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Forum Discussion
Dropped WiFi Connection
I've seen discussions on this topic of the mesh system dropping the WiFi connection and reverting to 5G all the way back to 2023 but almost all of the reported issues are with iPhones. I have two Google Pixel 10 Pro cellphones along with the latest Netgear equipment/firmware (Orbi 971 and two Orbi 970 satellites). I encounter this problem every day with always a full WiFi signal strength and almost good (two bars) 5G Verizon signal (I don't live under a cell phone tower). The usual resolution is to disconnect and reconnect the WiFi connection in the Pixel 10 network settings. Most of the blog posted solutions since 2023 revert to turning off the automatic Wi-Fi connection setting where "Wi-Fi will turn back on near high quality saved networks, like your home network". This change in the Pixel 10 configuration for me is stupid beyond belief. When the Wi-Fi is dropped and the Pixel reverts to 5G, I will randomly get such error messages as low quality Wi-Fi signal, a failure in the iP configuration, etc., etc. None of the error messages seem to be valid, more like an excuse to drop the Wi-Fi. Given enough time (~ 10 to 20 minutes), the Pixel 10 Pro will eventually hook up with the Wi-Fi signal but I take a serious hit in connection speed while on the Verizon 5G cell signal. Since it appears that this overall problem has been occurring since 2023, is this still the situation? I have concluded that moving from a Pixel 6 to a Pixel 10 along with moving from a Nighthawk mesh system to an Orbi 971 mesh system has been nothing but a big step backward. Any concrete suggestions would be much appreciated.
8 Replies
There has been no solution for this. I have the same pixel 10 pro xl and the mesh 970 with the latest firmware its happening to me as well, doesnt matter if its android or iOS but what I think is happening is the pass over not happening smoothly when you leave from one satellite to the next the signal takes a while to move over then drops. I am sure Netgear is aware of this issue from then, but no real solution until now. I have done over 6 firmware updates from then until now and none has fix this issue.
Be sure to disable any MAC Address randomizers on phones and pads while at home:
NETGEAR Mobile Applications and Android/Apple/Windows Devices FAQ | NETGEAR Communities
Also if you have IPv6 enabled, disable it. There are some known issues with this on all Orbi systems currently which NG has been diving into.
Not seeing any issues currently with my iPhone 17 Pro Max. Always connecting with MLO on my 970 series. Also there is a Android 25S on the network as well. Always connected MLO.
Manual channels 1 and 40 here.
Furrye38 - thanks for the excellent response. Unfortunately turning OFF MAC address randomizers and subsequently re-initializing the cell phone network settings (as suggested in another blog note) has not resolved the issue of the cell phone randomly switching from WiFi to 5G (Verizon) back and forth, probably 4 - 6 times a day. Moving between the router and its two satellites sometimes seem to spur the problem but not sure. So I am now investigating disabling all IPv6 which has been disabling on the RBE971 router. So how does this translate into the IPv6 settings of the cell phone (Google Pixel 10 Pro)?? The cell phone is dealing with two networks, my WiFi (ISP Comcast) and the Verizon 5G cellular network. If the RBE971 only allows IPv4, I have to assume that the IPv6 addresses are all coming from the Verizon 5G side of equation. All the internet general inquiry solutions for disabling IPv6 on the Google Pixel 10 Pro point to APNs and there the path forward on the Google device hits a brick wall. The suggested steps don't map into the Pixel 10 Pro. Verizon is looking into it for me but it is possible that seeking to disable IPv6 on the cell phone is an invalid question or above my pay grade??
These drops has been happening from the inception of the RBE971. The seem less transition between router and satellite is also the issue it doesn't smoothly transfer between turning off the stuff won't fix the issue. A few years ago this was reported haven't seen a real fix yet. Furry will ask how close is the satellite how big your house is and all sort of nonsense which shouldn't matter because the routers in this day and age should be able to sort them self out they use to back in the days not sure why we in the future now and they automatically can't manage distance. I think it's a software firmware issue that needs to be fix.
