Orbi RBR20 Roku Problem

[cobra427dan]

Hey all,

My apologies if this is a duplicate post. I thought I posted this question already, but must have never hit submit because I can't find it now.

So, I recently bought an Orbi RBR20 with 2 satellites and they work great for everything except for my Roku Ultra's. For some reason, when I try to connect a Roku to the Orbi, it thinks I'm either in a hotel or college dorm. If I tell it I'm home it will connect to the network, but not the internet. My ISP IS Google Fiber. I have full connectivity through the Google WiFi router, but not everywhere in the house, which is why I bought the Orbi.

I have scoured the Internet for the last couple hours and appears I'm the only one experiencing this problem or I'm too dense to figure it out.

I put a similar post on the Roku Community site about a week and a half ago and still have no replies.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!

[cobra427dan · Accepted solution]

CrimpOn,

I THOUGHT I replied, but don't see my reply now, SO, the factory reset worked perfectly!

After the reset I went through the connection setup and when the "college/dorm" or "home" question popped up I selected "home" and BINGO, streaming beautifully. 

I thank you and so does my son since it's in his room!

SOLVED!

[CrimpOn]

My Roku is in a box (somewhere).  I do not remember this question coming up when I used it last.  However, when I searched for "Roku college dorm", this popped up: https://support.roku.com/article/215058118-how-do-i-use-hotel-dorm-connect-to-connect-to-the-interne... 

What I gather after reading this, is that Roku has an option to carry it away from home and use it at various places.  This guide (above) leads me to believe that "Hotel or College" is a question and what you want to do is ignore it.

My Roku worked great on Orbi, and the only questions people have raised recently are in the context of Bitdefender Armor causing problems for Spectrum Cable users.

[cobra427dan]

OK, hmmm. The problem is there is no way to ignore it because I can't get past the "college/dorm" pop up. If I just close out of the process I end up with no connection. I'm not a hardcore tech guy, but I can usually hold my own. I'm wondering if it might have something to do with the MAC addresses?

Well, the mystery continues.

Thanks for the info.

[plemans]

You put that it works fine on the google router?

Are you running a google fiber router plus Orbi?  What model google fiber box do you have the orbi connected to? 

If so you either need the google fiber box in passthrough mode/modem only mode or you'd need the orbi in AP mode. 

[CrimpOn]

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@cobra427dan wrote:

OK, hmmm. The problem is there is no way to ignore it because I can't get past the "college/dorm" pop up. If I just close out of the process I end up with no connection.

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Very strange.  This article from a year ago clearly shows two choices:  College or Hotel and "Home"

https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/roku-hotel-room-tv/ 

[CrimpOn]

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@cobra427dan wrote:

For some reason, when I try to connect a Roku to the Orbi, it thinks I'm either in a hotel or college dorm. If I tell it I'm home it will connect to the network, but not the internet.

---

This seems inconsistent with a later post:

@cobra427dan wrote:

I can't get past the "college/dorm" pop up. If I just close out of the process I end up with no connection.

I am trying to imagine what could cause the Orbi to pop up the question in the first place.  I have a hunch that the Roku has connected to WiFi and is  not able to reach "Mama Roku" to check in (ask about firmware updates, etc.) and has concluded, "Oh.  I must be connected to one of those WiFi networks where the user has to check some box or something to get access."

When "Access Control" is turned on and the default is to "Block all new devices from connecting", the device will actually connect to the Orbi and get an IP address, but will be prevented from accessing anything (internet and other devices on the LAN).

Could you please humor an old geek and check on the Orbi web interface "Attached Devices" screen and see (a) if Access Control is on or off, and (b) if there is any mention on the Roku of being Blocked (or "Paused").

Thanks

[cobra427dan]

CrimpOn & plemans,

On the Orbi interface the Roku shows as being connected and having internet access and isn’t blocked or paused.

Oddly enough we have our 5th wheel parked on our property with a cat 6 cable running to an old NETGEAR WiFi extender and I get the same popup out there, but I can select “Home” and it works just fine.

Does being on 2.4GHz versus 5GHz have anything to do with it?

I’m stumped and incredibly frustrated.

I really appreciate

[cobra427dan]

plemans,

Sorry I forgot to address your question.

Yes, the Orbi is connected via cat 6 to the Google router.

[CrimpOn]

It is hard to imagine how the WiFi channel (2.4G vs. 5G) could have anything to do with this issue.

Have you tried to "Factory Reset" the Roku Ultra?

Did we cover how this Orbi is connected to the internet?  i.e. is the ISP device a "modem only" or a "modem/router"?

One easy way to tell is to use a computer to do a "trace route" to some well-known internet address, such as Google DNS server farm: 8.8.8.8.

The first "hop" sould be the Orbi router, usually 192.168.1.1.

The second "hop" should be a public IP address, i.e. not one that starts with 192.168 or 10.0

[cobra427dan · Accepted solution]

CrimpOn,

I THOUGHT I replied, but don't see my reply now, SO, the factory reset worked perfectly!

After the reset I went through the connection setup and when the "college/dorm" or "home" question popped up I selected "home" and BINGO, streaming beautifully. 

I thank you and so does my son since it's in his room!

SOLVED!