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 connection all the devices connected wirelessly disconnect and reconnect randomly .If anyone else has had this issue and has found a way to fix it i would greatly appreciate it .

Yeah. I’m ready to move on. Will be returning my recently purchased EAX80 extender and selling the RAX80. Let it be someone else’s issue. This stuff is complete junk and useless. Mad I got duped out of nearly $1k in equipment. Will be switching to unifi. At least they stand by their products. I will also be selling my old reliable gigabit switch to get rid of all of my Netgear equipment. This is ridiculous.

For what it's worth, someone saw my rant about my RAX200 and Netgear actually called me on the phone last night. It was only a level 2 tech, so they couldn't do anything other than take a ton of notes. I detailed several bugs and still have several more to give them when they call back tomorrow. They said "this is a young product, so there are probably still issues". Reassuring? For $600, this router should be a Rolls Royce. It's feeling more like a proof of concept product to me. They were able to offer no assistance other than the canned responses predicted "did you try changing channels, did you do a factory reset". Well the answers are YES and YES. To be continued...

I returned my unit to the store. Fundamental flaws like this are inexcusable in an expensive router (I had the $600 TriBand flagship monitor), and just demonstrates that Netgear rushed this WiFi-6 series to market in an effort to gain marketshare over competitors like ASUS. I've been a lifelong Netgear user but this is my last Netgear product. I'll try another WiFi-6 router in 6-12 months when the technology has matured, but I won't be selecting a Netgear model.

So, basically disable every option why I bought this router. I am using it only as an AP now. Pretty expensive AP

hello the current firmware is v1.0.1.62 when this happens devices disconnect and reconnect every 30-60 seconds , its very random and inconsistent. currently having to leave the router without smart connect on to alleviate this.

Rax80 smart connect issue wifi dropping

206 Replies

mjc775
Luminary
Jul 04, 2020
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.
- redparadox
  Guide
  Jul 15, 2020
  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.
  - gg15
    Guide
    Jul 20, 2020
    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
balla
Initiate
Aug 05, 2020
I have purchased this couple of months. I was expecting this to perform better than my old router which is ac 1300. But this new product is pathetic. It keeps disconnecting to inetrnet and it was never stable. I had to restart the router every now and then.
I was a big fan of netgear products and I was a promoter of the product for a long time. THis product really sucks and quite disappointed
macgyverx
Aspirant
Sep 18, 2020
I've been strugling with the same issue for many months. The router started off great, rock solid and no issues, but after some time and a few firmware upgrades, it started dropping connectivity here and there and got steadily worse to the point where it was doing it multiple times a day, only a hard reset woud fix it. Here is what finally worked for me (your mileage may vary). I set the transmit Power Control (Basic > Wireless) for both 2.4 and 5GHz to 75% (still gave me coverage in the house), also set the router up on 4 small 2 inch high boxes, one under each foot, becase it was running hot (intake vent is on the bottom and the I only hear fan on a power cycle). So far its been two weeks without a single drop. It would not surprise me that as the router ages (while running hot) the components also age and begin to perform poorly. We'll see if this is a short term or long tern fix. This is why this model gets great reviews out of the box, wonder if that would change if the reviewers used it daily for over a year.
ErickO
Aspirant
Sep 21, 2020
Rax80.
Smart connect makes more issues. So I had to disable because I’m tired of rebooting all device. Rebooting the router. And having to re-connect security cameras and even iPads.
I see too many issues and I’m about to look at other router. Sadly I signed up for the security subscription. It’s VERY DISAPPOINTING AND FRUSTRATING.
sh55345
Aspirant
Apr 17, 2021
I get this issue as well with my RAX70 with certain 2.4ghz devices. Turning off smart connect fixes the issue. Why do I keep going back to Netgear devices. Come on Netgear, you go to get this fixed by now.

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Rax80 smart connect issue wifi dropping