Hi Team--I just purchased the Orbi 970 Series BE27000 Quad-Band Mesh WIFI 7 system 3-pack. My one satelite keeps going off line every day. I opened a ticket with Netgear and did update the firmware to V9.12.4.16. I thought it fixed it, but still an issue. I have two satelites on the 2nd story of my home, so the one satelite is roughly 13 feet away. I have to push the reset button to fix it. Very frustrating with an home office. Any ideas why this keeps occuring? These were expensive so thought I would be fine!! Thanks so much for any advise.
@Tomwarner 2412 , I removed the satellite located in the Guest bedroom (which was between the router and the other satellite in the MBR which I kept) so basically I have 1 node on each end of the 2000 sq ft house. Mine is all on 1 floor so I hope your 2nd floor doesn’t create coverage issues that I don’t have.
Also, make sure (and I think you have) you are running the latest firmware (I forget the version #, but it became available in the past 2-3 weeks for North American region).
Decreasing WiFi conflicts resolved most of my issues, but the other (so far!) few issues were resolved by the latest firmware update.
I hope this works for you. With my 5Gb fiber internet I’m really enjoying my Orbi. I have last year’s iPhone (15 pro max with WiFi 6E) so I am using 6Ghz band, but not all the speed capabilities provided by the RBE971.
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR 📡 and RBS 🛰️ to begin with depending upon building materials when wired or wirelessly connected. 13 feet is too close. https://kb.netgear.com/31029/Where-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite 🛰
My home is 2282.00 sq ft. My office is on the 2nd floor, where I need this satellite to reside. There is no way I can move it with a Netgear expander plugged into it for my network devices in my office. I was shocked to say you felt it was too close! I hate WIFI and prefer to use ethernet plugs into my devices. It is realistically 20 feet or so, but it is hard to measure because it is on the 2nd floor. I am trying to elevate it higher into my office to see if that helps. Is the distance indeed a possible cause for it to go offline? Tech support thought it might need to be closer, which is impossible. These are very high-end, and I assumed I wouldn't have any issues. I replaced these from my Linksys routers, hoping these would be perfect. Any further advice would be great. Thanks!
@Tomwarner2412 , you are correct about WIFI 7 being “very high-end” which is exactly what causes different WiFi coverage issues with this offering.
There have been several excellent posts by Community Guru’s scattered through all the threads related to the various issues most of us have had with the newest WiFi 7 equipment from NG since I joined the Community this past May.
If you’re old enough, you’ll understand this statement from a now discontinued GM Vehicle Make advertisement: “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile!” WiFi 7 technology doesn’t work like the original 2,4/5Ghz band technology we all started with. WIFI 7 has much more “background work” going on to locate/communicate with attached devices in a way to better utilize bandwidth and meet the wireless data transport speeds (up to 27Gbps) that result from WiFi 7 technology. Here’s a few examples of “background work” to make my point that WiFi 7 is much more congestion sensitive than what we’re accustomed to.
1) Orbi WiFi 7 taps both 6GHz and 5GHz WiFi bands at once to avoid network traffic and keep you connected if you move out of range of one band. It also enables devices to simultaneously send and receive data across both WiFi bands, increasing throughput. But this means WiFi 7 now must deal with Band congestion on 5 and 6Ghz bands during the same data transmission. If mesh nodes are too close together, this will result in slower speeds and dropped WiFi which will cause cell phones to switch from WiFi into cellular service.
2) WiFi 7 uses Preamble Puncturing to outsmart WiFi interference. This is useful when your neighbors' WiFi might be slowing your network down? With previous versions of WiFi, any channels with interference became unavailable. Orbi WiFi 7 includes smart interference management, greatly reducing network congestion. But this “interference management” requires much more “behind the scenes processing” that can contribute to band congestion if the nodes are too close together.
3) And to further compound congestion, each node of the NG Orbi 970/971 system has twelve (12) high-performance internal antennas with high-power amplifiers. These high-performance antennas offer a new design and provide exceptional 360° WiFi coverage across every corner of your home, no matter the layout saturating the WiFi bands.
4) Our Orbi’s utilize Beamforming to improve signal strength. Beamforming technology helps to improve the signal strength for individual devices by focusing the signal directly towards them. It also provides better range by concentrating the signal, which can extend the effective range of the WiFi network. Beamforming also provides multiple device support. Even with multiple devices connected, beamforming can prioritize individual connections by directing the signal accordingly. But, these Orbi’s transmit many more “background” signals continuously to make beam forming work. All this further contributes to band congestion if the mesh nodes aren’t properly spaced.
I too started with 3 nodes in a 2000 Sq Ft home and experienced a multitude of issues. The Community guru’s explained in multiple posts that I was over saturating those 2000 sq feet with WiFi transmissions.
It took several months and a new software release before I finally listened to the experts and disconnected one satellite (I now have 1 router and 1 satellite). It’s amazing how much my WiFi speeds, and stability improved. For an old man like me that thought “if 2 nodes are good, 3 nodes will be excellent”. Not so much, but after this Community enlightened me about how WiFi 7 achieves 27Gbps, I realized my “more is better” mentality was causing my WiFi issues.
I know it’s physically not easy relocating mesh nodes, but possibly try turning off one satellite, and relocate the remaining satellite (even if using a temporary Cat 6E shielded cable if you desire wired backhaul). Keep in mind the few examples I provided above that inherently provide better WiFi 7 coverage than we’ve ever had in the past with “legacy” 2.4/5Ghz WiFi networks.
I really appreciate your message—it's very helpful! I will remove the satellite in my daughter's room and see how that works. The satellite in my home office seems to go offline every morning, and I have to push the reset button for one minute to bring it back. I am hoping removing one satellite will fix this issue! I will keep you posted. Thanks so much!
@Tomwarner 2412 , I removed the satellite located in the Guest bedroom (which was between the router and the other satellite in the MBR which I kept) so basically I have 1 node on each end of the 2000 sq ft house. Mine is all on 1 floor so I hope your 2nd floor doesn’t create coverage issues that I don’t have.
Also, make sure (and I think you have) you are running the latest firmware (I forget the version #, but it became available in the past 2-3 weeks for North American region).
Decreasing WiFi conflicts resolved most of my issues, but the other (so far!) few issues were resolved by the latest firmware update.
I hope this works for you. With my 5Gb fiber internet I’m really enjoying my Orbi. I have last year’s iPhone (15 pro max with WiFi 6E) so I am using 6Ghz band, but not all the speed capabilities provided by the RBE971.
Hi, I am thrilled to share that shutting off my second satellite fixed my issue! My sincere thanks to you guys! I'm so glad I contacted the NetGear community. Happy Holidays to all. Thanks, Tom
