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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. Inve...
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.
Here is an even more extreme example. After changing the power to 50% (for both the 2.4 & 5 bands), all devices were initially connected to the best/closest node. Sampling the signal strength in this bedroom gives me the following:
UPSTAIRS BEDROOM @ 50% PWR
-28dBm Upstairs Satellite
-52dBm Main Floor Router
-70dBm Basement SatelliteWithin 45 minutes the Alexa, PC, iPad and phone had moved from the -28dBm upstairs satellite to the -52dBm main floor router. The phone was specifically interesting in that it had switched from its 6GHz connection to the satellite (only 2 feet away) to a 5GHz with the main floor router. All of the devices in the bedroom are within 2 to 4 feet of the satellite and have unobstructed line-of-sight to it.
I want to stress that the performance drop is also significant in real-world terms. The only reason I started digging in to what was happening is because using the device(s) went from an amazing super-snappy & fast experience, back to being no better than my previous single-router connection. Testing then showed that when connected to the best satellite, pings are a consisent & stable ~5 to ~8ms and xfer rates are ~750Mb/s; however, after the switch to the main floor router occurs, pings swing regularly from ~4 to ~150ms with the average being somewhere between 18 & 30ms and the xfer speed is at best ~250Mb/s but often dips to ~120Mb/s or lower.
To throw in a little positivity, when these things are working as expected, it's absolutely incredible! The 5GHz backhaul is amazing! Unfortunately, when devices don't stay connected to their respective satelites, I can't take advantage of it.
exactly
