I’m so frustrated with my Orbi system and even more frustrated with customer service who have been unprofessional, clueless and unreliable. I have a CBR40 and 2 satellites (RBW30 and RBS20).Almost everyday when I get home, my iPhone is unable to connect to the WiFi. When I try connecting by selecting my network, it gives me an incorrect password error. If I reboot the Orbi, it connects without a problem. My wife’s iPhone has the same issue sometimes but not as often. Also, my Amazon Echo often looses connection and when that happens is unable to reconnect. I end up having to reconfigure the WiFi on my echo like it’s a new WiFi network. With my iPhones, I’ve tried turning the WiFi off and on, “forgetting the network”, rebooting the phones, erasing the network settings, etc... with no success.All my other devices (iPads, Apple TV, Ring cameras, Sonos, etc...) are working fine. The problem is only with the iPhones and Amazon Echo. I’m on the latest firmware and iOS for my phones. Does anyone have any other ideas? Thank you in advance for your help.

Regarding connection to a specific satellite.... During the configuration of my RBR50 and 2 x RBS50's, I noticed certain devices connected to either the router or satellite that was much further away than others... made me wonder why it would do that. Once all of my devices were connected, I noticed that devices didn't seem to migrate to the closer wireless access point like I thought they would. After my complete network was up and running well, I turned on all devices (including Alexas, TVs, blue rays, speakers, lights, garage doors, sprinklers, etc to fully load the system. I then looked on the orbi app for those that appeared to be "reaching" to non-efficient acess points. I went to those devices, disassociated the network and rejoined and they all seem to be homing to the most efficient access points. Sounds like a pain, but it really took very little time. it is rock solid these days.

unreliableOrbi wrote:All my other devices (iPads, Apple TV, Ring cameras, Sonos, etc...) are working fine. The problem is only with the iPhones and Amazon Echo. I’m on the latest firmware and iOS for my phones. If you look at the issue logically, the above statement suggests that there is no problem with your Orbi router. It is delivering wifi that most clients can find and connect to. That being the case, the challenge is to work out why the iPhones are playing up. Have you tried seeking help among iPhone experts?

What FW is currently loaded?What model iPhone and iOS do you have? I have a 6sP on 11.4. What is the size of your home? Sq Ft? What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials. I have my one satellite at 40 feet in between in a 5000sq ft home and have zero issues. What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many? What WPA security modes are you using? Try WPA2 and AES only. Try disabling the following and see:MIMO, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).Disney Circle: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/WARNING-Firmware-2-2-1-210-is-junk/m-p/1667485/highlight/true#M45926 I would also disable the RBW and test with the RBS only. ALso please post this here: Since you seem to have the CBR40: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-with-Built-in-Cable-Modem/bd-p/en-home-orbi-cable unreliableOrbi wrote:I’m so frustrated with my Orbi system and even more frustrated with customer service who have been unprofessional, clueless and unreliable. I have a CBR40 and 2 satellites (RBW30 and RBS20).Almost everyday when I get home, my iPhone is unable to connect to the WiFi. When I try connecting by selecting my network, it gives me an incorrect password error. If I reboot the Orbi, it connects without a problem. My wife’s iPhone has the same issue sometimes but not as often. Also, my Amazon Echo often looses connection and when that happens is unable to reconnect. I end up having to reconfigure the WiFi on my echo like it’s a new WiFi network. With my iPhones, I’ve tried turning the WiFi off and on, “forgetting the network”, rebooting the phones, erasing the network settings, etc... with no success.All my other devices (iPads, Apple TV, Ring cameras, Sonos, etc...) are working fine. The problem is only with the iPhones and Amazon Echo. I’m on the latest firmware and iOS for my phones. Does anyone have any other ideas? Thank you in advance for your help.

