Orbi Experience - (RBK50) AC3000

[Miketr]

Just wanted to share my experience with the Orbi.  I originally purchased it because we have several wireless security cameras around the house -also outside so I was hoping for stronger/more stable signals etc. As well as our typical cell phones (Samsung Verizon S8 / S8+) 

After a bit of a hassle setting up the entire system since the IP was changed, the Netgear technical support person was able to get me up and running completely. (she was very nice and polite btw) I checked the speeds throughout the house and was pleasantly suprised.  Butttt it only was a matter of minutes before me and my wifes S8's both lost Wi-FI connection.. and regained.. and lost.. and regained.. you get the point.  The connection was completely unstable etc.  So I called Netgear- they suggested setting up the 'guest' option bla bla.. soo I asked the person "So.. I spent $350, only to have the system work as if I don't have the sattelites anymore, because I can't connect to them and stay stable?" haha.. to the forums I went and saw hundreds having the same issues..

They don't know when it would be fixed, they said "We are working with Samsung, we know it's an issue etc." - Which hey, I am glad to hear they admit there is an issue.  

Returned the item - no point in having a very expensive product that does not work as intended.  If they ever fix the issues, whether it be firmware, through Netgear or Samsung I will probably repurchase.  But for now I still see all the ongoing threads of issues all over.  Perhaps I will try another Brand of 'mesh' networking..we shall see.

My 2 cents.

Mike

[jdpg2]

Miketr,

I was having the same experience after upgradeing to 1.12 firmware.  But i found that once i did a factory reset and repaired the satelite afterwards all of my drop issues have been resolved on my S8+.  Others have posted that this seems to sort out some of the issues.

2 more cents

[Stkasm]

are you saying you have stable s8 connectivity now when both satelites have comparable signal or it needs to roam?  Many of us did full reset and re-paired the satellites only to confirm that S8 issue persists

[jdpg2]

Here is my current setup

• Firewall Router (Untangle u25)  ip  XXX.XXX.X.1
• 16 port switch
• Orbi RBK50+RBS50 in AP Mode  (IP XXX.XXX.X.2 & XXX.XXX.X.3)

After the 1.12.0.18 update (straight from the FW it shipped with)  i was getting intermitet drops on my S8+.  I then proceeded to do a hard reset which defaulted ip back to standard but maintained the 1.12.0.18 FW.  I then reconfigured and havent had any issues since.  I have no issues roaming around my home without dropping the connection.  As a matter of fact i am going to pick up another sat for one dead spot out towards my garage.

[jdpg2]

Oh just to add

1. I have generated my own Backhaul Password
2. I have set my 2.4 and 5 Ghz channels to available unsaturated channels in my nieghborhood  (detected using WiFi Analyzier)
3. Enable Impicit Beamforming set to OFF
4. Enable MU-MIMO set to ON

[Stkasm]

Which variation of S8 do you have? Carier / Patch level, Baseband, Kernel, Build 

[Miketr]

Hi Jd- yes actually we went through that entire process with netgear on the phone, and it did nothing.  I have verizon-- S8+, apparently there may have been some recent fixes, but did not fix for all carriers?  

This was as of 8/13 as well, so pretty recently.  I will wait to see all the other posts about the same issue say 'fixed for all!' before I invest money back into the product.

[jdpg2]

Verizon

July 1 2017

G955SQU1AQG4

4.4.16

[jdpg2]

Are any of you running in AP mode?  Maybe thats the difference?

[Miketr]

Jd- I have no idea honestly.  All I know is as of Sunday they confirmed there has not been a fix for the wifi disconnect issues outside of setting up the guest fix.  But there are definitely dozens of others who have tried messing with that with no success that have the android platform S8

[Stkasm]

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@jdpg2 wrote:

Are any of you running in AP mode?  Maybe thats the difference?

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So, yes, we are running the same firmware. I have VZW S8 (not plus) but FW / Baseband and patch levels are the same. My setup:

EdgeMax router -> Orbi RBK50 + one extra satelite, AP mode, S8 is freaking out. I can reproduce it 100% going to certain places in the house. To highlight, S8 doesn't disconnect (you can see it in wifi log), it just stops communicating and displays 'Internet may not be available' message. In my debug log from Orbi I see a lot of messages about band steering and cool down timeouts for my S8 MAC.

Switching the phone to Orbi guest network, same Orbi equipment, same bands, same encryption, "Allow communication with internal devices" is checked on - everything works perfectly with no issues. I have implicit beamforming turned ON I believe. 

[jdpg2]

Just reviewd my Untangle and Orbi logs and have no error messages related to my S8 or any wireless devices on my network.  I have around 30 devices connected to my network at anyone time about half are wireless.  zero issues.  I would be very interesed to understand why mine works and others dont.  I guess we will see what they do in the next patch, it very confusing that the guest network works for you and no the primary, it just vlan running the the same hardware.

[jdpg2]

Alos one question, you mentioned it freaking out when you were in certain locations?  Are you equidistant from the AP's when it happens?

[Miketr]

JD- What carrier is your S8 with?  I believe some users said they received updates recently on some providers where it may have fixed the issue but others did now.

[Stkasm]

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@jdpg2 wrote:

Alos one question, you mentioned it freaking out when you were in certain locations?  Are you equidistant from the AP's when it happens?

---

Yep, that's the easiest way of reproducing it. There are also other scenarios when it happens.

The chain of events:

1) Go to a place where 5G signal gets weak and you have two APs in sight with more or less equal signal

2) Watch the phone switching to 2.4G band, after short period of time I start seeing "Internet may not be available"

3) By checking Orbi debug logs, which can be obstained from debug.htm page, I see the attempts to switch to a different AP or band

I did try to to disable AP / band steering via telnet. It made no difference. I wasn't sure it actually worked but had no time to do the debug exercise again.