Wiz lights loose connection to Orbi RBR350 until I reboot

[ChrisEMEA]

Hi 👋

I struggle troubleshooting why my WiZ lights suddenly lose connectivity with my Orbi RBR350. 

The minute I restart the Orbi, the connection in the Wiz app is visiable again and I can controle i.e. WiZ Light Bar, Ceiling light etc. 

On both sides, I use the lastest firmware. 

Cheers, Chris

[plemans · Accepted solution]

If the orbi is in AP mode, many of its features are disabled and the gigacube is handling them. 

https://kb.netgear.com/26765/Which-features-are-disabled-on-my-NETGEAR-router-when-it-is-set-to-AP-M...

A couple things you could try. 

1. change the 2.4ghz wifi channel. Maybe there's intererence

2. you can try changing DNS on the gigacube. I don't have one so you'd have to check their forums

3. Might check on the gigacube forums to see if t here's any connection instability issues. Again, the orbi is acting as a pretty dumb AP device and not managing much. Not saying its 100% the gigacube, but its managing more when its acting as router than the orbi is. 

4. Try the gigacube in bridge mode (if that's what it counts for its passthrough mode) and put the orbi back in router mode and try it. Or you could try the orbi in router mode and put its IP address into the gigacubes DMZ. 

[plemans]

what modem/gateway is the router connected to? 

Have you tried changing the wifi channel the router is on for 2.4ghz? maybe there's interference

[ChrisEMEA]

Hi plemans 

thank you for your reply!

The Orbi is connected to a Vodafone Gigacube and the wifi on auto channel for both 2.4 & 5 GHz. 

The Wiz lights under the section "Attached Devices" show 2.4G but I am not sure about the connection at the time of freeze. I will monitor it thank you! 

[plemans]

Is the vodafone gigacube in passthrough mode? or the orbi in access point mode? 

Otherwise, you're in a double nat and it can cause issues like you're having. 

A double nat happens when you cascade more than 1 router.
https://kb.netgear.com/30186/What-is-Double-NAT

[ChrisEMEA]

The Orbi is in AP Mode, for the GigaCube the Bridge Mode is turned off. Not 100% sure if the bridge mode would be the passthrough mode you mentioned but I can't find anything around passthrough on the web-interface. 

[plemans · Accepted solution]

If the orbi is in AP mode, many of its features are disabled and the gigacube is handling them. 

https://kb.netgear.com/26765/Which-features-are-disabled-on-my-NETGEAR-router-when-it-is-set-to-AP-M...

A couple things you could try. 

1. change the 2.4ghz wifi channel. Maybe there's intererence

2. you can try changing DNS on the gigacube. I don't have one so you'd have to check their forums

3. Might check on the gigacube forums to see if t here's any connection instability issues. Again, the orbi is acting as a pretty dumb AP device and not managing much. Not saying its 100% the gigacube, but its managing more when its acting as router than the orbi is. 

4. Try the gigacube in bridge mode (if that's what it counts for its passthrough mode) and put the orbi back in router mode and try it. Or you could try the orbi in router mode and put its IP address into the gigacubes DMZ.