Chuck_M wrote: Regarding connection to a specific satellite.... During the configuration of my RBR50 and 2 x RBS50's, I noticed certain devices connected to either the router or satellite that was much further away than others... made me wonder why it would do that. Once all of my devices were connected, I noticed that devices didn't seem to migrate to the closer wireless access point like I thought they would. After my complete network was up and running well, I turned on all devices (including Alexas, TVs, blue rays, speakers, lights, garage doors, sprinklers, etc to fully load the system. I then looked on the orbi app for those that appeared to be "reaching" to non-efficient acess points. I went to those devices, disassociated the network and rejoined and they all seem to be homing to the most efficient access points. Sounds like a pain, but it really took very little time. it is rock solid these days. Agree, I also follow similar procedure to get my devices connect to the nearest nodes. Usually devices like iPhones, iPads, laptops (Macbooks and PCs) and even my iMac try always to select the best radio channel and roam frequently between the nodes and channels to achieve that. But there are other "sticky devices" that stay connected to the channel that was best at time of first attach and never change that. The best way I found to make them change the channel is to power cycle them

unreliableOrbi wrote:I’m so frustrated with my Orbi system and even more frustrated with customer service who have been unprofessional, clueless and unreliable. I have a CBR40 and 2 satellites (RBW30 and RBS20).Almost everyday when I get home, my iPhone is unable to connect to the WiFi. When I try connecting by selecting my network, it gives me an incorrect password error. If I reboot the Orbi, it connects without a problem. My wife’s iPhone has the same issue sometimes but not as often. Also, my Amazon Echo often looses connection and when that happens is unable to reconnect. I end up having to reconfigure the WiFi on my echo like it’s a new WiFi network. With my iPhones, I’ve tried turning the WiFi off and on, “forgetting the network”, rebooting the phones, erasing the network settings, etc... with no success.All my other devices (iPads, Apple TV, Ring cameras, Sonos, etc...) are working fine. The problem is only with the iPhones and Amazon Echo. I’m on the latest firmware and iOS for my phones. Does anyone have any other ideas? Thank you in advance for your help. I had similar strange issues that I found out later that were caused by my wired mesh speakers! You mentioned that you have Sonos. How are they connected to Orbi? How many wired Sonos device do you have connected to Orbi?

CBR40 - iPhone incorrect password and dropping Amazon Echo

11 Replies

michaelkenward
Guru - Experienced User
Jan 13, 2019
unreliableOrbi wrote:

All my other devices (iPads, Apple TV, Ring cameras, Sonos, etc...) are working fine. The problem is only with the iPhones and Amazon Echo. I’m on the latest firmware and iOS for my phones.

If you look at the issue logically, the above statement suggests that there is no problem with your Orbi router. It is delivering wifi that most clients can find and connect to.

That being the case, the challenge is to work out why the iPhones are playing up.

Have you tried seeking help among iPhone experts?
ekhalil
Master
Jan 13, 2019
unreliableOrbi wrote:
I’m so frustrated with my Orbi system and even more frustrated with customer service who have been unprofessional, clueless and unreliable. I have a CBR40 and 2 satellites (RBW30 and RBS20).

Almost everyday when I get home, my iPhone is unable to connect to the WiFi. When I try connecting by selecting my network, it gives me an incorrect password error. If I reboot the Orbi, it connects without a problem. My wife’s iPhone has the same issue sometimes but not as often. Also, my Amazon Echo often looses connection and when that happens is unable to reconnect. I end up having to reconfigure the WiFi on my echo like it’s a new WiFi network. With my iPhones, I’ve tried turning the WiFi off and on, “forgetting the network”, rebooting the phones, erasing the network settings, etc... with no success.

All my other devices (iPads, Apple TV, Ring cameras, Sonos, etc...) are working fine. The problem is only with the iPhones and Amazon Echo. I’m on the latest firmware and iOS for my phones.

Does anyone have any other ideas? Thank you in advance for your help.

I had similar strange issues that I found out later that were caused by my wired mesh speakers!

You mentioned that you have Sonos. How are they connected to Orbi? How many wired Sonos device do you have connected to Orbi?
- unreliableOrbi
  Aspirant
  Jan 16, 2019
  ekhalil I only have my Sonos "router" connected to my CBR40. All Sonos speakers are connecting wirelessly to the Sonos router, not directly to my CBR40.
  
