I updated to 9.12.5.3 today. Seemed to be working great, but up in our bedroom I’m having the same issue again (this is where it used to happen frequently too—maybe because I’m midway in between two satellites). I also have Private WiFi turned off. Bummer.
Next I may try to factory reset all my units? Or turn off my one wireless satellite.
That’s my problem though.
My home is almost 5,000 sqft, along with a patio in the back where I want good coverage. So, really I’m looking to cover about 6,000 sqft.
It’s a four floor home (including the basement). I currently have my main unit in the basement all the way on the left side of the house, where my 2GB FIOS service comes into the house. On that same side of the house, but 3 floors up (so, on the 3rd floor), I have Ethernet up to my first satellite on wired backhaul. So, those two seem to spread the signal well across that side of the house. Then I have my 2nd satellite wireless backhaul, on the first floor but way on the opposite side of the house. It’s in the location that I think is at the outer boundary of a good signal from the wired main units, and that wireless RBS is in a good spot to spread a strong signal for the right side of the house and main floors, as well as the backyard patio which is off that right side of the house. That wireless unit is one floor up from the basement RBR, and has to be a good 40 feet away. And it’s also that far away at least from the one up on the 3rd floor.
I can try unplugging that wireless unit, but then I’ll likely have much slower coverage over on that side of the house.
Anyway, I’ll take a look at the guide above on placement and see how that goes. Funny thing is I actually bought a 3rd RBS that I previously had connected, but pulled out after I realized it was too much. But what’s in the box really seems like it should work well with my setup.
One issue I see with your system, the RBR in the basement. Basements are not good places for the main RBR unit. Concrete and steel will inhibit good Wi-Fi coverage and travel. Main or 2nd level is best. This maybe why your having some problems and not getting better coverages where you need it.
I agree, which is why one of my suggestions was to test by putting the router in a much more centralized place in the house. It would be easy, without doing a lot of work to just get say a 100 foot Cat 6 or 6e cable to run from the modem to the router, and just run the cable along the floor or whatever, up to the first floor somewhere. And install the router there. Then, see how it works. If that works great, with or without other satellites, then you can plan how to do the wiring properly to relocate the router. If it doesn’t help, then you’re only out the cost of a cable. @0tis
Got it, thanks. I guess I can try that. Seems totally bonkers to me that I need to run wiring all over my house for this, when the whole point of these mesh systems is to give me wireless conveniently. If I wanted CAT6 all over my house I’d have run it! The engineers can’t solve hand off problems and leave me calling in wiring guys?? For whatever it’s worth, with my older gen Orbi systems, the router in the basement (where all my service comes into my house) has never been a problem.
MESH systems do work with wireless connections. Just if there is interferences or blocking materials, this will play a factor in how they operation. Concrete and steel will cause problems regardless of the MESH system.
Just to save you possible time and frustration I have the router and sattelite hard wired together after running cat6 through my attic and walls… it does not solve the handoff problems whatsoever for apple iPhone devices with wifi7 capabilities (iPhone 15 and 16). I’m prob on my 5th beta firmware with engineering without avail but I seem to get a new one to try every few weeks. Would def recommend opening a support ticket id you haven’t so Netgear can see this is a widespread problem impacting one of the most popular phones in the world…
Just curious, has a network settings reset been performed on the phones?
How many RBS are deployed? What is the size of your home? Sq Ft? What is the distance between the router 📡 and satellite(s)🛰️?
@Bpberthiaume wrote: Just to save you possible time and frustration I have the router and sattelite hard wired together after running cat6 through my attic and walls… it does not solve the handoff problems whatsoever for apple iPhone devices with wifi7 capabilities (iPhone 15 and 16). I’m prob on my 5th beta firmware with engineering without avail but I seem to get a new one to try every few weeks. Would def recommend opening a support ticket id you haven’t so Netgear can see this is a widespread problem impacting one of the most popular phones in the world…
As another effort before doing anything drastic, I just factory reset my router and re setting up the network. Maybe that’ll help.
Also, I tired unplugging the third satellite. No bueno. My iphone registers either 2 bars of wifi or even 1 in the furthest room. So, that ain’t gonna cut it. As it stands, when I sit on the couch in the farthest room, I get something like 900MB of wireless service. So it’s rock solid. It’s just somewhere in between the several routers where the firmware craps the bed and can’t figure what to do.
FR may not help with the building materials and the RBR being the the basement. Would be good if you can get it out of the basement area and up on a main level if possible. Just trying to help you get the best placement for the RBR and allow it best chances for good operation and narrow down the issues.
Yup network settings reset on both mine and my wife’s iphone 16 plus.
Home is 4000sq ft - ranch style home - main floor is 2k sq ft, basement is 2k sq ft. Both Router and Sat are on opposite ends of the main floor about ~80ft apart give or take and hardwired via cat6.
