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Forum Discussion
RBW30 Wall Plug Satellite causes disconnects with RBK50
Per background in this thread, I am continuing to get disconnects with an iPhone that are caused to RBW30 wall plug satellite. This has come back again, after firmware updates to the latest vers...
wimmme wrote:What's most disappointing is that 2 devices inside my garden shed (a 5$ sonoff (ESP8266 ) and my pool commander) are having decent connections to the RBR50, while the RBW30 was having connection issues just outside the shed. That's not what you would expect from a 150$ repeater from the same ecosystem.
Well possible these to STA connect to the 2.4 GHz radio on the RBR50 - which does normally provide a longer reach, and does pass more walls than a 5 GHz, where the higher channels (because of the higher power allowance) are used for the Orbi (and many other Mesh system) backhaul. Nothing uncommon - but yes, from the consumer/user view this is hard to differentiate.
Yes, i do understand that concept.
On 5GHz the connection was very bad, altough only one window and about 15meter free air between the router and the sattellite.
It even connected over 2.4 GHZ to the router; I didn't even know it was capable to do that, it showed a 2.4GHZ connection on the satetellites overview with poor connection.
And even worse, it made the router sometimes 'reconfigure', or 'resync', making my connections unstable.
I have an old Netgear EX6120 which was capable to do about the same as the orbi: use 5GHz backhaul to extend 2.4 fully.
It was a better setup then with the RBW30 :manfrustrated:
I've done some testing and have further information.
I tried moving my devices around the house to see how the hand-offs occurred between the router and the two satellites. My iPhone moved around okay - seamlessly transferring between the router and either satellite.
But when I subsequently tried some different locations with an Android tablet, it lost internet connection when it moved into a room immediately under the router (i.e. where the signal was strong enough for it to switch to the router). When it lost internet, the WiFi connection information on the tablet initially showed "Authentication Problem" . The tablet then automatically turned off the WiFi and turned it back on again and it reconnected to the Router.I think that this is evidence that disconnects are caused by poor hand-off from the RBW30 satellite to the RBR50 router.Upate for those watching this thread.
I spent time with Level 2 Neatgear Support today. They believe it is a hardward fault and have issued a RMA for the RBW30 Wall Plug Satellite. A key aspect was that it wasn't connecting at all via 5Ghz backhaul - even when in the same room as the router. It could be that the hardware for this channel was bad and this may have been causing the aberant behaviour.
I'll post an update with how the replacement performs, idc.
Under the support case, Netgear RMA'd the RBW30. I have had the replacement RBW30 for a three weeks now, However, the second RBW30 does exactly the same thing - both for the disconnects and the backhaul connection only occuring over the 2.4GHz channel. In my opinion this points to the fault actually being in the RBR50 router or with the Orbi's architecture rather than being a fault with the wall plug sat hardware.
After the RMA not fixing it, Netgear support then asked me to capture fault logs for all three devices and to send the logs to them via the support case. I did so within a day of that request and sent them two weeks ago. The support website has been down for an update and I'm still awaiting their feedback.
However, there have been developments in my situation in the meantime.
Either RBW30 would not initially connect well in my preferred location (downstairs from the router) because both indicated "poor' WiFi backhaul connection. However, for some inexplicable reason about a week ago the replacment unit managed a 'good' WiFi backhaul connection downstairs, so I moved it down there.
My son now reports that his disconnects only occur when he carries his iPhone 5S downstairs (i.e goes into the RBW30 coverage area). This is consistent with his reports of how disconnects manifested when we had it upstairs (that's the main living area).
This seems to point to:
- The problem is either with the Router or architectural (its been consistent with two seperate RBW30s), and
- The problem appears to be an issue with hand-off from the RBR50 router to the RBW30 sat.
I await support's feedback on the logs that I sent them with anticipation ....