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Forum Discussion
Cannot use POP or SMTP on WiFi with RBR850
We just set up an Orbi RBR850 with three RBS850 satellites. All three satellites are connected via ethernet to the RBR850. The RBR850 has Firmware Version V3.2.10.11_1.2.12, which is current. Satelli...
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected to?
Manufacturer: ARRIS
Model Number: BGW210-700
Service is AT&T gigabit fiber. Gateway is set to IP Passthrough.
What Mac do you have?
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2010). Has 16 GB memory
What OS do you have loaded on the Mac?
Mac OS 10.11.6
CTS/RTS Threshold is set to 2347 for both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks. Was done a couple of days ago, and has not made any difference.
Our Airport Extreme was plugged into one of the satellites. When connected to the AirPort Extreme I could receive mail, but intermittantly, and not send email.
When I plugged the AirPort Extreme directly into the RBR850 I was able to both receive and send email normally. It actually took me connecting my Mac to the AirPort Extreme via ethernet first, then switching back to WiFi. But having done that email is working normally. This indicates the problem may be with the satellites.
I have not tried disconnecting all the satellites to see if the RBR850 alone allows me to use email over WiFi. But even if it does, that's not a solution as we need the satellites to give us full coverage.
You can try and disable AX mode on the RBR, however i don't know if that will result in anything changing.
Well one thing you can try. Remove the IP pass thru configuration for the RBR from the modem. Confiure the RBR for AP mode.
https://kb.netgear.com/31218/How-do-I-configure-my-Orbi-router-to-act-as-an-access-point
Use the modem as your router and Orbi as just WIFi. See if the problem still happens. If it does with this one app over the wireless connection, you'll need to contact NG support and have them review this. Send them your debug logs that you'll need to capture when you go to use this email program.
Also would be interesting to see if a different email program does the same thing. Try Apples default email program or Mozillas Thunderbird as a test.
Do you have any other Mac to try to test with?
Thanks for the suggestions. Netgear support already had me disable AX features.
We can try putting the Orbi router in access point mode, with the AT&T gateway as the router. Our previous setup used the gateway as the router, with an AirPort Extreme and Time Capsules as the WiFi access points. Normally I'd be quick to blame the gateway, which does not have a normal way to disable its routing function, but it does not appear to have anything to do with my email problem.
My son thought the Orbi might have a better firewall than the gateway, and a faster router, which was one of the reasons to get the Orbi, so we'd lose those benefits. But we'd still benefit from a stronger WiFi system.
I'm not sure how to get to someone at Netgear support who would help more, or ask for copies of logs. I've now made 5 or 6 calls to Netgear support, and spoken to about 5 people (the first call disconnected when I got through the queue). I've been transferred three times to an "expert". Don't some companies have a system for flagging bugs? Apparently not Netgear.
We had a lot of trouble setting up our Orbi RBR850 system. My son commented that it felt like a beta product. Pretty expensive product for all the problems.
I'm trying to set up Apple Mail for POP access to Gmail, but so far without success. Google may require that I generate an app specifc password to make it work. I'll have to come back to it.
All of our other devices use IMAP for email, which is working OK. My old email program doesn't handle IMAP well. I actually prefer POP, as one feature of PowerMail is a very robust search function, which works whether I'm on or off line.
What do you see if you load up and install Mozilla Thunderbird?
Ya you have to allow some apps to get access from Google security configurations in your google profile.
Wondering if there maybe some protocol missing or older legacy incompatible protocol from the older PowerMail programming that just isn't workign with newer wifi protocols.
My poor Mac Book Pro 2008 died on my last October Or I would help test this out. I had it for 10 years. Great laptop.