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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...
Just FYI for all Apple iPhone users. NG is aware of this issue. Seem that both Apple and NG are at work on this. So please be patient while they work on this. No idea when all this will be resolved. NG may need more logging and information so be ready if needed. Hoping for some beta builds maybe we can help test with. For now, will need to let Apple and NG figure things out.
Well I ran a 100 foot Cat7 line across my basement; drilled a couple of holes and snaked it along the way. I have a cable running along the baseboard which is annoying. I wasn’t able to get it out of the basement but at least it’s at the other end of the basement.
Now both satellites are wired. Still, just came up to my bedroom, and started browsing on the iPhone. The wifi signal got weak (2/3 bars on the iPhone), Internet froze up, then dropped to cellular 5G network before finally reconnecting to another unit with full WiFi strength.
I’m watching it now dip back to 2 WiFi bars while I’m typing this. Annnnd just happened again.
This software is awful at figuring out how to do wifi handoffs.
Let’s go NG. Get your crap together.
Now both satellites are wired. Still, just came up to my bedroom, and started browsing on the iPhone. The wifi signal got weak (2/3 bars on the iPhone), Internet froze up, then dropped to cellular 5G network before finally reconnecting to another unit with full WiFi strength.
I’m watching it now dip back to 2 WiFi bars while I’m typing this. Annnnd just happened again.
This software is awful at figuring out how to do wifi handoffs.
Let’s go NG. Get your crap together.
- Really quite tempted at this point to box this up just buy an Orbi wifi6 system. My old one was solid, don’t know why I had to go and do this ….
0tis as FURRYe38 as said, I know too they are working on this - their engineers are working with Apple, and we have all been supplying logs and other info. If you haven't filed a support ticket, pease do so. The issues are clearly with WiFi 6E and 7 banding. I have done a little checking around other forums, and the other big mesh guys are having issues too. This is no excuse but it is new.
It can be made better by optimal Orbi device placement, but it's still there.
To your point, I have a neighbor with a Orbi 850 and 2 satellites. I re-positioned their satellites a while ago, and their network runs perfectly. They have a Comcast 500/100 plan, and they have 2 iPhone 16 Pro phones (WiFi 7) and at least 1 MacBook Pro M3 (WiFi 6E); so they have ample brand new devices. But, they have no banding issues at all.....because of course, the 850 series doesn't do 6E or 7. All devices connect a good signals/speeds with WiFi 5.
I have been at their house with my iPhone 16, and I get 300-600 Mbps everywhere. Now that's not the 1100-1300 I get in my house with a 970 series, BUT they have never seen a device flip to 5G, or lost internet! And that's with a line coming into their house that is not quite as clean as it should be (they have some old splitters in the basement from a prior owner that should be removed, they cause channel errors on the modem - but nothing they ever see).
So being at the cutting edge has its disadvantages. NG will get this working I am sure - but it can be painful to customers in the interim.
- THANK YOU.
My God, this is the first time I’ve felt like this problem may actually get fixed, and I’m the originator of this thread. Everything in this thread up until now has been posturing and hoop-jumping and “try this” steps which never had any hope of fixing what has obviously been an issue with 6Ghz connectivity.
At this point, I’m not saying that Netgear is off the hook, but I am starting to think this is predominantly an Apple issue with their WiFi 6E and 7 implementation. HOPEFULLY they can fix it with a firmware or driver update for their WiFi chip. I’ve seen MANY people from various mesh providers, including Ubiquiti AP setups, complaining that the latest Apple devices with WiFi 6E and 7 simply do not work properly with 6Ghz WiFi, at least when dead center between access points/mesh nodes.
Of course, the only people who really have the power to let Apple know are Netgear and the other manufacturers themselves. Everything else just devolves into finger pointing, and it’s usually at the customer.
I’ll be quietly waiting for this to get fixed. I simply don’t have time to jump through a thousand tech support hoops, or to be a beta tester right now.
- While at home (I know cellular data must be on when you,re away from wifi) have you tried turning the Cellular Data Setting on your iPhone to “off”?
0tis , there are so many WiFi signals coming from and going to your Orbi nodes just to make WiFi 7 work, if there are WiFi congestion issues because of node placement or home construction, this could be causing the iPhone to “prefer” cellular data over WiFi data if your WiFi signals are weak at the outer limits of the node coverage.
Also, do you have more than one eSIM activated on the iPhone? If so, do you have different data plans for those lines? I have an iPhone 15 Pro Max with an ATT and Verizon eSIM, each with a data plan. Several iphone 15 models (and I assume some of the iPhone 16 models also) have a Setting option to automatically switch between eSIM data plan's if you do have multiple lines with this Setting turned on.
If your WiFi strength drops, the iPhone will automatically switch to 5G. This switching can be amplified if the iPhone is also switching between eSIM data plans.
Turning off cellular data is not practical and I’m not suggesting this as a permanent fix to keep the Orbi WiFi node from dropping, but try forcing the iPhone to stay in WiFi mode and see how that impacts WiFi 7 signal dropping as you move between Orbi nodes. This will be a good data point for NG and Apple as they work to resolve the issue.
