Outdoor camera connects to Orbi RBR 80 feet away rather than RBS 8 feet away

I have an outdoor camera that used to connect to my RBS 850 that is just 8 feet away, next to a window inside a bedroom. This is the behavior that I expected, using the Orbi mesh.

Then a few weeks later, I needed to do a factory reset, due to me messing with some network permissions. After the reset, my RBR 850 came back up just fine, and then the 2 RBS 850s came back up just fine. Everything looked great, and all devices have been connecting to the mesh. Unfortunately, my outdoor camera insists on connecting to the RBR (which is 80 feet away) rather than my RBS (which is 8 feet away). As a result, the camera connection is weak, and the video/audio is choppy, etc.

Other devices in that same bedroom, like my laptop PC, connect as expected - directly to the nearby RBS at the window.

So, I don't understand why the outdoor camera is refusing to connect to the nearby RBS. Rather, it seems to prefer to connect to the faraway RBR. Any clues why this is happening, and what I can do to fix it?

dishonorablebas
Mar 07, 2025
Bingo ! That was it.

It seems that the outdoor camera did connect to the router during the factory reset, and kept its allegiance to this connection after the satellites were brought-up.

So, lesson learned is... When performing a factory reset on an RBR that has satellites, make sure that any device that is likely to be considered a stationary device (like a camera) is powered down/off before the reset is started. Then, once the router is back online, and all the satellites have been brought up and synced, THEN power up/on any cameras or other stationary-type devices. These devices will likely connect to the preferred/optimal satellite (or router, if applicable).

Special thanks to FURRYe38 and CrimpOn for helping to solve this issue.

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Outdoor camera connects to Orbi RBR 80 feet away rather than RBS 8 feet away

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