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Forum Discussion
IOS devices keep dropping out
Hello. I just recently purchased the RBK970 with 1 satellite. For the most part I am fairly happy with it. However, I am getting these annoying WIFI drops from our IOS devices. In my family we have 3 IPhones and 3 IPads. All of them are different models, none of them are the same. I have the main router in my office and have the satellite with a wired backhaul about 50 feet away in the living room. Usually about once a day an IOS device will just disconnect from the WIFI. If I wait a couple of minutes it re-connects on it's own. If I try to manually reconnect I just get a spinning wheel for about two minutes then it finally reconnects. If I don't want to wait I can "forget" the network and connect right away. We have other devices (Windows laptops, smart devices, Chromebooks) and this does not happen with any of them, only with IOS devices. I opened a few tickets with Netgear support and have tried the following troubleshooting steps with no resolution. It does appear to only happen if the IOS device connects to the satellite but it's hard to verify unless I am just looking at the connected devices list when it happens.
-Hard reset of router / satellite using pin reset
-Manually selected the channel for the 2.4ghz and 5ghz radio frequency
-Moved the satellite to another location
-Used both wired and wireless backhaul
-Put the router in AP mode and used my mini firewall with PfSense as the router
-Disabled private WIFI in IOS
I am running out of ideas at this point. I previously upgraded from a RBK852 with the a single satellite (wired backhaul) in the same location and everything worked perfectly.I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions. I would hate to have to send this back to Netgear and go back to my 852.
Thank you,
Randman76
4 Replies
What iPhone and pad models do you have?
What Firmware version is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?Is IPv6 enabled on the RBR? Same thing happens with IPv6 disabled?
I recommend you take a look and review this post by donawalt
Thank you for your reply. I have provided answers to your questions inline below
What iPhone and pad models do you have?Iphone 10, 12, 14
(2) of the ipad pro 5th generation and (1) 4th generation
What Firmware version is currently loaded? V9.13.1.2
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too? Arris S34 Surfboard Cable modem and Xfinity ISPIs IPv6 enabled on the RBR? Same thing happens with IPv6 disabled? I have not tried toggling IPV6 as it is a requirement with my line of work
I recommend you take a look and review this post by donawalt
I saw threads surrounding that subject. My ipads are wifi only so this unfortunately wouldn't apply.
Re:[I saw threads surrounding that subject. My ipads are wifi only so this unfortunately wouldn't apply.]
Actually randman76 it does apply - In the case of your iPads w/o cellular, all the aspects of the problem I outlined in that thread are still at play - it has nothing to do with cellular. The problem comes down to a problem preventing Internet access due to the DHCP interaction between device and Orbi - details in that thread. As a result, in my case it flips to cellular because it can. In the case of no cellular, the iPad will just disconnect from WiFi because it's not working - no cellular to go to, to keep internet access alive - which is what you see.
I have had no drops based on the simple workarounds described there. Unfortunately, one of them is turning off IPv6 - no way to stop the DHCP communication with the device under IPv6 (ie we cannot set manual IP and DNS addresses for IPv6). And I don't think you can turn off IPv6 on Apple devices, only on a server. But if you could test it over a couple of days when work connectivity via IPv6 was needed, it sounds like that would prove it since you see failures daily. In any case, this can't be fixed without turning off IPv6 at the server, until NG fixes IPv6 (they know it's a mess). And, if your devices communicate exclusively on IPv6 for work, just disabling that on the server would probably fix your problem.
Sadly, Netgear and IPv6 is not a viable solution today, plain and simple.
Sorry, I misunderstood . I'll review that thread again and see about disabling IPv6 on a weekend.
