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iPhone 12 Pro loses WiFi connection with RBR850
I’ve had the exact same problem for the last 1.5 years and NOTHING has solved this. iPhone 12 Pro — I’ve done everything mentioned above — static IP address, factory reset Orbi, CTS changes, dropped ...
Great — let me know what you see. My wife uses sat1 hardwired for work so it’s harder to go with testing wireless only until the weekend. Since I factory reset my orbis and moved around channels, dropped to 25% power and now am on 50% I’ve been noticing weird behavior or the sat2 that should be bonded to sat1 (hardwired). I walked closer to sat1 today from being at the router for a while and saw my phone cycle on and off Wi-Fi but then also logged into the orbi app and saw it said sat2 was connected. Then disconnected. Then it showed it was Ethernet bound to the router (makes no sense) then it changed to wireless 2.4ghz to the router.
The logic on how the sat2 is connecting makes zero sense to me. Sat1 is the closest in proximity by a factor of 2 and its wired backhaul. It should be connecting at 5ghz to sat1 (which it was yesterday night before I went to bed and reset them all).
I have a signal scanner and maybe there’s 5ghz congestion, but 2.4 looks even worse and it has a longer flight path by far to the router.
I’m getting fairly close to ordering something else from Costco (I made the mistake of buying this unit from Netgear direct — I wish I had waited to buy at Costco because of their return policy, but I had almost no issues like this with the rbr50 which I wish I kept. Looking more like $1000 sunk into good hardware with garbage firmware)
The logic on how the sat2 is connecting makes zero sense to me. Sat1 is the closest in proximity by a factor of 2 and its wired backhaul. It should be connecting at 5ghz to sat1 (which it was yesterday night before I went to bed and reset them all).
I have a signal scanner and maybe there’s 5ghz congestion, but 2.4 looks even worse and it has a longer flight path by far to the router.
I’m getting fairly close to ordering something else from Costco (I made the mistake of buying this unit from Netgear direct — I wish I had waited to buy at Costco because of their return policy, but I had almost no issues like this with the rbr50 which I wish I kept. Looking more like $1000 sunk into good hardware with garbage firmware)
I currently have 20/40 coexistence turned on. Previously it was off and I was seeing less instability on sat2 (though I believe that setting only is for 2.4ghz whereas I was bonding to 5ghz). May be unrelated.
When I look at the spectrum analyzer, with 20/40 coexistence on, I can see my set channel 1 frequency range expanding/contracting between channels 1-3 (20mhz) and 1-7 (40Mhz) versus solely seeing it across 1-7 (40Mhz) as when good-neighbor coexistence turned off.
What effect does this have on my own signal connection and stability re: interference.
When I look at the spectrum analyzer, with 20/40 coexistence on, I can see my set channel 1 frequency range expanding/contracting between channels 1-3 (20mhz) and 1-7 (40Mhz) versus solely seeing it across 1-7 (40Mhz) as when good-neighbor coexistence turned off.
What effect does this have on my own signal connection and stability re: interference.
- Also I’m now at CTS=500 and am noticing issues with streaming media (multi gig movies from my NAS hardwired and watching on iPad Pro) — stutters with loading buffers which never happened before. I may try setting CTS/RTS back to 64 because I read neighborhood congestion and issues with intermittent packet transmission issues should dial it down to 64.
I’m more or less going back to setting all my settings back to what they originally were — so intermittent drops of Wi-Fi connections walking between satellite and router overlap, but at least then I wasn’t getting issues with the wireless backhaul satellite flipping out and packet hangs when stationary. Just an update on this (I know there are multiple threads detailing this issue, this seems like the most active).
Since I switched both of my satellites to wireless about 6 days ago, I haven't seen this disconnection issue at all with my iPhone. That's not conclusive, because the issue is intermittent for me, but I thought it was worth sharing as that's a very good run. Usually I'd see it at least every few days.
I've long suspected that the Orbi has issues with wired satellites so I'm not really that surprised.
I'd be very interested to know if everyone experiencing this issue has at least one satellite connected via ethernet. I'm wondering if could even be caused by a mixture of wired and wireless satellites.
I will continue to monitor.
Thanks for the update.
Very well could be a mixture of wireless and ethernet RBS. Both of mine are ethernet connected and working well. I haven't tried a mixed. I tend to keep with one connection method or the other. 50% power I believe.
Would be a good test for you and see if both your RBS work on ethernet connection and see if the problem reappears.
Garwoofoo wrote:
Just an update on this (I know there are multiple threads detailing this issue, this seems like the most active).
