Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
Reply

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

mgdurand1
Luminary

Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

I installed Armor on my 2 1/2 year old Orbi and started having internet drops once I streamed content on my TV.  I had the same issue when I thought I had removed Armor but apparnetly I had not.  I figured I'd need a new router soon anyway, so I bought a replacement RBR50 and it set up fine.  Then it dropped internet again.  I did a factory reset and have not yet added Armor back in (I had purchased a year subscription).  I have also had no internet drops.  I want to add Armor back in but am a bit gunshy given the experience of the past week.  I will likely do so soon, but am interested if I am the only one experiencing the internet drops with streaming or otherwise.  Thanks.

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 1 of 54
jjvoliver
Apprentice

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

I had the exact same issue. Out of the blue I did not have internet, but would show connected to WiFi on my phones and through LAN on my laptop, but couldn't reach the router's web admin page. I know I had internet because my PS4 is hardwired to my modem (priorities of life) and I went through a full Rainbow six siege match during that time.
Anyway, I rebooted the mesh system manually, router and each satellite,then internet started working again after everything synced back up.
Happiness lasted less than 10 minutes.
My solution 2 days ago, disabled Netgear Armor, and have had no more disconnects since.
So, yes, it's a Netgear Armor issue.
Model: RBK53|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi System
Message 2 of 54
mgdurand1
Luminary

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

Thanks so much for the reply.  I am fast coming to the conclusion that it has t be an Armor issue.  I have pretty much narrowed it down to that.  I unfortunately bought a year's subscription and will now have to ask them for a refund.  Even if they won't I will not enable it again.  I almost feel like I have ransomware on my machine as I have lost internet 10 times at least within a week.  If anyone else reads this please post your experience.  Thanks.

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 3 of 54
jjvoliver
Apprentice

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

I do have 2 extra layers of security in my network, which has me at peace for now;

 

I have a Fing Box (great to secure your internal network and keep away spoofing devices from your wifi), and a Cujo Smart firewall, set up between my modem and my RBK system.

 

Those 2 devices block enough potentially malicious traffic to keep me feeling safe.

 

Plus, I also have Bitdefender Total Security in all the devices for my family (laptops, phones, tablets, etc.)

 

All in all, I'm ok keeping the Orbi just as my mesh system, and relying on something else for security.

 

But, yes, Armor is broken and a bit. Hopefully they will fix it by the time I'm up for my bitdefender renewal (9 more months, hehe).

Model: RBK53|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi System
Message 4 of 54
Jowie
Tutor

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

I too have random connection drops, reset or the router restores it or deactivating Armour.

@netgear: is there a beta firmware available which corrects this?

Model: RBS50Y|High Performance AC3000 Outdoor WiFi Mesh Extender and Add-on Satellite
Message 5 of 54
dfuller1970
Initiate

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

I've had the exact same experience with internet dropping out periodically after I enabled Armour.  When I updated my router and saw this new option I was excited to give it a try.  So glad I didn't pay for anything yet.  After I disabled Armour things went back to normal.  So unfortunate that Netgear released such a troublesome program that is supposed to help not hinder.

Model: C7100V|Nighthawk AC1900 WiFi Cable Modem Router
Message 6 of 54
jjvoliver
Apprentice

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

I haven't heard from Netgear about this issue.

 

Bumping the post to see if they say anything.

 

Has there been an update to fix it?

 

I just updated my Orbi to V2.3.5.30, but don't want to risk enabling Armor and break everything again. (Although, the trial period ended for me already, so maybe it doesn't matter anymore).

 

My Bitdefender total security subscription is up in about 6 months, and I would like to know if it's worth it to get Armor instead, since it includes Total Security.

 

Does anyone know anything new about this?

 

Thank you.

Model: RBK53|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi System
Message 7 of 54
Orbi-Roc
Luminary

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

I've been running Armor for over three months now; and the only time I experienced internet drops was when I had the daisy chain option enabled. If you only have one satellite, daisy chain will slow down your network and cause regular internet drops -- at least, this has been my experience. Once I disabled daisy chain, everything went back to normal, with no hiccups whatsoever. I have since added a second satellite, as the signal was weak in one area of our house. I re-enabled daisy chain, and now the signal is very strong in all corners of the property, with zero internet drops.

 

So based on my experience, if I were you, I would definitely go with Armor once the BD Total Security licence runs out since Armor includes BD Total Security on specific devices for protection when working away from the home network. 

