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Forum Discussion
RBR960 device limits on IoT?
Are there any concurrent device limits on the IoT network on the new RBR960? The spec sheet states the mesh system can handle 200 devices, but I am having challenges connecting all of my IoT devices ...
The key factor might be "amount of WiFi network traffic generated by each node". On TV streaming 4K video can consume up to 25MB of bandwidth. Thus, 40 TVs all streaming at once would be more than a gigabit internet connection can support and certainly more than a WiFi channel can support.
Typical Internet of Things (IoT) devices consume almost zero bandwidth. (Although it would be interesting to see how much of a bandwidth spike there is when 94 lights turn on or off at the same time!)
This will be an interesting puzzle to solve. With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps it would have been more practical to automate electrical circuits rather than individual bulbs.
The 94 lights are on 4 automated switches that are zigbee and controlled by my xfinity home hub/app. I was able to get all but 2 connected concurrently last night by providing an address reservation for each device, but still no luck on connecting all of them at once. I may try to discontinue the IoT network all together and see if I can connect everything concurrently to the router. fingers crossed.
I tried a three eero mesh network and a three deco mesh network (both the newest 6E systems but without a dedicated IoT network) and both got all of the devices connected after about 30 minutes. And those systems are 25% of the cost of the Orbi 963. I do want to stick with the Orbi system since it has been a wonderful system for me for so many years (this is my third mesh system), but it is really frustrating that it isn't working!
rvirani wrote:
The 94 lights are on 4 automated switches that are zigbee and controlled by my xfinity home hub/app. I was able to get all but 2 connected concurrently last night by providing an address reservation for each device, but still no luck on connecting all of them at once.
This is part of the reason I have been reluctant to plunge headlong into the "Internet of Things" (which technology to commit to?)
Zigbee apparently has a theoretical capacity of 65,000 devices. So, the Zigbee switches can turn an entire string of lights on and off, but cannot do anything to the bulbs directly (such as change color. If the lights are all ordinary white bulbs, there seems to be no reason to access them directly.). The bulbs support WiFi, but not Zigbee, so it requires 94 IP addresses to be able to change their color (and could also be used to turn them on/off and thus make the Zigbee switches redundant).
I get dizzy just thinking about it.
Sorry not to be more help. The turkey dinner was fine, but the pie has sent my blood sugar through the roof!
- I had the RBK850 and it could not handle my 140 devices. (75 Kasa light switches, 20 ring cameras, and other various IoT devices.
I upgraded to the 960 this week and have the same disconnect issues.
I tried running only 2.4 and then both 2.4 and 5 on the IoT but that didn’t help.
What settings should I have for the IoT network and the network as a whole to get my IOT devices to stop dropping, slow, etc…Correct, the 960 series cannot handle 200 devices or at least not the majority over wi-fi as it is currently marketed to be able to do. After days upon days on the chat and phone with Netgear tech support, they stopped responding to any troubleshooting efforts. I went ahead and returned all of the Netgear products I had purchased and switched to the Ubiquiti DreamMachine SE. Best decision I have ever made. Each AP can handle 300+ devices depending on the AP model. You can mix and match. Right now I regularly have 160 devices online at night when all of the lightbulbs turn on. The customization and fine tuning options on the radio power and radio bands are far superior to any Netgear product.
I believe the issue with the Netgear products is that each radio band can have a maximum of 32 devices that can be connected simultaneously and even then, the router itself cannot handle all of the traffic. I believe that to be the issue, but I cannot be sure because Netgear totally gave up on helping me.
My advice - if you have that many devices, look into a small-biz setup like the Ubiquiti Unify product line. Message me if you want to know more details about my setup. Good luck!