Since I switched both of my satellites to wireless about 6 days ago, I haven't seen this disconnection issue at all with my iPhone. That's not conclusive, because the issue is intermittent for me, but I thought it was worth sharing as that's a very good run. Usually I'd see it at least every few days.
I've long suspected that the Orbi has issues with wired satellites so I'm not really that surprised.
I'd be very interested to know if everyone experiencing this issue has at least one satellite connected via ethernet. I'm wondering if could even be caused by a mixture of wired and wireless satellites.
I will continue to monitor.
Any progress on this?
Rogelio1 wrote:
Also I’m now at CTS=500 and am noticing issues with streaming media (multi gig movies from my NAS hardwired and watching on iPad Pro) — stutters with loading buffers which never happened before. I may try setting CTS/RTS back to 64 because I read neighborhood congestion and issues with intermittent packet transmission issues should dial it down to 64.
I’m more or less going back to setting all my settings back to what they originally were — so intermittent drops of Wi-Fi connections walking between satellite and router overlap, but at least then I wasn’t getting issues with the wireless backhaul satellite flipping out and packet hangs when stationary.- I disconnected the Ethernet backhaul running from router to sat1 and haven’t noticed the issue so far walking back and forth. Will test more tomorrow. I have a bunch of devices near sat1 so I used a 5 port gigabit switch and have nothing plugged into the satellite. sat2 is bonded to Sat 1 (5ghz) and Sat 1 is bonded to router (5ghz).
I am now unfortunately getting less than half the speed throughput sitting near sat1 now on my iPhone. I was getting close to 600mbps before with the Ethernet backhaul (I get about 750 at the router) and now I’m only getting close to 250-275. This was at 100% power on 5ghz and 2.4. I also have just tried dropping the power to 50% and am seeing devices connect more logically (ones closer to sat1 bonded instead of connecting to further hop sat2) with speed mostly the same or maybe only 5-10% less.
Will report back tomorrow or the day after that to see if the disconnects walking around go away. If it does, I’m a bit more perplexed and concerned about how these units are tested — I can’t see how they couldn’t foresee people will mix Ethernet and Wi-Fi backhauls. There could be a possible problem with using mixed backhaul methods.
Keep us posted.
- When I had the Ethernet backhaul and the disconnect issue… I once sat with and observed in real-time the Wi-Fi connection / ip info page of my iPhone when it cycled between Wi-Fi, then off, then reconnected. (approx . 5 minutes). When it showed connected to Wi-Fi but with no internet, before it leased the valid ip within the subnet (reconnected for good), I could see it had a bizarre ip of like 238.x.x.x. Wish I had saved a screenshot. I’m honestly thinking there’s some dhcp lease bug associated with a device transitioning from router to Ethernet backhaul / Wi-Fi backhaul wherein it isn’t properly assigning it to the subnet and has to timeout or see it as a brand new device (forget and re-add Wi-Fi) / clear cache for it to properly dhcp again.
- To confirm — 169.254.x.x was the IP address that was reported from my iPhone in the brief period of time when it was not leased a working valid connection ( stuck in its 5 minute loop of being disconnected and reconnecting). This is what the internet tells me:
If you see a 169.254. x.x address, it means that the DHCP server is not reachable. The PC will not work because there is not a router to or from that PC. Troubleshoot this by finding out why the PC cannot see the DHCP server.
I went back to plugging in the Ethernet to the sat1 today to recreate this and get the ip but will unplug it again to test over the weekend. I got the disconnect issue within about 6 hours after reconnecting the Ethernet cable — it’s like it takes some time to begin this failure mode of clients moving around not able to get an immediate dhcp lease. Trying to remember if you have email logging enabled on your RBR?
Wondering if there is some repeating DHCP IP address going on here that maybe causing this.
Does the iPhone have a reserved IP address on the RBR or just auto Dymanic?Have you enabled SIP ALG yet?
Have you disable AX mode on both radios?
No email logging. No reserved IP address for this phone at present (dynamic / auto-dhcp) -- I have the iPhone anonymous macaddress featuere off, and I have in the past tried setting IP reservations, manually entering IP address into phone, etc. and none of that matters -- it still encounters the connection limbo issue walking between.
SIP ALG is disabled -- I tried enabling it before but was having issues with VZW internet calling issues (and it didn't seem to make a difference for the disconnects). I haven't tried disabling AX.
Ok
Keep SIP disabled.
Let us know what happens with AX mode disabled. Next step we would like you to enable email logging.