WiFi drops occur when the satellite is plugged in - regardless of any beta firmware I’ve been provided. When I unplug the satellite, the WiFi drop issues stop… def isolated when Apple Wifi7 enabled devices are between the router/satellite - constant drops in service occur. I’m being told by Level2 support that ENG is still actively working on beta firmwares to provide me - but just surprised this long standing thread is not getting more traction and faster turnaround on a fix.
Yup network settings reset on both mine and my wife’s iphone 16 plus.
Home is 4000sq ft - ranch style home - main floor is 2k sq ft, basement is 2k sq ft. Both Router and Sat are on opposite ends of the main floor about ~80ft apart give or take and hardwired via cat6.
WiFi drops occur when the satellite is plugged in - regardless of any beta firmware I’ve been provided. When I unplug the satellite, the WiFi drop issues stop… def isolated when Apple Wifi7 enabled devices are between the router/satellite - constant drops in service occur. I’m being told by Level2 support that ENG is still actively working on beta firmwares to provide me - but just surprised this long standing thread is not getting more traction and faster turnaround on a fix.
Will do - i know you’re very active in this forum as well. Would def encourage you to recommend folks open up a support ticket. When i talk to the NG support folks, they all describe this as a ‘very rare’ occurrence and I continue to tell them there is a multi page year long thread on their own support forums of many people dealing w/ this as they upgrade to the latest NG WiFi 7 routers and Wifi7 IPhones - power in numbers 😉
Will do - i know you’re very active in this forum as well. Would def encourage you to recommend folks open up a support ticket. When i talk to the NG support folks, they all describe this as a ‘very rare’ occurrence and I continue to tell them there is a multi page year long thread on their own support forums of many people dealing w/ this as they upgrade to the latest NG WiFi 7 routers and Wifi7 IPhones - power in numbers 😉
Interesting. Sounds like my exact same problem. On far ends of the house where I really can only reach one sat or the router I seem Ok. But in the middle of the house where I have a medium signal from both seems to be where the problem occurs most.
Keep us posted on the firmware. I’d be happy to test it too.
Please also submit and support ticket regarding this as well.
@0tis wrote: Interesting. Sounds like my exact same problem. On far ends of the house where I really can only reach one sat or the router I seem Ok. But in the middle of the house where I have a medium signal from both seems to be where the problem occurs most.
Keep us posted on the firmware. I’d be happy to test it too.
Just FYI for all Apple iPhone users. NG is aware of this issue. Seem that both Apple and NG are at work on this. So please be patient while they work on this. No idea when all this will be resolved. NG may need more logging and information so be ready if needed. Hoping for some beta builds maybe we can help test with. For now, will need to let Apple and NG figure things out.
Well I ran a 100 foot Cat7 line across my basement; drilled a couple of holes and snaked it along the way. I have a cable running along the baseboard which is annoying. I wasn’t able to get it out of the basement but at least it’s at the other end of the basement.
Now both satellites are wired. Still, just came up to my bedroom, and started browsing on the iPhone. The wifi signal got weak (2/3 bars on the iPhone), Internet froze up, then dropped to cellular 5G network before finally reconnecting to another unit with full WiFi strength.
I’m watching it now dip back to 2 WiFi bars while I’m typing this. Annnnd just happened again.
This software is awful at figuring out how to do wifi handoffs.
While at home (I know cellular data must be on when you,re away from wifi) have you tried turning the Cellular Data Setting on your iPhone to “off”?
@0tis , there are so many WiFi signals coming from and going to your Orbi nodes just to make WiFi 7 work, if there are WiFi congestion issues because of node placement or home construction, this could be causing the iPhone to “prefer” cellular data over WiFi data if your WiFi signals are weak at the outer limits of the node coverage.
Also, do you have more than one eSIM activated on the iPhone? If so, do you have different data plans for those lines? I have an iPhone 15 Pro Max with an ATT and Verizon eSIM, each with a data plan. Several iphone 15 models (and I assume some of the iPhone 16 models also) have a Setting option to automatically switch between eSIM data plan's if you do have multiple lines with this Setting turned on.
If your WiFi strength drops, the iPhone will automatically switch to 5G. This switching can be amplified if the iPhone is also switching between eSIM data plans.
Turning off cellular data is not practical and I’m not suggesting this as a permanent fix to keep the Orbi WiFi node from dropping, but try forcing the iPhone to stay in WiFi mode and see how that impacts WiFi 7 signal dropping as you move between Orbi nodes. This will be a good data point for NG and Apple as they work to resolve the issue.
@0tis as @FURRYe38 as said, I know too they are working on this - their engineers are working with Apple, and we have all been supplying logs and other info. If you haven't filed a support ticket, pease do so. The issues are clearly with WiFi 6E and 7 banding. I have done a little checking around other forums, and the other big mesh guys are having issues too. This is no excuse but it is new.
It can be made better by optimal Orbi device placement, but it's still there.
To your point, I have a neighbor with a Orbi 850 and 2 satellites. I re-positioned their satellites a while ago, and their network runs perfectly. They have a Comcast 500/100 plan, and they have 2 iPhone 16 Pro phones (WiFi 7) and at least 1 MacBook Pro M3 (WiFi 6E); so they have ample brand new devices. But, they have no banding issues at all.....because of course, the 850 series doesn't do 6E or 7. All devices connect a good signals/speeds with WiFi 5.
