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Forum Discussion
Possible Fix for iPhone Dropping WiFi
I have an RBE973S system. think I have identified the reason my iPhone keeps dropping WiFi, and I wanted to share so others can see if it solves their issues. On your iPhone, go to Settings>Cellula...
I have been doing some more testing on this issue, iPhone 15 Pro Max (happens with my iPad Pro 2024 too), Orbi 970. The issue is, seemingly when the device is attempting to go from 6GHz to 5GHz or vice versa, for example entering the house or moving between Orbi devices, the phone flips to 5G instead of staying on WiFi.
I have tried now, with the WiFi 6E setting - Auto and Off; IP Address - automatic (via DHCP) and manual (outside DHCP address range) - all combinations of these 2 settings - and the 5G flips continue.
I have also noticed the WiFi 6E setting and the Settings/Cellular/Wi-Fi Assist setting will CHANGE! on its own! So I am testing now with WiFi 6E off, a manual address, and Wi-Fi Assist OFF. I am trying to watch those carefully to see when they revert to the opposite setting. I have ruled out hard resets and Settings/General/Shut Down, they don't cause it. I am think now it's coming back into the house, but not immediately - in a minute or to. I usually check the WiFi symbol immediately upon entering the house and it is on.
This is very confusing to get to the bottom of...
Hi, I would also like to quickly share my thoughts and insights gained from Reddit. Can you try to have a fixed channel for all WiFi bands (not sure for which you can set fixed channels, at least for 2.4 GHz for sure) and can you disable the 20/40 MHz coexistence? This helped me with my (retired) Orbi 850 system to significantly reduce the drops.
Additionally, have you figured out if drops also occur if the Orbi system is in AP mode (access point mode) and the routing is done by another device, such as, for example, a Firewalla?
Looking very much to hearing your experiences!
speedmatters to answer your questions from my network:
1) The Orbi's do run on a fixed channel, configurable on the router admin page.
2) You can also disable 20/40 coexistence, which I (and many here I think) have done.
3) I don't have another device to act as router, hence being able to put the Orbi 970 in AP mode.
I will say, I have now completed 3 days with NO 5G flips! For me, I turned off Wifi Assist under cellular, 6E is Off, and Private IP address is off. In testing, having any 2 of the 3 off seemed to still let 5G flips occur; only when all 3 are set do I see total success (so far). We'll see if it continues!
- This has been driving me bananas.
Orbi WiFi 7 mesh. iPhone 15 pro max. Tons of drops on WiFi calling when walking around the house, or even standing still. Tons of WiFi drops to 5G despite tons of coverage.
It’s astonishing to me that Netgear hasn’t tried to fix this given how widespread the problem and what I paid for this system. Bonkers.
The other issue I have is that my work computer that is hardwired into a satellite, which is CAT6E wired backhaul into the main unit, has multiple VPN drops each day. No idea why. And always right in the middle of an important zoom call. Maddening given what I paid. I could have bought a 50 dollar wired network system that would not drop my VPN.
Sigh. 0tis Netgear is aware. As a workaround- turn off Settings/Wifi assist, and on your connected Wifi network, set 6E to OFF not Automatic. Then turn Wifi off for 5 seconds, then on. See if that fixes it. You’ll see some speed loss, but with a good signal 5GHz is still very fast. It’s a workaround. And the flips to 5G will go away.
Post back with results…
- Thanks, appreciate it. I’ve implemented these changes. Fingers crossed …..
(My VPN drops are another issue for another day….) See how VPN works too. The Wifi Assist might help that, it can break wifi. People have reported phone call drops fixed with that.
- I can’t imagine. I’m hardwired in through a satellite on my work computer. No good excuse for those drops. I guess it could be Verizon’s fault. But I’m skeptical of that.
Yeah wifi won’t help that-but needed for the phone 5g flips. Maybe start a new thread on the vpn problem, it might get buried here.