I've owned mine for a year, wifi drops-Tvs, phones, laptops, can reboot and it settles down, but will return. Basically, you turn off AX and SmartConnect and the wifi is stable. These tech features don't work on this model with my equipment. I have a copier connected wifi and it keeps a message log of what is happening, every hour the wifi would drop, re-join, go for 45min to an hour and drop and rejoin. I really believe the router decides to swap 5g-2.4g constantly. Figures since turning the smartconnect off resolves the issues.
I really believe Netgear has become the microsoft of the industry...push out a product to say your first at this tech, but that may not work and rely on firmware/software to fix. They have been unable to fix on this one.
Thanks to RayFoxII for the suggestion. Disabling AX and Smart Connect has cleared the wifi dropout problems for now and my family is off my back now while I configure the new sonicwall to replace it.
I had the same kind of issues on my router. However, my router is working fine now from more than last 2 months. I had upgraded it with the latest firmware and after that there is no connection drops. But there is a catch, I identified that the 5G connection was dropping all the time when I was using my Lenovo laptop having AX Wi-Fi capability. Whenever I was working on that or the laptop is running by itself from the sleep mode to the wake up, the 5G connection of the entire home were lost. Therefore I did more r&d and came to know that something is wrong in the recipient hardware as well no matter laptop or what. I upgraded the Wi-Fi driver of that laptop and the combination of that upgraded driver and RAX 80 firmware, everything is working well. I got some of my confidence back on this router now.
I'm not having dropping issues. However, shortly after buying the RAX80 I turned off SmartConnect, then named the 2.4 & 5 Ghz networks exactly the same so that the clients can decide which band to connect to - rather than the router making the decision. I've also setup a 5 Ghz guest network with a different "5G" name so that I can manually connect devices to that network if I choose to.
I have been banging my head against the wall with this router. I have a number of Wemo mini switches that only operate on the 2.4GHz band along with a number of IoT type devices. Every couple of days or so, the Wemo switches would sort of randomly drop off the network and at times I could get them back on and other times it was a useless exercise. After finding this thread, I decided to just turn off "Smart Connect" and put the 2.4 and 5GHz bands on separate SSIDs. Once I did that, the Wemos all connected immediately as so far have been stable.
I'll probably leave it this way for now. I'm sure there would probably be finger pointing between Netgear and Wemo on who really has the issue, but the number of replies to this original post makes me think the "Smart Connect" feature is a Netgear "work in progress". I have the latest firmware loaded (v1.0.3.92) on the RAX80.
Setup this router as ROUTER MODE. Do not enable AP Mode (ACCESS POINT). You can disable this under, ADVANCED --> ADVANCED SETUP --> Wireless AP. Make sure it is unchecked. If you have no issues under AP mode good for you.
If in Router Mode - Additionally I made my router have a different "subnet" since it is in ROUTER MODE. This means it will assign IP addresses to those devices that connect to it. My router has 192.168.0.1 as the default gateway and subnet of 255.255.255.0. This can be changed in ADVANCED --> SETUP --> LAN SETUP and then under the LAN TCP/IP Setup.
Under internet tab
If you only have one router it is good practice to assign a static IP to the router for troubleshooting purposes. Usually the default is 192.168.1.1. This is under the internet tab, and scroll down until you see Internet IP address.
If you have another router in your house and are planning on using it also, make sure this AX router has its own IP address.
For example if your exisiting router has an IP of 192.168.1.1, give your AX router a Static IP Address 192.168.1.2.
Under the Wireless Tab
Uncheck - Enable AX
Uncheck - Enable Smart Connect
Uncheck - Enable 20/40 MHZ Coexistence
Have a different name for 2Ghz and 5Ghz bands. For example, NG2 and NG5. If you are going to use Guest Networks make sure they have different names as well.
My AX router connected to the internet modem as 192.168.1.2 (I gave it a static IP) as mentioned above.
I also gave it its own LAN TCP/IP 192.168.0.1.
I wanted to keep everything static to make sure the IP addresses weren't changing and had better control of the actions for this router since it is clearly flawed. So essentially this is an AX router with disabled AX capability making it an AC router. It does have a very little bit more range than the Netgear AC routers but definetely not worth the difference in price and headache.
