Orbi RBR20 and Satellites Repeatedly Losing connection to router
I have had my system just shy of a year and for the most part things were great until the firmware updates destabilized my connections in terms of the satellite connection to the router. I have been trying for months to solve this. I will say that Netgear's primary support for 90 days is well timed as the issues all started after that. The price Netgear is charing for support is crazy, for one year of "support" it is almost the cost of buying another entire system which is crazy. They obviously don't stand behind their products. I feel remorse for buying this product without really reviewing the after sales support plans.
Anyhow, back to the issue at hand. The satellites constantly disconnecting is driving me nuts. I have tried many of the solutions that are posted online but nothing seems to stick. The satellites might work for a few days and again for no reason at all they will disconnect. The router on the other hand has a soid connection to the internet and never seems to drop. I can only attribute these to firmware changes as that seems to be the only thing that has been the trigger for the disconnect periods.
Have others experienced and solved this issue with their systems? I'd be curious to know what you have tried in case I have missed something. I'd replace this system if I had the money but that isn't an option currently. The sad thing is that when this works, it works great. But being down for upwards to 30 minutes at a time when the satellites disconnect and then wait for them to reconnect is not feasible.
Re: Orbi RBR20 and Satellites Repeatedly Losing connection to router
What Firmware version is currently loaded?
Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update? 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 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?
Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or may not be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings
Try disabling the following and see: Armor, Circle, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Set Short preamble instead of Long preamble modes. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).
All I can offer is IF your problems started AFTER this firmware, then get rid of it and revert back.
OR....................you can sort through the other suggestions and be prepared to answer dozens of questions none of which may fix your problem. The choice is yours.
Re: Orbi RBR20 and Satellites Repeatedly Losing connection to router
What Firmware version is currently loaded? 2.6.2.104
Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update? No 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? ~ 2700 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. Router is in the basement, 1 on main floor, and 1 on top floor. https://kb.netgear.com/31029/Where-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite
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? Auto channels, I have not tried manully changing for 2.4 Ghz and 5Ghz yet. Lots of WiFi neighbours in my townhome complex (5 - 8 nearby)
Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or may not be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings I did try enabling Beamforming and MIMO and there was no change.
Try disabling the following and see: Armor, Circle, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Set Short preamble instead of Long preamble modes. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s). Armor, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming are all active, Circle and IPv6 are not enabled, I have not yet tried the 20/40Mhz change or Preamble from short to long.
Desperate times call for desperate measures (Hippocrates). I can think of two:
Do the dreaded "Factory Reset" on the Orbi router and satellites. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMw4ePACgc4 People hate doing this because the system has to be configured from scratch. (I usually save a copy of the config and try the option to "load a previous configuration" during the setup. If that fails, then I am stuck with over an hour of tedious typing.) If this fails to stabilize the system, then...
Manually load an older firmware release on the router and satellites. 2.5.1.16 was very stable for a long time.
Re: Orbi RBR20 and Satellites Repeatedly Losing connection to router
That article was also using older FW as well.
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.
Re: Orbi RBR20 and Satellites Repeatedly Losing connection to router
Well I haven't measured accurately but the set up is S1-R-S2. S1 is on the 3rd floor (more than 30 feet) above the R (in basement) and the S2 is on the second floor (maybe close to 20-25 feet) away. Wood frame construction.
Re: Orbi RBR20 and Satellites Repeatedly Losing connection to router
Well I ended up rolling back the firware to the previous stable version 2.5.1.16. Will see how this goes. I had a little bit of stabilty but as of the last couple of days, the router was constantly disconnecting from the internet for no reason. Let's see if this holds steady otherwise I think I am done with Orbi and will be looking for another solution. I have spent way too much time on this already. My old AirPort Extreme was very much a set it and forget it but sadly no longer cut the mustard so moved to this model.
Re: Orbi RBR20 and Satellites Repeatedly Losing connection to router
One thing that I noted when I downgraded my firmware the mobile app (iOS) will not take my admin password even though I can login in from a web browser. Is that a sideffect of the FW downgrade?
Re: Orbi RBR20 and Satellites Repeatedly Losing connection to router
Any update on the roll back? Did this fix your problem? I’ve been having the same issue since I updated, so about a month ago. About to perform the roll back on my system right now as well.
