Orbi RBK23 LAN Connections Fail Cross-Satelites

[Pinkleton]

Firmware Version: V2.2.1.210
Bought the three pack (RBR20 with two RBS20) on Amazon and I have this certain odd issue. It seems like LAN IP addresses are not being passed through within the three satelites when using WiFi backhaul. Creating new ethernet runs around my house and switching to ethernet backhaul has resolved all my issues, but I still wanted to report this problem somewhere to make it known. Tested within Windows, Android, and Ubuntu. Devices that were seen to be unaccessable via LAN were running Linux (HDHomeRun Connect), FreeNAS (Nginx), and Windows (Apache), but is presumed to occur on all devices.

Basically, if a device is connected over WiFi to Satelite-1 when my system is using WiFi backhaul, it can access LAN devices on Satelite-1, but not those found on Satelite-2 or Satelite-3. This situation exists vice-versa across all satelites. This problem is temporarly resolved by restarting my Orbi system, but will eventually re-occur. Also, a rather bad work around is turning off WiFi and moving the device closer to the intended Orbi Satelite before turning WiFi back on. This is a serious problem that severely breaks the functionality of the Orbi RBK22 system for anyone that is using LAN functionality within the Orbi's intended use case. This issue may or may not be related to the LAN ports on the Orbi satelites, as all devices exihibiting problematic behavior were wired over Ethernet. I did not attempt replicating this issue with WiFi LAN devices that were connected long-term to the Orbi system.

Also, I have another complaint. RBK23 is not considered a valid selectable option within the Netgear Community forums in the "Model Selection". As such, this post will be made under RBK22.

[ekhalil · Accepted solution]

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@Pinkleton wrote:

All satelites were using WiFi backhaul when the issue occurs. I did not attempt disabling daisy chain to resolve the issue, but if that truly was the cause then I would most definitely consider this a firmware related issue that needs resolving from Netgear.

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Yes, I agree. Daisy Chain has some bugs today, also handling of wired devices in Orbi has some glitches that need to be solved.

I really hope that Netgear will fix those issues in the coming releases.

[ekhalil]

I assume here that you’re using Orbi in Router Mode?
My guess is that the wired devices are getting their IP addresses fron your ISP router and not from Orbi.
Please make sure that your ISP router is bridged if you want to keep Orbi in Router Mode.

[Pinkleton]

The Orbi is the only DHCP server in the house. Upstream to the Orbi would only be my modem.

[ekhalil]

When you got the connectiivity issue did you have a mix of wired and wireless backhaul satellites? There are reported issues affecting wired devices when you have a mix of wired and wireless backhaul. Please see here: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/NETGEAR-Orbi-AC3000-satellite-LAN-ports-stopped-working/m-p/16.... A workaround to solve this issue is to disable Daisy Chain. Do you have Daisy Chain enabled? Please test to disable it and see if that helps.

[Pinkleton]

All satelites were using WiFi backhaul when the issue occurs. I did not attempt disabling daisy chain to resolve the issue, but if that truly was the cause then I would most definitely consider this a firmware related issue that needs resolving from Netgear.

[ekhalil · Accepted solution]

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@Pinkleton wrote:

All satelites were using WiFi backhaul when the issue occurs. I did not attempt disabling daisy chain to resolve the issue, but if that truly was the cause then I would most definitely consider this a firmware related issue that needs resolving from Netgear.

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Yes, I agree. Daisy Chain has some bugs today, also handling of wired devices in Orbi has some glitches that need to be solved.

I really hope that Netgear will fix those issues in the coming releases.

[Pinkleton]

Putting the above reply as the accepted answer, as I would argue this is a firmware issue that needs resolving from Netgear.