× Introducing the Orbi 970 Series Mesh System with WiFi 7 technology. For more information visit the NETGEAR Press Room.
Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
Reply

Re: RAX80 very inconsistent discovery of local devices

Retired_Member
Not applicable

RAX80 very inconsistent discovery of local devices

Recently I have discovered my local devices are having trouble seeing each other, the only change I can think of is I assigned a few more static IPs and had a firmware update.

Has anyone else experienced this or have any ideas what could cause this? I have tried several things like assigning all static addresses (oddly duplicate Nest devices can't both have static according to the UI) or turning off certain QoS like WMM (when disabled no wireless devices could connect) and etc. (Have not tried turning off AX because that was a huge point in getting a wifi 6 router)

Some examples are:
-Google Home Devices show unavailable or disconnected
-Castable devices are missing several devices even when I can "connect" to them in Google Home app
-Can't connect to my Harmony Hub from my Android
-Nest Hubs will occasionally disconnect (according to the display) and then reconnect, one is within 5 feet of the router

Thanks for the help!
Model: RAX80|Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream WiFi Router
Message 1 of 4

Accepted Solutions
Retired_Member
Not applicable

Re: RAX80 very inconsistent discovery of local devices

I actually finally troubleshooted the issue. The culprute is Netgears "Smart Connect"! A feature that is suppose to merge both the 2.4Ghz and 5.0Ghz SSID's into one and auto assign the best channel, it actually caused the issue instead. Simply turn it off and do what you must with now having 2 SSID's (In my case 5.0Ghz is hidden) and all works well no matter what channel you are on!

I even turned off and on every other WiFi 6 feature to make sure and they all work, just not smart connect! Very frustrating as I liked the feature but at least now I can dedicate 5Ghz to what devices really need it.

View solution in original post

Model: RAX80|Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream WiFi Router
Message 3 of 4

All Replies
xjn
Apprentice
Apprentice

Re: RAX80 very inconsistent discovery of local devices


@Retired_Member wrote:
Recently I have discovered my local devices are having trouble seeing each other, the only change I can think of is I assigned a few more static IPs and had a firmware update.

Has anyone else experienced this or have any ideas what could cause this? I have tried several things like assigning all static addresses (oddly duplicate Nest devices can't both have static according to the UI) or turning off certain QoS like WMM (when disabled no wireless devices could connect) and etc. (Have not tried turning off AX because that was a huge point in getting a wifi 6 router)

Some examples are:
-Google Home Devices show unavailable or disconnected
-Castable devices are missing several devices even when I can "connect" to them in Google Home app
-Can't connect to my Harmony Hub from my Android
-Nest Hubs will occasionally disconnect (according to the display) and then reconnect, one is within 5 feet of the router

Thanks for the help!

I think all of those are Google issues. I started having similar issues around May last year. There are multiple threads on Google forum from users with a variety of routers including Google routers. Have seen many users switch to Alexa or Sonos and issues go away... I gave up on Google and got rid of all my equipment except for one speaker that is hardwired on Ethernet. Google promises fixes but seems to not be fixed... had to return Nest Hub Max due to same issues. 

Message 2 of 4
Retired_Member
Not applicable

Re: RAX80 very inconsistent discovery of local devices

I actually finally troubleshooted the issue. The culprute is Netgears "Smart Connect"! A feature that is suppose to merge both the 2.4Ghz and 5.0Ghz SSID's into one and auto assign the best channel, it actually caused the issue instead. Simply turn it off and do what you must with now having 2 SSID's (In my case 5.0Ghz is hidden) and all works well no matter what channel you are on!

I even turned off and on every other WiFi 6 feature to make sure and they all work, just not smart connect! Very frustrating as I liked the feature but at least now I can dedicate 5Ghz to what devices really need it.

Model: RAX80|Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream WiFi Router
Message 3 of 4
xjn
Apprentice
Apprentice

Re: RAX80 very inconsistent discovery of local devices


@Retired_Member wrote:

I actually finally troubleshooted the issue. The culprute is Netgears "Smart Connect"! A feature that is suppose to merge both the 2.4Ghz and 5.0Ghz SSID's into one and auto assign the best channel, it actually caused the issue instead. Simply turn it off and do what you must with now having 2 SSID's (In my case 5.0Ghz is hidden) and all works well no matter what channel you are on!

I even turned off and on every other WiFi 6 feature to make sure and they all work, just not smart connect! Very frustrating as I liked the feature but at least now I can dedicate 5Ghz to what devices really need it.


I still had issues with Google equipment even with Smart Connect off from day one. I prefer separate SSIDs so never used that feature. If issue comes back I would check Google forum.

Message 4 of 4
Top Contributors
Discussion stats
  • 3 replies
  • 1834 views
  • 0 kudos
  • 2 in conversation
Announcements

Orbi WiFi 7