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Forum Discussion
RBRE960 Devices do not stay connected to closest/best satellite.
TLDR
Devices do not stay connected to the closest/best node causing a noticable wifi performance drop. Over time, devices appear to migrate to the weakest node signal rather than the strongest. Inverted logic in the firmware?
MY SETUP
- RBRE963B (RBRE960 router w/ 2 satellites).
- Firmware Version v6.0.3.68_3.1.9
- 3000sq ft home with 3 floors.
- Main Floor - Router
- Upstairs - Satellite
- Basement - Satellite
- Satellites are ~25 to ~30 feet away from router and separated by walls & a floor.
- Upstairs & Basement devices are within ~6 to ~10 feet of their respective satellites.
DETAILS
I've been seeing some strange behavior with my newly purchased RBRE963B (mesh router w/ 2 satellites). The wifi (both throughput & latency) starts out amazingly good for all my devices. But, within the first hour, a device or two will experience a noticable drop in throughput and increased ping. Within the next several hours, more devices start to experience the same thing.
After inspecting the Network Map, I found that the devices experiencing the problems (Upstairs & Basement devices) were not connected to the closest node. Disconnecting & reconnecting the device to the wifi usually put it back on the closest node and the performance was again amazing. However, within an hour or so the device would again be experiencing the same issue and I could see that it was no longer connected to the closest node.
From threads here, it looks like others have had similar problems. One suggestion was to lower the transmit power. I lowered the power to 50%; a few devices started out not connecting to the closest node, and the same situation was still occurring for those that did. I then lowered the power to 25% -- this is where things got really interesting:
All devices in the Basement were now connecting to the Upstairs satellite. Main Floor devices were connecting to the Basement/Upstairs satellites and Upstairs devices were connecting to the Main Floor/Basement. The devices were being connected the node with the weakest signal, and the network was unusable by nearly all devices like this.
I have PCs, Alexas, a Ring Doorbell, and iPads. This issue occurs with all of them. This looks to be the exact opposite of what should be happening. Could there be inverted logic in the firmware?
26 Replies
30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS📡 to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.
https://kb.netgear.com/31029/Where-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite 📡I just returned my system after wasting hours and having computer experts repeatedly help me waste my time. I just set up my old orbi with just the one satellite and my security system is working fine. I had purchased the new system thinking it would give my system a further range. The two satellites just kept stoped working and or gave a poor back haul inidcation which in turn would shut down the security system. The old one works 10xs better than this new one that runs 1400. . If you check Cnet this system is not even listed in their top ten. After watching paid professinals try to fix this problem I assumed I had a lemon.
arlogo wrote:I just returned my system after wasting hours and having computer experts repeatedly help me waste my time.
I probably should have done this. I have to reboot the system every morning in order to keep roaming wireless devices connected to the network.
My thinking was that there was no possible way Netgear would not fix this in a future FW update -- I apparently was wrong. I also responded to a Netgear survey solicitation to give feedback -- I was not selected. The system I purchased was ~$1,600 and is useless as a mesh network (nearly all devices end up connected to the main router and not the satellites).
960 buyers beware.
- Yeah I've noticed the same behavior on the RBR850 series. Good to know Netgear hasn't fixed this on the 960 series either.
Lets not presume this is a FW issue just yet. Placement and distances between RBR and RBS is important. Also that devices pick and choose where they connect too. No Orbi.
Both my 8 and 9 series work well and devices connect to RBS at there locations.
FURRYe38 wrote:Also that devices pick and choose where they connect too. No Orbi.
I appreciate the responses. Is which node a device connects to entirely up to the device? Does Orbi not have any influence there? I find it strange that after rebooting the Orbis (or disconnecting/reconnecting the device), the devices connect where you'd expect; but, that over time they appear to migrate from the strong signal of the closest satellite to the weaker signal of the router.
UPSTAIRS OFFICE @ 100% PWR (5GHz)
-39dBm Upstairs Satellite
-53dBm Main Floor Router (PC & Alexa migrate here over time)
-70dBm Basement SatelliteBASEMENT BEDROOM @ 100% PWR (5GHz)
-42dBm Basement Satellite
-56dBm Main Floor Router (PC & Alexa migrate here over time)
-63dBm Upstairs SatelliteA a specific example, the devices (PC & Alexa) in an upstairs office won't stay connected to the upstairs satellite in spite of the stronger signal -- and a similar situation occurs in a basement bedroom.
exactly
An additional thought (other than FURRYe38 's thoughts) - is that you may have way more coverage than what is needed and it may be confusing the devices. If you have the router and two satellites, this supposedly provides coverage for 9,000 square feet (each device provides 3,000 sqft of coverage). Since each of your connected devices appears to be getting a good enough signal to connect to either of the satellites or the router, they could be bouncing around, causing some of the connection issues. There is such a thing as too much coverage.
I am not sure if you are using the LAN ports on your satellites or just using WiFi connectivity for your other floors, but IF you are using only WiFi connectivity, you may want to drop one of the satellites completely and see if your connectivity improves overall. It may require you to reposition the satellite once you drop down to one, but it may not as well. If you are using the LAN ports, then this may be a no-go, but I would think that dropping the power on the devices would resolve that issue.
I have about 3,800 sqft across two floors, and while I currently have the router and two satellites in play, I found no real difference in my connectivity when using only 1 satellite over using 2 for my layout. The main reason I am using the third is to provide wired connectivity in one of my rooms for a couple of machines with crappy WiFi cards built in.
Heya, thanks for the input, TC_in_Montana! Unfortunately (fortunately?) I am using the LAN ports for a couple devices on each of the 3. This is actually how I know the wireless backhaul is amazing and the reason I am willing to put some time into troubleshooting this instead of immediately returning them. I am working around metal venting and other signal destroying obstacles in order to get wifi to some devices of the upstairs & basement, which is what makes the 2-satellite setup ideal.
What is interesting about this situation is that all wireless devices start out connected to the closest node after rebooting the network. And, for the first few hours everything works incredibly well. After about a day, not a single wireless device is left connected to the satellites and they are all on the main router. It makes sense that some devices might bounce around if they have a comparable signal to both a satellite & the router, but all wireless devices?
Since the devices are the ones that choose the node they connect to, it appears that the satellites might be experiencing some sort of problem, possibly due to some sort of misconfiguration. Backing that theory up is the solution one person found:
Their situation sounds very similar to what I'm experiencing. Removing, resetting, & re-adding the satellite(s) appeared to work for them. I'm planning on trying the same to see if it resolves my issue.
Chris_Z wrote:Heya, thanks for the input, TC_in_Montana! Unfortunately (fortunately?) I am using the LAN ports for a couple devices on each of the 3. This is actually how I know the wireless backhaul is amazing and the reason I am willing to put some time into troubleshooting this instead of immediately returning them. I am working around metal venting and other signal destroying obstacles in order to get wifi to some devices of the upstairs & basement, which is what makes the 2-satellite setup ideal.
Their situation sounds very similar to what I'm experiencing. Removing, resetting, & re-adding the satellite(s) appeared to work for them. I'm planning on trying the same to see if it resolves my issue.
Chris_Z Thanks for reading my suggestion. Unfortunately I don't think it is the approach you need since you want to use the LAN ports in you various locations.
I am definitely hoping that removing, resetting, and re-adding the satellite(s) works for you.
Personally, I think the RBKE963 is pretty darned good, although nothing is perfect and sometimes things just don't work.
Fingers crossed for you. Please be sure to come back and fill us in on the outcome.
