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Guest network time: Always Note: this can only be set in the mobile app, support did not appear to know this
Main network continues to connect to the internet without issues
Thanks for pointing out this setting for the guest WiFi network. Just wondering: how would a person interpret that setting? Does it mean:
When Guest WiFi is enabled, this is how long it stays enabled before the SSID is taken down? (and then it stays down until the user activates it again?)
When a specific device connects to the Guest WiFi, this is how long that specific device is allowed before it is disconnected?
Ordinarily, I recommend that people click on that nearly invisible arrow at the bottom of the screen to pull up a description of what the screen does. With this feature of guest WiFi not appearing in the User Manual, there is zero chance it will be on the Help Screen.
When a device connection to guest WiFi is interrupted:
How long is it before the connection is restored?
Does an entry appear in the Orbi log showing that the device was issued an IP address with DHCP after the interruption?
In answer to your questions: The Guest Network time is supposed to be the amount of time the guest can connect to the internet, as far as I can tell. That said, I did not see any documentation on it, and I am interpeting tht setting from the way other vendor's units work. I would be way off base here.
When the connection to the internet is broken, the connection to the WiFi remains. I base this on the messages I received from a streaming device, an iPod, and another device in the house. None of them lost WiFi, just the connection to the internet thourgh the Orbi.
How long is the connection to the internet broken? No more than a minute or two I think. The movies I was streaming froze, but then eventually picked up where they left off. The app did not completely give up and say it could no longer play, so the restoration of internet was within the period where it tried to continue the stream.
Log: I did not check, and I should have done so...I know better.
There would be no user time features on Orbi systems.
This would have been a FW issue on the RBR which getting the FW version would have helped however since you have returned the system, you can't try out different FW.
I'm having the exaxt same issue on the RBR850. Main network is working fine and no dropped Internet at all. I have like 30 devices on the main network and none of them ever complain about no Internet. My guest WiFi drops internet almost daily. I have to disconnect the WiFi from the device and reconnect to get Internet back. I work in IT and have tried everything to fix it. Can't get it to work and it's really frustrating. I wish Netgear would address this issue since it seems to be a common issue amongst multiple devices.
I'm having the exaxt same issue on the RBR850. Main network is working fine and no dropped Internet at all. I have like 30 devices on the main network and none of them ever complain about no Internet. My guest WiFi drops internet almost daily. I have to disconnect the WiFi from the device and reconnect to get Internet back. I work in IT and have tried everything to fix it. Can't get it to work and it's really frustrating. I wish Netgear would address this issue since it seems to be a common issue amongst multiple devices.
I'm having the exaxt same issue on the RBR850. Main network is working fine and no dropped Internet at all. I have like 30 devices on the main network and none of them ever complain about no Internet. My guest WiFi drops internet almost daily. I have to disconnect the WiFi from the device and reconnect to get Internet back. I work in IT and have tried everything to fix it. Can't get it to work and it's really frustrating. I wish Netgear would address this issue since it seems to be a common issue amongst multiple devices.
Firmware Version V4.6.3.16_2.0.51
I have tried factory resetting, reinstalling Firmware, removing guest WiFi and adding it back.
You are right to be frustrated. Some Netgear customers are "between a rock and a hard place."
Their WiFi system is not working correctly.
On the one hand, they want to wait for an official firmware release that will fix their problems.
Netgear has not released official firmware.
However, there is firmware that has been created by Netgear that might solve their problems, but Netgear has not finished internal testing and quality assurance, so it is not ready to release it officially.
Does the customer wait for goodness knows how long and continue to suffer, or does he
Give this unofficial firmware a try and go back to the previous firmware if this new one is no better?
MY preference is to "wait and see". When new, official firmware is released, I like to wait for several weeks for early adopters to install it and find out if it works. If complaints quickly mount up, I wait longer. But.... the key is that my WiFi system works fine. I am not suffering.
That is not an official Netgear release. If it was official, it would be on the Download page.
Would be worth try and see if the v5 FW works or not.