  How did you solve this issue?
  
  Thank you for your help!
FURRYe38
Guru - Experienced User
Jan 13, 2019
What FW is currently loaded?
What model iPhone and iOS do you have? I have a 6sP on 11.4.

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials. I have my one satellite at 40 feet in between in a 5000sq ft home and have zero issues.

What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?
What WPA security modes are you using? Try WPA2 and AES only.

Try disabling the following and see:
MIMO, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).
Disney Circle: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/WARNING-Firmware-2-2-1-210-is-junk/m-p/1667485/highlight/true#M45926

I would also disable the RBW and test with the RBS only.

ALso please post this here:

Since you seem to have the CBR40:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-with-Built-in-Cable-Modem/bd-p/en-home-orbi-cable

unreliableOrbi wrote:
I’m so frustrated with my Orbi system and even more frustrated with customer service who have been unprofessional, clueless and unreliable. I have a CBR40 and 2 satellites (RBW30 and RBS20).

Almost everyday when I get home, my iPhone is unable to connect to the WiFi. When I try connecting by selecting my network, it gives me an incorrect password error. If I reboot the Orbi, it connects without a problem. My wife’s iPhone has the same issue sometimes but not as often. Also, my Amazon Echo often looses connection and when that happens is unable to reconnect. I end up having to reconfigure the WiFi on my echo like it’s a new WiFi network. With my iPhones, I’ve tried turning the WiFi off and on, “forgetting the network”, rebooting the phones, erasing the network settings, etc... with no success.

All my other devices (iPads, Apple TV, Ring cameras, Sonos, etc...) are working fine. The problem is only with the iPhones and Amazon Echo. I’m on the latest firmware and iOS for my phones.

Does anyone have any other ideas? Thank you in advance for your help.
- unreliableOrbi
  Aspirant
  Jan 16, 2019
  FURRYe38 Per your suggestion, I am going to play with some of the settings you mentioned in your post. About disabling the RBW, why do you suggest that? Are there any known issues with RBWs? I need coverage on that side of the house and the range provided by my CBR40 and RBS20 is insufficient.
  
  BTW, do you know how to "force" a device to connect to a particular satellite? I know how to disable a device from one of the satellites but am not sure if that disconnects the device all together from the network or if that forces that device to connect to another satellite.
  
  Thank you for your help!
  - FURRYe38
    Guru - Experienced User
    Jan 16, 2019
    What FW is currently loaded?
    
    What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
    What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials. I have my one satellite at 40 feet in between in a 5000sq ft home and have zero issues.
    
    Seen others here in the forum with problems using the RBW units.
    
    All connections are automatically handled by the system and the connecting devices. MESH systems and Smart Connect on these systems is designed for automatic handling of devcies. You can't force where devices are connected too.
    
    unreliableOrbi wrote:
    
    FURRYe38 Per your suggestion, I am going to play with some of the settings you mentioned in your post. About disabling the RBW, why do you suggest that? Are there any known issues with RBWs? I need coverage on that side of the house and the range provided by my CBR40 and RBS20 is insufficient.
    
    BTW, do you know how to "force" a device to connect to a particular satellite? I know how to disable a device from one of the satellites but am not sure if that disconnects the device all together from the network or if that forces that device to connect to another satellite.
    
    Thank you for your help!
kedarnath93
Aspirant
May 01, 2019
Though it is a bit off topic, Yet it might help to fix few things..

The configured password is a much-needed thing for security concern. The devices remember the password once after the initial login and you don’t need to enter the password each time. Chances are high that you may not pay attention to remember the passwords other than your home network. Apple is keen about the security and at times, you may find difficult to find WiFi password on iPhone.
- michaelkenward
  Guru - Experienced User
  May 01, 2019
  kedarnath93 wrote:
  
  The devices remember the password once after the initial login and you don’t need to enter the password each time.
  
  Isn't this down to user choice? It certainly is here on my Windows PCs. All browsers offer me the choice to remember passwords. I usually refuse on the grounds that I have password saving software.

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CBR40 - iPhone incorrect password and dropping Amazon Echo