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MrTaz40's avatar
MrTaz40
Aspirant
Jul 10, 2018

Seemingly random loss of internet on random devices

Hi All, I have an RBR40 Orbi Router with 2 RBS40 Orbi satellites (for some reason I can not select RBR40 in the list of models on the boards here).   Since I put the units in place over a year ...
Troubleshooting
MrTaz40's avatar
MrTaz40
Aspirant
Jul 11, 2018

Thanks for the reply FURRYe38.

I am running the latest firmware: V2.1.4.16.  The problem is that this has been happening since I have owned the units, its not new, I have used many different firmwares and on some it has been worse than on others.

 

I have attempted manual channels and have attempted disabling MIMO, Daisy Chain and Fast Roaming and none of them seem to change the situation.

 

The units are placed signifcantly apart.  One is on the 3rd floor, one is in the basement and one is in the pool house.  Each are more than 30 feet away from any other.  The house was built in 1990.  It has some interesting materials, including steel struts in each floor and interior metal beams between rooms.  With previous single routers, i could almost cover the whole house and did not have any problems with devices loosing internet connectivity but maintaining wifi connectivity.  My network has grown significantly since I last used a single device for my wifi needs.

 

I have an older MOTOROLA SB5120 Surfboard modem, it hasn't been upgraded in years, and I will probably try to upgrade that later today.  Is there a test I can perform to see if it is the modem without buying a new one?  A way to monitor the traffic through the router to see if the modem is dropping the connection before it sends it on to my provider?  The modem is my modem, but ofcourse it is connected to Xfinity, so I am slightly limited to what they let me have access to on it.

FURRYe38's avatar
FURRYe38
Guru - Experienced User
Jul 11, 2018

I would try placing the satellites closer to the router. You maybe having some signal loss issues with the distances and possibly building materials also being a cause...Try placing at 30 feet and see...

How big is the home? SqFt?

I would try a full factory reset on the Router and Satellites as set up from scratch if you have never done this after doing a FW update.

 

Ya the 5 series modem is several years old. I'm amazed the CC is letting you use it. It's a modem only so theres nothing you can configure on this modem. Stand alone modems are prefered with the use of external routers. You could check into getting a newer Arris SB 6183 or Motorola MB7420 or NG CM600.

 

You can try connecting your PC directly to the modem and use these programs to see if there are any issues:

http://www.dslreports.com/tools/puma6

http://www.pingplotter.com/ and instructions on how to set up pingplotter: http://www.badmodems.com/PinrplotterInstructions.htm

 

Avoid modems listed here:

http://badmodems.com/Forum/app.php/badmodems