New - RBRE960 / RBSE960 Firmware Version 7.2.6.31 Released

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reddavin wrote:
Yes, at this point I’m tired of the drama. And spent way more time on this expensive system. I was going to roll it back this evening, but we watched Survivor, and I had a cat on my lap. Priorities. I’ll see how it goes tomorrow and probably roll it back. That was the recommendation from Netgear, maybe they know more about the reliability of .31.

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to be fair, the drama I had last year post 850 was

1) a disagreement between the 960 and the xFi B7 gateway that Netgear Support solved with an update. That was impressive.

2) Comcast upgrading their system and causing disruptions several times a week.  The 960 did not like that!  I was finally able to figure out it was an Xfinity issue.

At this point, I've been happy with the 960 since last fall when Comcast apparently finished doing its thing - upside is they gave us much faster internet for the same price...so far.

And still seems to be ongoing with that ISP as well from this thread:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WIFI-6-AX-AND-Wi-Fi-6E-AXE/Wont-allow-updates-RBR850-with-RBS850/td-p/2367369/jump-to/first-unread-message

I don't think there is any instability issues with v.31 FW. Based off v.21 being solid and well tested back then, and making adjustments to the WiFi and inclusion of the EU Region, I don't believe there is any cause for instabilities. Seems like from this thread and others, v.31 is being well received san installation mis-understandings. Again, update RBS FIRST, then RBR lastly and doing a manual update. No drama here. 

Also having too much RBS in smaller sized homes will cause problems. Why we ask about home size. No FW can correct for this. 

Also, I believe that with CC and XF, there IPv6 DNS handling maybe cause of Orbi systems not working right. Hoping that with donawalt testing and observations with using other non ISP IPv6 DNS configurations, hopefully will show good results here. We have our fingers crossed here.

bullm00n 

Re:

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Also having too much RBS in smaller sized homes will cause problems. Why we ask about home size. No FW can correct for this. 

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I couldn't agree more. The 960 series has a strong signal. I get a very strong 5GHz and 6Ghz signal on other floors of a house with high ceilings. My iPhone connects to the router, with strong signal and good speeds, when it is TWO floors below my bedroom!

The very best bet is use a WiFi signal analyzer - I know there are at least 2 good apps on the Mac that are free and simple to use, I assume there are comparable ones in the Windows world too. You just walk around and watch the signal strength, starting with just the router on - you'll get a nice picture of the house. Then figure best place to place the RBSs.

Satellites should be popositioned where there is no/very weak signal if using Ethernet backhaul. They need to be put where there is decent signal near an area with bad signal for WiFi backhaul. If you start out with just the router temporarily running (RBSs off), walk around with a laptop running a signal analyzer, you will be surprised at the signal strength. I used to have 3 satellites, one on each floor, and I discovered that was overkill. By pulling an RBS and re-positioning the others, a lot of weirdness in mobile devices losing their signal went away.

I can get away with running the RBR and just one RBS wirelessly in my 5000sq ft home. Though I normally run two and both are ethernet connected and the power on the RBR is turned down to 25%. Plenty of coverage and operation with this configuration. 

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FURRYe38 wrote:

I can get away with running the RBR and just one RBS wirelessly in my 5000sq ft home. Though I normally run two and both are ethernet connected and the power on the RBR is turned down to 25%. Plenty of coverage and operation with this configuration. 

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I have tired with just one for a time.  It is OK, but not optimal.  I actually can get by with the RBR, but that's not so great.  More a shape of the house thing and I also want coverage outside on my deck, so one of the RBS is placed to make sure that works.  And another towards the front for security cams.  Those are the tough ones since it has to get through exterior walls.  But I do have the 2.4 radio set to 50%.

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FURRYe38 wrote:

And still seems to be ongoing with that ISP as well from this thread:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WIFI-6-AX-AND-Wi-Fi-6E-AXE/Wont-allow-updates-RBR850-with-RBS850/td-p/2367369/jump-to/first-unread-message

 

 

bullm00n 

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I read that thread too and the related Xfinity forum thread.  There's a lot reported there that I have never experienced with the 850 or the 960.  Although I have the XB7 gateway, and the Xfinity thread seems to indicate it's an XB8 issue which I cannot comment on since we've never had that model.  With an XB7, though, it normally works fine - unless Xfinity are rolling out different configs in different markets which I suppose could be possible.

