This topic has been marked solved and closed to new posts due to inactivity. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.
I've been in IT for 40 years, so I'm sharing my ORBI experience for the benefit of the Netgear company.
I had previously bought a pair of Orbi RB50s, and they were brilliant, still are.
So when I wanted to upgrade our office wireless I googled for ORBI and determined to buy the RBK750 package. A base station and 3 satellites should do it - I had to purchase an additional satellite. The base station included the router, so we tried to connect this directly to the NBN with iiNet, and it worked, sort of. Every day the internet connection would be dropping - the wifi seemed to be working fine, but the router connection to the internet continued to drop out.
Simple, we roll back to the old router and just use the Orbi's for the wifi. (And we disabled the wifi in the original router). Not the best solution but we needed this to be working.
This seemed better, but then at completely random times the Orbi wifi connections would drop. Devices connected to the base station were okay, but the satellites kept dropping connections, so our zoom calls were interrupted, connections to online systems had to be restarted. There was no obvious reason, no change in traffic or movement of wireless devices, nothing we could see that was causing these drop outs.
Today I had about 4 dropouts within the space of an hour (none before and none since) but it's simply not acceptable. The units seem to recover quickly, so the connection might only be lost for 5-10 seconds, but for online calls that can be fatal. We're on the latest FW, and all of the Orbi's are on the same version of FW. We did hard reset everything, turning on each unit independently, waiting for each to connect in turn, still no difference.
I'm taking them back to the shop for a refund. Won't be buying any more Orbi's for a while.
As an IT specialist I'm going to take a stab and guess that the FW is buggy, and something somewhere is triggering the FW to crash. Inside the unit there is probably some facility that restarts the FW after it crashes, so the device is rebooting each time this happens, which is why it comes back reasonably quickly.
So, while the speed is good and the design is nice, and the setup is simple, the cost is high, and the reliability is ZERO !
The firmware that came with the ORBIs was the problem.
The ORBIs didn't recognise any firmware updates available, however when checking the website there was a new version, but it had to be installed manually. The new firmware appears to have solved our problem, the dropouts seem to have disappeared.
When I was younger firmware very rarely needed updating. The firmware you brought the product with lasted for the life of the product, but that was many years ago. In fact I have vivid memories of undertaking firmware updates that resulted in the product no longer working. I don't remember ever having brought a product that required immediate firmware updates in order to work - this is a first. This is possibly a sad reflection on our times where companies rush product to market without sufficient quality controls.
What Firmware version is currently loaded? What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft? What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS📡 to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. https://kb.netgear.com/31029/Where-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite📡
What channels are you using? Auto? Try Auto and 48 on 5Ghz. Or try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz. Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?
My Setup | ISP SparkLight | Internet Cable 1000↓/50↑ CAX80 Modem Mode | Wifi Router RBKE963 and RBE973 | Switches NG GS105/8, GS308v3, GS110MX and XS505M | Additional NG HW: C7800/CAX30/CAX80/CM1100/CM1200/CM2000, Orbi: CBK752, RBK50, RBK853, RBK752, RBK953, SXK30 | NightHawk: MK63, MK93S, R7000, R7800, R7960P, R8000, RAXE500, RAX120v2, RAX50v2, XR450/500/700/1000,
Firmware is 4.6.5.14. I realise a couple of days ago that there is an updated firmware available.... well, actually it is and it isn't. On the NG site there is a new version, but when I go into the firmware update option on the ORBI admin it says there is no new firmware available. We're going to try upgrading it manually - just waiting for a window to make that happen.
ISP router modem is irrelevant. Wired devices and devices wirelessly connected to the base station are all working fine. Our problem is that the satellites are dropping connections.
We live in a rabbit warren, so we ensured there was an acceptable connection between each satellite and the next as we positioned them. We tested this with the signal strength at each point. As it worked out each device is about 10 metres from the preceding device.
We have neighbours, but should that make a difference. I'm sure the majority of ORBI installs have neighbours - there shouldn't be any impact.
Devices that are wifi connected to the base station have a continuous connection (no problem).... but devices wifi connected to satellites are dropping internet access.... and you believe the ISP modem is relevant to this discussion. Sorry, I must be on the wrong planet.
The firmware that came with the ORBIs was the problem.
The ORBIs didn't recognise any firmware updates available, however when checking the website there was a new version, but it had to be installed manually. The new firmware appears to have solved our problem, the dropouts seem to have disappeared.
When I was younger firmware very rarely needed updating. The firmware you brought the product with lasted for the life of the product, but that was many years ago. In fact I have vivid memories of undertaking firmware updates that resulted in the product no longer working. I don't remember ever having brought a product that required immediate firmware updates in order to work - this is a first. This is possibly a sad reflection on our times where companies rush product to market without sufficient quality controls.
