Possible Fix for iPhone Dropping WiFi

0tis are you on 9.12.5.3 now? Last I saw you were on 9.12.4.16. 9.12.5.3 has improved a lot for me.

 

Also - you never said much about power signals - yes, it can be a FW issue, but if you search you can find lots of articles about "over saturation" of WiFi signals being a real problem. If you are on 9.12.5.3 and it's not a lot better, I would strongly recommend you put a serious effort into proper satellite placement to minimize signal overlap. I can tell you, it runs a lot better than what you are seeing, so *something* is wrong in your environment/configuration/setup.

 

Here are some ideas:

 

1) If you have multiple satellites, take one offline even if it slows speeds in some areas for awhile - see if the disconnects go away with 1 less satellite.

 

2) Or, here is an article I wrote on how to figure out best and optimal Orbi placement based on signal strength and whether backhaul is ethernet or WiFi-based - this is the way to really get it correct:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WIFI-6-AX-AND-Wi-Fi-6E-AXE/Using-signal-strength-detection-to-place-Orbi-Satellites/m-p/2378334#M55556 

 

I just went through this exercise again for a neighbor, who could not get through a 30 minute Zoom conference call without disconnects. They just told me yesterday, they had TWO zoom calls over an hour long each, without a single hiccup. I am telling you, many more people here have issues with too much signal vs. not enough. The old adage "More is better" does NOT apple with WiFi! 

 

I hope some of this helps, good luck!

0tis , here’s the detailed explanation that donawalt previously prepared and posted on one of these WiFi 7 threads. After dealing with all the same issues that are still being posted, I finally listened (after 7-months!) to the Community experts and disconnected one of my 3 Orbi 970 mesh nodes (I’m now using two nodes in a 2200 sq ft home).

I’m not saying Netgear didn’t have a few firmware issues (the last two NA regional updates) seem to have corrected the issues related to node firmware, but the biggest majority of equipment issues have been addressed (for NA region) by Netgear.

But even after these new NG firmware updates, “new” Community members are posting about the same “connection dropping, random rebooting, WiFi flipping to cellular service, we all experienced before we “optimized” our node placement as recommended by donawalt in his preceding post. This leads me to believe issues currently being posted are related to WiFi congestion because of too many nodes, or improper node placement.

I personally didnt do a “formal” optimization, I merely unplugged one of my mesh nodes just to see if my issues resolved. They did! So it’s not hard to determine if a network optimization would improve your WiFi performance. If disconnecting one node reduces some (but not all) of the congestion causing the issues, then it would be wise to go thru the the node-location optimization process and physically relocate all (remaining) nodes to get the best performance and fastest speeds from your WiFi 7 network.

WiFi 7 is a much more advanced technology then any version we’ve all used since our first WiFi router. We’ve all gotten use to adding more WiFi equipment to “help” our network speeds. We need to rethink this with WiFi 7. “More” is no longer better, in fact, reading all these same issues over and over again in this Community, it’s clear that with WiFi 7 technology, “less” will give the best coverage and fastest speeds, the very reason for our upgrading to WiFi 7.

Here’s donawalt previous posting that explains why “more” WiFi 7 can cause “more” issues:

I thought this was a good summary:

If mesh network nodes are placed too close together, several issues can arise, negatively impacting the network's performance and reliability:
1. Interference
- Co-channel interference: Nodes operating on the same frequency band may interfere with each other. This reduces signal quality and throughput as the network tries to manage collisions and retransmissions.
- Adjacent-channel interference: If nodes use overlapping frequency channels, their signals may bleed into one another, further degrading performance.
2. Redundant Pathways
- Overlapping coverage can create too many redundant paths, causing inefficiency in the routing protocols. The network may expend extra resources managing these routes, increasing latency.
3. Signal Saturation
- Strong signals from closely spaced nodes can overwhelm receivers, causing distortion and making it harder for devices to differentiate between signals. This effect is sometimes referred to as the "near-far problem."
4. Wasted Resources
- Excessively close nodes result in underutilized capacity. The network does not efficiently use its potential coverage, wasting power and hardware resources.
5. Increased Network Overhead
- Frequent communication between closely spaced nodes can increase network overhead, as routing protocols spend more time recalculating routes and managing congestion.
6. Load Balancing Issues
- If nodes are too close, some nodes may handle a disproportionate amount of traffic, leading to uneven load distribution and bottlenecks.

To mitigate these problems:
- Optimal Placement: Position nodes with sufficient spacing to reduce overlap but still maintain robust coverage.
- Channel Planning: Use different frequency channels for adjacent nodes to minimize interference.
- Power Adjustment: Configure transmission power levels to avoid excessive signal strength.
- Routing Optimization: Implement protocols that prioritize efficiency and minimize redundant connections.
- Use Antenna Directionality: Employ directional antennas to control coverage areas and reduce overlap.