WIFI on Orbi RBR50/RBS50 network sporadic/slow/dead intermittently after >2y of good performance
Hello,
I'm looking for any suggestions on things I might be missing.
My problem is as in the title. I've had my RBR50 and 3 satellites RBS50 working wonderfully for just over 2 years. Over the past 1-2 weeks I've struggled with some intermittent failures in the wireless transmission speed, ranging from excellent performance to almost no data transmitted at all. It seems to be a bit more common on one side of my house than another, but any zone of the house can do this. It can work for hours wonderfully and then rapidly fail for hours or longer. It can be more common on some devices than others, but any wireless device can struggle (while others sometimes work better).
During this time, everything works normally on LAN (even struggling devices work immediately when plugged into ethernet cable).
Things are failing whether on 5g or 2.4g.
I can't think of any changes at all that I've made to the network that associate with the time it started failing.
My setup is as follows:
--4500sqft house, one floor
--rural area, minimal signal interference from neighbors
--one RBR50 and 3 x RBS50 devices (all of which have wired backhaul for the past 2y)
--current firmware 2.5.2.4 (everything is updated)
--I have about 60 devices connected, pretty equally distrubuted across 2.4, 5.0, and wired
Things I have already tried are as follows... while some thigns "change" the status of the wifi network performance for a bit, none have proven durable
--updated the firmware (main and satellites were all a bit older firmware when it started to fail, but newest made no difference)
--toggled daisy chain on/off (currently off)
--multiple reboots of everything (devices, switches, satellites, main router)
--toggled WMM on/off (currently on)
--toggled mu-mimo on/off (currently on)
--beam-forming has been left on
--toggled fast roaming on/off (currently on)
--changed 5g channel (though not much interference that I see from things)
--2.4g remains auto channel
--tried changing devices to guest network on occasion (no major difference)
--total factory reset and then manually redid the system
--powering off all the satellites and running only the router
--powering off newer devices in my home that haven't been on the network before
This is driving me nuts! Kids have to do constant zoom for school stuff and they have moments where it works on wireless but then drop the class and have to get onto LAN (wife and kids struggle with this when I'm at work).
Is anyone able to provide guidance or suggest something I'm missing? Thanks for any suggestions!
Re: WIFI on Orbi RBR50/RBS50 network sporadic/slow/dead intermittently after >2y of good performa
Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz
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
Re: WIFI on Orbi RBR50/RBS50 network sporadic/slow/dead intermittently after >2y of good performa
Thanks very much to the replies above. After a lot of time last night working on things, I still can't get reliable connections.
Furry, I looked at all the links you posted and changed to all the recommended/stable settings in one of those links... it made no difference or durable improvement.
I have toggled the 2.4 channel from auto to other channels and back, still no difference, also tried different 5.0 channels, no progress. I updated firmware to 2.7.2.102 on router and 3 satellites, no progress.
I have toggled daisy chain setting, but given a wired backhaul I don't know why this might make a difference (it didn't help regardless).
My place is approx 4500sqft, my router ranges maybe 30-50 feet from the satellites.
Recall that my setup was working very well for 2+ years, and I can think of no meaningful change in my devices or router or network that associates with the failure. Some of the details in my first post relate to this as well.
If anyone has any other ideas I'd welcome the suggestions? I have a few hundred bucks in these 4 devices and I'm a little worried I'm not going to salvage this anymore.
Re: WIFI on Orbi RBR50/RBS50 network sporadic/slow/dead intermittently after >2y of good performa
For 4500sq ft, maybe you have too much wifi going on thus too many RBS. Try the RBR and 1 or 2 RBS online only and see. I have a 5000sq ft home and the 1 RBR on 2nd level and 1 RBS in the basement covers the home nicely.
For 4500sq ft, maybe you have too much wifi going on thus too many RBS. Try the RBR and 1 or 2 RBS online only and see. I have a 5000sq ft home and the 1 RBR on 2nd level and 1 RBS in the basement covers the home nicely.
Re: WIFI on Orbi RBR50/RBS50 network sporadic/slow/dead intermittently after >2y of good performa
I tried powering off satellites before... I tried powering down 2 of them now, it doesn't seem improved. For what it's worth, this 3 satellite system was working for a long time. Despite my house being 4500 sqft it is very spread out, and one is in the garage to cover that area and outside so I never perceived heavy overlap.
I do appreciate suggestions, though. Is there anything else I should be doing to troubleshoot? Thanks
Re: WIFI on Orbi RBR50/RBS50 network sporadic/slow/dead intermittently after >2y of good performa
Thank you all.
Regarding message #8, I did try those links earlier with no progress.
Regarding message #9 I will try those suggestions as well.