I don't see any speed trail off / drop in UL/DL from wired devices or otherwise, no matter if they are direct to the RBS or wired through a switch to the RBR.  My house it older, the cables are from 1996, and some of the runs are probably 100'. But I have seen bad connectors / cables muck things up and be difficult to run down - have to wonder how well they've checked their connections.

How have people found the update so far?

If your not seeing it, then may not be made available for auto udpate. If you want to update, you can manually install the update your self using the noted manual installation process.

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liamscor wrote:

How have people found the update so far?

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Performance has been fine for me. I have Ethernet connected laptops and WiFi throughout the house. I have tested both Orbi 850 and 2 RBS 850s, as well as now, Orbi 960 RBR and 2 RBS 960s. I also went from 1GB/35 Comcast service -> 1GB/200 Comcast service -> 2GB/200 Comcast service on this firmware. Ethernet and WiFi (5GHz and 6GHz devices) have tested fine with speed test. No issues that I saw on 2.4GHz IoT devices.

In general, I think the latest firmware is a little cleaner than the prior version. I am always hopeful the next version will be better still!

2 somewhat related Notes:

1) To me, the WiFi range of the 960 is a little better than the 850 - hence a little better speeds at the same locations. That's anecdotal of course...

2) Do not trust the Orbi app for its speed test. I am convinced at least for me, it must be connecting to some site that's very heavily used or a longer distance away. For example, I frequently get download speeds on the Orbi app around 1500-1800 Mbps, but immediately after if I test with a device (iPad, iPhone, Mac) direct connected to the router, I get 2250-2300 Mbps - over-provisioned. I get 2250-2300 on my Mac laptop that is connected via Ethernet cable that runs throughout the house.

I documented this test in its own thread on the Orbi app forum.

So, this was not a great feeling...

1 - checking for updates never showed an update available - this for a few weeks

2 - today, I had some time, so I went for a manual update

3 - RBS 1 - no problem

4 - RBS 2 - no problem

5 - RBR960 took 3 times to finally get the firmware to take - it would reboot and be still at .21, after the 3rd try, it worked.

Hasn't been up long enough to know how well things are going, but beyond the update issues, I'm back online and so far, so good.

Oh, and the dropdown list "Associated Products" above isn't showing my RBK963B anymore either...

🤔 🙄

My bad - "RBKE..." - forgot about that "E".

On the manual update, the only thing I did do differently on the 3rd try for the RBR960 was set tracking prevention temporarily to "Basic" on the browser rather than "Balanced":

Not sure why that would matter, or if it was coincidence... 🤔

What browser are you using? I use MS Edge and my system took on first load. 

Edge Beta - could be that or could be that tracking setting I changed.

Ok  hopefully. 

NG doesn't auto push some minor updates which v.31 is so manual would be needed if not seen by the system.

Download speeds have been hampered since I updated.  And sometimes the Orbi app or Router browser page gets a slower result than I do directly with Speedtest from my computer or iPhone.

I just rebooted the Xfinity XB7 and Orbi and it seems better although I'm still get intermittent odd results with the speed test even telling me it "cannot detect bandwidth" from the browser:

And seconds later it will work:

So, there's something glitchy with this update I have never seen before.  It could just be an issue with the way Speedtest is working now from the Orbi since the PC/Phone results don't agree - I don't know.

My gut is telling me to roll back to .21 as it was working fine.  Maybe the issue that many others are seeing with Xinfity/Orbi is now manifesting for me or Speedtest is wonky in this build.

I also noticed some odd network drop outs last night.  But with Xfinity, I often don't know where the fault lies.

It works well enough that I can leave it and keep an eye on it for a day or so, but I'll likely roll back if this continues.

bullm00n don't believe the Orbi app or router speed test! You have no idea where the server they are using for testing - could be across the country for all you know. I have found it very flaky, and I documented it in detailed testing in this thread:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-App/Don-t-trust-the-Orbi-app-s-speed-test-with-2Gbps-service/t...

Just trust your Ookla speed test where you can control the server used. I have found that MUCH more consistent, and the proper speeds.

