Another question on DHCP requests

[donawalt]

I had a question on how DHCP requests work with RBS850 and RBR850 in a mesh network. Imagine someone walking all around the house with their device; likely when doing that, the device is switching between the RBR850 and (in my case) two RBS850s for its internet connection from time to time as signals get stronger and weaker. Does it work this way - every time a device switches off of its current connected router/satellite and onto a new router/satellite, it DHCP-requests an IP address again? Thanks!

[FURRYe38]

I believe there is a roaming handling and DHCP handling issue currently happening on Orbi AX FW. were seeing lots of DHCP assignments being repeatedly queried in a short amount of time. I feel also that there is a ping ponging effect happening on some devices where they are connected at one source and for unknown reasons can't lock on or maintain one Wi-Fi source then start hopping around  from the RBR to RBS and back and forth. This maybe causing the logs to fill up with these repeated DHCP log entries that we are seeing. 

Why we are trying to establish what devices are seeing this and how many RBS are deployed, home size and distances in between the RBR and RBS. 

[donawalt]

THANKS @FURRYe38 . In my case I saw a lot of DHCP entries today from my wife's iPhone SE 2nd generation, and my iPhone 13 Pro Max. Both of us were moving around the house a lot, which is why I asked that question. 

Probably unrelated, but my ISP (Comcast)'s lease went from 2 hours yesterday to 4 hours 34 minutes currently. And, (posted in another thread), my IPv6 stopped working today after only a day, right after it was restarted yesterday.

EDIT: I have a RBR850 in the basement, RBS850 first floor probably 60-75 feet away, and another RBS850 on the third floor, probably 100? feet away (big ceilings here - 14').

[FURRYe38]

Apple devices seems to be most effected or notorious for having this issue. 

Is Wifi Private IP address disabled on the Apple devices? 

Basements are not recommended places for RBRs. All that concrete and steel will cause problems. This maybe be another contributing factor as well. 

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?

Distances of the RBS seems extreme as well. Are the RBS wireless or ethernet connected to the RBR? 

[donawalt]

@FURRYe38 they do not have the private IP address disabled. I have found on every update it gets re-enabled, and it became a pain to worry about it. From what I have seen and read, they only switch their IP on a restart, which we very seldom have a need to do. 

The house is about 4500 square feet. Actually the placement of the three router/satellites is working very well - I placed them through the aid of a signal strength meter, and performances around the house is excellent. I used to have a 3rd satellite, but found I did not need it and that was like causing problems as things were overlapping too much from what I saw in checking signal strength.  Also, my distances may be off some, as I am just trying to visualize the distance between them.

Both RBS850's have wired backhaul into a switch, topology reported by the Orbi app is this:

[FURRYe38]

Ya for that size of home 3 RBS will be too much. With 2 RBS, I would run the Transmit power at 50%. I run this on my 7 and 8 series here and have 5k sq ft home. RBS are ethernet connected as well. 

What channels are you using? I run manual channels 1 and 40 on my main home system. 40Mhz only channel width.

What is the brand and model of the switch in between the RBR and RBS? 

[donawalt]

Thanks @FURRYe38 , from earlier in this thread, actually looking at my rooms I think both distances (router to RBS #1 and RBS #1 to RBS #2) are 30'-35'.

2.4GHz is Auto, 5 GHz is 48 - that was the least congested by far when I did the signal mapping around the house, due to neighbors. 

Not sure what the 40MHz channel width setting is, I don't see that.

My switch is a Netgear 48-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch (GS348).

[FURRYe38]

Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

Let us know if turning down the power changes anything. 

[donawalt]

Will do