Orbi RBK852 Disconnects Every Few Minutes [Extensive Diagnostic Thread]
My RBK852 with 1 satellite (RBR850 and RBS850) disconnect every few minutes. I have done extensive diagnostics explained in depth here. Can @FURRYe38 or any other expert help me?
Setup:
- RBK852 with 1 Satellite (RBR850 and RBS850) ordered Jan 25, 2021 on Firmware 3.2.16.6
- Testing from MacBook Pro 16” 2020 and MacBook Pro 13” 2020 model. Both BigSur 11.2.3. Same results. Additional testing from iPhone 12 and iPad Air 2020.
- AT&T Gigabit Fiber Internet into a Humax BGW320-500 Broadband Gateway
- Satellite is 35 feet from the base station on the same floor separated by ~2 plaster & lath walls. -55dB signal.
- All devices removed from the network. All applications & background processes on computer closed. Location services off.
Primary Experiment and Symptoms:
tl;dr; Wifi disconnects for 3 seconds every few min. It gets better if you get closer. Ethernet to the base station is perfect. Ethernet to satellite has same problem of dropping requests.
When on WiFi, and ~16ft away from the base station with line-of-sight, the network will disconnect then reconnect over the span of 3 seconds. This happens very consistently every 2 to 3 minutes.
The following screenshots using a ping utility called prettyping. I am pinging the base station at 10.0.0.1 on the left. I am pinging the satellite at 10.0.0.2 on the right.
See https://www.dropbox.com/s/q4t9gtuqu3oza01/Prettyping%20Main%20WiFi%20in%20Dining%20Room.png?dl=0 if link is broken
You can see the network will drop with red exclamation points intermittently, then I’ll get a “no route to host” message. When this message happens the wifi icon on my computer blinks temporarily, then re-connectsion.
When one of the blips happens, I get the following on /var/log/wifi.log
Mon Apr 12 16:22:31.415 Apple80211Set:9930 Processing APPLE80211_IOC_ROAM |
From this particular test setup the WiFi normally has the following stats. These were gathered through /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport utility:
agrCtlRSSI: -53 |
You can see that the signal strength at -53dB should be plenty strong. When one of the blips happens, I’ll see the state move from running, to init, to scanning, to running again.
Additional Experiments:
Moving Closer to Base Station:
When you move closer to the base station, the dropping becomes less frequent. See the screenshot here.
It’s still there but much more intermittent and seemingly random.
WiFi From Satellite:
When I’m connected via wifi to the satellite the problem becomes worse. See screenshot below.
Ethernet to Base Station:
When I’m connected via ethernet to the base station, the problem goes away. Internet is perfect. See screenshot below.
Ethernet to Satellite:
When I’m connected via ethernet to the satellite, the problem persists. There are 3-second drops every 10-15 minutes or so. See the screenshot below
Things I’ve tried:
Factory reset & Regular Reboots
I tried a full factory reset and rebooted the base station and satellite multiple times. Everything restored fine but there was no effect.
Firmware changes
I tried upgrading to 3.2.17.12 and downgrading to 3.2.15.32. There was no effect. All symptoms remain the same. It appears that the satellite ethernet problems went away on 3.2.15.32, but returned when the auto updater forced me back to 3.2.16.6
Disconnect all devices:
I have about a dozen devices in my home. I manually unplugged all WiFi devices except for the testing, pinging laptop. This had no effect.
Try from different devices:
I tried from MacBook Pro 16” 2020 and MacBook Pro 13” 2020 model. Both BigSur 11.2.3. Both have the same results.
I additionally downloaded pinging software onto an iPhone 12 and iPad Air 2020. While it’s considerably more stable from the iPhone and iPad, I still have ping drops in line with what I’m seeing from my computer.
Tone Down 2.4GHz Network:
I saw forum threads hypothesizing that things could be fixed by splitting the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. Unfortunately the RBK850 with current firmware does not appear to able to do this via telnet. I was unable to telnet to the device nor was able to activate telnet.
I tried disabling the 2.4GHz network; however, that didn’t work. The option was disabled, the router rebooted, and the network was still there.
I was able to decrease the 2.4GHz signal strength to 25% on the theory that if the 5GHz network were strong enough it wouldn’t get confused. This had no effect.
OSX Upgrades and Other Mac Issues:
I’m on Big Sur 11.2.3 (the latest). I get the same results when zero applications and daemons are running, as when lots of activity is on the network and I’m on a video call. I had a prior WiFi issue that was fixed by disabling location services. This had no effect on this problem. I’ve also done PRAM and SMC resets to no avail.
Moving the Base Station:
I’ve tried moving things around. This has no effect. While, as described above, things get slightly better when physically close to the base station, the dropouts still exist.
Check for Interference and Manually Adjust Channels:
I used Wifi Explorer to analyze signal strength. You can see results here. Our router is by far the most powerful. I have also manually adjusted the 5GHz and 2.4GHz channels to the one with the least noise. This had no effect.
Current Theories and Other Thoughts:
First of all, none of these issues were present from purchase in Jan 2021 until about mid March 2021. This started happening Mid March. This is a very suspicious part about this issue. As far as I can tell; however, no changes were introduced around then. This is why I tried firmware changes, reboots, removed devices, and checked osx upgrade histories to isolate anything that might have changed around then. All have come up with no results.
From LOTS of Googling, I wish I could try separating the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. This doesn’t seem possible with the RBK850. Reducing strength of 2.4GHz had no effect.
The Apple WiFi logs, particularly the APPLE80211_IOC_ROAM and APPLE80211_M_BSSID_CHANGED messages are actually quite common. I think that’s a bit of a red herring that is a downstream effect of the computer getting kicked off the network.
The fact that the internet is 100% perfect when on base-station ethernet (this holds true when I connect ethernet directly to the modem), to me strongly implies that this is exclusively a wifi problem (as opposed to other router hardware, packet congestion, etc).
Overall, this has consumed an enormous number of hours of my time over the past couple of weeks. If no one else here has other working theories, I'm definitely going to buy a different router from a different manufaturer.
• What is the difference between WiFi 6 and WiFi 7?
• Yes! WiFi 7 is backwards compatible with other Wifi devices? Learn more