Orbi performance ... well there is none ... how do I fix it?

[Folbo]

I wanted mesh and was told by the interweb that Orbi was the best ... 

My network is an ethernet connection from the modem by the front door up to a bedroom at the rear of the house on the first floor. It then communicates to a cabin at the end of the garden via wifi. A natural daisy chain.

I was using an Apple TC (with ac wifi) in the bedroom,  and another Apple ac TC in the cabin. They communicated well. Reasonably fast and very reliable. I wanted to replace this with a mesh network, with the router by the front door, and two satellites being direct replacements for the aging Apple devices. They are in the same place, with the same cabling, and same blocking walls/distance... and the Orbi  cannot even keep a reliable connection, let alone come close to the Apple time capsules. Given that all other things are equal, why does the Orbi hardwarenot manage to do what Apple was doing some years ago? And more importantly, how can i fix it? 

All three devices are running the latest and same firmware.

The iPad app verges on the pointless ... and connecting directly to the orbio router via a browser gives so few functional choices that I am stumped. 

Thanks.

[st_shaw]

Put the Orbi router in the bedroom at the end of the Ethernet cable from your modem.

[Folbo]

The router is connected to the Bedroom satellite by ethernet (as was the case under the Apple infrastructure), and then the daisy chained connection down the garden is WiFi, as it was under Apple; except that the Apple kit worked. I cannot see what I can do to make the Orbi kit work. I cannot move the Orbis closer. There are few settings in the Orbi management settings ... and frankly, the routers should work in their current positions if Apple kit worked in exactly the same locations.

I am fustrated by the lack of Netgear support, the poor harware and the fact that Synology has just started releasing MESH wifi kit ... 

There must be a solution somewhere ... since at the moment, the system does not seem to be fit for purpose.

[st_shaw]

You cannot force Orbi to use Daisy Chain, so the far satellite may try to connect back to the router, not to the satellite wired to the router.

So, try it as I suggested: Put the Orbi router in the bedroom at the end of the Ethernet cable from your modem. This will put the router in a central location, closer to the other building and is likely to give you a better result. You should get good coverage of the house, even without wired backhaul.

Note: Orbi is not designed to provide a strong point-to-point link between separated buildings, so you are using it for a purpose for which it was not intended. To link buildings you should be using something like a Ubiquiti Nanostation Loco5AC.

[FURRYe38]

What FW is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem 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 is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials.

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 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).
If you updated to recent FW v.210, try enabling Daisy Chain. Some have mentioned that this seems to be working in reverse order, enabling means disabled actually. 
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Firmware-2-2-1-210-and-connection-problems-Skybell/m-p/1649275...

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@Folbo wrote:

I wanted mesh and was told by the interweb that Orbi was the best ... 

My network is an ethernet connection from the modem by the front door up to a bedroom at the rear of the house on the first floor. It then communicates to a cabin at the end of the garden via wifi. A natural daisy chain.

I was using an Apple TC (with ac wifi) in the bedroom,  and another Apple ac TC in the cabin. They communicated well. Reasonably fast and very reliable. I wanted to replace this with a mesh network, with the router by the front door, and two satellites being direct replacements for the aging Apple devices. They are in the same place, with the same cabling, and same blocking walls/distance... and the Orbi  cannot even keep a reliable connection, let alone come close to the Apple time capsules. Given that all other things are equal, why does the Orbi hardwarenot manage to do what Apple was doing some years ago? And more importantly, how can i fix it? 

All three devices are running the latest and same firmware.

The iPad app verges on the pointless ... and connecting directly to the orbio router via a browser gives so few functional choices that I am stumped. 

Thanks.

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