we have a single Orbi RBR50. We had two, but they were too close to each other and gave us OTHER problems...
Ongoing problem. It drops every APPLE product several times a day. typically when the device has been idle for a bit. Anywhere from 5min to an hour, pick it up and you have no, or incredibly slow, internet. Most apps say "no connection." None of the other 24 devices in the house have problems, ONLY the apple products ( 2 x ipads, an iphone 7 and an iphone 8).
we are on the current version 2.7.2.104 but have always had the problem. I keep checking in to see if someone has found a solution...
My wife wants to toss the Orbi out and get a ubiquity edge and Access point. A lot more money, but much (much) better support. Our social club has such a config, has dozens of users at any one time, a lot of IoT stuff, and no problems... ever!!! Not to mention much better diagnostics, traffic monitoring and more...
90 days of support for a "premium" device, netgear should be ashamed. I know I won't buy another netgear device ever again. I just want to get this running better so I don't keep having to turn off wifi, wait a min, and turn wifi back on on my apple devices several times a day... I really don't want to spend the money ( and time) to install a ubuiquity if I can avoid it...
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
What Apple devices do you have and what OS is on these devices?
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 40 to 48 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).
As I wrote the problem devices are 2x Ipad Pro 9.7" at the latest iOS and an iphone 7 and iphone 8, again both upto date on iOS. (14.6 on this device)
The house is a 1200 sq.ft colonial with a basement and attic. The Orbi is in the middle of the basement, so nothing is more than 40' away from it through wood framing. We have minimal signal strength problems save a printer behind a metal filing cabinet, and that is easy to fix. We tried putting a satalite in the attic to serve those devices. We tried both wireless and wired backhaul but had nothing but problems as it was too close to the base.
we have used a "scanner" App to find the quietest channel, and put it on that fixed, again problems, so we have left it on Auto. Mimo is enabled. We have LOTS of neighbors, we see 6+ networks with good signal strength...
Again, the OTHER 24 devices, a mix of PCs, PC notebooks, cameras, printers, Echos, VOIP devices, TVs and more have -no- problems. We routinely run 2x Zoom meetings at once along with printing and streaming all at once with no problems. Once connected we stay connected with no problem, -until- we let the apple devices go idle, then there is a 30% chance when we pick the device back up the network will be unavailable until will either power cycle the device, or cycle the Wifi off/on. When connected, speed test returns 400meg speeds with no jitter or dropped packets...
There is something about the negotiations between the apple devices and the Orbi that is different from all the other devices in the house. As I write this reply on one of the iPads, I have no problems. If I turn off the ipad and go for a coffee refill, when I turn the iPad back on after 5min, there is a good chance I will need to cycle the wifi to get it back. As long as The iPad stays active I can go for hours without problems.
My orbi is on the most current release. I have tried every tweak mentioned, and more. Even trying putting the orbi on its side as some said the signal patern is optimized for horizontal not verticle distribution... no effect. tried moving the orbi to the middle floor, no change other than having a cord going down the stairs for a week. Tried power cycling everything, modem, orbi... works fine, until the apples go idle...
If -any- of the other devices had problems that were repeatable I would suspect signal strength, channel, or something like that... but nothing else has problems... save ONE printer behind a metal cabinet that occasionally drops off... but even that comes back by it's-self after a minute or so.
One thing that is not recommended is to have the main host router in a basement. Concrete and steel inhibit good wifi signal travel. Main for 1st floor is recommended.
Try some of these suggestions:
Advanced Wireless Settings both 2.4GHz and 5GHz changed CTS/RTS Threshold to 2307. Change the CTR/RTS threshold values for both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz (2341 and 2345 respectively), changed preamble modes to long preamble, and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only.
Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update?
If all the other devices are not haveing problems accept for these few APPLE devices, possible problem with these devices. Something to contact Apple support about regarding there product.
At some point I am out of energy for "trying" things...
I have no problems with the other 24 devices... I have no problem with my apple devices anywhere else... I have spoken to apple, both the forums and the genius bar, they have no ideas beyond trying turning on/off private network, and power cycling the Orbi and making sure it is upto date...
