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RBR750 Guest network intermittent connection issues
Hi, I have purchased the RBR750 over 3 months ago and still working with netgear support to fix this issue but luck. Hence trying the community to see if anyone else has noticed this issue. ...
I can confirm it was fixed after a week. đ
As of February 2021, the problem is still with us. Worked with support, and they eventually said to replace the units. The same problem still happens with the new units (no surprise to me).
Equipment:
- RB750 Base unit
- RB750 Satelite unit - wireless connection to the base unit, signal is: good
- ISP connection: Wireless from the house to the local node (yes you read that right, I have a dish pointing to the local node which is powered over ethernet), IP supplied by the ISP. Conection to the RB750 is a normal CAT6 cable.
Symptoms:
- Guest network periodically stops talking to the internet, then starts talking again (annoying as all get out when watching a movie).
- WiFi connectivity remain strong
- Guest network time: Always
Note: this can only be set in the mobile app, support did not appear to know this - Main network continues to connect to the internet without issues
- Wired connections on the router continued to connect to the internet without issues
- The satelite is connected to the base wirelessly.
- The wired connections hung off of the satelite continue to talk to the internet without issues.
Things Tried (none of these fixed the issue):
- Power cycling the router
- Power cycling the satelite
- Changing the WiFi channels (I also have an app on my phone which sniffs out nearby WiFi signals, so I can find the channel with the least interference).
- Checked the firmware - is the latest
- Reflashed the firmware for both router and satelite (done at the direction of support)
- Full reset to factory setttings, reload saved configuration
- Full reset to factory settings, minimal config to make it work in our environment
- Replaced full system (done at the direction of support, saying it was a hardware problem)
Final test configuration: old router in place of RB750, RB750 in AP mode. This configuration is not sustainable because the old router does not have the reach needed on its own for the guest network.
My guess (and it is just a guess) is that the problem is likely in the code which manages the guest network time. I would say it is an easy fix, but I have been in the software business for (mumble) years, and know that is rarely the case.
I have not found a way to know this is truely sent to engineering, since I cannot get any sort of bug/ticket/problem number for the request in engineering. It also means I cannot check on the status of the problem.
sigh...
mlewert wrote:
- Guest network time: Always
Note: this can only be set in the mobile app, support did not appear to know this - Main network continues to connect to the internet without issues
Thanks for pointing out this setting for the guest WiFi network. Just wondering: how would a person interpret that setting? Does it mean:
- When Guest WiFi is enabled, this is how long it stays enabled before the SSID is taken down? (and then it stays down until the user activates it again?)
- When a specific device connects to the Guest WiFi, this is how long that specific device is allowed before it is disconnected?
Ordinarily, I recommend that people click on that nearly invisible arrow at the bottom of the screen to pull up a description of what the screen does. With this feature of guest WiFi not appearing in the User Manual, there is zero chance it will be on the Help Screen.
When a device connection to guest WiFi is interrupted:
- How long is it before the connection is restored?
- Does an entry appear in the Orbi log showing that the device was issued an IP address with DHCP after the interruption?
p.s. I would put money on Engineering having no idea about this problem report.
CrimpOn wrote:
mlewert wrote:- Guest network time: Always
Note: this can only be set in the mobile app, support did not appear to know this - Main network continues to connect to the internet without issues
Thanks for pointing out this setting for the guest WiFi network. Just wondering: how would a person interpret that setting? Does it mean:
- When Guest WiFi is enabled, this is how long it stays enabled before the SSID is taken down? (and then it stays down until the user activates it again?)
- When a specific device connects to the Guest WiFi, this is how long that specific device is allowed before it is disconnected?
Ordinarily, I recommend that people click on that nearly invisible arrow at the bottom of the screen to pull up a description of what the screen does. With this feature of guest WiFi not appearing in the User Manual, there is zero chance it will be on the Help Screen.
When a device connection to guest WiFi is interrupted:
- How long is it before the connection is restored?
- Does an entry appear in the Orbi log showing that the device was issued an IP address with DHCP after the interruption?
