I seem to have resolved my connection dropouts, and thought I'd add my advice to recommendations on a full reset of the sattelite if you're seeing issues (and proceed to immediatly jinx any success I may have had)
Under the .210 firmware none of the standard recommendations helped (factory resets, disabling daisy chain etc) the solution I finally settled on was splitting the 5Ghz & 2.4Ghz ssids; with that i ran for months with no connection issues.
When I upgraded to .44, I did full factory resets but the dropouts came back - unfrotunately this time I couldn't split the ssids, since it caused the "config sync" issue. Based on my previous experience I had a working assumption that the issue was somehow to do with radios needing to switch sources and / or bands. I had two working theories:
(1) Switching between 2.4 & 5 somehow caused an issue, since splitting the ssids had helped previously
(2) The satellite was causing an issue, since I had noticed the dropouts were more frequent in areas where I was more likely to connect to the satellite (satellite has good backhaul; about 30 feet away and line of sight to the router)
I chose to test option 2 first, since I'm only filling a few holes in the house, by turning off the satellite (the next step would have been temporarily turning off bands) - ran a week without issues.
For the next step I followed @Bullyterrier's suggestion for properly resetting the sattelite:
That appears to have resolved my issues; a week later I'm still not seeing dropouts.
I understand that my setup (one router, one satellite filling a few small holes) is simpler than most, but if you are having issues I'd recomment fully removing & resetting the satellite, as there seems to be an issue that can be carried forward even past seemingly successful upgrades & resets, and it's less intrusive than a full factory reset.
It's still going to be a *long* time before I fully trust my orbi system, but at least it's a step in the right direction.
Some users along with my experiences with Orbi have found that doing a factory reset and setup from scratch when new FW has been applied helps to keep the system running well.
Also 30 feet is recommended in between base router and satellites to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.
The config sync issue is a cause of the SSIDs being split between the radios when they should not be. The orbi is intended to use a single SSID and PW between the radios. When users separate the SSIDs, which is not supported, this seem to cause this config sync message to be seen. Users have reported this is resolved by setting the Orbi back to defaults and using the single SSID name and PW and not separating the SSIDs and operating the system as intended by NG.
@FURRYe38 I appreciate the advice, which is a good starting point for people with issues, but it appears you did not fully read my post - or if you did, may be you can help me to understand how to clarify it so it is apparent that everything you listed here is addressed in what I said.
That appears to have resolved my issues; a week later I'm still not seeing dropouts.
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I had also the same expereince. It seems either that the data structure in the satellite SW or the satellite configuration parameters in the router has been changed in the 2.3.1.48 SW. That's why I needed to follow the steps above after upgrading. Nothing else helped to solve the wifi instability after the upgrade.
