Satellite issues

[Psyberon]

So..bought the Orbi for my home several months back.  Setup was a breeze - amazing Wi-Fi, everywhere in the house.  Until....

About a month ago, out of the clear blue, we started having all kinds of connection issues with the satellite unit.  No firmware update, no changes...the connection just flaked out.  It still shows 3 out of 4 bars but websites and games are timing out, everything is lagged, streamed video buffers...and then it seems to work ok a while...before flaking out again for hours.  In the main room where the base unit resides - no issues at all.

The two are at either end of a hallway, the satellite mounted to the wall about 3 feet higher than the base.  I updated the base to the latest firmware (2.1.4.16); no change.  I’m assuming the client software updates both units as there’s no option to update/login to one over the other.  I resynched to make sure the connection was there.  The two are only about 30 feet apart, same floor of the house, on either end of the hallway with the one inside a room.

I’ve done all I can do at this point. It doesn’t look like there’s any kind of diagnostics mode to this (at least not that isn’t well hidden).  

Any suggestions on how to get this back to the high level of performance we had before it suddenly went south?

[FURRYe38]

What is the Mfr and model# of the IP modem the Orbi 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?
Try disabling the following and see:
MIMO, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).

I would do a full power OFF the the Orbi system for 1 minute then back on with the router first, then the satellites.

[Psyberon]

The base and satellite are about 30 feet apart, straight shot, on the same floor.  Construction is studs and drywall; no lathe or wire mesh in the walls.  The house is about 1500 square feet in all, but I’m five feet from the satellite so that’s not an issue. I’ve already disabled most of what you suggest to no avail, but will try moving 20/40 to 40. I’ve of course done full system resets - cable modem and base as well as the Orbi.  

2.4GHz is set to auto but the test devices are all running on 5GHz which is set to channel 48; there are other networks in the area on 5GHz (3 altogether) and this is the only one running on channel 48.  (The other 2 are on 153, together, go figure.) The interference graph is clean whenever I check it, but I’ll try another channel anyway.  There are plenty of 2.4GHz networks walking on each other but that would not impact these tests.

I’ve kept this setup painfully simple - Orbi Satellite to Orbi Base to cable modem; no switches or other devices in between.  I also do not have the Circle filtering setup.

The key thing here - no issues in the living room, where I would connect to the base unit, only in the back of the house where I’m on the satellite.  I had the service provider out and they traded out the modem for a new model, tested it (getting something like 250Mbps or 300Mbps), and I tested it out there with nearly the same results (base unit).  The oddball thing is that it was working great for months then just suddenly started having all kinds of quality/performance issues.

[naerok]

once you start getting these slow/dropped connections from satellites (but everything working fine on the main router orbi), you are pretty SOL.

So far the only solution seems to be putting a smart outlet / timer on your satellite(s) to reboot them once every 24 hours (I'm not joking) or rolling back the firmware (but I still see people saying they experience the same issues on the older firmware)

see this guy: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-satellite-dropping-connection/m-p/1512445#M24230

[naerok]

So far the only solution seems to be putting a smart outlet / timer on your satellite(s) to reboot them once every 24 hours (I'm not joking) or rolling back the firmware (but I still see people saying they experience the same issues on the older firmware)

[FURRYe38]

1500 sq ft is kinda small for a MESH system, The router alone can handle that kind of coverage by itselt. 

I would try this, turn off the satellites and try the router alone. Then try just one satellite. 

Definately change from Auto to manual channel on 2.4Ghz, 1, 6 or 11. 

If you have other wifi neighbors near by using the channels above, this can cause problems. 

Heres how I got my friends 50 series up and running:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-firmware-update-v2-1-4-16-availability/m-p/1592753/highli...

You can try this if you want...

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@Psyberon wrote:

The base and satellite are about 30 feet apart, straight shot, on the same floor.  Construction is studs and drywall; no lathe or wire mesh in the walls.  The house is about 1500 square feet in all, but I’m five feet from the satellite so that’s not an issue. I’ve already disabled most of what you suggest to no avail, but will try moving 20/40 to 40. I’ve of course done full system resets - cable modem and base as well as the Orbi.  

2.4GHz is set to auto but the test devices are all running on 5GHz which is set to channel 48; there are other networks in the area on 5GHz (3 altogether) and this is the only one running on channel 48.  (The other 2 are on 153, together, go figure.) The interference graph is clean whenever I check it, but I’ll try another channel anyway.  There are plenty of 2.4GHz networks walking on each other but that would not impact these tests.

I’ve kept this setup painfully simple - Orbi Satellite to Orbi Base to cable modem; no switches or other devices in between.  I also do not have the Circle filtering setup.

The key thing here - no issues in the living room, where I would connect to the base unit, only in the back of the house where I’m on the satellite.  I had the service provider out and they traded out the modem for a new model, tested it (getting something like 250Mbps or 300Mbps), and I tested it out there with nearly the same results (base unit).  The oddball thing is that it was working great for months then just suddenly started having all kinds of quality/performance issues.

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