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Orbi RBK753 has chucked my Airplay speakers off the network after firmware update
Orbi AX4200 WiFi 6 High-Performance Router (RBR750). (It doesn't fill me with confidence that this community forum doesn't have my Orbi model available in the selection field above. But heh ho.) ...
The speakers connected to the AVM once it was changed to the same SSID and password as the Orbi, and then would not connect to the Orbi. Nice try đ
So I printed off every single setting and did a full factory reset of the Orbi network. I then reconfigured it just as I had done before, and found myself saying "A-HA!"
Now I don't know exactly when I changed Orbi to WPA3? Was it a day before or after the firmware update? Not more than that surely. Seemed harmless, or the right thing to do in fact, but could this be the culprit rather than the firmware update?
So I got everything back exactly as before but with WPA2, crossed my fingers, and before I went to check the speakers I heard their little chime indicated wi-fi connection was established! đ
I went to check KEF.com and found they do not recommend open networks or WEP (no surprise there!) And they add: "The WPA2 security protocol is recommended." Note, KEF does not say: "The speakers are not compatible with more recent security protocols such as the three years old WPA3."
But if the effect is indeed related to the cause here, it would seem that KEF should indeed include that sentence in its documentation, or even better, get their kit compatible with WPA3. I will point them to this thread.
Thanks Mikey94025 and thank you FURRYe38, and thank you [at]netgear on Twitter.
Thanks Mikey94025 for your reply here.
Before giving the CTS/RTS tweak a go, I'd like to ask a question about your reply, specifically where you write "Older 2.4 wireless clients ..."
Both pairs of speakers were purchased in 2021. Of course, I cannot vouch for what generation of chip or protocols KEF may have seen fit to use, but I'm fairly certain, given that they appear to know their stuff and win lots of awards, that they would not qualify as "older ... clients".
Does this mean your CTS/RTS tweak is less valid in this particular instance? I'm also wondering if the CTS/RTS would influence the speakers being able to join the network in the first place, or only their subsequent performance? And I guess that last question goes for AX too?
psheld wrote:Does this mean your CTS/RTS tweak is less valid in this particular instance? I'm also wondering if the CTS/RTS would influence the speakers being able to join the network in the first place, or only their subsequent performance? And I guess that last question goes for AX too?
These are common tactics we use to improve compatibility with 2.4Ghz clients, many of which predated the AX mode (which was not that long ago) It's safe and easy to try it since you can simply undo it if you see no improvement.
- Hi Mikey94025
I disable AX for both 2.4 and 5, but no improvement. Same failure for both the AirPlay way and the KEF app way.
I found the RTS / CTS page via the menu as you describe, but I cannot see a way to change the associated numbers. See the screenshot here.
(Nope, this old forum software isnât responding when I press âBrowse files to uploadâ. What a joyful UX this is!!)
Thanks again for trying to find a solution here.On a big screen now so able to upload that screenshot.
psheld wrote:
I found the RTS / CTS page via the menu as you describe, but I cannot see a way to change the associated numbers. See the screenshot here.You can change the RTS/CTS numbers by typing in the text box to the right of the screenshot you posted and then press the Apply button at the very top. Try using a desktop browser with orbilogin.com or put your phone in landscape mode.
Thanks Mikey94025. It seems my mobile browser didn't offer me a horizontal scrollbar đ
Saying that, you'd think in this day and age that the webpage served by the router would be responsive. But let's get back to fixing my faulty Orbi ...I applied the change of CTS/RTS from 64 to 2347 as you can see here:
Unfortunately, this has made no difference. I still cannot rejoin my speakers to the network the AirPlay way or the KEF way âčïž
Still, I appear to have attracted Netgear's attention via Twitter, so hopefully we'll have their input here soon enough. I'm out of ideas (not that I had many to begin with! đ) If neither Netgear nor the community here can find a fix this week, I'm returning the system under warranty as not fit for purpose. Fingers crossed it won't come to that.
Thanks again, Philip.