Ya, disabling IPv6 at the client device level seems impossible for Apple and Android. Something we see with Apple devices. Been some known issues on Apple devices with IPv6 enabled. Some newer iOS version have helped some. NG is deep diving IPv6 in FW and has made some improvements, though still working on it. donawalt​
Can only recommend disabling IPv6 on the RBR first and observe.
I have seen flips to 5G go away once I got onto FW vers 9.13.x (forgot which specific version), AND iOS/iPadOS went to v. 26.4 - once I upgraded to 26.4, they went away for good. I think Apple was at least as much to blame as Netgear on this one.
Yes, furry is right you cannot disable IPv6 on Apple devices. But you'll see in the settings, while it has an IPv6 local address, it has no router destination so it does not broadcast anything using IPv6.
Here are some things to try at least in the Apple world (I don't have any Android devices):
- An awful lot of connection and flipping problems are due to Orbi devices being too close together, the multiple strong signals confuse devices. We see this frequently with people, they move from an older router to a 970, which has the strongest radios around - in some cases 30%-40% stronger. The satellites are placed in the same spot as with the old router, and all of a sudden there is signal contention. I wrote a paper on how to place mesh satellites in a home very specifically, let me know if you are interested and I'll post it here. In the interim, you didn't say how many satellites you have, but try going just to router, or to one less satellite to reduce signal conflict. I realize this could cause a temporary dead spot, but it will prove the point of whether it's signal contention or not. Or, I'll send my document and you can set up any satellites from scratch in the proper location. Remember, "more is not better" when it comes to wifi coverage"!
- Turn of Settings/Cellular/WiFi Assist on the iPhone. Tis will cause the iPhone to sense the wifi signal getting weaker (which it will as you walk around the house), and it will flip to cellular. Leave it off.
- Private Wifi address should be on Fixed not Rotating - the changing MAC addresses confuses mist routers, not just Netgear.
Guys - really appreciate the responses and additional insights. I am exactly the case previously mentioned, I moved from a no problem Nighthawk system to the Orbi 970 system with all devices pretty much in the same location. I switched when Netgear said the Nighthawk system was no longer going to be supported. However, I have possibly conflicting requirements for my (now) two RBE970 satellites. The old system had two satellites and I originally started the new 970 system with one satellite but I had very poor signal coverage for one area of my outdoor security system so I purchased a second RBE970 satellite to solve the outdoor weak signal problem. Things may be too close when considering the inside the house configuration. Inside the house, all three devices are approximately 48 feet equidistant from each other with a least two sheetrock walls between each device (satellite to satellite and/or satellites to router). Donawalt - please send me your paper since I should probably give my device placement some additional thought. It is a good travelling salesman problem. The iPhone settings/cellular/WiFi assist probably has a similar Pixel feature which I would believe is the "Use WiFi" and "Turn on WiFi automatically" which is decision point when a high-quality saved (and for me private) network is detected. I could easily stop using WiFi and constrain the cell phone to use 5G but I don't have the greatest cellular network signal in the world (2 out of 5 bars). It works fine but I take a speed hit for the somewhat good cellular signal strength. When the WiFi reverts to 5G, I normally see WiFi error messages as "Low quality signal" or "Loss of Internet" which for me are bogus since my WiFi is always 5 out of 5 bars (best case: -26 dBm/2.4 GHz, -35 dBm/5 GHz, -44 dBm/6 Ghz) and I've never had a loss of internet case on my ethernet cable connected Windows 11 workstation. Just knowing that Netgear is having problems takes the sting out of the situation which I could easily live with other than my wife's glucose monitoring app is having problems when it hic-ups with a "loss of signal" error message. It is a short-lived problem (it quickly recovers) but to add to the confusion the glucose monitoring app developers state that they have not certified the app's use with the Pixel 10 Pro.
I am having the same issue 😕 so it's not unique to you. Something Netgear needs to fix on their end and it's been happening for awhile
