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RAX80 regularly disconnects devices, then they reconnect
I recently “upgraded” from an R8000 thinking I would have better connectivity and faster speeds. Since purchasing the RAX80 I continually have devices drop their connection at random, then they reco...
My experience with this problem is slightly different. In my case, the RAX80 simply slows a specific (random) system's connection down to a crawl. Rebooting the system dows nothing to fix this. The only fix I've found so far is to reboot the router and problem is gone.
Tech support has suggested changing the MTU setting to 1468. (Advanced>setup>Wan Setup) So far, I haven't noticed any improvement from this.
So they made another suggestion I haven't had the opportunity to check out yet. Here it is:
">>click on advanced on the top of the page
>>Then Select Advanced Setup
>>under Advanced Setup click on Advanced Wireless setting
under Wireless Advanced Settings (2.4GHz b/g/n) under Fragmentation Length (256-2346): changed the number 2346 to 2300
for CTS/RTS Threshold (1-2347): change the number from 2347 to 2301
do the same for Wireless Advanced Settings (5GHz a/n/ac)
Hit apply.
After this please observe the connection at least six hours."Perhaps this is worth a try. I have some other problems with this box. If they can't resolve them, I'g going to ask NetGear to buy the RAX80 back or replace it with something that is stable enough to actually work correctly. - My own optinion is that they shouldn't be messing with public domain code to run this box, generally, this has too many glitches and security issues. - You'd think they could afford to have professionals writing the firmware for these systems.
I upgraded my firmware to: V1.0.1.70_1.0.30
It's been a week since I bit the bullet, and it seems to be more stable than the previous two versions - where I would get unstable connections.
The key settings you may want to try:
- Change your NTP Server away from Netgear's
- Wireless
- Fragmentation Length 2346
- CTS Threshold 2347
- Long Preamble
- Enable Explicit Beamforming / MU-MIMI - AX
- Disable Smart Connect - this actually cuased mne problems
- Enable 20/40 MHz Coexistence - otherwise, devices will drop off
- LOCK your WIFI Channels to a low traffic channel
Like many others, this product has been a pill to set up and keep running - I just hope these settings work for some of you who do not have the luxury of returning this Albatross - until something irreperably breaks and forces us to purchase another router.
Since Netgear really didn't do anything to help us, I kepy to my word and have already dissuaded two colleagues to shop elsewhere.
CaptGPF,
I sympathize and concur. After weeks of banging my head against the wall changing settings, more than 12 support cases, numerous versions of the firmware and 2 replacement units, this box still won't work as it should. I can only conclude that currently, the RAX80 is an albatross.
I've owned several Netgear devices over the years and for the most part, they've done what they're advertised to do and been very reliable.
I finally called Netgear and my reseller and complained about the RAX80. The reseller is giving me the refund. Otherwise, I would have spent $375. for something with potential, but the RAX80 should still be in beta test.
BTW: The potential speed of Wi-Fi 6 is very dependent on the distance from the transmitter. As such, I think that using a mesh network will be the best alternative. I just ordered one and it is not made by Netgear.
I have been having similar issues and it is the channel. My system worked perfectly for 8 months. I had to reboot about once every 3 to 4 weeks. What I was expecting for a new bleeding edge router. Then everything went south, rebooting every couple of hours on some days. I updated my time to use the government's NTP, it also failed several times, but didn't seem to affect my WiFi. And ended up switching to Google and it runs fine. I also spent a lot of time testing out different channels. After 3 months of trial and error, I found a channel that is working great: 104. I am a software developer and have done my fair share of hardware installs and support in the last 30 years and the way it was failing just didn't make sense that it was hardware or the BIOS updates. At least for me, it was other transmission noise in the area causing the problem.
NETGEAR, you need to add something in the Administration area to help me find the right channel. I should not have to go through trial and error for 3 months to find a channel that works for me. It would be nice to set something up for a couple of weeks, analyzing all the channels and then telling me which one is best. Then I can turn it off and manually select that channel. Please consider adding this to the product!
TomM_RAX80- completely agree with you. A lot of other routers have the ability display the channels currently in use within its vicinity - I cannot understand how a Premiumly Charged router can even be lacking in that basic functionality. Sure they have the Wifi Analytics app but that's lame when you can't do everything in the Router console.
dragonpak- isn't AX supposed to supplement MIMO? MIMO is a basic functionality since 802.11G - so having to disable this is really lame on NegGear's part. Based on the AX Spec, MU-MIMO is a part of AX - but downstream only - with upstream support slated later.
All around, I wish Netgear would get their act together. Aside from releasing a Pile of Junk with the RAX series, I would like them to seriously consider
- Making the advanced options configurable - such as beacon intervals and DTIM - Previous Netgear routers allow for this, why not the RAX?
- If they can't get AutoChannel selection to work, at least give us built-in tools to tune it itself
- Clean up their apps in the app store and have ONE unified app to do it all
CaptGPF wrote:TomM_RAX80- completely agree with you. A lot of other routers have the ability display the channels currently in use within its vicinity - I cannot understand how a Premiumly Charged router can even be lacking in that basic functionality. Sure they have the Wifi Analytics app but that's lame when you can't do everything in the Router console.
dragonpak- isn't AX supposed to supplement MIMO? MIMO is a basic functionality since 802.11G - so having to disable this is really lame on NegGear's part. Based on the AX Spec, MU-MIMO is a part of AX - but downstream only - with upstream support slated later.
All around, I wish Netgear would get their act together. Aside from releasing a Pile of Junk with the RAX series, I would like them to seriously consider
- Making the advanced options configurable - such as beacon intervals and DTIM - Previous Netgear routers allow for this, why not the RAX?
- If they can't get AutoChannel selection to work, at least give us built-in tools to tune it itself
- Clean up their apps in the app store and have ONE unified app to do it all
You can change the beacon interval by changing properties in the hidden settings menu. Need to login from browser and navigate to