RBR53 what satelite

What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)?

• [Ari] The Router is in the lounge, in a corner of the ground floor, that's where the ISP cable comes into the modem and the router is connected to the modem
• [Ari] Satelite #1 is on the same floor, in the study in another corner of the house, on the same (shorter) side, about 26 feet away, two solid walls in between, the doors are not inline between the Router and Satelite, connection to the router is still good
• [Ari] Satelite #2 satelite is in another room on the 1st floor, in the middle of long side of the house, same side as the main router, connection to the router is Average. I guess in a straight line, it is around 25 feet from the router. The floor/ceiling between the two floors is a wooden platform, no solid concrete there.

[Ari] The main issue that has prompted me to look to buy another Satelite (#3) is not because of the connection between the Router and Satelites but because when I walk into the kitchen (on the ground floor but the opposite side of the house from both the Router and Satelite #1), the internet is very patchy and my iPhone often switches to Mobile Data. If I am on an IP call, the call fails or I lose a good portion of it until the iPhone reconnects to Mobile Data (and vice-versa).

What channels are you using? [Ari] 2.4 is on Auto and 5 is on 36

Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.

[Ari]  How do I know what the unused channels are?

Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

[Ari] Two neighbours near by, on each side of the house, my house shares a wall with one of them, each neighbour with their own Wifi.

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot be needed) and WMM.

[Ari] Beamforming is enabled as is MIMO (3 of us all on iPhone X/XRs which are 2x2 MIMO capable) as well as 2017 iMac and 2019 Macbook Air.

[Ari] WMM is enabled on both 2.4 and 5Ghz.

Try disabling the following and see:
Armor, Circle, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only.

[Ari] Armor, Circle disabled from new.

[Ari] Daisy Chain: I find that the connection to Satelite #2 is better with this setting ON.

[Ari] Fast Roaming, IPv6 both OFF

[Ari] 20/40Mhz: I guess you mean the 20/40Mhz setting for 2.4Ghz and that I should untick that option. Else, I cannot see where I can set it to 40Mhz only

Set Short preamble instead of Long preamble modes. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).

[Ari] Changed Preamble Mode on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz to Short from Automatic.

The Router rebooted itself automatically when I changed some of these settings. I can only assume that it also rebooted the Satelites as I have no way of knowing.

[Ari] After all of this, still no change. I walk into the kitchen (open wide doors 2x to lounge where the Router is and 1x door into the hallway connecting to Satelite #1) and still patchy network, that's around 30 feet from the Router with no walls in between and some 26 feet with a couple of walls in between from Satelite #1.

[Ari] I have also now placed Satelite #1 in the hallway, at the centre of the Ground floor. The Daisy Chain to Satelite #2 is Good (Router > Satelite #1 > Satelite #2). However, my IP calls in the study now fail again from time to time, even though Satelite #1 is about 15 feet from my iPhone in the study.

[Ari] But I need to have one of the Satelites in my study in order to connect it to my SAN drive.

[Ari] I think that is pretty poor for a mesh network of this class (and price range) in such settings.