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Re: Orbi Backhaul Drops

russtncg
Aspirant

Orbi Backhaul Drops

I have spent countless hours researching and testing to very little avail.  I have 1 RBR50 and 3 RBS50s.  I currently have one two sats online as I am trying to minimize channel overlap from being my root cause.

 

My house is a 2 story, approx 4000sqft.  I have the router upstairs in the middle of the house and both satellites downstairs on opposite ends of the house.  Below are the various backhaul tests that contradict one another:

 

Web Interface of Router:
 
Always show "good". (see attachements)
 
Smartphone Application Interface:
Toggles from all green to both satellites orange or red (see attachement)
 
WiFi Commander:
Clearly shows disconnects from both satellites and these correspond with what I see in the app, although the web interface never shows the drops (assuming because of the short duration).
 
Telnet interface backhaul stats:
root@Orbi-Office:/# wlanconfig ath2 list stat
ADDR AID CHAN TXRATE RXRATE RSSI MINRSSI MAXRSSI IDLE TXSEQ RXSEQ CAPS ACAPS ERP STATE MAXRATE(DOT11) HTCAPS ASSOCTIME IEs MODE PSMODE
08:02:8e:92:77:70 2 157 975M 975M 28 25 38 0 0 65535 EPs 0 b 0 AWPSM 02:34:41 RSN WME IEEE80211_MODE_11AC_VHT80 0
3c:37:86:18:c1:15 1 157 780M 975M 27 25 38 0 0 65535 EPs 0 b 0 AWPSM 00:45:42 RSN WME IEEE80211_MODE_11AC_VHT80 0
 
You can clearly see that both satellites are about -67dBi.
 
I've moved satellites all over the place to find the best location.  I have done multiple factory resets.  I've gone through the backhaul sync process multiple times.  I just upgraded to 2.5.3.50.
 
I could use some ideas as I am fresh out. Thanks is advance!
 
 
 
Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 1 of 6
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Orbi Backhaul Drops

What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.

 

What happens if you use just 1 RBS with the RBR? 

 

What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings


@russtncg wrote:

I have spent countless hours researching and testing to very little avail.  I have 1 RBR50 and 3 RBS50s.  I currently have one two sats online as I am trying to minimize channel overlap from being my root cause.

 

My house is a 2 story, approx 4000sqft.  I have the router upstairs in the middle of the house and both satellites downstairs on opposite ends of the house.  Below are the various backhaul tests that contradict one another:

 

Web Interface of Router:
 
Always show "good". (see attachements)
 
Smartphone Application Interface:
Toggles from all green to both satellites orange or red (see attachement)
 
WiFi Commander:
Clearly shows disconnects from both satellites and these correspond with what I see in the app, although the web interface never shows the drops (assuming because of the short duration).
 
Telnet interface backhaul stats:
root@Orbi-Office:/# wlanconfig ath2 list stat
ADDR AID CHAN TXRATE RXRATE RSSI MINRSSI MAXRSSI IDLE TXSEQ RXSEQ CAPS ACAPS ERP STATE MAXRATE(DOT11) HTCAPS ASSOCTIME IEs MODE PSMODE
08:02:8e:92:77:70 2 157 975M 975M 28 25 38 0 0 65535 EPs 0 b 0 AWPSM 02:34:41 RSN WME IEEE80211_MODE_11AC_VHT80 0
3c:37:86:18:c1:15 1 157 780M 975M 27 25 38 0 0 65535 EPs 0 b 0 AWPSM 00:45:42 RSN WME IEEE80211_MODE_11AC_VHT80 0
 
You can clearly see that both satellites are about -67dBi.
 
I've moved satellites all over the place to find the best location.  I have done multiple factory resets.  I've gone through the backhaul sync process multiple times.  I just upgraded to 2.5.3.50.
 
I could use some ideas as I am fresh out. Thanks is advance!
 
 
 

 

Message 2 of 6
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Orbi Backhaul Drops

The ath2 stats show the satellites having pretty normal transmit and receive data rates.  (It's just my predjudice, but I MUCH prefer the web interface to the "app".)

 

Does the "ring light" on the satellites change during these episodes?

 

What led to investigating this situation?  i.e. did devices display "no connection" messages?  How long do these episodes continue?

You appear to be comfortable using technology tools.  Have you considered setting up a "ping" between something connected to the router and something connected to a satellite?  i.e. let it run for a while and see if the ping responses have large gaps?  I like HRPing because it reports in fractions of a ms. Windows ping is OK as well.

Message 3 of 6
russtncg
Aspirant

Re: Orbi Backhaul Drops

The led rings never light up when this occurs. I'll try your suggestion of getting a continuous ping going and watch for packet loss. Given that WiFi analyzer shows the back haul dropping and I can watch the status in the app change when it drops, I haven't questioned the validity. I like your idea though.

On another note, Netgear text support had me put my satellites in the same room, generate a new back haul PSK, and resync and they continued to drop while in the same room.

They are calling and calling me back. I'll update with more info.

Thanks for the suggestions!
Message 4 of 6
russtncg
Aspirant

Re: Orbi Backhaul Drops

I've used the telnet interface 2 properly space my satellites away from the router while maintaining a -65 to -67dbm. So I don't think they are too close not do I think they are too far away. I would estimate that each node is about 30' away from the router.

I live on a 3 acre lot and while I can see one neighbor's SSID, they signal strength is -80dbm so I don't think channel overlap with my neighbors are the issue.

I have the 2.4GHz set manually to channel 6 and the 5GHz set to channel 44.

Using WiFi analyzer, I can verify that those are the best channels and that there isn't a bunch of rogue ssids within range causing problems.

What's interesting is that the router drops the connection to all satellites at the same time, so I'm thinking I may have a hardware issue.

I have tried it with just one satellite but don't recall if I had the same drops. I'll retest that idea and let you know the results.

Thanks for the suggestion.
Message 5 of 6
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Orbi Backhaul Drops

You might as about an RMA...

Message 6 of 6
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