Satellite Issues since Orbi 2.0 upgrade

[djc6]

I purchased an RBK53 from Costco over a year ago, in early November 2016.  It had been problem free up until I believe the Orbi 2.0 update.

The first thing I noticed was all of a sudden in the middle of the night, the RBS50 in my bedroom would light up.  Maybe once or twice a week now I am woken up by the lights on this thing, and it never ever lit up before.  When I'd log in, I'd see the satellite was connected with 2.4Ghz which it never did in the previous year.  I disabled "Daisy-Chain Topology" and that 2.4Ghz problem went away.

However, the ring light still randomly come on now.  I sometimes catch a magenta ring briefly for a second, then the ring turns blue and stays that way for as many as 10-15 minutes.  If I log into the Orbi mgmt interface, there are no useful log entries to indicate what happened. 

Additionally, my iPhone 6S+ or iPad Pro 9.7" - they often get an excellent signal via the Orbi Satellite - all bars, but I can't access anything.  If I flip the iOS device to airplane mode and back, I can reconnect and things work fine for while / until tomorrow.

Additional troubleshooting I've done:

• Using speedtest.net I get great speeds when connected to satellite - usually 350Mbps down and 33Mbps up - I am paying for Cox 300/30 tier.  So it seems I'm getting good speeds.
• I've run an iperf server on a desktop plugged into the RBR50 router and ran iperf client on iOS devices - I get even faster speeds testing only the intranet connection.
• I've never moved the Orbi units since their original placement a year ago.
• I've performed scans to check for interference from my neighbor's wifi, but our homes are pretty spread out and I often can't see other networks except in certain corners of the house.  I see nothing else on 5Ghz except Roku Wi-Fi direct remote in basement.  Satellite in question on 2nd floor.

Any ideas?  I used to love my Orbi so much because of how hands free it was.  The first 10-11 months were awesome, I convinced two of my friends to get buy Orbi three packs.  But it has not been problem free since Orbi 2.0 upgrade.

[st_shaw]

Move the units so the satellites are closer to the router. The 2.0 FW requires a closer proximity for stable connection.

[RobBass]

Ughh these are not good answers why is 2.0 bug riddled... and why is Netgear ignoring tons of posts about how bad 2.x is

[st_shaw]

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@RobBass wrote:

Ughh these are not good answers why is 2.0 bug riddled... and why is Netgear ignoring tons of posts about how bad 2.x is

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There is nothing written about bugs in this thread.  2.0 is not bug riddled.  Orbi is wireless and wireless signals can vary from hour-to-hour.  It is the user's responsibility to place the units in a location where they can obtain a stable wireless signal.

[RobBass]

I don't believe an update should cause things to have to be physicaly moved... and even if this is the case, is it captured somehere?  I don't buy it, I have had incredibly slow wifi issus with 2.x which 1.x mostly solved, all things equal.

[st_shaw]

The 2.0 firmware reduced the range between the satellites and router compared to the older firmware revisions.

You should ignore the old firmware.  It's old and you cannot use it because Orbi will auto-update.

If you want to get your Orbi to work, you should start with your Orbi units closer together and establish that everything is working properly first.  You also need to make sure the rest of your network is confgured properly:

• Make sure you have only one router on the network. If you put Orbi behind another router you need to run Orbi in access point mode.
• Make sure you turn off WiFi on your old modem or router, if you still have one in service.
• Get rid of any old WiFi extenders or other wireless access points.
• Don't put any other wireless devices (Sonos, wireless speakers, Hue bridges, phones, Bluetooth, etc.) close to the Orbi units.
• Run a WiFi scanning application and look for neighboring access points that might interfere with Orbi.

Once you have established that your network is configured and working properly, you can experiment with moving the Orbi units farther apart. The maximum separtion might be 25 to 50 feet, depending on the construction in your house.  Understand that if you move the Orbi router and satellite too far apart, or have too many walls between, you will have intermittent issues.

[RobBass]

I wasted most of my evening troubleshooting with the new 2.X firmware, today wifi speeds are in the 260-310 range and not 20-100 like yesterday, so I am very hesistant to upgrade the firmware.  The firmware has some issues just do a Google search the results will speak for themselves, one simple example is the QoS page does not work, it prompts you to do a speedtest over and over and does not show you any options once the speedtest has finished.  I will give it one more shot this weekend and if the issues return with 2.x, I will return it, I hate when I have to constantly tinker with a product to get it to work.

