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Forum Discussion
FURRYe38
Mar 04, 2022Guru - Experienced User
New - RBR850 / RBS850 Firmware Version v4.6.7.13 Official Release
New Features:
SPC support for clients connected to a guest network
DHCP Option 60&61 support for ISP internet & IPTV connectivity
Enhancements:
Singapore password requirement enhan...
FURRYe38
Mar 09, 2022Guru - Experienced User
Ok. sounds like you got the printers figured out.
Your not limited by keeping the RBR in the basement. They make long lengths of ethernet CAT6 cable that can be ran or fished thru walls.
However, if its all working now, go with it.
donawalt wrote:
(RBS850 not what shows as model in this post) Thanks, but I don't have much choice on where the cable comes in to the house. It was here when I moved it. That said, signal is very strong from the router, it ocvers most of the first floor as well, with WiFi d/l speeds of 400-500 Mbps!
To close the loop on this 2.4 GHz connection issue below - it does seem like after the manual firmware update/power cycle etc. etc. the printers were connected to the wrong router/satellite (the basement one, with a marginal 55% signal strength). I got the idea this morning, I re-set up each printer with WPS to the 3rd floor satellite, and that worked perfectly! They are connected there now, and in fact one of the printers that is newer and has 5 GHz support is now connected via 5 GHz.
donawalt
Mar 09, 2022Mentor - Experienced User
All 3 printers have flipped back to 2.4 on the router 3 floors away! Oh well - they are working. That makes no sense though, it's clearly a much weaker signal. Maybe it will correc t itself in a few days.
- FURRYe38Mar 09, 2022Guru - Experienced User
What transmit power setting are you using on the RBR?
donawalt wrote:
All 3 printers have flipped back to 2.4 on the router 3 floors away! Oh well - they are working. That makes no sense though, it's clearly a much weaker signal. Maybe it will correc t itself in a few days.
- Eriksen76Mar 09, 2022Apprentice
@ FURRYe38
Where can I see transmit power settings on the RBR? Mine must be set to default
- donawaltMar 09, 2022Mentor - Experienced User
Transmit Power control is default, I didn't change it - 100% for both 2.4 and 5 GHz.
I just checked again though right next to two of the printers, and the 3rd floor RBS850 has 2.4 WiFi signal strength 98%, 1st floor RBS850 is 66%, the basement RBR850 is 55%-60%. So why does it flip off a 98% signal to a 55%-60% one...
- FURRYe38Mar 09, 2022Guru - Experienced User
What happens if you set the RBR to 50% transmit power?
donawalt wrote:
Transmit Power control is default, I didn't change it - 100% for both 2.4 and 5 GHz.
I just checked again though right next to two of the printers, and the 3rd floor RBS850 has 2.4 WiFi signal strength 98%, 1st floor RBS850 is 66%, the basement RBR850 is 55%-60%. So why does it flip off a 98% signal to a 55%-60% one...
- donawaltMar 09, 2022Mentor - Experienced User
FURRYe38 wrote:What happens if you set the RBR to 50% transmit power?
donawalt wrote:Transmit Power control is default, I didn't change it - 100% for both 2.4 and 5 GHz.
I just checked again though right next to two of the printers, and the 3rd floor RBS850 has 2.4 WiFi signal strength 98%, 1st floor RBS850 is 66%, the basement RBR850 is 55%-60%. So why does it flip off a 98% signal to a 55%-60% one...
Thanks FURRYe38 for the suggestion. I am leerty to do that since a number of other devices on the floor above rely on it, and it seems the system is not always at its best in "exception situations". That said, I ran a wireless test on all three printers. All passed, all said signal quality was good, print is fine on all of them across the network; one interesting thing, (all 3 are HP printers), all 3 reports complained about more than one access point/router matching the SSID - which is of course true in a mesh network. I have 6 entries that show up in the WiFi analyzer: 3-2.4 GHz, 3-5 GHz. So I am thinking now, this may just be HP printers don't handle mesh networks as elegantly as they should when trying to pick an SSID AP/Router to use. They all went on to say "Your HP printer may connect to the wrong wireless network." So it seems plausible that they don't know how to figure out the ideal connection in a mesh network?
- FURRYe38Mar 09, 2022Guru - Experienced User
Ya how they report wifi signals would be how HP handles that in there FW. I've seen with with some other devices, like my xbox 360. Devcies that may not have or developed understanding of newer wifi MESH signals and such, these devices will report wifi like this. Nothing we can do for this. Mfrs will have to work with that. All you can do is make sure the FW on these devices are up to date.
Sounds like the printers maybe ping ponging back and forth trying to lock on to one signal and maybe getting confused. Saw this on NEST controllers. Why I mentioned reducing the transmit power. This can help.
- donawaltMar 09, 2022Mentor - Experienced User
Good point FURRYe38 I just checked the firmware and all are current. Actually in my investigating I found two other things that may help. As mynewest Color Laser is on a shelf about 3 shelves below the RBS850, I discovered I can set it to just connect at 5 GHz. So now it seems stable connected to that satellite! Second my older B&W Laser is sitting next to another Eth outlet - so WiFi turned off, and now it's hardwired too! The little photo printer seems to be behaving so we will see. But in any case they work, so I'll watch it but not get too worked up about it!
- FURRYe38Mar 09, 2022Guru - Experienced User
Nice. Ya, all three of my printers are LAN connected, though none of them have wireless. :smileywink:
You'll find that if devices support both wireless and ethernet, ethernet is the way to go in some cases.