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Forum Discussion
RAX75 1.0.3.88 firmware broke HomeKit
I've been using my Nighthawk RAX75 (the Cosco version of the RAX80) for several months, configured with SmartConnect without any major issues with HomeKit. A few days ago almost all of my 40+ Hom...
Hasn't anyone at Netgear heard of "HomeKit"...? As an FYI V1.0.3.106_1.0.50 does not work eaither. HomeKit devices stop responding within 5 minutes of a router reboot when using SmartConnect.
I had to add an X1800 Mesh Extender to increase the WiFi coverage, and the issues with HomeKit started again even with RAX75 running the older v1.0.2.76 firmware.
As I had enough of this with Netgear blissfully ignoring the HomeKit problems, I purchased a pair of Asus RT-AX92U iMesh routers. Out-of-the-box they too had the same issues with HomeKit. After a bit of Googling however, I found the solution. Asus offers a TON of more features and configuration options. All we have to do was to:
Enable IGMP Snooping
Enable multicast routing (IGMP Proxy)
Disable Airtime fairness
Changing those 3 settings seems to have fixed all the HomeKit issues. It's now been 48hours without a single "not responding" error. It is to be noted that those settings need to be changed not only on the "user" 2.4GHz and the 5GHz-1 band used by clients, but also on the 5GHz-2 band dedicated to the backhaul.
And as a side-note... I have a 1GB fiber internet connection. Using the Nighthawk, even when hardwired, my computers would never exceed 490Mbps downlod speeds. I thought it was "normal" due to my provider (Centurylink) not having a "real" 1GB connection.
When I plugged in my new Asus, my download speed (hardwired) now oscillates between 960Mbps and 1.3Gbps. More than double the speed of the Nighthawk.
Asus rocks.