My house is not that big, and the router and sat. are most defintely with 20 feet or so, its an open floorplan so no many walls besides the 1st story cieling.

I think I had my expectations too high given the rave reviews but I guess when it comes to WiFi YMMV.

[koregan123]

Is this official advice? (Ie dont place a hue bridge or sonos bridge near an orbi) - i have both plugged into my orbi (Rbr50) and am having horrible problems with this now but only recently

is there a list of compatible devices anywhere? I had zero issue wih either hue or sonos since purchasing he orbi but its gotten bad recently with the sattelite intermittently not working and internet connection being dropped all the time) - maybe this is the issue

if so im not happy as i spent a lot of money on this product and clearly im not going to throw my sonos setup away

[koregan123]

Is this official advice? (Ie dont place a hue bridge or sonos bridge near an orbi) - i have both plugged into my orbi (Rbr50) and am having horrible problems with this now but only recently since 2.x firmware update

is there a list of compatible devices anywhere? I had zero issue with either hue or sonos since purchasing he orbi but its gotten bad recently with the sattelite intermittently not working and internet connection being dropped all the time) - maybe this is the issue

if so im not happy as i spent a lot of money on this product and clearly im not going to throw my sonos setup away

[koregan123]

Sorry for additional question but Do you need to setup AP mode for a router whihv has been setup in modem mode? I tried this and nothing connected at all

sorry to sound dumb but whats the difference between a modem and a router setup in modem mode with no wifi (in my case a virgin media hub 3.0) 

i have orbi working intermittently with hub3.0 in modem mode and orbi in router mode - the signal keeps dropping and so does the internet connection between orbi and modem. Set orbi to AP modd and there is no access at all

[webminster]

I have no direct experience with the VM Hub, but quick look at documentation suggests "modem mode" disables its router functions and turns it into the same thing as "just a cable modem".   AP mode on the Orbi requires an upstream router to function - the Orbi will use the router for LAN DHCP, and forward WAN (Internet) traffic to it.  If there is no upstream router, the Orbi needs to be in router mode to assume those functions, and use the upstream modem to interface to the cable/DSL/whatever provider.

Short, Orbi AP mode with a modem shouldn't work, as you've found.

[FURRYe38]

Whats the Mfr name and model# of the ISP modem? 

IF the modem has a built in router, the recommended mode would be fully bridged if thats possible with your modem. Some modems can be bridged and turned in to just a modem with out the router features. Then the Orbi router can be used in Router mode. If it can't some modem/router combo units have a DMZ. Use this for the IP address the Orbi router gets from the modem. Use this and you can still maintain the Orbi router in Router mode. 

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@koregan123wrote:

Sorry for additional question but Do you need to setup AP mode for a router whihv has been setup in modem mode? I tried this and nothing connected at all

sorry to sound dumb but whats the difference between a modem and a router setup in modem mode with no wifi (in my case a virgin media hub 3.0) 

i have orbi working intermittently with hub3.0 in modem mode and orbi in router mode - the signal keeps dropping and so does the internet connection between orbi and modem. Set orbi to AP modd and there is no access at all

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[koregan123]

Its a Virgin Media Hub 3.0 which i believe is an oem/rebadged Arris Telephony Gateway (according to the box it came in)

[FURRYe38]

Does the sticker give any sort of model # by chance? 

Possible it's this: Arris TG2492

If it is, please review this:

http://badmodems.com/Forum/app.php/badmodems

So to make the ISP modem combo work with the Orbi Router, try the DMZ on the modem and input the IP address the Orbi router gets on it's WAN port into the DMZ. I would set up a IP address reservation ON the modem for the Orbi router. 

[koregan123]

Yes that model number is listed on the sticker

could you just expand a little more about how i specificslly do what youve suggested - sorry im not a real network tekkie

thanks a lot 

[FURRYe38]

Ok,

You have a router already thats built in to the modem. Then you have the Orbi router. Having to routers on the same network can cause problems. This is called a double NAT condition:

Link>http://www.practicallynetworked.com/networking/fixing_double_nat.htm and http://computer.howstuffworks.com/nat.htm

Using the DMZ on the modem helps with this while still using the two routers on the same network:

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Networking-101-The-DMZ-137550

Some modems can't be fully bridged to allow the public IP address to pass thru to the external connected router, such as the Orbi router. In this cases, one solution for this is to try the DMZ on the modem router combo. 

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@koregan123wrote:

Yes that model number is listed on the sticker

could you just expand a little more about how i specificslly do what youve suggested - sorry im not a real network tekkie

thanks a lot 

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