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 8 of 54
edgylitirmor
Guide

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

Seeing the same thing here. Every time it runs a vulnerability scan,

it kills my wifi. The only way to reconnect is to reboot the router, which is a nuisance.

 

Model: R8000|Nighthawk X6 AC3200 Smart WIFI Router
Message 9 of 54
splatooft
Aspirant

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

Having same issue it seems. Internet just randomly stops. Can't access router dashboard. Unplug/plug back in, then it's back for a while. Tested all the cables, they're good. Called the ISP, no downtime of modem. Unfortunately just paid for Armor subscription. 

Model: R7000P|Nighthawk AC2300 Smart WiFi Dual Band Gigabit Router
Message 10 of 54
mgdurand1
Luminary

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

Exact same issue. Did all the recommended fixes with no results. Thought my router went bad. Replaced it. Same issue. Returned router and got Bitdefender to do a full refund. It is not ready for prime time. Have not had the issue since removing Armor.
Model: RBK53|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi System
Message 11 of 54
DawMatt
Tutor

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

Hi All,

 

Thanks for confirming I'm not going crazy.

 

I've only had Armor activated on my RBR50 for less than two days and I've already had 4 internet dropouts that required rebooting my router and satellite. That is more reboots than I've needed over the past 9 months in total since buying the device.

 

I'm surprised there isn't a firmware update for what is obviously a problem to do with this new offering they are trying to sell. I guess my free trial is going to go to waste now, because I'm not going to put up with this level of unreliablility. This new Armor offering is a nice idea but in practice it is worse than useless and I'm disabling it now.

 

UPDATE: I do also have the Circle option enabled. After reading another post, I'm wondering whether others in this thread also have Circle active. It is possible this internet connection drops are more frequent when multiple optional services are active on the same Orbi.

 

Thanks, Matt

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 12 of 54
Orbi-Roc
Luminary

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

Hi @DawMatt . As I wrote in my earlier post, the only time I experienced internet drops was when I had the daisy chain option enabled with only one Orbi satellite. If you only have one satellite, daisy chain will slow down your network and cause regular internet drops -- at least, this has been my experience. My Armor 90-day trial subscription ran out and have not yet decided to purchase a one-year subscription. However, during the trial period, I added a second Orbi satellite and re-enabled daisy chain; and everything was working fine, with no interruption whatsoever. Circle is not active, never was. 

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 13 of 54
DawMatt
Tutor

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

Thanks @Orbi-Roc .

 

I've now disabled the daisy chain option. Once I've proven that the network is stable again I might give it another go. Though it seems strange we need to disable a default setting for a new product feature to work. 

 

Thanks, Matt

Message 14 of 54
Orbi-Roc
Luminary

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

Hi again @DawMatt . Well, I can't find the article anymore, but I do recall something about daisy chain being effective only one more than one satellite is on the network ... And that makes  perfect sense, as daisy chaining would have nothing to link if you only have only one satellite.

 

So yes, I agree with you, Netgear shouldn't have this option enabled by default.  Moreover, it  should be annotated appropriately, to inform users that daisy chaining should be enabled only when two or more satellites are on the network. 

 

 

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 15 of 54
DawMatt
Tutor

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

Hi @Orbi-Roc ,

 

Turning off that setting didn't end up helping me. I now have Armor disabled (using the settings in the mobile app) and the daisy chain option disabled, and I'm still having to reboot my Orbi devices at least 3 times a day to get internet connectivity running. Very frustrating as Orbi had been rock-solid until I decided to try out the Armor offering.

 

The other day my son showed me that his laptop had its internet disabled because it was "past his bed time".  According to Circle anyway. It was 11 AM on the weekend and definitely within his configured internet hours so something was not right. Rebooting the Orbi fixed the issue. It makes me wonder whether the issues I'm experiencing are worse because I was trying to use Circle and Armor at the same time.

 

I'm not sure what else I can do to try to resolve the problem. If something doesn't improve soon I'll probably take them back to the store and try to exchange them for new devices. This seems like massive overkill but given we are only offered 3 months of support that doesn't leave me a lot of other options.

 

Thanks, Matt

Message 16 of 54
edgylitirmor
Guide

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

Hi,

I rolled back to the previous version of the firmware, the one without Armor,

and the router has been rock steady since. No issues at all.