A factory reset would cost several days as many of the other 24 devices would see it as a "new" network and demand a completely new network setup... some are easy to setup, others, like the camera on the roof, will want a physical reset... not happening.
Unless someone can say "I had that problem, it behaves the same and I did this and it -fixed- it" I don't have the time or energy to keep "trying" things... The orbi has NO diagnostics visible, so I can't see what it is doing or if a tweak had any effect whatsoever...
People keep saying put the router in the middle floor, apparently they can't read, we tried that. It is a tiny wood house, so the router in the basement is 35-40' MAX to any location in the house, so the router is fine where it is... again we tried it in the middle. The rest of the equipment, the modem, the hub,the NAS, the VOIP equipment all is in the basement... next to the wiring hub and the UPS.
At this point we are fed up, and saving money for something real, that just works, supports a VPN, has diagnostics, supports IFTTT and many of the other things that other cheaper systems provide today. Netgear is not on the short list of what we are looking at. Ubiquity is at the top of the list. Expensive, yes, but we know it works, and works well, and when it doesn't it tells you, and shows you with diagnostics and logs specifically why, and makes suggestions on how to fix the problem. When we bought the Orbi it was supposed to be one of the best... Less than 90 days in we found out to the contrary, and since the factory won't talk to me after 90days...
Well something you'll need to set aside some time to do the factory reset. It will need to be done to see if this helps any. Again, only these few seem to be having problems while others don't. Would point to a Apple issue mostly.
Sounds very frustrating. There is a new firmware coming this week (2.7.3.22) but I am unsure if it will fix your issue. In any case I would recommend emailing Netgear CEO (Patrick Lo) details of your issue. He will (he did for me anyway) get someone to reach out to me from support even though I was outside the ridiculous “warranty” period. His email address is patrick.lo@netgear.com. You could also try the CTO mark.merrill@netgear.com
At some point I am out of energy for "trying" things...
I have no problems with the other 24 devices... I have no problem with my apple devices anywhere else... I have spoken to apple, both the forums and the genius bar, they have no ideas beyond trying turning on/off private network, and power cycling the Orbi and making sure it is upto date...
A factory reset would cost several days as many of the other 24 devices would see it as a "new" network and demand a completely new network setup... some are easy to setup, others, like the camera on the roof, will want a physical reset... not happening.
Unless someone can say "I had that problem, it behaves the same and I did this and it -fixed- it" I don't have the time or energy to keep "trying" things... The orbi has NO diagnostics visible, so I can't see what it is doing or if a tweak had any effect whatsoever...
People keep saying put the router in the middle floor, apparently they can't read, we tried that. It is a tiny wood house, so the router in the basement is 35-40' MAX to any location in the house, so the router is fine where it is... again we tried it in the middle. The rest of the equipment, the modem, the hub,the NAS, the VOIP equipment all is in the basement... next to the wiring hub and the UPS.
At this point we are fed up, and saving money for something real, that just works, supports a VPN, has diagnostics, supports IFTTT and many of the other things that other cheaper systems provide today. Netgear is not on the short list of what we are looking at. Ubiquity is at the top of the list. Expensive, yes, but we know it works, and works well, and when it doesn't it tells you, and shows you with diagnostics and logs specifically why, and makes suggestions on how to fix the problem. When we bought the Orbi it was supposed to be one of the best... Less than 90 days in we found out to the contrary, and since the factory won't talk to me after 90days...
A full factory reset would cost me several days as many of the 27 +/- devices would see it as a totally new network, even if I chose the same SSID, and insist on being reset. some would be easy, some, like the camera on the roof,would be a real bother as it wants to be physically reset, and that ain't happening.
I am not willing to "try" something that has no better chance of success than a power off/on reset. I am not impressed with netgear. Actually I am impressed with their attitude towards SoHo businesses and home users vs their competition. They don't care. 90 days of support is nothing when the life of many units is many many years. Some manufactures offer lifetime support. Others 2-3 years. 90days is laughably short.
No diagnostics should have been my first warning sign... should have returned it immediately, but it was supposed to be the best for my configuration. Ha! No logs, no diagnostics, no feature enhancements in 2 years, no IFTTT, no VPN support, NOTHING in the way of enhancements...