Some of these features might work for you but I had to disable as many as stated above to get a good/stable connection to return to normal.
Let me know if I can help you further as Netgear has left us in the cold
Where I normally buy my IT stuff, these netgear routers are all out of stock with a delivery date unknown so it seems that they are discontinuing this product line...
I can understand this as they are not too good for their reputation to sell something as non functional as this but I was really hoping before they mobbed on we would have a functioning firmware at least.
Does anyone know if there are WRT firmwares in the pipeline for these devices? Then we'll get some real answers for what is causing these problems...
I have purchased this couple of months. I was expecting this to perform better than my old router which is ac 1300. But this new product is pathetic. It keeps disconnecting to inetrnet and it was never stable. I had to restart the router every now and then.
I was a big fan of netgear products and I was a promoter of the product for a long time. THis product really sucks and quite disappointed
Very much on the same fence looking over it and seeing a MUCH greener shade of grass.
I may go with a different brand than Google. But, I am thinking the same thing. Just replace it all with a different brand.
Looking at Linksys. Never in my past had any issues with them. They may not offer all the features (historically). But they had always been solid. They "work" which at this point is what I want most.
I don't know if I want the mess (makes the most sense since I have switches in places I have to place it). Or just once nice router like the RAX80, but it works...
Maybe for Christmas. Treat myself to something that works!
Doubt it. It seems hardware issue. I switched to the WiFi 6 orbi did not turn anything off and it works amazing. Covers entire property with super fast speeds. The way this and the eax80 should have
I've been strugling with the same issue for many months. The router started off great, rock solid and no issues, but after some time and a few firmware upgrades, it started dropping connectivity here and there and got steadily worse to the point where it was doing it multiple times a day, only a hard reset woud fix it. Here is what finally worked for me (your mileage may vary). I set the transmit Power Control (Basic > Wireless) for both 2.4 and 5GHz to 75% (still gave me coverage in the house), also set the router up on 4 small 2 inch high boxes, one under each foot, becase it was running hot (intake vent is on the bottom and the I only hear fan on a power cycle). So far its been two weeks without a single drop. It would not surprise me that as the router ages (while running hot) the components also age and begin to perform poorly. We'll see if this is a short term or long tern fix. This is why this model gets great reviews out of the box, wonder if that would change if the reviewers used it daily for over a year.
Rax80. Smart connect makes more issues. So I had to disable because I’m tired of rebooting all device. Rebooting the router. And having to re-connect security cameras and even iPads. I see too many issues and I’m about to look at other router. Sadly I signed up for the security subscription. It’s VERY DISAPPOINTING AND FRUSTRATING.
If you read the other posts there are some thing to try which work for some people but not for others. Most of these issues involved turning off function you paid for, SmartConnect, AX etc
I recommend to send it back if you can.
The same issues have been present for many users for more than 1 year & there is no response from Netgear at all.
Some of The other RAX line use a different chipset so I guess should perform differently than the RAX80. However there are similar reports of problems with the rax120 for example.
I am using a EX8000 (tri band) Wi-Fi 5 access point instead of the RAX80 and have similar coverage and zero problems, but I have no Wi-Fi 6 capable devices. It is 100€ instead of 300€..!
Several others commented that other Wi-Fi 6 manufacturers like ASUS are not without their issues too, so for me going down the Wi-Fi 6 is a bit of a gamble still as the technology is new.
If you read all the reviews these days, everyone just says "this router is amazing". You will struggle to find anyone saying any product is bad these days, even bigger channels or magazines.
I decided to invest in a strong Wi-Fi 5 router for now until the new standard is better understood & products improve.
You are here because your setup was not working correctly according to what the manufacturer made you believe...troublefree wifi 6 capability, wonderful wifi/lan peace and unity.
In reality your city was burned.
If you turn these super expensive fuctions you bought the router for, all is well. Its a no brainer according to netgear.
Exactly, if you have to turn off smart connect for the device to work correctly, it is a work around not a solution.
I have smart connect enabled on my EX8000 and it works without issues. The same for my ISP non branded router.
Smart Connect is not a new feature, I've had it for the last 5 year's and it works flawlessly. Its just one of multiple things the doesn't work properly in the Netgear RAX80.
