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skaiwoka's avatar
skaiwoka
Aspirant
May 01, 2021

Orbi RBK353 drops wifi every hour

Hello

I needed to upgrade my home wifi network with a new wifi mesh.
I live in an apartment: the ISP router with wifi is in one side of the house where I have my bedroom with TV and PS4, in the opposite side of the house I have the living room with ah Access Point, TV and Chromecast. Across the house I have an ethernet cat 5e cable to connect the living room AP to the bedroom ISP wifi router.
So, I had 2 wifi network in the same house.
I bought the Netgear Orbi AX1800 RBK352 kit: RBR350 router and RBS350 satellite.
Even if in ALL amazon italian reviews I read this Orbi kits suffers issue with wifi, like continuos wifi dropping, I thought it was caused by people who cannot place satellite in range of the router.
I have an ethernet cable across the house so I thought I would not have problems.

I was wrong.

I connected the RBR350 router wan port to ISP router in bedroom, and I followed the instructions: I placed the RBS350 in the living room and I connected them via ethernet cable.
During the fist setup, they got the latest firmware. RBR350 is in router mode.
I checked in the web configuration page that RBS350 is shown connected via ethernet.
I turned off wifi of the ISP router. I connected all my devices to the new Orbi mesh wifi.
ISP router is set to give always fixed IP 192.168.1.122 to RBR350 router, DMZ to 192.168.1.122 also.
Orbi mesh runs on 10.0.0.x IP class.
Ethernet backhaul status is shown "good" in green.

Apparently all worked well.
Then, after an hour, ALL my devices drops wifi in the same exact time: I was watching a movie in my livingroom with Chromecast and it shows "lost wifi" alert, my macbook pro I was using lost wifi, my brother was playing multiplayer game on PS4 in my bedroom and it showed lost connection.
I tried to connect with my iPhone and it cannot find the Orbi wifi.

Wi fi had been lost for 40 seconds, no devices could be able to connect to wifi, than it started to work again.
After an house, the issue starts again.

I did not buy a product that keeps disconnecting. Orbi router and satellite are connected by an ethernet cable: so it isn't a distance issue.
And it wasn't an ISP problem, because all my devices in my bedoorm lost wifi. 
I read in this forum that many other people had the exact same issue with their Orbi wifi mesh.
Do I have to give them back to amazon?

thank you

2 Replies

  • FURRYe38's avatar
    FURRYe38
    Guru
    May 01, 2021

    What Firmware version is currently loaded?
    What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?

     

    What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
    What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.
    https://kb.netgear.com/31029/Where-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite

     

    What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz.
    Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

     

    Try disabling the following and see:
    Armor, and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Set Short preamble instead of Long preamble modes. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).

    • skaiwoka's avatar
      skaiwoka
      Aspirant
      May 05, 2021

      Hello FURRYe38 

      Sorry for the delay.
      RBR350 router firmware is: V4.3.4.8_1.9.53

      RBS350 satellite firmware is: V4.3.4.8

      ISP router manufacturer is Technicolor, model MediaAccess DGA4131FWB, ISP name's Fastweb. Fiber to the Home, GPON 1gigabit/s in download, 200mbit/s in upload. It is an italian internet provider.

      The home is a midsize flat apartment, 1200 ft^2
      Between RBR350 router and RBS350 satellite the distance is 50 feet. Between them there are 3 rooms.
      RBR350 and RBS350 are connected by an ethernet cat 5e cable backhaul across the house.
      ISP router wifi is off.

      I need the ISP router because it is very difficult to ask an ONT with ethernet from my ISP. I will lost the phone via VoIP.

      I will try to set a differen manual channel.
      I have almost 8 wifi neighbours networks.

      I will try what you suggest.

      Thanks