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Re: XR500 wifi calling is really bad

Seanabong2200
Apprentice

XR500 wifi calling is really bad

So i bought the XR500 last month and since i have bought this router ive had a lot of problems. But for this post im going to stick to the wifi calling. Everything time i use the WiFI feature is not working well at all. when my wife or i try to make calls on our phones people have a hard time hearing us and it breaks up alot. and at our household we have to have wifi calling because our service provider signal is bad in that area. Before i bought this router we had the r7000 netgear router and we both stills have the same phones. so please give me some pointers on what i can do to make the wifi calling better. whensurfing the internet on the devices there is no issue at all only doesnt work good at all with the wifi calling

Model: XR500| Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router
Message 1 of 15
Netduma_Jack
NetDuma Partner

Re: XR500 wifi calling is really bad

Hi Sean - it's tricky to help you with this one as it's a NETGEAR issue.  Do you have Smart Connect on WiFi enabled? If not, do you know which band you are connecting to (5GHz or 2.4GHz)?

 

I often find WiFi calling takes about 10-30 seconds to activate when I first connect to the router. I assume you are not seeing it at all over a period of time?

 

Message 2 of 15
Seanabong2200
Apprentice

Re: XR500 wifi calling is really bad


@Netduma_Jack wrote:

Hi Sean - it's tricky to help you with this one as it's a NETGEAR issue.  Do you have Smart Connect on WiFi enabled? If not, do you know which band you are connecting to (5GHz or 2.4GHz)?

 

I often find WiFi calling takes about 10-30 seconds to activate when I first connect to the router. I assume you are not seeing it at all over a period of time?

 my wifes phone and my phone are connected to the 5GHZ. my yeah it usally takes about 30 seconds to start ringing but also at times it will not ring at all. smart connect is enabled ive disasbled and it and nothing changed. i have the iphone 8plus  my wife has the iphone10x or whatever it is called she has hdr-10 on hers. my netgear r7000 was great with wifi calling up until i got this one. smart connect was turned on also for that router as well


 

Model: XR500| Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router
Message 3 of 15
Netduma-Fraser
NetDuma Partner

Re: XR500 wifi calling is really bad

I'd recommend calling Netgear support, they should be able to help you resolve this issue.
Message 4 of 15
turbowrx1
Aspirant

Re: XR500 wifi calling is really bad

Did you ever get this fixed? I'm about to throw my XR500 out of the window, Never had an issue with my previous router at all with WIFI calling and with the XR500, its' spotty as hell, at best.

 

Pro gaming router my a.....

Model: XR500| Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router
Message 5 of 15
brewdrew
Aspirant

Re: XR500 wifi calling is really bad

My WIFI Calling works (as in calls connect AFAIK, don't know if I missed calls), but the problem seems to be I drop calls like crazy.  I get call failed when I never used to see that on my Orbi.  Are you all seeing that as well?

Message 6 of 15
Netduma_Jack
NetDuma Partner

Re: XR500 wifi calling is really bad

It's probably a question best directed to NETGEAR's technical support. WiFi calling works great on it on our office and I know is thoroughly tested by NETGEAR, so it's possible you have a config issue.

 

Do you have trouble with WiFi calling on other phones? And do you have UPNP enabled on your router (>Settings >Advanced)? The router needs to port forward a particular port to your phone to get WiFi calling to work (and UPNP will do this automatically).

Message 7 of 15
Retired_Member
Not applicable

Re: XR500 wifi calling is really bad

@Netduma_Jack Mind sharing what settings you guys are currently using to allow wifi calling?

Message 8 of 15
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: XR500 wifi calling is really bad

What are your current settings? 

Is Smart Connect, MIMO and Beamforming enabled? 

Are you using manual channels for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz? Try manual channel 1, 6 or 11 and any unused channel on 5Ghz. Don't use Auto.

What securty mode are you using? Try WPA2 and AES only and not Auto.

 

Is Enable 11k enabled here:

http://192.168.1.1/debug.htm

Disable it if it is to test.

 

 

 

 

Message 9 of 15
Retired_Member
Not applicable

Re: XR500 wifi calling is really bad

Appreciate the suggestions. 

 

Smart Connect, Beamforming and MIMO are all enabled. I am connected to the 5Ghz band Channel 161 after doing a quick scan in my neighbourhood as it's the least congested. Security mode is WPA2 with AES. Unfortunately, so luck still.

 

I have disabled 11K too. Is it safe to keep it disabled or should I re-enable it? What does it do?

Message 10 of 15
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: XR500 wifi calling is really bad

Lets try disabling Smart Connect and MIMO and test again on 5ghz.

What OS version is loaded on the phone? 

 

11k is Fast Roaming. It can be left disabled. You can enable it later again if you want to try it. 


@Retired_Member wrote:

Appreciate the suggestions. 

 

Smart Connect, Beamforming and MIMO are all enabled. I am connected to the 5Ghz band Channel 161 after doing a quick scan in my neighbourhood as it's the least congested. Security mode is WPA2 with AES. Unfortunately, so luck still.

 

I have disabled 11K too. Is it safe to keep it disabled or should I re-enable it? What does it do?


 

Message 11 of 15
Retired_Member
Not applicable

Re: XR500 wifi calling is really bad

No luck with disabling MIMO either.

 

What settings do you use? Perhaps it'll be easier if I just follow your config and troubleshoot from there.

 

I am currently on iOS 12.1.2.

Message 12 of 15
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: XR500 wifi calling is really bad

I use Smart Connect and Beamforming. Manual channels 11 and 36. MIMO and 11k is disabled for me. However I'm using iOS 11.4. I'm seeing various posts about users having bad expeirneces with iOS 12. Something you may want to also look into. So some searching on apple suppot forums as well. 

 

Is this the only phone you have when using it with the XR router? Any friends or family you can have come over and run some quick tests with? If those have problems as well, check iOS versions.

Try this, disable WPA security temporarily on the XR router. Have the phone reconnect to the open SSID. Test. Same thing still happening? Re-enable WPA2 and AES only after checking. 

 

I presume this would need to be reviewed by NG support. 

I would file a support ticket here:

https://www.netgear.com/mynetgear/registration/login.aspx


@Retired_Member wrote:

No luck with disabling MIMO either.

 

What settings do you use? Perhaps it'll be easier if I just follow your config and troubleshoot from there.

 

I am currently on iOS 12.1.2.


 

 

 

 

Message 13 of 15
Retired_Member
Not applicable

Re: XR500 wifi calling is really bad

Yup, just tested with manual channels 1 and 161. 11K and WPA disabled.

 

My family members all use iPhone and previously had no issues with Wifi Calling on our previous routers. Only happened after switching to the XR500.

 

Appreciate you taking time to help out! One last question, do you have UPnP enabled? I had it disabled on my previous routers and could still get Wifi Calling to work. I have tested with it enabled and disabled to no avail.

Message 14 of 15
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: XR500 wifi calling is really bad

Yes, uPnP is enabled. I need it for two game consoles on my system. 

 

Sounds like there is a problem that NG needs to look at. I would submit a support ticket and get NG to look at this. 

Just curious, what prior model routers did you have before the XR router? 

@DarrenM

Message 15 of 15
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