Regarding message #10, I did a factory reset after the installation of 2.5.2.4 (held the button on router and 3 satellites) and then manually redid all the settings. Given the time it takes to reset, maybe I'll do a soak test of the new settings for a bit.
For 4500sq ft, maybe you have too much wifi going on thus too many RBS. Try the RBR and 1 or 2 RBS online only and see. I have a 5000sq ft home and the 1 RBR on 2nd level and 1 RBS in the basement covers the home nicely.
Regarding message #8, I did try those links earlier with no progress.
Regarding message #9 I will try those suggestions as well.
Regarding message #10, I did a factory reset after the installation of 2.5.2.4 (held the button on router and 3 satellites) and then manually redid all the settings. Given the time it takes to reset, maybe I'll do a soak test of the new settings for a bit.
Regarding message #8, I did try those links earlier with no progress.
Regarding message #9 I will try those suggestions as well.
Regarding message #10, I did a factory reset after the installation of 2.5.2.4 (held the button on router and 3 satellites) and then manually redid all the settings. Given the time it takes to reset, maybe I'll do a soak test of the new settings for a bit.
Re: WIFI on Orbi RBR50/RBS50 network sporadic/slow/dead intermittently after >2y of good performa
Well unfortunately I still have no progress.. Some devices and zones work better than others but I'm not getting reliable wifi anymore. Odd that it would just decline after all this time working. I gave done all the suggestions made above, often multiple tries, to no avail. The only exception is that I didn't factory reset after the firmware suggestion at the top of the thread (I did factory reset during the newer firmware I mentioned first post but still didn't help). I appreciate the feedback, this is a vibrant forum! Any other suggestions? Thank you
Re: WIFI on Orbi RBR50/RBS50 network sporadic/slow/dead intermittently after >2y of good performa
It may not be the ORBI. Have your internet devices (phones, laptops, etc.) had any recent firmware or OS updates? From experience, I know that recent Apple OS updates will generate random MAC addresses. This is to prevent bad guys from stealing your data, etc. This new feature can cause amazingly weird interupptions of your devices' connections.
It also may be cuased by a failing satellite. Just a thought! Good luck!
Re: WIFI on Orbi RBR50/RBS50 network sporadic/slow/dead intermittently after >2y of good performa
Thanks for the recent posts and suggestions...
I actually don't have a "stable" last firmware to revert to, I'm on the newest one now as a manual download, was on a "newer" one as listed in my first post, yet this didn't help, and the wifi failed while on an older one. So I had stable firmware for a long time when it failed on its own, and 2 updates didn't make a difference.
I agree with the suspicion that a device might be killing wifi, but I can't think of any culprits. Powering off any newer devices hasn't helped (I upgraded to some newer wyze version 3 wifi cams, but when I kill them all the wifi still struggles.)
I have 3 phones in the wifi that are all on non-random MAC. My macbook pro has been doing a random MAC for years now, from what I read online. My phone (not the other 2) is static IP. My phone is among the less reliable devices, despite static IP and "phone MAC" chosen (android settings). "Phone MAC" is the alternative to random MAC in android.
I don't have any other new devices, other than a phone, over the past weeks that it failed. Powering off the phone makes no difference.
I wondered about a failing satellite also... when I powered off some or all of them I don't see an improvement among the devices that connect to the RBR50.
I greatly appreciate the responses on this forum, you're all very helpful.
For now I guess my plan is try to buy a new mesh router system and see if that helps.
Re: WIFI on Orbi RBR50/RBS50 network sporadic/slow/dead intermittently after >2y of good performa
Trying asus xt8 system... Seems like a change is warranted and maybe is a better value currently. I greatly appreciate the help from this forum though!
Re: WIFI on Orbi RBR50/RBS50 network sporadic/slow/dead intermittently after >2y of good performa
@nsrg wrote: Trying asus xt8 system... Seems like a change is warranted and maybe is a better value currently. I greatly appreciate the help from this forum though!
Re: WIFI on Orbi RBR50/RBS50 network sporadic/slow/dead intermittently after >2y of good performa
Well, I got a new mesh router system up and working... It seems that things are running smoothly.
One thing I learned from this process, though, is that on a new system (went with a different model now) even with the same SSID and same password some devices won't connect well (many do).
About 70% of my devices connected again with same SSID and password, but some either didn't or were inconsistent. Among the worst were the amazon echo/alexa devices, the simple ones often needed power cycling and the screen-based ones needed to manually connect. Fire tablets also needed to manually power cycle and manually reconnect to wifi (after forgetting the old mesh system's SSID).
I'll bet someone on the forum could explain this (I can't).
Could the factory reset of the orbi, in my testing, have been the equivalent of a new router and new network despite same SSID and same password?