Sure for anyone who wants to try it. That's not me since I don't have time. I will keep using the official v4.6.5.14_2.0.54 from Netgear's internal updater with this annoying issue. Also, my disconnections are random and varies on times. 😞
As of February 2021, the problem is still with us. Worked with support, and they eventually said to replace the units. The same problem still happens with the new units (no surprise to me).
Equipment:
RB750 Base unit
RB750 Satelite unit - wireless connection to the base unit, signal is: good
ISP connection: Wireless from the house to the local node (yes you read that right, I have a dish pointing to the local node which is powered over ethernet), IP supplied by the ISP. Conection to the RB750 is a normal CAT6 cable.
Symptoms:
Guest network periodically stops talking to the internet, then starts talking again (annoying as all get out when watching a movie).
WiFi connectivity remain strong
Guest network time: Always Note: this can only be set in the mobile app, support did not appear to know this
Main network continues to connect to the internet without issues
Wired connections on the router continued to connect to the internet without issues
The satelite is connected to the base wirelessly.
The wired connections hung off of the satelite continue to talk to the internet without issues.
Things Tried (none of these fixed the issue):
Power cycling the router
Power cycling the satelite
Changing the WiFi channels (I also have an app on my phone which sniffs out nearby WiFi signals, so I can find the channel with the least interference).
Checked the firmware - is the latest
Reflashed the firmware for both router and satelite (done at the direction of support)
Full reset to factory setttings, reload saved configuration
Full reset to factory settings, minimal config to make it work in our environment
Replaced full system (done at the direction of support, saying it was a hardware problem)
Final test configuration: old router in place of RB750, RB750 in AP mode. This configuration is not sustainable because the old router does not have the reach needed on its own for the guest network.
My guess (and it is just a guess) is that the problem is likely in the code which manages the guest network time. I would say it is an easy fix, but I have been in the software business for (mumble) years, and know that is rarely the case.
I have not found a way to know this is truely sent to engineering, since I cannot get any sort of bug/ticket/problem number for the request in engineering. It also means I cannot check on the status of the problem.
sigh...
Um, we're in 2022. 😉 It's definitely a bug that Netgear needs to fix. I also tried resetting my Netgear Orbi RBK753S-100NAS back to defaults last year or so when this issue came up with the newer public stable firmwares. Previous older firmwares were fine until Netgear forced us to upgrade our firmwares! I really wished Netgear would fix their issues already.
Suggested FW needs to be tried before claiming this is a bug.
.....that this problem has not been resolved with the pre-release firmware.
Netgear customers are in sort of a bind. Pre-release firmware obviously has not completed the entire Quality Assurance process, or it would be on the web site. When a problem is making the customer's life a living hell, he will try almost anything. When it is an annoyance that can be tolerated or worked around, many will opt to wait for the official release.
(Heck, I wait several weeks after an official release before updating firmware. Or, at least I used to until Netgear began forcing firmware updates on customers.)
Oooh, firmwares came out finally but I am not ready to upgrade yet since people are using the Internet. I hope it finally fixed the guest network issue. Did anyone try it yet?
I’ve had similar issues with my guest WiFi network for months on my RBR750. All my work equipment connects through it, Dell laptop, iPad and iPhone. Notice the issue more on the apple devices. The laptop is hardwired half the time into my one satellite node, so in that scenario it is not on the guest network anymore I guess. Want to do the firmware update, Orbi app says I’m currently on V4.6.5.14, I hit check for update and it says nothing newer available…
V4.6.7.14 is on the website though so it is not in anymore beta correct? Is my only option to to manually update via a laptop, or wait until the app sees it?
I’ve had similar issues with my guest WiFi network for months on my RBR750. All my work equipment connects through it, Dell laptop, iPad and iPhone. Notice the issue more on the apple devices. The laptop is hardwired half the time into my one satellite node, so in that scenario it is not on the guest network anymore I guess. Want to do the firmware update, Orbi app says I’m currently on V4.6.5.14, I hit check for update and it says nothing newer available…
V4.6.7.14 is on the website though so it is not in anymore beta correct? Is my only option to to manually update via a laptop, or wait until the app sees it?
