Two days ago I replaced my AmplifyHD mesh router with Orbi. Orbi RBR50 to be exact.
I have a 4 story home (including the finished basement). Old. Plaster walls. I was not happy with AmplifyHD due to slow speeds and clients 'hanging'. I bought a new Orbi with the single sateliite and added one additional satelite making it 1 router and 2 satelittes.
I'm regetting my expensive purchase right now.
After tweaking various settings and relocating my satelites to different places to no avail the Orbi while providing nice fast speeds has no where near the range my AmplifyHD did. There are dead spots my prior mesh system reached that Orbi does not. I have wifi cams all around and many are now just out of range not finding the SSID.
How can this be given the price but also that Orbi is a tri-band? What am I missing? How can the range (distance) be so bad?
Thanks in advance for saving my Orbi -- I'm about to return it.
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 maynot 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. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).
It's brand new, firmware version is v2.5.1.8. My Modem is an Arris modem (not sure the model off hand).
My home is a dutch colonial. Each floor is about the same dimension (again with old plaster walls mostly). Each floor is about 1000sq feet -- so total around 4000sq feet.
I have tried different location for the 2 sats. First floor (above finished basement floor) has the router. Directly above floor the first sat which would be about 25 feet away and then again Third floor for the second sat would be maybe 40 feet above the router. I now have the router and 1 sat on the first floor (distance maybe 20 feet) and then the second sat on third floor. In all cases, the app reports 'green' during my relocation attempts for each sat and the router.
I had the channel on auto -- I tried 6 and 9 and 1. No change. Have not tried 11 yet.
I def live in a congested area. The houses are maybe 10-20 feet apart. I tried 'beaming'. No change. I disable daisy chain. No change.
I'll try the 40MHz only option (have not tried this).
I don't know why after just buying this two days ago a factory reset makes sense? But I'm willing to try anything before tossing it. I will also try the suggestions you have below that I have not already tried.
Anything 25' or closer to too close. 30' is mimumum.
Keep the the following channels and these are primary. 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz
If you have other wifi neighbors near by, you might try lowering the power output on the radios from 100% to 75 or 50%. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings. This will change the over all wifi foot print of Orbi so there a bit less interference from neighbors.
Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update?
I will try all these things and also post the model of my ISP modem. Regarding the factory reset. Like I said, just got this system in the last two days. Do you really recommend doing a factory reset?
So I tried all of this. One caveat, my Orbi only has a '20/40 MHz co-existance' on/off selection. I tried both but then after googling this one left it on. The changes did improve things -- but still no where near the range of my old AmplifyHD. I have Wifi cameras spread throughout my house and these are the most critical. I did turn on/off as many devices as I could after making changes to the Config in Orbi.
What am I left with? A factory reset? I found in the admin where to re-set back to factory settings (and back up my current settings)-- but I don't think this is what you mean. Blow away my router and two sat firmware and re-install?
Yes you can use the RBRs web page to ERASE and factory reset the RBR. Or factory reset the router using the back push pin button. Press the button for 15 seconds then release. Power OFF the ISP modem for 30 seconds than back on. Wait for the WHITE led to slowly pulsate on top of the RBR, then log in to orbilogin.com using a web browser and walk thru the setup wizard. This time write down all important information for safe keeping later on.
If I backup my settings as they are right now and then restore after the factory reset -- wouldn't this be the best way to do this? Or does restoring the settings from the backup negate the factory reset?
Try the reset first and setup from scratch to see if this clears the issue. You can reload the config file later on. If you do, check to see if the problem appears again, if it does, then there maybe a bad configuration with the saved backup config. You'll need to do another reset, setup from scratch and this time, save off a new config to file for safe keeping.
If you do a reset and setup from scratch, then save your settings before restoring a previous configuration. That way if your old configuration restores something that causes the issue, you can revert back by resetting again and restoring the configuration that you saved after the manual setup.
