Detached satellite

ArtLee · ‎2017-06-26

After noticing a low speed at my wife's Mac at the far end of the house, I checked orbilogin and found the satellite was not listed as connected. What happened? I'm not sure how to make them reconnect.

i just recently installed the orbis and so far am not very happy that they don't seem to be very stable. I've been spoiled by my old Apple Extreme router with an Apple Express acting as an extender. I was excited when I got the orbis running and discovered great speed increase at my wife's Mac. Now I'm just about ready to return the orbis.

Disappointed.

st_shaw · ‎2017-06-26

@ArtLee wrote:
Also note the following--Mac OSX devices will NOT roam from AP to AP unless the signal drops way, way, down. It has to go down below -75 dBm.

Did not know that. Thank you...

And, from my testing this morning, I see the sat's message "No Connection" means no device has connected to it. But, it is connected to the router.

I'm testing a new location to see it the flakiness between router and sat gets fixed.

It may be confusing but the Orbi system considers the connection of client "devices" different from the router's connection to the satellites. That's why the satelite is shown in a different table on the router. The satellite is not just anohter cleint "device," it's a special unit connected on the separate 5 GHz dedicated backhaul channel.

If you look closely at the diagram on the satellite status page there are three connections shown there:

1) Router to satellite dedicated backhaul. This is shown on the left of the digram, between the router and sat.

2) 2.4 GHz client connections. This is on the right top of the diagram.

3) 5 GHz client connections. This is on the right bottom of the diagram.

The router-satellite connection is separate from the two client connections and the messages you noted.

Also, unless you have some sort of hardware problem, the flakiness is due to poor signal between the router and the satellite. It's up to you to find a geomtery that provides an adequate signal. If you have plaster, cinderblock, or stone walls, the signal will not travel far. Unfortunately, Orbi provides almost zero information to assist you, other than the blue light.

I'd suggest starting with the router and satellite closer together than you'd perfer, to demonstrate they can maintain a stable connection. Then you can move the satellite farther away in small steps.

View solution in original post

st_shaw · ‎2017-06-26

Try moving the router and satellite so they are closer together, or have fewer walls between. They use 5GHz RF to communicate and it is attenuated by building materials. The fact it worked for a while doesn't mean too much. RF is inherently variable and the units need to have a strong signal to remain stable.

ArtLee · ‎2017-06-26

yes, there are 2 walls between the 2 orbis. In other words, a bedroom between the two. If I move closer it would be out of range of my wife's computer. It would kinda around the corner putting 3 more walls between my wife's office. The house is L-shaped. The signal would be slicing through the walls at almost a parallel angle.

All the devices in the same room as the satellite, the living room, have always connected to the router not the satellite, which I thought strange.

ArtLee · ‎2017-06-26

I tried to sync. Now, I cannot log into 192.168.1.1 or orbilogin. I see a blank page there. For the satellite, I log into 192.168.1.4 and it reports your orbi satellite is up and running. and 2.4 GHZ no connecrtion; 5GHZ no connection. Now what???

I guess I don't know how to sync.

st_shaw · ‎2017-06-26

Once you've establish a router/satellite connection, there should be no need to manually re-sync.

I expect you cannot connect to the router now because your client is connected via WiFi to the sat, and the backhaul connection to the router is not present. (This is the root cause of your problem.)

Move your sat into the same room as your router.

Turn off both units.

Turn on router only. Leave sat off.

Connect your client to the router and login.

Now follow the sync procedure pasted below from the manual.

Once they've syncd once, you can move the satellite and router relative to each other such that you get a stable backhaul.

http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBK50/Orbi_UM_EN.pdf

To sync your satellite:
1. Place your satellite.
For more information, see Place Your Satellite on page 16.

2. Connect the satellite to a power source.

3. If the Power LED on the back of the satellite does not light, press the Power On/Off button.
The satellite ring LED pulses white. The satellite automatically finds the Orbi router’s WiFi signal and attempts to sync to the Orbi router.
The satellite ring LED lights one of the following colors for about three minutes and then turns off:
•Blue. The Orbi router and satellite successfully synced, and the connection between the router and satellite is good.
•Amber. The Orbi router and satellite successfully synced, and the connection between the router and satellite is fair. Consider moving the Orbi satellite closer to the Orbi router.
•Magenta. The Orbi router and satellite failed to sync.

4. If the satellite ring LED is magenta, move the satellite closer to the router and then sync the satellite to the router:
a.Press the Sync button on the back of the router.
b. Within two minutes, press the Sync button on the back of the satellite.
The satellite attempts to sync to the Orbi router. The satellite ring LED lights blue, amber, or magenta as described in Step 3 of this procedure and then turns off.

ArtLee · ‎2017-06-26

Okay, I give up. I synced in the same room, following the docs. Now, an hour later they are either synced or not. The router says the satelite is connected. The satellite says there are no connections. I still have a few days before I hit the 14 day deadline to return to BestBuy...

ArtLee · ‎2017-06-26

Still not sure what's going on. The sat is now15 feet from the router in the same room. I rebooted the router, then connected the sat. The sat went through the startup routine I expected, ending in solid blue. logging in to the router shows sat as a connected device. logging into sat says No Connection for 2.4 and 5 GHz. Does No Connection mean not connected to router, or no wireless device is connected to sat?

st_shaw · ‎2017-06-26

"2.4 GHz No Connection" and "5 GHz No Connection" means no wireless clients are connected to the satellite.

If the satellite came up Blue then it's connected to the router. You can now power down and move the satellite to a different location and it will come up Blue, unless it's too far away from the router.

The 2.4 GHz band of the satellite should penetrate more walls than 5 GHz, so you don't necessarily need the sat in the same room as your wife's computer. The speed will just be a little less on 2.4G than on 5G.

st_shaw · ‎2017-06-26

Also note the following--Mac OSX devices will NOT roam from AP to AP unless the signal drops way, way, down. It has to go down below -75 dBm.

So, if your Mac ever connects to the router, it will stay connected to the router, even if you put a satellite right next to it with a strong signal.

So, you should wait until you have the router and satellite powered up and running, then cycle WiFi OFF then ON on the Mac. This should cause the Mac to connect to the strongest WiFi signal.

ArtLee · ‎2017-06-26

Also note the following--Mac OSX devices will NOT roam from AP to AP unless the signal drops way, way, down. It has to go down below -75 dBm.

Did not know that. Thank you...

And, from my testing this morning, I see the sat's message "No Connection" means no device has connected to it. But, it is connected to the router.

I'm testing a new location to see it the flakiness between router and sat gets fixed.

ArtLee · ‎2017-06-26

The signal from the sat to my wife's computer was fantastic. The sat was about half-way between the router and my wife's computer. Both runs had two walls between.

st_shaw · ‎2017-06-26