Next step, buy a ubiquity system, AP, router and controller. If I have problems with that, I will be able to SEE what is going on... The netgear will go in the trash... (Ok, electronics recycling).
Well if you reset and setup from scratch and use the same SSID name and password, ALL devices should and will reconnect. This does not take days. I done this myself and have not had to reconnect any devices that had already been connected. But your choice. Otherwise, seems to be a apple issue as these are the devices that seem to have a problem with your Orb and you only seems to be havingi. Something that a reset needs to be performed to check.
When we went from the Google Mesh system to the NetGear system, same SSID, same Password, it was ugly. Had to reconnect the google and force a reset on each of the picky devices while connected to the Google, and -THEN- connect the NetGear and do a new setup. Some devices were easy to do that with... others I had to take down, bring into the basement, factory physical reset and start over... typically they were the cameras that paid attention to the MAC address not the IP... There were others... some I had to run the factory "locate device" app, and connect that way... Each of the picky devices took time to figure out what it needed, find the app, yada yada...
If I am going to do this, I am only going to do it ONCE more... I am not going to do this only to have it start flaking out again and THEN a purchase the Ubiquity stuff...
we have a single Orbi RBR50. We had two, but they were too close to each other and gave us OTHER problems...
Ongoing problem. It drops every APPLE product several times a day. typically when the device has been idle for a bit. Anywhere from 5min to an hour, pick it up and you have no, or incredibly slow, internet. Most apps say "no connection." None of the other 24 devices in the house have problems, ONLY the apple products ( 2 x ipads, an iphone 7 and an iphone 8).
we are on the current version 2.7.2.104 but have always had the problem. I keep checking in to see if someone has found a solution...
My wife wants to toss the Orbi out and get a ubiquity edge and Access point. A lot more money, but much (much) better support. Our social club has such a config, has dozens of users at any one time, a lot of IoT stuff, and no problems... ever!!! Not to mention much better diagnostics, traffic monitoring and more...
90 days of support for a "premium" device, netgear should be ashamed. I know I won't buy another netgear device ever again. I just want to get this running better so I don't keep having to turn off wifi, wait a min, and turn wifi back on on my apple devices several times a day... I really don't want to spend the money ( and time) to install a ubuiquity if I can avoid it...
If you had left the prior router wifi system ON while you put the Orbi online and got it up and running. Once the Orbi system is online and running, all you need to do is turn OFF the prior wifi router sysetem and your devices would and should have migrated over. At most a power cycle of those "picky" devices may have been needed. Again, if you used same SSID name, PW and security modes.
When we went from the Google Mesh system to the NetGear system, same SSID, same Password, it was ugly. Had to reconnect the google and force a reset on each of the picky devices while connected to the Google, and -THEN- connect the NetGear and do a new setup. Some devices were easy to do that with... others I had to take down, bring into the basement, factory physical reset and start over... typically they were the cameras that paid attention to the MAC address not the IP... There were others... some I had to run the factory "locate device" app, and connect that way... Each of the picky devices took time to figure out what it needed, find the app, yada yada...
If I am going to do a new setup, I am only going to do it ONCE more... I am not going to do this only to have it start flaking out again and THEN a purchase the Ubiquity stuff...
PS..,I noticed that no one has mentioned diagnostics. If there were some, any, we could SEE what was happening and adjust things appropriately... If the logs showed the Ios devices dropping off and not reappearing, I could take that to apple... or if DNS was out of date, or routings tables, or some other authentication issues... but there is NO a visibility into what the Orbi is doing...
PPS.., and then there is VPN, or actually there is not a VPN...
So, besides dropping devices, several relatively common router features are missing... another reason to switch...
Ya something thats not great on Orbi systems or NG in general. Not alot of diagnostics.
You can check statistics on the RBRs Advanced page. But this only shows connections rates between the RBR, RBS and wired devices.
Also someone mentioned turning OFF the private addressing option on Apple products in recent iOS. May help as well. Check that blue (i) icon next to the wifi ssid name the device is connected too.
I would update FW as well. v22 is out. The RBS .zip file has the wrong file...hopefully NG will fix that soon.
