NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
JHRucker
Aug 18, 2022Aspirant
Orbi RBRE 960 drops WiFi clients several times a day
I recently installed a Orbi WiFi 6 RBRE960 router with two satellites. Both the satellites are connected over hardware backhaul. WiFi clients connected to both satellites randomly are dropped throug...
- Aug 29, 2022
Update. I was able to get the connection between the Satellites and Router to be stable by switching from a hardwired backhaul to wireless backhaul. It is about 90% more stable now but still has a few issues. My "far away" satellite works great when it shows it is connected to the "not so far away" satellite for its connection. But randomly the "far away" satellite will connect directly to the router and it shows a poor backhaul status. I have no clue why it does this, there are no power outages or anything that I can tell would cause the backhaul connection to change.
Anyone else seeing this? I think I will post this as a new issue.
JHRucker
Aug 29, 2022Aspirant
Update. I was able to get the connection between the Satellites and Router to be stable by switching from a hardwired backhaul to wireless backhaul. It is about 90% more stable now but still has a few issues. My "far away" satellite works great when it shows it is connected to the "not so far away" satellite for its connection. But randomly the "far away" satellite will connect directly to the router and it shows a poor backhaul status. I have no clue why it does this, there are no power outages or anything that I can tell would cause the backhaul connection to change.
Anyone else seeing this? I think I will post this as a new issue.
FURRYe38
Aug 29, 2022Guru - Experienced User
Will be good to give feedback to the questions presented please so we can better help you out.
- PsychopastaAug 29, 2022Aspirant
I have a 950-based system, and I recently switched it from Router mode to Access Point mode so that my cable modem is now providing DHCP services to my entire Local area network. This has greatly improved stability of my network.
Previously when I looked at the router logs it was giving out IP addresses over and over, and my network was subject to random glitches. So I moved to access point mode and have seen a much better stability (100% as measured by NetUptimeMonitor on a PC with a wireless connection).
I imagine that the Orbi is running some form of Linux, so I'm surprised that disabling DHCP has had such a big effect. Maybe you could try that too and see what happens.
- Mark
- FURRYe38Aug 29, 2022Guru - Experienced User
If your ISP modem already has a built in router, this would not be recommended for use with the RBR in router mode. This would be a double NAT (two router) condition which isn't recommended. https://kb.netgear.com/30186/What-is-Double-NAT
https://kb.netgear.com/30187/How-to-fix-issues-with-Double-NAT
Couple of options,
1. Configure the modem for transparent bridge or modem only mode. Then use the Orbi router in router mode. You'll need to contact the ISP for help and information in regards to the modem being bridged correctly.
2. If you can't bridge the modem, disable ALL wifi radios on the modem, configure the modems DMZ/ExposedHost or IP Pass-Through for the IP address the Orbi router gets from the modem. Then you can use the Orbi router in Router mode.
3. Or disable all wifi radios on the modem and connect the Orbi router to the modem, configure AP mode on the Orbi router. https://kb.netgear.com/31218/How-do-I-configure-my-Orbi-router-to-act-as-an-access-point and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7LOcJ8GdDo&app=desktopI would have tried option #2 in your case. Otherwise changing to AP mode would have cleared up some network instability due to your ISP modem configuration. I've not seen any instability with my 9 series in router mode, however I don't have a modem with a built in router. Stand alone modem here.
Psychopasta wrote:
I have a 950-based system, and I recently switched it from Router mode to Access Point mode so that my cable modem is now providing DHCP services to my entire Local area network. This has greatly improved stability of my network.
Previously when I looked at the router logs it was giving out IP addresses over and over, and my network was subject to random glitches. So I moved to access point mode and have seen a much better stability (100% as measured by NetUptimeMonitor on a PC with a wireless connection).
I imagine that the Orbi is running some form of Linux, so I'm surprised that disabling DHCP has had such a big effect. Maybe you could try that too and see what happens.
- Mark
- JHRuckerAug 30, 2022Aspirant
Thanks for the suggestion. My cable modem is a fiber router / gateway managed by my ISP. It is locked down (doesn't have WiFi or anything I can manage). Since I switched from a hardwired backhaul to wireless backhaul the DHCP traffic has settled down and things are much more stable. If I had to guess I think there is an issue with the 960s over a hardwired configuration.
- PsychopastaAug 30, 2022Aspirant
Well, if it works it works, but I would have expected the wired backhaul to be superior to the wireless backhaul. Never mind!
I still think it's worth relieving the Orbi of DHCP work. If you have a NAS or any other server on your network, it can probably be configured as a DHCP server. The Pi-Hole raspberry pie DHCP server is rock solid, and is a cheap way of seeing if you can improve stability further.