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Forum Discussion
Rax80 smart connect issue wifi dropping
Ive been having issues with my RAX80 since purchasing it , if i leave the router with the seperate bands (2.4ghz &5ghz) it runs fine but once i activate smartconnect all i get is intermittent connecti...
I'm not having dropping issues. However, shortly after buying the RAX80 I turned off SmartConnect, then named the 2.4 & 5 Ghz networks exactly the same so that the clients can decide which band to connect to - rather than the router making the decision. I've also setup a 5 Ghz guest network with a different "5G" name so that I can manually connect devices to that network if I choose to.
I have been banging my head against the wall with this router. I have a number of Wemo mini switches that only operate on the 2.4GHz band along with a number of IoT type devices. Every couple of days or so, the Wemo switches would sort of randomly drop off the network and at times I could get them back on and other times it was a useless exercise. After finding this thread, I decided to just turn off "Smart Connect" and put the 2.4 and 5GHz bands on separate SSIDs. Once I did that, the Wemos all connected immediately as so far have been stable.
I'll probably leave it this way for now. I'm sure there would probably be finger pointing between Netgear and Wemo on who really has the issue, but the number of replies to this original post makes me think the "Smart Connect" feature is a Netgear "work in progress". I have the latest firmware loaded (v1.0.3.92) on the RAX80.
I think in SUMMARY, these are the fixes:
Setup this router as ROUTER MODE. Do not enable AP Mode (ACCESS POINT). You can disable this under, ADVANCED --> ADVANCED SETUP --> Wireless AP. Make sure it is unchecked. If you have no issues under AP mode good for you.
If in Router Mode - Additionally I made my router have a different "subnet" since it is in ROUTER MODE. This means it will assign IP addresses to those devices that connect to it. My router has 192.168.0.1 as the default gateway and subnet of 255.255.255.0. This can be changed in ADVANCED --> SETUP --> LAN SETUP and then under the LAN TCP/IP Setup.
Under internet tab
If you only have one router it is good practice to assign a static IP to the router for troubleshooting purposes. Usually the default is 192.168.1.1. This is under the internet tab, and scroll down until you see Internet IP address.
If you have another router in your house and are planning on using it also, make sure this AX router has its own IP address.
For example if your exisiting router has an IP of 192.168.1.1, give your AX router a Static IP Address 192.168.1.2.
Under the Wireless Tab
Uncheck - Enable AX
Uncheck - Enable Smart Connect
Uncheck - Enable 20/40 MHZ Coexistence
Have a different name for 2Ghz and 5Ghz bands. For example, NG2 and NG5. If you are going to use Guest Networks make sure they have different names as well.
My AX router connected to the internet modem as 192.168.1.2 (I gave it a static IP) as mentioned above.
I also gave it its own LAN TCP/IP 192.168.0.1.
I wanted to keep everything static to make sure the IP addresses weren't changing and had better control of the actions for this router since it is clearly flawed. So essentially this is an AX router with disabled AX capability making it an AC router. It does have a very little bit more range than the Netgear AC routers but definetely not worth the difference in price and headache.
Some of these features might work for you but I had to disable as many as stated above to get a good/stable connection to return to normal.
Let me know if I can help you further as Netgear has left us in the cold
- So, basically disable every option why I bought this router. I am using it only as an AP now. Pretty expensive AP
- Where I normally buy my IT stuff, these netgear routers are all out of stock with a delivery date unknown so it seems that they are discontinuing this product line...
I can understand this as they are not too good for their reputation to sell something as non functional as this but I was really hoping before they mobbed on we would have a functioning firmware at least.
Does anyone know if there are WRT firmwares in the pipeline for these devices?
Then we'll get some real answers for what is causing these problems...