- Disabled AX on both 2.4 and 5. Will see over next day if the wandering disconnects reoccur (with Ethernet backhaul on Sat1 , Wi-Fi backhaul on sat2).
I'll try my system with one RBS wireless and the other ethernet connected. I've not seen this to date with my iphone 12.
- Not sure if your satellites are in a line or not, but mine are — so sat1 is hardwired to router but Sat 2 is 5ghz bonded to sat1 (what the rbk50 would have called “daisy-chained”). I’m not sure if that’s what’s contributing to the disconnects or not, but if I had to wager if I unplugged sat2 the issue wouldn’t appear
Ya mines kinda in a a line but not in how you have yours. Both mine are mostly in star formation and both are ethernet connected to the RBR. I don't know if I can get my 2nd RBS to connect to the closer RBS or not the way you have yours set up. My RBR is on 2nd level, 1st RBS is in dinning room on 1st level and 2nd RBS is in basement opposite end of house from RBR.
Ya I believe there is something happening with the 2nd RBS wirelessly connected to the 1st RBS that's ethernet.
What happens if you go ahead and unplug the 2nd RBS and test for a day or two with the iphone.
- Still testing with AX off. Haven’t had the issue yet but in the past it occurred after a day or so up.
I did notice a quirk or turning it off — the Orbi app takes longer to show connected devices and then often shows no connected devices at all. They show up on the webpage login, which leads me to believe that the Orbi iOS App takes advantage of AX features to report on devices. - (Disregard last post — had to delete and re-add login to orbi app for it to work after disabling AX… probably stuck authentication).
So today with AX off the exact same behavior again appeared… so we can rule that out as a fix. I’m going to re-enable AX and then test for next few days with sat2 (bonded at 5ghz to sat1 Ethernet bonded to router) turned off. After that, I think the suggestion was to try email logging. By any chance do you have a switch attached to your Orbi router? I had similar problems with intermittent drop out when moving from main router to satellite, although much less frequent than you. Reading the forums, there were some comments about Orbi not working with "green" switches and since changing this, things seem to have improved.
I think at this point this is looking like one of three things:
- The Orbi has an issue with satellites connected via Ethernet
- The Orbi has an issue with satellites connected via Ethernet which are connected behind a switch
- The Orbi has an issue with a mixed combination of Ethernet-connected and wireless satellites
Since moving both of my satellites to wireless, I haven't seen this issue at all, but it doesn't help me narrow down which of these issues it might be.
What Brand and model are these switches being used?
I have been using NGs GS 105/108 series switches with my 8 series Orbi and now have a XS505M a in place of the108 that was connected right after the RBR and GS110MX replaced a 105 that is daisy chained down to my RBS that's in the basement that's connected to a GS105 switch there. The Dining room RBS is connected to a HP 1Gb 8 port switch that's connected to the XS switch. Im going to swap out this HP switch for the NG GS105 that's now free to work elsewhere.
I keep forgetting to try and use Mixed connected RBS. I'll take the RBS in the dining room of ethernet and see what happens.
I know I've not seen any iPhone issues with my 12 pro max with both RBS ethernet connected pre and post XS and GS110 switch installation that was received a couple of months ago. Always on wifi and no problems roaming though i don't do lots of roaming on phone calls here.
For what it's worth, I do have a Netgear 8 port switch (GS108T) / not a "green" switch, but it's not plugged between any routers and satellites... I have it plugged into the router directly to provide/expand wired ethernet to 7 additional devices near the router. The LAN ports of my router are occupied by one connected to this switch, one connected to Sat1, and the other two are just single LAN devices (computer, etc.). I have no switches plugged into Sat1 (just LAN devices -- computer, printer) nor do I have switches or anything for that matter plugged into Sat2 via LAN.
So far with disabling Sat2 I haven't noticed the wifi disconnects on my iPhone walking between Router and Sat1 (ethernet connected)... still needing to test for a handful more days to confirm this resolved it.Also worth noting, I tested using a 5-port Netgear switch both plugged into Sat1 and in-between Router and Sat1 (with the hardwired ethernet coming into the switch and/or Sat1). In both instances, the wifi disconnects occurred when Sat2 was on regardless of the introduction of the 5-port switch plugged into Sat1 or between router and Sat1 (or with no switch at all here)... so I'm leaning towards the theory it's an issue with mixed ethernet + wifi backhaul combos with 2+ satellites.
Thanks for the additional info. I'll disconnect one of my RBS and see what happens for mixed mode connected RBS.
OK disconnected the RBS from ethernet while it's ON.
I'll see how this goes...
