MR80: Satellites become unusable after time while main router is fine?

[StrixKuriboh]

I am trying to solve an issue with the MR80 that's being used in a roughly 2200 square foot home. The main router is located next to the modem in the basement of the house. Satellite 1 is located in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Satellite 2 is located at the main level in the living room. Depending on the day there are usually anywhere from 7 to 10 devices on the network including phones, computers, stream boxes, and game consoles.

The issue is that given time, every device connected to the satellites will be unable to gain a good connection and will be stuck at a speed of around 1-5mbps. This is not normal, the satellites usually do anywhere from 140-220 while the main router can get 300 or above. I read elsewhere that changing the 5ghz channel can help with this issue, but I have had no luck with it. I'm resetting the router once a day, or once every few days without fail. Ive tried modifying other settings but none seem to make any sort of difference.

Model: NightHawk Model MR80 Wifi Mesh system with 2 MS80 Satellite

Firmware: V1.1.7.12_3.1.108

Guest Network: Not enabled

Traffic Meter: Not enabled

DDNS: Not enabled

Remote Access: Not enabled

UpNP: Not enabled

Vpn Service: Not enabled

[FURRYe38 · Accepted solution]

Glad you got it working. Please mark your thread as solved so others will know. Be sure to save off a back up configuration to file for safe keeping. Saves time if a reset is needed.
https://kb.netgear.com/24231/How-do-I-back-up-the-router-configuration-settings-on-my-Nighthawk-rout...
Enjoy. 📡

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@StrixKuriboh wrote:

I completely forgot about this but your suggestion did end up being the solution. Removing one satellite has made the entire system much more stable. The current setup is the main router in the basement and one satellite on the other far end of the houses first floor. Everything seems to work without a hitch and I have had it running this way for months now. Thank you.

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[FURRYe38]

What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between MR📡 and MS🛰️ to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.
https://kb.netgear.com/000061709/Where-should-I-place-the-Mesh-WiFi-satellite-of-my-Nighthawk-Mesh-W... 🛰

For that size of home, you might reduce the MS deployed count by one and see if problem still happens.

What channel configurations are currently set on the router?  
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

Be sure to disable any MAC Address randomizers on phones and pads while at home:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-App/NETGEAR-Mobile-Applications-and-Apple-Devices-FAQ/td-p/222...
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-App/NETGEAR-Mobile-Applications-and-Apple-Devices-FAQ/td-...

Also might update FW as well:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-Wi-Fi-6-AX-Mesh/New-MR80-MS80-Firmware-Version-1-1-7-14-R...

[michaelkenward]

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@StrixKuriboh wrote:

I am trying to solve an issue with the MR80 that's being used in a roughly 2200 square foot home. The main router is located next to the modem in the basement of the house.

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What is that  modem?

[StrixKuriboh]

It is a hitron modem provided by Armstrong cable. The model name is Coda-45

[StrixKuriboh]

Will try updating the firmware. For the distance between satellites and router. Main router is definitley 30 ft away from the satellite in the living room. Its on the complete other side of the house. For the bedroom satellite its a maybe. It goes up theough two floors and sits in a similar position. I assumed building materials would lower the range a bit but now Im not so sure.

[michaelkenward]

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@StrixKuriboh wrote:
It is a hitron modem provided by Armstrong cable. The model name is Coda-45

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Standard cable mode. Nothing of a router component to get in the way.

DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem | CODA-45 | Hitron

Just wanted to eliminate that from the troubleshooting.

[FURRYe38]

Any progress on this? 

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@StrixKuriboh wrote:
Will try updating the firmware. For the distance between satellites and router. Main router is definitley 30 ft away from the satellite in the living room. Its on the complete other side of the house. For the bedroom satellite its a maybe. It goes up theough two floors and sits in a similar position. I assumed building materials would lower the range a bit but now Im not so sure.

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[StrixKuriboh]

Updating the firmware didn't seem to have much of an effect. Im going to try disableing one of the satellites as suggested in a different reply.

[FURRYe38]

👍

Maybe a bit closer between the MR and MS as well. 

