ORBI RBR20 "Radar Detected" makes Wifi dropping

[jandreuservera]

Hi

I have a RBR20 + two RBS20 and I have experienced many wifi drops. It happens without a time o day pattern. Extracting debug information via "debug.htm" page I see the following information that matches in time with the Wifi drops:

...

Radar Detected at [Sun Jun 26 13:32:42 UTC 2022 ] on channels [100,104,108,112]
Radar Detected at [Sun Jun 26 13:32:46 UTC 2022 ] on channels [116,120,124,128]
Radar Detected at [Sun Jun 26 13:32:55 UTC 2022 ] on channels [132,136]
Radar Detected at [Sun Jun 26 13:34:09 UTC 2022 ] on channels [140]

...

When this happens, I think the router changes its 5GHz channels to avoid interferences with radars, using DFS mechanism. It makes a Wifi disconnection.

Digging in the debug information I see on file "wireless-log1.txt" that certain 5GHz channels that the router is using are the ones that conflict with radar:

ath12 IEEE 802.11ac ESSID:"XXXXXX"
Mode:Master Frequency:5.58 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated >>>> It is channel 116 conflicting with radar

Bit Rate:0 kb/s Tx-Power:26 dBm

ath1 IEEE 802.11ac ESSID:"ZZZZZZ"
Mode:Master Frequency:5.58 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated >>>> It is channel 116 conflicting with radar
Bit Rate:0 kb/s Tx-Power:26 dBm

ath2 IEEE 802.11ac ESSID:"ZZZZZZ"
Mode:Master Frequency:5.18 GHz Access Point: 28:80:88:EB:40:FC >>>> It is channel 36 no conflict

Bit Rate:866.7 Mb/s Tx-Power:22 dBm

ath11 IEEE 802.11ac ESSID:"NETGEAR_ORBI_hidden94"
Mode:Master Frequency:5.58 GHz Access Point: 2E:80:88:EB:40:FB >>>> It is channel 116 conflicting with radar
Bit Rate:400 Mb/s Tx-Power:26 dBm

ath21 IEEE 802.11ac ESSID:"XXXXXX"
Mode:Master Frequency:5.18 GHz Access Point: 2E:80:88:EB:40:FC >>>> It is channel 36 no conflict
Bit Rate:866.7 Mb/s Tx-Power:22 dBm

So I think that if I could deactivate the use of 5GHz channels that are in the range of radar (DFS) I could solve this problem:

Anybody knows how to avoid the use of these channels in the router?

Thanks

[jandreuservera · Accepted solution]

As I see stability in the Wifi connection I think the change in Wifi channels has helped or maybe has not been any interferences in the surroundings.

I close the post.

Thanks

[ekhalil]

In Orbi, the DFS channels are only used in the wireless backhaul, that is the wireless interface between the router and the satellites.

To change channels when radar interference is detected is the correct thing to do and according to design. This change should be seemless and you should not see any impact. How do you notice the "wifi drops"? Do you see this on devices connected to both the router and satellites?

[jandreuservera]

I see wifi drops on devices connected to both the router and satellites. These drops are short in time, recovering wifi after 15 seconds aprox., but in occasions it happens again and again during several hours, and it is very annoying. In theory, only devices connected to satellites should feel the impact, but the reality is that all devices lose wifi connection. 

Thanks for your answer

[ekhalil]

Try changing the wifi channels that you use for the 5 GHz as well as for the 2.4 GHz bands. It can be that you have disturbances from the surroundings?

[jandreuservera]

Wifi channels changed:

2.4GHz from 1 to 6

5GHz from 36 to 48

Let's wait several days to check if the wifi is stable. By the way, I see the connections between router and satelites are using 2.4GHz band:

Maybe it will make the configuration completely stable to 5GHz interferences, but at the cost of a lower performance. I would be happy with the stability even if i loose speed of transmission.

Thanks

[jandreuservera · Accepted solution]

As I see stability in the Wifi connection I think the change in Wifi channels has helped or maybe has not been any interferences in the surroundings.

I close the post.

Thanks

[FURRYe38]

Glad you got it working. Be sure to save off a back up configuration to file for safe keeping. Saves time if a reset is needed. 

https://kb.netgear.com/000062080/How-do-I-back-up-the-configuration-settings-on-my-Orbi-WiFi-System

Enjoy. 📡