In answer to your questions:
The Guest Network time is supposed to be the amount of time the guest can connect to the internet, as far as I can tell. That said, I did not see any documentation on it, and I am interpeting tht setting from the way other vendor's units work. I would be way off base here.When the connection to the internet is broken, the connection to the WiFi remains. I base this on the messages I received from a streaming device, an iPod, and another device in the house. None of them lost WiFi, just the connection to the internet thourgh the Orbi.
How long is the connection to the internet broken? No more than a minute or two I think. The movies I was streaming froze, but then eventually picked up where they left off. The app did not completely give up and say it could no longer play, so the restoration of internet was within the period where it tried to continue the stream.
Log: I did not check, and I should have done so...I know better.
There would be no user time features on Orbi systems.
This would have been a FW issue on the RBR which getting the FW version would have helped however since you have returned the system, you can't try out different FW.
Good Luck.
- Guest network time: Always
- Guest network time: Always
What Firmware version is currently loaded?
I don't know. My notes don't say, and I was working with technical support at the time. I have since returned the unit, so I am not able to chase it down that way either.
sorry,
Would be worth try and see if the v5 FW works or not.
FURRYe38 wrote:Would be worth try and see if the v5 FW works or not.
Sure for anyone who wants to try it. That's not me since I don't have time. I will keep using the official v4.6.5.14_2.0.54 from Netgear's internal updater with this annoying issue. Also, my disconnections are random and varies on times. :(
mlewert wrote:As of February 2021, the problem is still with us. Worked with support, and they eventually said to replace the units. The same problem still happens with the new units (no surprise to me).
Equipment:
- RB750 Base unit
- RB750 Satelite unit - wireless connection to the base unit, signal is: good
- ISP connection: Wireless from the house to the local node (yes you read that right, I have a dish pointing to the local node which is powered over ethernet), IP supplied by the ISP. Conection to the RB750 is a normal CAT6 cable.
Symptoms:
- Guest network periodically stops talking to the internet, then starts talking again (annoying as all get out when watching a movie).
- WiFi connectivity remain strong
- Guest network time: Always
Note: this can only be set in the mobile app, support did not appear to know this - Main network continues to connect to the internet without issues
- Wired connections on the router continued to connect to the internet without issues
- The satelite is connected to the base wirelessly.
- The wired connections hung off of the satelite continue to talk to the internet without issues.
Things Tried (none of these fixed the issue):
- Power cycling the router
- Power cycling the satelite
- Changing the WiFi channels (I also have an app on my phone which sniffs out nearby WiFi signals, so I can find the channel with the least interference).
- Checked the firmware - is the latest
- Reflashed the firmware for both router and satelite (done at the direction of support)
- Full reset to factory setttings, reload saved configuration
- Full reset to factory settings, minimal config to make it work in our environment
- Replaced full system (done at the direction of support, saying it was a hardware problem)
Final test configuration: old router in place of RB750, RB750 in AP mode. This configuration is not sustainable because the old router does not have the reach needed on its own for the guest network.
My guess (and it is just a guess) is that the problem is likely in the code which manages the guest network time. I would say it is an easy fix, but I have been in the software business for (mumble) years, and know that is rarely the case.
I have not found a way to know this is truely sent to engineering, since I cannot get any sort of bug/ticket/problem number for the request in engineering. It also means I cannot check on the status of the problem.
sigh...
Um, we're in 2022. ;) It's definitely a bug that Netgear needs to fix. I also tried resetting my Netgear Orbi RBK753S-100NAS back to defaults last year or so when this issue came up with the newer public stable firmwares. Previous older firmwares were fine until Netgear forced us to upgrade our firmwares! I really wished Netgear would fix their issues already.
Suggested FW needs to be tried before claiming this is a bug.
FURRYe38 wrote:
Suggested FW needs to be tried before claiming
this is a bug......that this problem has not been resolved with the pre-release firmware.
Netgear customers are in sort of a bind. Pre-release firmware obviously has not completed the entire Quality Assurance process, or it would be on the web site. When a problem is making the customer's life a living hell, he will try almost anything. When it is an annoyance that can be tolerated or worked around, many will opt to wait for the official release.
(Heck, I wait several weeks after an official release before updating firmware. Or, at least I used to until Netgear began forcing firmware updates on customers.)