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donawalt wrote:

bullm00n don't believe the Orbi app or router speed test! You have no idea where the server they are using for testing - could be across the country for all you know. I have found it very flaky, and I documented it in detailed testing in this thread:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-App/Don-t-trust-the-Orbi-app-s-speed-test-with-2Gbps-service/t...

 

Just trust your Ookla speed test where you can control the server used. I have found that MUCH more consistent, and the proper speeds.

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That could well be true, but it's a new "feature" for me and I preferred it when it worked prior to updating. 😉  Not that that particular thing is a big deal, but it makes me wonder what else is dodgy if this got broken. ".21" has been OK for me, knock on wood, and I'm about to be in the "if it ain't broke..." What's .31 bring to the table that I need?  Seems skippable and it didn't even want to upgrade really - maybe that's telling. 😄

I need an update where the logs make sense, the device list makes sense - something compelling like that, if I'm trading out features.

A factory reset and setup from scratch maybe needed to check this.

Possible some odd issued between the RBR, Your ISP Modem(There being some known issues with X series modems) and the end point speed testing site. Would need to check Ooklas installable speed test app on a few test runs to see if this is noticed there as well. 

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bullm00n wrote:

Download speeds have been hampered since I updated.  And sometimes the Orbi app or Router browser page gets a slower result than I do directly with Speedtest from my computer or iPhone.

 

I just rebooted the Xfinity XB7 and Orbi and it seems better although I'm still get intermittent odd results with the speed test even telling me it "cannot detect bandwidth" from the browser:

 

And seconds later it will work:

 

So, there's something glitchy with this update I have never seen before.  It could just be an issue with the way Speedtest is working now from the Orbi since the PC/Phone results don't agree - I don't know.

 

My gut is telling me to roll back to .21 as it was working fine.  Maybe the issue that many others are seeing with Xinfity/Orbi is now manifesting for me or Speedtest is wonky in this build.

I also noticed some odd network drop outs last night.  But with Xfinity, I often don't know where the fault lies.

 

It works well enough that I can leave it and keep an eye on it for a day or so, but I'll likely roll back if this continues.

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Hi All,

Just to update you I have done the update from “6.3.7.10” to “7.2.6.31” since I am in the EU region so could not install "7.2.6.21", I did a factory reset after the upgrade, and then manually setup from scratch again.

After doing some initial tweaks, I am pleased to say that the system has been very stable and running solid for 5 days now.

For those of you who are interested my setup is as follows, happy to answer any questions regarding this.

Internet FTTP provided by Openreach.

Orbi connected directly to Openreach ONT, using PPPoE configuration.

Internet IP Address

Get Dynamically from ISP

Domain Name Server (DNS) Address

Get Automatically from ISP

Set your preferred NTP server

Primary NTP server:

0.uk.pool.ntp.org

IPv6 disabled

Traffic meter disabled

VPN disabled

Dynamic DNS disabled

UPnP disabled

Wi-Fi Transmit Power Control 50% on both 5ghz and 2.4ghz

Both IoT and Guest Wi-Fi are enabled

2.4 GHz Channel:

11

5 GHz Channel:

40

6 GHz Channel:

All 4 satellites have been given a static ip through reservation, since I have found them to be more stable when reserved. I have one of the satellites connected via ethernet backhaul, the rest are connected via wireless backhaul.

Note I have “Netgear Armor” enabled and running.

Great to hear. Be sure to save off a back up configuration to file for safe keeping. Saves time if a reset is needed.
https://kb.netgear.com/000062080/How-do-I-back-up-the-configuration-settings-on-my-Orbi-WiFi-System
Enjoy. 📡

liamscor 

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bullm00n wrote:

My bad - "RBKE..." - forgot about that "E".

 

On the manual update, the only thing I did do differently on the 3rd try for the RBR960 was set tracking prevention temporarily to "Basic" on the browser rather than "Balanced":

 

 

Not sure why that would matter, or if it was coincidence... 🤔

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I can confirm that this setting in the Edge Browser, beta at least, will block the RBR firmware update.  Sats are fine with it, but it must be set to "Basic" for the RBR.

