NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
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...
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.mapotter99 what version of FW and Orbis (970, 850, etc.)? Are you on? I am on 970 series with the latest production FW 9.12.5.3 (verify you have it - they don't always auto-download), and the flipping has been much better on that FW. I am keeping a log, and on my iPhone (WiFi 7) and iPad (Wifi 6), I have had 6 flips to 5G/cellular since Dec 28 - that I have noticed. It's probably a smaller number as I know where they happen and I avoid those spots in the house. All of them recovered and went back to WiFi within 2 minutes, no user intervention needed. Also, I have not had any of the problem where the device shows it's on WiFi but has no internet connection; I am confident to say that one was fixed in 9.12.5.3..
Like you too, I did some checking a few weeks ago, and I saw every mesh system I checked on, has similar issues in their forum.
I say all that because there are probably 2 things at play.
1) Some of us have heard informally from reliable sources that Netgear and Apple have been working on this together! So imho it's likely a problem that can only be 100% squashed from both of their efforts. But they are working hard on it.
2) When they do get to that point, imho there will still be customers with issues - because mesh systems rely on proper placement of the network devices, otherwise issues occur. My experience on these forums, especially over the last few years, is people WAY overbuy the number of devices for their houses; they don't check WiFi dBm signal strength with free Windows/Mac apps, to ensure there are not major over saturation spots in the house (which can be as bad or worse than dead spots). Think about this, the 970 series is rated at 3300 sq. feet per device (may get less coverage due to layout, construction materials, etc.) But, even our Netgear contacts have said we have to get this fixed and verified by users who have proper placement, so then we know if there are banding issues, it's a config problem and we can help the user correct it.
(BTW we have also been pitching for some better diagnostics in the Orbis to help users with placement - imagine if one day the Orbis could inform users "this is not an optimal placement of device, too close to device xxxx' - that would be great!!!)
So if you can live with it, it's good to be patient - me too. I know those spots where the 5G flip will happen and I avoid them. I don't walk around a lot when on phone calls. I can make it work until the next FW update!
That said - the speeds and coverage - the wifi speeds further away from an Orbi - wow. This is AWESOME hardware, and if/when the firmware catches up....
