NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
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...
The router works better if disable Smart Connect and give the networks two separate names. Connect your smarthome devices to the 2.4GHz and connect your phones, tablets, and computers to the 5GHz... I briefly tried smart connect back in March and it only gave me problems. Have had no issues with it off except for QoS issue and the random brief LAN disconnects.
I believe that defeats the purpose of this entire thread, though. The Smart Connect feature is something we all paid for and expect to work well. Disabling smart connect on my tri-band router and having to add and configure and maintain two additional SSIDs is unacceptable to me and a large portion of the reason I decided to splurge the $600 and get Netgear's "Top of the line" router.
It seems none of the new routers are working well... I've tried to be patient but I've had mine almost a year now and same issues still haven't been fixed. Parents had another one that gave issues and Netgear wanted to charge $100 for support out of warranty... told them to just goto Walmart and get $50 Linksys and that solved the issue.
I'm also having pretty great success without the Smart Connect feature. That being said, SC did work - but it wasn't as quick or snappy in practice. It wasn't dissimilar to how some very high-end commercial grade APs behave, such as Aerohive, which we used to install at my old job.
On testing more, I've found that my biggest problem is 2.4Ghz. I'm just at saturation. All the smarts in the router aren't able to counter the 60 apartments i have between my building and the two either side. 5Ghz AC has been rock solid for two weeks and counting. My settings have been most ideal with MU-MIMO off, and AX on.
I hope ya'll find some resolutions. I'm happy with how everything is working, finally.
I fear that your worry about being in a congested area may be a lost cause. I live in a detached house with a good 5 metres clear gap to neighbours and I experienced lots of issues still. While turning off smart connect and AX may sort your issue, your effectively reducing your router to the equivalent specs of a £60 router. It's a joke that this hasn't been resolved by Netgear. I have since switched to a competitor and it has had no issues whatsoever and it's a tri-band wifi 6 router.