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Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Arjan1000
Guide

Bad connection to IOS devices

On every IOS device I see the full strong wifi signal. But when using the internet on these devices it takes a very long time to connect. This is visible with the ios-icon next to the wifi-icon as the spinning wheel is presented every time. 

 

Is this the current way of working or is this something that I can influence with settings on the ios devices or in the orbi?

Model: Orbi High-Performance AC3000 Tri-Band WiFi System (RBK50)
Message 1 of 27

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Same with mine.  All my devices are fine, apart from iOS where browsing or playing videos from any app can be really poor with what looks like buffering.  I'm using an iPhone 7 and iPad Pro 12"

Message 2 of 27

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Same with mine.  All my devices are fine, apart from iOS where browsing or playing videos from any app can be really poor with what looks like buffering.  I'm using an iPhone 7 and iPad Pro 12"

Message 3 of 27
DarrenM
Sr. NETGEAR Moderator

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Are you on the latest firmware 1.4.0.34? I know I had people report of these issues on the .18 firmware.

 

DarrenM

Message 4 of 27
JMU1998
Luminary

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Many of us are facing same issue and is mentioned in many threads.  I have been able to mitigate this to an extent by rolling back to 1.4.0.16 with a factory reset. PLEASE bring this to Engineering attention this same issue started in 1.4.0.18 and persist in 1.4.0.34 as well along with random drops in wifi, some are patiently waiting new Firmware while others have given up to try competitors products sadly, Orbi is a very powerful machine just needs a stable Firmware.

Message 5 of 27
Arjan1000
Guide

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Thanks for the replys. My rma time is almoat gone that's why i returned the product. Still think it's a very good product but unfortunately not on this moment. Will try again in a couple of months with jopefully better results
Message 6 of 27
DarrenM
Sr. NETGEAR Moderator

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Hello JMU1998

 

I have informed engineering of the threads with speed and disconnect issues and it is being worked on.

 

DarrenM

Message 7 of 27
brasax
Apprentice

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Just bought Orbi and using it for a week or so. 

 

I'm facing the same problems with disconnects. My iPad Mini 2 connected in 10 hours 97 times as I wrote here already. Same is happening with other iOS devices. Also sometimes my iPhone 7 just looses the connection and falls back to cellular for a minute and reconnects. This is really a big issue as this can cause problems for people not having big data plans. 

 

Another important thing is that the logs from Orbi does not show to which network (2.4 or 5 Ghz) and to router/satellite the device was connected. 

 

Please get this issue fixed asap!!

Message 8 of 27
Mikey94025
Hero

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

brasax, for now you can go to this URL (posted by someone else recently) and see which devices are connected to which router/satellite and by 2.4/5 Ghz: http://orbilogin.net/DEV_show_device.htm

 

Message 9 of 27
dekka007
Apprentice

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

A distinct lack of Netgear support reps on here.   They all seemed to vanish as soon it was noted the Orbi has multiple issues.

 

The firmware update is overdue to address and an update on its availability is required from Netgear.....

Message 10 of 27

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

try setting 2.4 gig to something other than auto channel wise 

 

disable beamforming and mu-mimo 

 

 

Message 11 of 27
brasax
Apprentice

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Thanks for the link. Why is this not in the interface directly shown? 

 

The link shows only if wireless or ethernet, but not the 2.4/5 Ghz. 

 

@peteytesting

 

I turned the stuff off, but did not help. I will set a channel instead of auto and see how it goes.. 

Message 12 of 27
brasax
Apprentice

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

I tried the link, but what the heck is Netgear doing? The first time the link shows old data (devices which are switched off). If I click on refresh, the link is changing to http://192.168.1.1/DEV_show_device_basic.htm so I have to change the link again. Reloading the page has no effect at all.. 

 

@peteytesting

Set a channel and it did not help. I'm in conact with the support to get the things sorted out hopefully. Interestingly they were not aware of any iOS issues at all.. They do not read here I guess.. 

Message 13 of 27
DarrenM
Sr. NETGEAR Moderator

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Hello brasax

 

It is known that customers are having issues with IOS devices disconnecting with orbi and engineers are working on the issue I just do not have any ETAs on Firmware releases.

 

DarrenM

Message 14 of 27
brasax
Apprentice

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Hi DarrenM,

 

good to know that you are aware of this issue and at least working on it. If you need additional informations like log files, I can provide them.

 

But there is also a problem with the log-files: I have set that I get every day at 8 am the log-files via mail. But In the most cases the logs are not complete, only 16 hours and not 24hrs as I would expect.. Any ideas?

 

brasax

Message 15 of 27
DarrenM
Sr. NETGEAR Moderator

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Hello brasax 

 

I will have to test this out see if I can replicate this and report it to the engineers.

 

DarrenM

Message 16 of 27

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Same with mine. All my devices are fine, apart from iOS where browsing or playing videos from any app can be really poor with what looks like buffering. I'm using an iPhone 7 and iPad Pro 9,7" or iT Will drop WiFi signal.
Message 17 of 27
Tingyunliu
Star

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

do we have any update on this issue?

