I have a new SXR80 and two SXS80 satellites I'm trying to use to cover a moderately large home installation. ~3500 sq. ft. in the main house which is arranged in a long rectangular layout, so close to 100' front to back. Also a semi-attached two story garage and office space of about 1200 sq. ft. as well as another couple thousand sq. ft. of outdoor areas.
Previously we had been covered by a 4 node Nest system that provided stable connection but slow at the edge areas, a couple of which are high-use zones. I had extensively experimented with placement of the Nest, so used that as the starting point for the Orbi's. The main SXR80 is located centrally in the main house 2nd floor. The first satellite is hardwired by gigabit to the office space in the garage. The third area is a kids bedroom with wireless backhaul connection, typically -56db or so signal strength - excellent performance. Probably a bit over 30' away through two walls.
The problem is the same areas that were problematic with the Nest mesh are much worse with the Orbi mesh. Worse still, under any kind of network load (and we have plenty - about 60 devices, and frequent heavy, simultaneous use) the mesh completely breaks down and becomes essentially unusable. I have experimented endlessly with placements, and have just recently come to the conclusion that it is noise from the mesh itself that is causing the majority of the issues. If I take the satellites offline, I get better performance in those peripheral areas; at 100% power the one central SXR80 is powerful enough to (just barely) cover the entire property. I can get 30-80Mbps with reasonably low ping times and a stable connection at ~ -71db signal strength.
Once I start adding in the mesh units, the performance rapidly degrades. Signal in some areas may initially jump to excellent speed and responsiveness - 250-400Mbps - but within a few hours, what I can only take to be cross-channel interference increases to the point that the system becomes unusable.
The closest I've gotten is by configuring the system as per best RF practices at 25% transmit power on 2.4 and 50% on 5Ghz frequencies. That remains stable for the longest period of time, but ultimately also breaks down to worse performance than just running the single unit.
Firmwares are up to date (well to V4.2.2.130, not inclined to install the just-released version). I have reset the units from new several times, I'm pretty much at the end of my rope here with how much time I've sunk into troubleshooting this system. This is kind of a last ditch effort to see if anyone has any thoughts.
As another user with the same setup I can suggest the following as it took me some time to get it working:
1: remove any and all traces of Insights - buggy mess - use a browser - your sanity will thank me.
2: start with just one satellite first get it stable on this. Then add second satellite.
3: Don't use any VLANs just yet - I have been working with Netgear mods on this one - there is a confirmed issue with Satellite sync with 2 or more units - the standard single vlan is fine.
Should mention I use this in AP mode as the router functions are far too limited.
I am using the devices in AP mode, and as I actually purchased two pairs of (1) SXR80 and (1) SXS80 (4 units total) I have been using the two SXR80's hardwired as access points, and for the last week or so since I first posted, the network has been rock solid.
It's good to know about the VLAN bug - that sounds like what was causing a great deal of my issues - as adding any satellite to this configuration wreaks havoc. That said, these will be going back to the retailer as I've simply spent too much time troubleshooting, and they are unable to operate as advertised - to provide me with a mixed wired and wireless mesh network with multiple VLAN's.
