbi device they connect to. Sometimes they may be able to communicate with other devices because they are in the same IP subnet, and other times they cannot because they are in a different IP subnet.  With both routers using the same WiFi credentials, devices may connect to one router and then switch to the other router. It is really unpredictable.

     

    If the only usage is to access the internet, then this would not even be noticed.

     

    What this sounds like is a service disruption from the ISP.  (They will almost certainly deny it.)  There have been recorded instances of faulty cable wiring causing errors that mysteriously "went away" when the drop cables were replaced.  This may be a suitable problem for a "divide and conquer" approach.

    • If the ISP connection is unreliable, no amount of changing the router network will help.
    • If the ISP connection is rock solid, that points at the local network.

     

    One tool that might be useful is to record the reliability of the ISP connection over a period of time using something like PingInfoView by Nirsoft (free) https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/multiple_ping_tool.html Set the program to ping three common DNS servers, such as Google (8.8.8.8), Cloudflare (1.1.1.1) and OpenDNS (208.67.222.222) once every second.  As long as the ISP connection is good, the counters should march up steadily. (I have run it for an entire week.)  If some devices are being frozen for 5-10 seconds, then there should be instances of "failures to respond".  I used the Advanced Options to record the failures to a file.  DNS uses UDP packets, which are not 100% reliable.  It is not unexpected to have a failure now and then.  But regular instances of 4-5 failures in a row.... Not Good.

     

     

    • KobeW50's avatar
      KobeW50
      Aspirant
      Feb 20, 2023
      Hi there. Thanks for your prompt reply.

      I'm really sorry that you wrote all that all because I explained my setup poorly. What I meant was that I'm only using one router for my current network. I unplugged and am not using the other router. So I have a normal network setup. 1 RBR50 and 2 RBS50s.