I have been at their house with my iPhone 16, and I get 300-600 Mbps everywhere. Now that's not the 1100-1300 I get in my house with a 970 series, BUT they have never seen a device flip to 5G, or lost internet! And that's with a line coming into their house that is not quite as clean as it should be (they have some old splitters in the basement from a prior owner that should be removed, they cause channel errors on the modem - but nothing they ever see).
So being at the cutting edge has its disadvantages. NG will get this working I am sure - but it can be painful to customers in the interim.
My God, this is the first time I’ve felt like this problem may actually get fixed, and I’m the originator of this thread. Everything in this thread up until now has been posturing and hoop-jumping and “try this” steps which never had any hope of fixing what has obviously been an issue with 6Ghz connectivity.
At this point, I’m not saying that Netgear is off the hook, but I am starting to think this is predominantly an Apple issue with their WiFi 6E and 7 implementation. HOPEFULLY they can fix it with a firmware or driver update for their WiFi chip. I’ve seen MANY people from various mesh providers, including Ubiquiti AP setups, complaining that the latest Apple devices with WiFi 6E and 7 simply do not work properly with 6Ghz WiFi, at least when dead center between access points/mesh nodes.
Of course, the only people who really have the power to let Apple know are Netgear and the other manufacturers themselves. Everything else just devolves into finger pointing, and it’s usually at the customer.
I’ll be quietly waiting for this to get fixed. I simply don’t have time to jump through a thousand tech support hoops, or to be a beta tester right now.
@mapotter99 what version of FW and Orbis (970, 850, etc.)? Are you on? I am on 970 series with the latest production FW 9.12.5.3 (verify you have it - they don't always auto-download), and the flipping has been much better on that FW. I am keeping a log, and on my iPhone (WiFi 7) and iPad (Wifi 6), I have had 6 flips to 5G/cellular since Dec 28 - that I have noticed. It's probably a smaller number as I know where they happen and I avoid those spots in the house. All of them recovered and went back to WiFi within 2 minutes, no user intervention needed. Also, I have not had any of the problem where the device shows it's on WiFi but has no internet connection; I am confident to say that one was fixed in 9.12.5.3..
Like you too, I did some checking a few weeks ago, and I saw every mesh system I checked on, has similar issues in their forum.
I say all that because there are probably 2 things at play.
1) Some of us have heard informally from reliable sources that Netgear and Apple have been working on this together! So imho it's likely a problem that can only be 100% squashed from both of their efforts. But they are working hard on it.
2) When they do get to that point, imho there will still be customers with issues - because mesh systems rely on proper placement of the network devices, otherwise issues occur. My experience on these forums, especially over the last few years, is people WAY overbuy the number of devices for their houses; they don't check WiFi dBm signal strength with free Windows/Mac apps, to ensure there are not major over saturation spots in the house (which can be as bad or worse than dead spots). Think about this, the 970 series is rated at 3300 sq. feet per device (may get less coverage due to layout, construction materials, etc.) But, even our Netgear contacts have said we have to get this fixed and verified by users who have proper placement, so then we know if there are banding issues, it's a config problem and we can help the user correct it.
(BTW we have also been pitching for some better diagnostics in the Orbis to help users with placement - imagine if one day the Orbis could inform users "this is not an optimal placement of device, too close to device xxxx' - that would be great!!!)
So if you can live with it, it's good to be patient - me too. I know those spots where the 5G flip will happen and I avoid them. I don't walk around a lot when on phone calls. I can make it work until the next FW update!
That said - the speeds and coverage - the wifi speeds further away from an Orbi - wow. This is AWESOME hardware, and if/when the firmware catches up....
Re: New - RBE970 / RBE971 Firmware Version 9.12.5.3 (for NA Region Only)
Why was the iPhone thread locked, and my most recent comment deleted?
My last reply was quite lengthy, explained in detail my home setup, and pointed out that 6ghz has reduced range compared to 5ghz and 2.4ghz, which has not been discussed with regards to all the folks saying to just spread out your nodes more.
I know the reply by someone ahead of mine was perceived as a personal attack. I made no such personal attack, but I admit I am not happy about the state of all this, how long it is taking to fix, the lack of transparency around it, and the hoops we are being asked to jump through to resolve it.
Re: New - RBE970 / RBE971 Firmware Version 9.12.5.3 (for NA Region Only)
Just to clear up my previous post, it was posted in the most recent firmware post, NOT here. An admin must have unlocked this thread and moved it here.
At the time, this thread was locked, and three comments had been deleted. One appeared to be a personal attack, one was someone getting defensive, and one was another reply from me.
I am NOT typing it again. I was a long post, and I spent a good 15 minutes writing it.
I’ve put far more time than I have available into beta testing this broken product.
I can’t wait to toss it in a dumpster and leave Netgear behind.
