Satellite Non-stop Disconnecting During Gaming

[bisu-fan]

This has been an issue on and off for a few months (upgrading the firmware helped alleviate the issue when it was most prevalent this summer), but this past month, my second satellite will disconnect with the magenta ring for 5-15 seconds before turning blue again. This is absolutely infuriating while gaming but also pretty disappointing while normal browsing, as many pages have stopped loading and downloads having to be restarted. When it's just browsing the internet, the satellite is absolutely fine, but whenever I try playing games, it starts acting up. I counted and in a 20 minute game, i disconnected 7 times each for around 10 seconds before the ring turned blue again. 

Upon some research online to see if anyone else has run into this issue, I saw some other advice. I've turned off MIMO, beamforming, daisy chaining, none of which has helped. Does anyone else have any ideas of what I can do? Thanks

[ekhalil]

This software seems to have issues with some wired devices. If you have any mesh speakers (e.g. Sonos) wired to Orbi, please test to disconnect them and see if you will see improvements.

Wired Sonos seem to cause IP loops over time which will degrade the system performance and will consequently cause different "strange" issues.

[clammerds]

@ekhalil,

Are you saying that we'll get less issues and it works better if Sonos connects wirelessly to the Orbi rather than either a) wired or b) Sonos Boost (which is how mine are currently connected)?

Thanks in advance for your reply,

[FURRYe38]

What FW is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem the NG router is connected too?

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials.

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?

If you updated to recent FW v.210, try enabling Daisy Chain. Some have mentioned that this seems to be working in reverse order, enabling means disabled actually.
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Firmware-2-2-1-210-and-connection-problems-Skybell/m-p/1649275...

---

@bisu-fan wrote:

This has been an issue on and off for a few months (upgrading the firmware helped alleviate the issue when it was most prevalent this summer), but this past month, my second satellite will disconnect with the magenta ring for 5-15 seconds before turning blue again. This is absolutely infuriating while gaming but also pretty disappointing while normal browsing, as many pages have stopped loading and downloads having to be restarted. When it's just browsing the internet, the satellite is absolutely fine, but whenever I try playing games, it starts acting up. I counted and in a 20 minute game, i disconnected 7 times each for around 10 seconds before the ring turned blue again. 

Upon some research online to see if anyone else has run into this issue, I saw some other advice. I've turned off MIMO, beamforming, daisy chaining, none of which has helped. Does anyone else have any ideas of what I can do? Thanks

---

[ekhalil]

---

@clammerds wrote:

@ekhalil,

Are you saying that we'll get less issues and it works better if Sonos connects wirelessly to the Orbi rather than either a) wired or b) Sonos Boost (which is how mine are currently connected)?

Thanks in advance for your reply,

---

@clammerds Yes, according to my experience, I'm having a better and much more stable Orbi system when I disconnected all my wired speakers and connected them wirelessly instead.

[clammerds]

Thanks @ekhalil for the clarification.

I'll change mine to Wifi and see if it improves stability.

Let's hope that they release a firmware soon that allows everything to play nicely. I feel slightly miffed that I've paid a premium price for a product that has so many issues. 

[FURRYe38]

Youll need to contact the Mfrs of your speakers for updates and additional information on issues with connections with there product. It's not NG  duty to correct other device Mfrs issues. This is not the first time there have been issues with SONOs causing problems on Orbi's and other Mfr wifi routers. 

---

@clammerds wrote:

Thanks @ekhalil for the clarification.

I'll change mine to Wifi and see if it improves stability.

Let's hope that they release a firmware soon that allows everything to play nicely. I feel slightly miffed that I've paid a premium price for a product that has so many issues. 

---

[clammerds]

Thanks for your reply @FURRYe38.

I have been speakling with Sonos and given regular diagnostics for them to look at but have not yet resolved my issue.

I appreciate that it may be Sonos's issue rather then Netgear's but from a consumers point of view I had a free hub (router) that my ISP provided me, Sonos and everything played well with each other.  My only issue was that the Wifi was weak at the one end of the house so after reading the rave reviews of the Orbi, I paid the premium price for it and since then seem to have had a constant stream of Wifi related issues.

The good news is that most of my issues have been resolved with various firmware updates, but this one remains unresolved. As other issues have been resolved over the past few months with firmware releases, I guess I was expecting this to be something Netgear can resolve as well.

My frustration is that I had a bog standard free hub where everything worked well, swapped to Orbi and then had lots of problems. Even if some of the issues are not Netgear's problem, you can see how a user would attribute it to Netgear as everything worked fine with another manufacturer's product.

I'm sure over time, we'll get there between Orbi firmware updates and other manufacturer's updates (in this case Sonos) and once sorted, it will be a truly fab system.

[ekhalil]

This is a Netgear issue rather than Sonos. Netgear has to support the needed protocols to avoid the loops that result from connecting multiple wired speakers to the LAN ports.
As a workaround please disconnect the wired speakers from Orbi and connect them wirelessly instead.

[FURRYe38]

I understand. And agree, most devices should work well with any router. However most people dont' understand that there are two sides to this fence. Theres the router side and client side. Both sides of the fence have to fully support and make compatible between these two sides. if one doesn't then the figer pointing starts, lol. Hopefully both NG and Sono can review this and work things out. 

@ChristineT

---

@clammerds wrote:

Thanks for your reply @FURRYe38.

I have been speakling with Sonos and given regular diagnostics for them to look at but have not yet resolved my issue.

I appreciate that it may be Sonos's issue rather then Netgear's but from a consumers point of view I had a free hub (router) that my ISP provided me, Sonos and everything played well with each other.  My only issue was that the Wifi was weak at the one end of the house so after reading the rave reviews of the Orbi, I paid the premium price for it and since then seem to have had a constant stream of Wifi related issues.

The good news is that most of my issues have been resolved with various firmware updates, but this one remains unresolved. As other issues have been resolved over the past few months with firmware releases, I guess I was expecting this to be something Netgear can resolve as well.

My frustration is that I had a bog standard free hub where everything worked well, swapped to Orbi and then had lots of problems. Even if some of the issues are not Netgear's problem, you can see how a user would attribute it to Netgear as everything worked fine with another manufacturer's product.

I'm sure over time, we'll get there between Orbi firmware updates and other manufacturer's updates (in this case Sonos) and once sorted, it will be a truly fab system.

---