I bought RBR50 and RBS50 pack and the later on, purchased an additional RBS50. All working fine. I also have a "fingbox" for managing access to the network. It is wired into a satellite. The problem has been that the fingbox kept dropping off the network - once or twice a day - and would inform me the internet had gone down. Re-plugging the network cable was enough to get the fingbox recognised again. I tried all fixes on the fingbox website, but nothing worked. I then moved the fingbox to the original satellite which came with the pack. This satellite (another RBS50) does not loose connection with the fingbox. So, do I have a faulty satellite or is there a setting I can make to stop it dropping attached fingbox device? It's the additionaly purchased satellite that looses the connection. thanks.

0703kb, You do not state if your RBR50 and RBS50 nodes are hardware v1 (with a USB port) or v2 (without a USB port). Is your second satellite the same hardware version as the first? Mixing the two versions should work, but maybe you found a case where it does not. Either way, as FURRYe38 mentioned your second satellite is probably defective due to how it is misbehaving, so you should contact Netgear for an RMA.

I've just checked and the purchased satellite is identical to the original (working) satellite. It is the RBS50 with a single USB 2.0 socket as well as the 4 network sockets. I checked Netgear site and I still have a few months of hardware support left on this, so will try to get it swapped. Thanks everyone for all of the interest and ideas and support.Really appreciate it.

Try connecting the box to the RBR.. What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. https://kb.netgear.com/000036466/How-far-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite-from-my-Orbi-router Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless SettingsTry 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).

0703kb wrote:The problem has been that the fingbox kept dropping off the network - once or twice a day - and would inform me the internet had gone down.How does the Fingbox notify you that the internet had gone down? (blink a light? send an email? beep? You have a "Find App" running on a separate machine that does something?)

I get a notification to my mobile phone that the fingbox has dropped off line. I think that the company has servers which monitor for the device and then notify me when it is not seen. In effect, it is telling me my Wifi network has gone down. But In this case it actually means that the fingbox is no longer connected to Orbi satellite. It ceases to be listed as a connected device even though the fingbox is connected directly by an Ethernet cable into the satellite. It works fine when plugged into the one satellite, but gets dropped a couple of times a day when plugged into the other satellite. I can’t see any specific configuration settings that could be made for satellites in the admin pages. Both satellites are running the same firmware. So the satellites behave differently.

RBS50 satellite keeps dropping a wired device (Fingbox) but other RBS50 satellite does not.

16 Replies

FURRYe38
Guru
May 02, 2020
Try connecting the box to the RBR..

What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. https://kb.netgear.com/000036466/How-far-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite-from-my-Orbi-router

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot 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).
CrimpOn
Guru
May 02, 2020
0703kb wrote:
The problem has been that the fingbox kept dropping off the network - once or twice a day - and would inform me the internet had gone down.
How does the Fingbox notify you that the internet had gone down? (blink a light? send an email? beep? You have a "Find App" running on a separate machine that does something?)
- 0703kb
  Star
  May 02, 2020
  I get a notification to my mobile phone that the fingbox has dropped off line. I think that the company has servers which monitor for the device and then notify me when it is not seen. In effect, it is telling me my Wifi network has gone down. But In this case it actually means that the fingbox is no longer connected to Orbi satellite. It ceases to be listed as a connected device even though the fingbox is connected directly by an Ethernet cable into the satellite. It works fine when plugged into the one satellite, but gets dropped a couple of times a day when plugged into the other satellite. I can’t see any specific configuration settings that could be made for satellites in the admin pages. Both satellites are running the same firmware. So the satellites behave differently.
  - CrimpOn
    Guru
    May 02, 2020
    0703kb wrote:
    I get a notification to my mobile phone that the fingbox has dropped off line. I think that the company has servers which monitor for the device and then notify me when it is not seen. In effect, it is telling me my Wifi network has gone down. But In this case it actually means that the fingbox is no longer connected to Orbi satellite. It ceases to be listed as a connected device even though the fingbox is connected directly by an Ethernet cable into the satellite. It works fine when plugged into the one satellite, but gets dropped a couple of times a day when plugged into the other satellite. I can’t see any specific configuration settings that could be made for satellites in the admin pages. Both satellites are running the same firmware. So the satellites behave differently.
    Thanks for the explanation. For sure, there are no "settings" on a per-satellite basis. I am at a loss to explain this situation.
    I was unable to find any mention on their website of Fingbox monitoring customer servers. Would it be convenient to take a screen shot of one of these messages that appear in the Fingbox "app"?
    
    There is a definite explanation for a WiFi device "dropping off" the Attached Devices display. My Nest thermostat does that when the app is not open. It only sends/receives data packets when talking to the app, so it goes totally quiet when the app is closed for a while. I was able to reproduce the effect by bringing up Attached Devices (no Nest). Open the app and Nest appears. Close the app and in about five minutes Nest disappears again. This probably does not apply in your situation since the Fingbox app is probably running in the background 24/7 on the mobile phone.
    
    The same ethernet cable is being used with both satellites?
    You have tried more than one ethernet jack on the offending satellite?
    
    Are both satellites connected independently to the router, or does one satellite "Daisy Chain" off the other?

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RBS50 satellite keeps dropping a wired device (Fingbox) but other RBS50 satellite does not.