[StrixKuriboh]

I am back. I disabled one of the satellites and saw that is was running fine. I gave it around 3-4 days which seemed to be good. I tried putting the router running again on both satellites but with one difference. The house used to have a wireless repeater for the upstairs that I forgot about. I unplugged the repeater so it couldn't mess with the satellite. The router actually ran fine for a good while but now the issue is back. It made it 11 days this time. I checked the status of the router using the web portal and it claims everything is fine. But the speeds on my satellites are once again horrible with the main router having no issues. MR is at 300mbps, MS is at 5. This is driving me nuts. I guess I'm going back to 1 satellite only again. Will provide another update and any information if necessary, feel free to ask.

Also included a nice screenshot of my pc having the good 90% late packets while my satellites are in this state.

[FURRYe38]

👍

[StrixKuriboh]

The system now managed to last only 3 days before the satellites went to low speeds. I am going to be honest and say I have no idea what to do now. Disabling satellites doesn't help. Updating firmware doesn't help. Changing the settings doesn't help. And even now without even changing the settings my uptime with no issues is varying wildly. There have even been issues with speeds and ping being normal but certain things like video failing to load. I double checked things like my DNS resolver and connections relating to my ISP but everything seems normal on both ends. I think its time I start considering an RMA or warranty claim. Heck, the only other user I managed to find that had the same issue as me presumably returned or recycled their MR80 and satellites.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NETGEAR/comments/15pvzb7/mr80_nighthawk_satellite_speed_drop_into_single/

[StrixKuriboh]

Ok lets say... Theoretically that I was trying to "Request Hardware Support" but kept getting the "somethingWentWrong'" error. What would I need to do in order to make a successful support request?

[FURRYe38]

Contact NG support and open a support ticket:

https://my.netgear.com/support/contact.aspx
https://www.netgear.com/support/contact.aspx

[StrixKuriboh]

Been a while. Ended up with an RMA for the satellites. Just dropped the em off to be shipped and they're going out after the weekend to a NETGEAR warehouse for a swap exchange. All I need to do now is pray to the RNG gods that the they aren't damaged, destroyed, or lost in shipping. Thank you for the help.

[FURRYe38]

Let us know how it turns out.

[StrixKuriboh]

New satellites are in. Worked good for a few days. Back to 5mbps on the satellites again. And this is with doing a full fat reset on the whole thing. I Reset the router and both of the new satellites and completely redid the network from scratch. This is absolutely unbearable. Not only does this mean that the satellites weren't the issue. It means I just wasted my time and money shipping them back to Netgear and I still have nothing to show for it. Words cannot describe how much I want to throw this thing out of the nearest window.

In all seriousness the behavior has changed from before. Now the satellites sometimes revive themselves back to full speed after an amount of time and I have no idea what is causing this. It doesn't always stick but it certainly is odd to see the speeds and ping bouncing back and forth like this. Will keep investigating.

[FURRYe38]

Id try just the MR and just one MS. Placed say 25 feet away from the MR. 

Wondering if building materials are at play here.

[StrixKuriboh]

I completely forgot about this but your suggestion did end up being the solution. Removing one satellite has made the entire system much more stable. The current setup is the main router in the basement and one satellite on the other far end of the houses first floor. Everything seems to work without a hitch and I have had it running this way for months now. Thank you.

[michaelkenward]

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@StrixKuriboh wrote:

The current setup is the main router in the basement and one satellite on the other far end of the houses first floor.

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The usual recommendation – see Netgear's diagrams – is to put the final satellite between the router and the far end of the area that you want covered by wifi.

This might help:

Where should I place the mesh WiFi satellite of my Nighthawk Mesh products? - NETGEAR Support

[FURRYe38 · Accepted solution]

Glad you got it working. Please mark your thread as solved so others will know. Be sure to save off a back up configuration to file for safe keeping. Saves time if a reset is needed.
https://kb.netgear.com/24231/How-do-I-back-up-the-router-configuration-settings-on-my-Nighthawk-rout...
Enjoy. 📡

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@StrixKuriboh wrote:

I completely forgot about this but your suggestion did end up being the solution. Removing one satellite has made the entire system much more stable. The current setup is the main router in the basement and one satellite on the other far end of the houses first floor. Everything seems to work without a hitch and I have had it running this way for months now. Thank you.

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