Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
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Re: ORBI RBR850 and RBS850 - Slow switching between devices

plee11
Aspirant

ORBI RBR850 and RBS850 - Slow switching between devices

Hi, I just purchased the ORBI RBK853 which includes the RBR850 (AX6000) and 2 RBS850 satellites. Everything works well and it gets good speeds, I upgraded it from Google WiFi. However one thing about the ORBI that is not as fast is its ability to switch between devices if I move locations. My satellite is 50 feet from the router, setup in wireless star setup, and if I first stand at the router, it connects there, but if I move to the satellite just a few inches from it, it still stays on the router connection for over 5 minutes. Because of that the speeds are slower due to the additional distance. The only way to force it is to turn off the wifi on the device and re-enable it, even then sometimes it still connects to the router first and stays there for longer than needed. Google WiFi was instantaneous in switching between devices. As soon as I walked to a different satellite, by the time I looked in the app to see which device I was now connected to, it updated already. Searching in the forums other NetGear ORBI devices had the "fast roaming" setting or daisy chain setting (not that this applies in this case) but it looks like those settings are not available for for the RBR850, and the RBR850 lacks many of these advanced settings. Is there any other setting I can change to make this switch between satellite / router / satellites faster? Thanks.
Message 1 of 7
plee11
Aspirant

Re: ORBI RBR850 and RBS850 - Slow switching between devices

Sorry I'm on the latest firmware V3.2.16.6 for both the satellites and router.

Message 2 of 7
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: ORBI RBR850 and RBS850 - Slow switching between devices

Fast Roaming and Daisy Chain are automatic on Orbi AX. 

 

You can try powering the power output of the RBR  and see if this helps any. Under Advanced Tab/AdvancedSettings/Wireless settings.

 

Message 3 of 7
plee11
Aspirant

Re: ORBI RBR850 and RBS850 - Slow switching between devices

Sorry did you mean lowering? Thanks for the guidance.

Message 4 of 7
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: ORBI RBR850 and RBS850 - Slow switching between devices

Opps, sorry that was a typo. Yes. Lower. 

Message 5 of 7
plee11
Aspirant

Re: ORBI RBR850 and RBS850 - Slow switching between devices

Well first of all thank you for your help. Before I posted this I spent 2 hours with tech support and didn't get anywhere, they didn't even understand the issue and just said as long as I'm connected I should be fine.

 

You have been a lot more help. I bought this as a performance system an upgrade from Google WiFi to get quicker speeds. 

 

So I lowered it first to 50% and then even to 25% and still no luck. After lowering it all devices disconnect, so I put a phone near the satellite and put a tablet near the router. 

 

As expected the phone connected to the satellite and the tablet connected to the router. Each tested at 600+ Mbps the high performance I bought this for.

 

I then swapped the phone and the router locations and both still stayed with their original connection, phone stayed connected to the satellite even though it was now 6 inches from the router, and the tablet stayed connected to the router even though it was now 6 inches from the satellite.

 

Now each device was only hitting 150-200 Mbps, because they were connecting to the device further away. Still fast I understand ... but not the 600+ Mbps I bought this for. 

 

If I reset each device, it again connects to the closest and achieves the fast speed again. I wonder how Google does it ....as theirs always works very quickly .... but I'm stuck now.

 

(still appreciate the help you gave though)...

 

Message 6 of 7
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: ORBI RBR850 and RBS850 - Slow switching between devices

Well, for the most part it's up to the wifi devices to pick and choose which signal source they connect too. Orbi only provides the platform for devices to connect too. We can't steer them to different signal sources. Nature of the beast. 

 

 

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