Model: Orbi High-Performance AC3000 Tri-Band WiFi System (RBK50)
Message 18 of 27
DarrenM
Sr. NETGEAR Moderator

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

NETGEAR is aware of an issue affecting some users where wireless client devices frequently disconnect/reconnect from the Orbi WiFi network. We’re actively working on the issue and hope to have a solution soon.

 

DarrenM

Message 19 of 27
Txlaw2002
Initiate

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Has this been resolved? I just installed my orbi and having disconnect problems with all of my ios devices. Multiple iphones and ipads. Getting ready to return a go to google wifi. Please update the status
Message 20 of 27
Tingyunliu
Star

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

My log showed that the satellite tried to reconnect frequently. I then change the satellite location. My disconnect situation was improved dramatically (very rarely now). Hopefully, this could help some people.
Message 21 of 27
Igott
Star

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Any updates here, this is crazy and there are plenty of other options in the maker, if it doesn't get fixed soon I'm returning my units and the 3 unit setup I installed at my parents home....
Message 22 of 27
DarrenM
Sr. NETGEAR Moderator

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Hello Igott

 

No update engineers are still working on this issue.

 

DarrenM

Message 23 of 27
rhester72
Virtuoso

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

Not speaking for Netgear, but as someone who was in this game for many years, I can tell you that it's not a simple issue.

 

Every vendor - Netgear, Asus, Linksys, D-Link, you name it - uses off-the-shelf SoC (System-on-a-Chip) parts for the core, which includes the wireless radios.  The drivers for said radios are provided by the SoC vendors, which are typically in unmodifiable binary-only form (ostensibly to prevent reverse-engineering and intellectual property theft, though that's a very dubious excuse).

 

When an issue like this is discovered, it means a few important things:

 

- Any other vendor using that SoC is likely facing the same issue (and indeed, diconnect issues abound, with eero, Velop, and others who used off-the-shelf chips)

- Even after the vendor can reproduce the problem reliably and consistently (not as easy as it sounds, given the convoluted nature of wireless and the myriad types of client devices and chips and drivers!), they are almost always entirely powerless to mitigate it.  The only thing they can do then is escalate to the SoC manufacturer, hope they listen and acknowledge the issue, and that they have enough leverage with them to force a driver-level fix or SoC microcode update to correct it (because if it's a chip-level issue, field repairs obviously aren't going to happen).  This generally requires lots of discussion, negotiation, and threats of losing future business before anything material comes of it, which can take months to years depending on the situation.

 

Yes, it's a crappy place to be, for all companies, but it's the way it is.  If any company wanted to produce their own custom SoC, they could, and then they'd have full control and latitude to provide their own fixes...and having to manage foundry partners, small yields, a tremendously larger engineering support staff, much slower time-to-market, and the costs will be passed along accordingly.  Would you pay $1000 for Orbi, and wait for 2018 for it to come to market, being bypassed by every other major player in the industry?  No?  Me, either.  That's why all the major vendors do more or less the same thing and face more or less the same problems.

 

There's also the issue of a very small number of SoC makers to choose from - it's an incredibly niche, low-volume market as a whole (mobile devices excluded), which is another reason you'll find common issues across devices from different manufacturers...typically, the SoC defect spans all chips and platforms for a specific type (for example, AC3200).

 

In the past, the 'fix' was to admit defeat that the SoC maker is never going to acknowledge the (very obvious) issue, much less correct it in-market, and lo and behold, a couple of years later the next iteration of hardware will come out with an updated SoC that offers more speed and - more importantly - fixes to past connectivity issues, forcing anyone still using the older platform to upgrade just for the stability.  As crappy and profit-driven as that may sound, the vendor's hands are tied...if the chip doesn't work as it should, what should they do?  Switch makers and retool their entire surrounding design in the middle of a production run?  Bow out of the market and offer refunds to everyone who purchased the product, probably going out of business in the process?

 

As if all this weren't bad enough, the mobile SoC manufacturers (mostly cell phones and tablets, though some laptops as well) - especially those that don't rhyme with Pintel - are even worse about adhering to (often poorly written and thought-out) wireless standards, which compounds the problem (see: Apple).

 

We all went through this with the transition from 802.11b to 802.11g, then from 802.11g to 802.11n.  802.11ac has been somewhat smoother, but hardly flawless...and it's a vicious cycle that will never end until product manufacturers have much more control over the SoCs they use.  Given it's been this way for over a decade, I don't anticipate it getting better any time soon.

 

I'm not defending Netgear (or any other product manufacturer), just trying to offer a bit of an "insider" view on what really goes on in industrial wireless product engineering and the awful-but-unavoidable downstream impact it can have on consumers.  Given Netgear's target audience and sensitivity to price points, they really have no viable option other than to go with the same SoCs everyone else uses and the same growing pains that result.

 

Welcome to wireless, kids!  Ain't it fun?  😃

 

Rodney

Message 24 of 27
Tingyunliu
Star

Re: Bad connection to IOS devices

great write-up and insight.  but could you explain why some people claimed that there were no issues for their previous models, e.g. Nighthawk X6?  just curicous...

Message 25 of 27
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