Why do my iPhone and MacBook connect to the farther & slower Orbi Satellite & not the close router?

[pbdawg]

Why do my macbbook and iphone connect to the slower and farther satellite instead of the router that is in the same room. The connection is very slow. My understanding of the mesh network is that it should connect to the closest/faster wifi endpoint, and if I move to another room, it switches accordingly. How can I fix this? Other devices seem to connect fine to the router or satellite whichever is closer. Thanks for the help.

[FURRYe38 · Accepted solution]

What iOS and OSX versions are on your Apple devices? 

What FW is currently loaded?

Is the Orbi system operating in Router or AP mode?

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?
What WPA security modes are you using?

Try enableding Beamforming and MIMO.

Try disabling the following and see:
Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).

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@pbdawg wrote:

Why do my macbbook and iphone connect to the slower and farther satellite instead of the router that is in the same room. The connection is very slow. My understanding of the mesh network is that it should connect to the closest/faster wifi endpoint, and if I move to another room, it switches accordingly. How can I fix this? Other devices seem to connect fine to the router or satellite whichever is closer. Thanks for the help.

---

[FURRYe38 · Accepted solution]

What iOS and OSX versions are on your Apple devices? 

What FW is currently loaded?

Is the Orbi system operating in Router or AP mode?

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?
What WPA security modes are you using?

Try enableding Beamforming and MIMO.

Try disabling the following and see:
Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).

---

@pbdawg wrote:

Why do my macbbook and iphone connect to the slower and farther satellite instead of the router that is in the same room. The connection is very slow. My understanding of the mesh network is that it should connect to the closest/faster wifi endpoint, and if I move to another room, it switches accordingly. How can I fix this? Other devices seem to connect fine to the router or satellite whichever is closer. Thanks for the help.

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[pbdawg]

Thank you. I turned off the daisy chain and coexistance, and that seems to have worked for now. If that changes, I will try some of the other suggestions and/or reply to your other questions.

[FURRYe38]

Ok, good to hear. if you post again, please give more feedback to the questions presented as well. Helps to have more details.

Enjoy. 

[ekhalil]

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@pbdawg wrote:

Thank you. I turned off the daisy chain and coexistance, and that seems to have worked for now. If that changes, I will try some of the other suggestions and/or reply to your other questions.

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This has nothing to do with Daisy Chain or coexistance. I think what worked for you is the restart of Orbi when you turned off Daisy Chain! 🙂

Devices will connect first time to the node that becomes available first if the device jas radio coverage of the node, usually the router becomes up first after a system reboot. "Smart" devices will later roam to a closer node if available, but there are "sticky devices" that just stick to the first node they connected to and never change that.

For those devices, just power cycle the device so it will connect to the closer node (router or satellite).