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RBR50 keeps dropping apple products
we have a single Orbi RBR50. We had two, but they were too close to each other and gave us OTHER problems... Ongoing problem. It drops every APPLE product several times a day. typically when the...
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
What Apple devices do you have and what OS is on these devices?
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.
https://kb.netgear.com/31029/Where-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite
What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?
Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or may not be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings
Try disabling the following and see:
Armor, Circle, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Set Short preamble instead of Long preamble modes. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).
One User Experience/Configuration:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Most-Stable-Orbi-Configuration/m-p/1941087/highlight/true#M97026
Have not see problems with my Apple devices whatsoever. iphone 12 max, mac book pro 2018, iphone 5 SE. Imac 2012.
I am connected to Xfinity via a Surfboard SB50.
As I wrote the problem devices are 2x Ipad Pro 9.7" at the latest iOS and an iphone 7 and iphone 8, again both upto date on iOS. (14.6 on this device)
The house is a 1200 sq.ft colonial with a basement and attic. The Orbi is in the middle of the basement, so nothing is more than 40' away from it through wood framing. We have minimal signal strength problems save a printer behind a metal filing cabinet, and that is easy to fix. We tried putting a satalite in the attic to serve those devices. We tried both wireless and wired backhaul but had nothing but problems as it was too close to the base.
we have used a "scanner" App to find the quietest channel, and put it on that fixed, again problems, so we have left it on Auto. Mimo is enabled. We have LOTS of neighbors, we see 6+ networks with good signal strength...
Again, the OTHER 24 devices, a mix of PCs, PC notebooks, cameras, printers, Echos, VOIP devices, TVs and more have -no- problems. We routinely run 2x Zoom meetings at once along with printing and streaming all at once with no problems. Once connected we stay connected with no problem, -until- we let the apple devices go idle, then there is a 30% chance when we pick the device back up the network will be unavailable until will either power cycle the device, or cycle the Wifi off/on. When connected, speed test returns 400meg speeds with no jitter or dropped packets...
There is something about the negotiations between the apple devices and the Orbi that is different from all the other devices in the house. As I write this reply on one of the iPads, I have no problems. If I turn off the ipad and go for a coffee refill, when I turn the iPad back on after 5min, there is a good chance I will need to cycle the wifi to get it back. As long as The iPad stays active I can go for hours without problems.
My orbi is on the most current release. I have tried every tweak mentioned, and more. Even trying putting the orbi on its side as some said the signal patern is optimized for horizontal not verticle distribution... no effect. tried moving the orbi to the middle floor, no change other than having a cord going down the stairs for a week. Tried power cycling everything, modem, orbi... works fine, until the apples go idle...
If -any- of the other devices had problems that were repeatable I would suspect signal strength, channel, or something like that... but nothing else has problems... save ONE printer behind a metal cabinet that occasionally drops off... but even that comes back by it's-self after a minute or so.
One thing that is not recommended is to have the main host router in a basement. Concrete and steel inhibit good wifi signal travel. Main for 1st floor is recommended.
Try some of these suggestions:
Advanced Wireless Settings both 2.4GHz and 5GHz changed CTS/RTS Threshold to 2307.
Change the CTR/RTS threshold values for both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz (2341 and 2345 respectively), changed preamble modes to long preamble, and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only.Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update?
If all the other devices are not haveing problems accept for these few APPLE devices, possible problem with these devices. Something to contact Apple support about regarding there product.
At some point I am out of energy for "trying" things...
I have no problems with the other 24 devices... I have no problem with my apple devices anywhere else... I have spoken to apple, both the forums and the genius bar, they have no ideas beyond trying turning on/off private network, and power cycling the Orbi and making sure it is upto date...
A factory reset would cost several days as many of the other 24 devices would see it as a "new" network and demand a completely new network setup... some are easy to setup, others, like the camera on the roof, will want a physical reset... not happening.
Unless someone can say "I had that problem, it behaves the same and I did this and it -fixed- it" I don't have the time or energy to keep "trying" things... The orbi has NO diagnostics visible, so I can't see what it is doing or if a tweak had any effect whatsoever...
People keep saying put the router in the middle floor, apparently they can't read, we tried that. It is a tiny wood house, so the router in the basement is 35-40' MAX to any location in the house, so the router is fine where it is... again we tried it in the middle. The rest of the equipment, the modem, the hub,the NAS, the VOIP equipment all is in the basement... next to the wiring hub and the UPS.
At this point we are fed up, and saving money for something real, that just works, supports a VPN, has diagnostics, supports IFTTT and many of the other things that other cheaper systems provide today. Netgear is not on the short list of what we are looking at. Ubiquity is at the top of the list. Expensive, yes, but we know it works, and works well, and when it doesn't it tells you, and shows you with diagnostics and logs specifically why, and makes suggestions on how to fix the problem. When we bought the Orbi it was supposed to be one of the best... Less than 90 days in we found out to the contrary, and since the factory won't talk to me after 90days...