Consistent Internet drops

I would turn OFF remote RBS for now and focus on in home wifi. 

Turn OFF all RBS in the home and check stability with the RBR first, then turn on 1 RBS  and then test wifi stability. Ensure RBS are placed at 30 feet starting distance from the RBR. 

For you sq ft of home size, you only need two RBS. I have save size home and only use two RBS. Nothing more. RBS are wireless as well, however have the ability to ethernet connect the RBS. 

I would get the RBR stable with the ISP ONT with CAT6A STP cable to ensure a good connection there. If the RBR still shows PINK at times, you may need to get the ISP involved to have them check there side of the ONT to ensure all is good up to the ONT.

Try channel 11 and 44 on the RBR. 

I'm currently testing my 870 series out and is working well. 

trentloyd wrote:

it appears that I am unable to assign devices to certain mesh points, but often one will find itself connected to a mesh point that is so far away that the upload/download speeds drop to about 1mb.  From what I can find the only resolution is to either restart the router or unplug the offending mesh point and replug it in.

You are correct that Netgear mesh systems do not include a feature to link devices to specific wireless nodes.  At least one mesh product does, but not Netgear.

Whereas devices that are intended to be mobile typically keep scanning for the best WiFi access point, some devices that are expected to remain in place appear to "latch on" to a WiFi access point and stop looking.  If the WiFi connection is broken, however, then the device will begin scanning again.  Over the years, users have reported this sort of problem with Orbi systems, which often seems to relate to the Orbi router and satellites becoming 'active' one after the other.  The device may have linked to a WiFi access point before a satellite that is closer (and has a much stronger signal) becomes active.

There are several solutions:

• As you have discovered, powering off the satellite that the device is using will cause it to connect to the strongest of the remaining signals.  When that satellite is powered on again, the device is no longer seeking a connection.
• Another solution is to power cycle the device.  When it turns on again, it will compare the various WiFi access points and select the best fit.

It is really annoying to go through this process every time a power failure causes the entire Orbi system to reboot, so many users connect their entire Orbi system to UPS devices so that very short power outages do not cause the Orbi system to reboot.

Another solution is to provide WiFi to that device with an inexpensive WiFi Extender which has been defined with a unique WiFi SSID that only that device looks for.  If it is a typical IoT device that has modest networking needs, it doesn't take an expensive WiFi extender to provide what it needs.