I had rolled back to troubleshoot some Xfinity issues (degraded speed after several hours) and now that they persist with the old firmware too, I have updated again and this same "goes through the motions, reboots, not updated" thing happened again.

I reckon Xfinity are messing about the network again.  Xfinity upgraded the DL speed to 2GB, but it eventually drops to around 400Mbps and requires an X7 reboot to get it back.  As best I can tell, it's no fault of the Orbi.

Interesting. I'll check mine as well to set what I have loaded. I think it had been on strict but recently change to balanced. 

Thanks for the information on this. May have to keep this on the back burner for users using MS Edge. 🙄

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bullm00n wrote:

Download speeds have been hampered since I updated.  And sometimes the Orbi app or Router browser page gets a slower result than I do directly with Speedtest from my computer or iPhone.

 

I just rebooted the Xfinity XB7 and Orbi and it seems better although I'm still get intermittent odd results with the speed test even telling me it "cannot detect bandwidth" from the browser:

 

And seconds later it will work:

 

So, there's something glitchy with this update I have never seen before.  It could just be an issue with the way Speedtest is working now from the Orbi since the PC/Phone results don't agree - I don't know.

 

My gut is telling me to roll back to .21 as it was working fine.  Maybe the issue that many others are seeing with Xinfity/Orbi is now manifesting for me or Speedtest is wonky in this build.

I also noticed some odd network drop outs last night.  But with Xfinity, I often don't know where the fault lies.

 

It works well enough that I can leave it and keep an eye on it for a day or so, but I'll likely roll back if this continues.

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Following up on this...

Since I updated, things have been a little all over the place as noted above, but...

...our "deal" with Xfinity expired, so I had to look at the new deals and it was cheaper for me to jump up to their latest high-speed package that's 2000/200.  Great!  Like I need even more speed.  I don't now - who knows if ever, but I do need unlimited data to avoid over-charges, so now I have this. But...

...worked great for 4 hours or so, then the Speedtests from my PC or the Orbi dropped to around 400/240.  Hmmm.  Reboot the XB7 and back to 2200/240...for a few hours and then back down. 😞

I let that continue trying to imagine who was at fault and almost went to AP mode with the Orbi to see how the XB7 behaved as the router.  Also decided to get a 2.5GB card for my PC to plug directly into the Orbi 2.5GB port and put both RBS onto the 1GB ports, which is fine.  Now I could check the full speed from the PC as well as the Orbi.

This past week, the system was up and down for a few days with either the XB7 or the Orbi or both resetting.  Finally, one day, this went on all day several times with the network disrupted every few hours.

My gut feeling was that it had to be and Xfinity thing since that's the only thing out of my control and nothing else had changed. I never bothered to call into Xfinity about it since I knew I'd have to revert to AP mode and set the XB7 as a router and hadn't had time to do it.  But yesterday finally, with me doing nothing but rebooting the entire network after all the up and down, I have 24 hours of solid 2200/240 measured from the Orbi App or the PC.

This matches my longer-term experience: that the Orbi Speedtest generally agrees with what networked devices see.  And that when it gets out of whack, something is wrong.

It is interesting how much havoc that XB7 modem can cause for the Orbi and vice versa when either is acting up.  I do see in the logs now where the Orbi seems to have reset (Time Sync, reconnect to Internet) around 4am today - no idea why - XB7 and Orbi is a tenuous relationship.  I also still see occasionally where a Speedtest run from my iPhone or the PC will cause the Orbit to reboot. 😮 It's not often, but often enough to know there's something going on.  

Anyway, pretty much all good news and good performance at the moment.  Xfinity are doing upgrades to rollout 10GB service around Atlanta, so I expect the disruptions to continue over the summer.  Growing pains.  What in the world are people doing where they need 10GB?  Even when our XB7 was throttling down to 400, I'd have never know without testing it - even 400 is pretty damned fast!

There is a long thread post here in this forum that talks of users with your ISP and these XB series gateways from the ISP causing speed problems with external connected wifi systems. Also seems to effect other competing mfr routers as well. That thread post leads to the ISPs forums where users are posting additionally about this. 

Seems like the ISP is maybe cause of some if what your seeing as well. 

Are you using IPv6 any? 

What is the CAT# LAN cable between the RBR and ISP gateway? 

Thank you for the feedback.