Packet Loss EAX80

I am finding that I get WiFi signal at the far reaches of house, but performance is abysmal.

And yesterday two devices upstairs were offline (Ecobee thermostat and Amazon Echo Dot), and the only way I got them back online was to reboot EAX-80 that is 10 feet away from them.  I had started trouble tickets with manufacturer only to realize that it was the EAX-80 that was the problem.

Today I was fed up while sitting on front porch and used a new utility I have on my phone to run a ping, and it actually shows a LARGE amount of packet loss.  This would seem to explain why certain apps don't load and why I can't do a video call on my front porch.

Is there some configuration trick that I am missing here? 

Configuration:

RAX80 in basement where my fiber internet connection comes in.  10/100/1000 switch down there feeds LAN jacks plus WiFi, which is fine in the back of the house.

EAX80 on second floor inside a glass-faced cabinet in upstairs bathroom, it has all white lights on the front suggesting it had no problem establishing a good connection to the RAX80.  But 100% WiFi, there is no active LAN jack up there.  I gave it a static IP for no particular reason, just thought I'd try that.

Because I have some legacy devices like my smart sprinkler controller or the smart thermostats, I am running the 2.4ghz network and the 5ghz network or my smart floor heat thermostats;  these legacy devices had trouble connecting and kept going offline when I allowed the Netgear to do the "Smart Connect" feature. 

Thanks.