EL

 

 

Model: R8000|Nighthawk X6 AC3200 Smart WIFI Router
Message 17 of 54
Orbi-Roc
Luminary

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

@DawMatt -- I assume that you have already checked firmware updates and that you're running the latest version (V2.5.0.38). If you're absoletely sure that nothing else is getting in the way, then perhaps your Orbi is defective.

 

One more thought: even prior to Armor, I was experiencing chronic internet drops when 4K Netflix streaming. The satellite RBS50 was sitting just two feet away from the TV. Internet drops vanished COMPLETELY after I plugged the TV directly into the Orbi sat. Not a single reboot in over a year.

 

Other than that, perhaps you can try a factory reset, which I understand (judging from other posts) can clear up many issues. In fact, Netgear recommends a factory reset following every firmware update. The only downside is that you'll have to reconfigure everything; I think that using a backup of your settings will just carry over the problem, so that's not an option. Since you'd have to reconfigure any way if you were to buy new devices, you may want to give this a shot and see what happens. Good luck!

Message 18 of 54
Rvermi
Aspirant

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

Having the same issue after installing Armor.  Router will lose connection every few days.  I have to power cycle the router for it to work.  Phone support has been terrible.  Firmware is up to date.



 

Model: R8000P|Nighthawk X6S AC4000 Tri Band WiFi Router
Message 19 of 54
mgdurand1
Luminary

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

I have Orbis and had the same experience.  Tried everything that was recommended but it kepy dropping the ocnneciotn requiring a total reset each time.  Finally dumped Armor and have not had a single dropout since (over a year if I recall correctly).

Message 20 of 54
Rvermi
Aspirant

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

Thats great.  I just reverted to older firware then installed latest one again without enabling Armor.  Will see if this works.  If I don't loose connection after a few days i'll know the answer 🙂

Model: R8000|Nighthawk X6 AC3200 Smart WIFI Router
Message 21 of 54
splatooft
Aspirant

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

The problem went away for a couple months. It's back to random failure


@splatooft wrote:

Having same issue it seems. Internet just randomly stops. Can't access router dashboard. Unplug/plug back in, then it's back for a while. Tested all the cables, they're good. Called the ISP, no downtime of modem. Unfortunately just paid for Armor subscription. 



Firmware up to date. Lights on router all normal showing there's internet, but nope there's nothing. No lan, no wifi, no internet, therefore, no administrative dashboard. Have to unplug the router for 30 seconds. At least now it's not completely factory resetting the router as had been happening.

Model: R7000P|Nighthawk AC2300 Smart WiFi Dual Band Gigabit Router
Message 22 of 54
jjvoliver
Apprentice

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

Yeah, I've been trying to deal with the Orbi's endless random issues, but all these disconnects by the satellites, the web and app showing no satellites while I'm connected to the furthest one, missing devices that are streaming at the moment, and so many other issues, pushed me to find a different solution, so I'm retiring my Orbi system next week.
Too bad they were never able to fix some of the issues that make this otherwise powerful system a very expensive set of bricks.
Model: RBK53|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi System
Message 23 of 54
splatooft
Aspirant

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

 


@splatooft wrote:

The problem went away for a couple months. It's back to random failure


@splatooft wrote:

Having same issue it seems. Internet just randomly stops. Can't access router dashboard. Unplug/plug back in, then it's back for a while. Tested all the cables, they're good. Called the ISP, no downtime of modem. Unfortunately just paid for Armor subscription. 



Firmware up to date. Lights on router all normal showing there's internet, but nope there's nothing. No lan, no wifi, no internet, therefore, no administrative dashboard. Have to unplug the router for 30 seconds. At least now it's not completely factory resetting the router as had been happening.



And I can't seem to find any older firmware to download. That was suggested by Netgear, but when I goto Netgear Community Downloads and put in the router model, it only shows the latest firmware.

Model: R7000P|Nighthawk AC2300 Smart WiFi Dual Band Gigabit Router
Message 24 of 54
jjvoliver
Apprentice

Re: Anyone seeing internet connection drops with Armor enabled?

It's not even Armor anymore, everything is broken.

 

I just bought an Amplifi HD system, and an extra Amplifi HD router to mesh hardwired.

 

I'll just put the Orbi up for sale, at 1 router and 3 satellites, I should be able to get about 300 dollars and somewhat cover some of the cost for the Amplifi.

 

I wish you all good luck dealing with Netgear, I'm done getting the runaround from them with serious issues like this.

Message 25 of 54
Top Contributors
Discussion stats
Announcements

Orbi WiFi 7