After tweaking various settings and relocating my satelites to different places to no avail the Orbi while providing nice fast speeds has no where near the range my AmplifyHD did. There are dead spots my prior mesh system reached that Orbi does not. I have wifi cams all around and many are now just out of range not finding the SSID. How many access points were in the AmplifyHD system? Where were they located relative to the new Orbi units? Were (and are) the "dead spots" at both 2.4G and 5G?
How can this be given the price but also that Orbi is a tri-band? What am I missing? How can the range (distance) be so bad?
"Tri-Band" refers to having "three WiFi channels" (1) 2.4G channel for user devices, (1) 5G channel for user devices, and (1) 5G "backhaul" channel for the satellites to communicate with the router. (1+1+1=3). Each channel has a separate radio and two antennas (six total). The point of this design is to separate traffic to allow more total throughput. The AmplifyHD has two radios and two antennas.
Thanks in advance for saving my Orbi -- I'm about to return it.
You had asked for my Modem make/model. It is: ARRIS Group, Inc. TG1682G. Any issues?
I am getting closer. A reset has improved things and I am continually tweaking settings now to see if my devices get better performance. I'll report back once I land on the best settings. Its a guessing game though. I am reverting and not following some advise here as I'm seeing better results using '6' for a channel and also 100% for 2.4 and 50% for 5. I'm starting to wonder if I should just try to shut down the 5 all together. It's very strange though some devices not 10 feet from each other get very different results.
For my Amplify I had one router and 3 mesh points. For my Orbi I have one router and two satelites. I have tested putting the two satelites where the meshes were (minus one). My expectation here was that Orbi would be better. The satelites are more than double the cost of the Amplify mesh points.
That mode is your modem working in? Router or is it bridged? Your Model modem has built in wifi and a router. This would be a double NAT condition which isn't recommended. https://kb.netgear.com/30186/What-is-Double-NAT https://kb.netgear.com/30187/How-to-fix-issues-with-Double-NAT Couple of options, 1. Configure the modem for transparent bridge or modem only mode. Then use the Orbi router in router mode. You'll need to contact the ISP for help and information in regards to the modem being bridged correctly. 2. If you can't bridge the modem, disable ALL wifi radios on the modem, configure the modems DMZ/ExposedHost or IP Pass-Through for the IP address the Orbi router gets from the modem. Then you can use the Orbi router in Router mode. 3. Or disable all wifi radios on the modem and connect the Orbi router to the modem, configure AP mode on the Orbi router. https://kb.netgear.com/31218/How-do-I-configure-my-Orbi-router-to-act-as-an-access-point and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7LOcJ8GdDo&app=desktop
If what you have currently set up is working better. Try it out for a couple of days to check operation and stability first before making any major changes.
My Amplify had 1 router 3 meshs. The download speeds were horrendus -- but it was able to get the range I needed. The marketing for Orbi claims 5000 sq feet for one router one satelite. I have one router and 2 satelites now. My house is ~5000 sq feet but I am starting to wonder if I should just buy another satelite.
That was my hope also with my home. Also ~5000sq feet. In my case, I have a very old house with many plaster walls. Interference from neighbors. Many devices (~75) including Wifi cams both inside and on the outskirts. Not all devices handle Wifi the same.
On one of my floors (yes, just a single floor that I’m talking about), it’s 2080 sq ft. And I use 1 Router with 3 satellites just for that floor. But this is an Indian house made of concrete and bricks.
Having concrete and metal will impact any wifi signal. Orbi does have range and does work. However building materials will impact any wifi signal. Just depends. Older homes with plaster will have some. Not as much as concrete and metal though.
@aakshey wrote: Orbi doesn’t have the range as you have seen.
On one of my floors (yes, just a single floor that I’m talking about), it’s 2080 sq ft. And I use 1 Router with 3 satellites just for that floor. But this is an Indian house made of concrete and bricks.
