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RBE970 Satellite Connections
Why does a WiFi device 10 feet away from the satellite end up connected to the Router RBE971 which is a 100 feet away? I've also seen where devices close to the satellite initially connect to the satellite but the next day are connected to the Router. Anybody know the WiFi thruput rates with respect to distance. I remember some on the newer WiFi protocols actually got slower as their distance from the access point decreased; in other words, being too close had a negative impact on thruput.RBE971 AP: Wi-Fi drops, wired stable, QCN9224 SSR & 6GHz fatal errors
Hi all, I am looking for help/visibility from Netgear staff/engineering. I have been having this issue since around the time of the Hardware / Firmware Model: Orbi RBE971 (single unit used as Access Point) Firmware: V9.13.2.1_1.3.35 Network Topology RBE971 is in AP mode behind OPNsense OPNsense provides routing, DHCP, DNS Symptom is Wi‑Fi only; Ethernet continues working and the AP remains reachable via wired management during events Symptoms Randomly, all wireless bands/SSIDs drop simultaneously (2.4/5/6 GHz) All Wi‑Fi clients disconnect at the same time Wired clients remain stable; no full device reboot observed After some time, Wi‑Fi comes back What I have gathered Two debug bundles taken around Dec 24, 2025 (to compare behavior across captures) What the logs show (high level) The kernel/driver logs strongly suggest the AP is not rebooting; instead the Qualcomm Wi‑Fi subsystem/radios are resetting: Repeated “SSR” (subsystem restart) events from the Wi‑Fi driver (e.g., ol_ath_wifi_ssr) CNSS transitioning radios to OFF / shutdown “QMI WLFW service disconnected” (Wi‑Fi firmware service disconnect) Remote processor stops for the Wi‑Fi radios (e.g., “stopped remote processor QCN9224_PCI0/1/2”) 6 GHz-related fatal teardown errors during/around the SSR sequence (e.g., “6ghz … Fatal error: Invalid l_soc_id …”) After this, there are repeated recovery-loop messages indicating Wi‑Fi interfaces/SSIDs are “not ready / not found/up” and it keeps looping until they return (this aligns with the “all SSIDs disappear” user experience) Why I think this is the root cause The events above are consistent with a radio/firmware crash → subsystem restart (SSR) → recovery scripts restart Wi‑Fi, which would drop all Wi‑Fi clients while Ethernet stays up. Questions for Netgear / community Is this a known issue on V9.13.2.1_1.3.35 (especially involving 6 GHz / Wi‑Fi 7 / MLO paths)? Are there recommended mitigations while waiting for a fix (disable 6 GHz, disable MLO/Wi‑Fi 7 features, reduce channel width, etc.)? Is there a newer firmware (or a known-stable prior version) that addresses QCN9224 SSR / WLFW disconnect issues? I can provide the debug bundles to Netgear support/engineering if needed; please advise what additional logging would be most helpful.Orbi 770 Satellites Randomly Disable All Radios and Drop Clients
I’m posting this to document a serious defect in the Orbi 770 series and to express growing frustration after months of dealing with it. I have an Orbi 770 system (RBE770 satellites, firmware V10.5.20.3). One or both satellites will randomly stop broadcasting on all bands (2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz) while continuing to report a perfectly healthy status everywhere Netgear tells you to look. From the router UI: Satellites show “Good” Backhaul (wired or wireless — tested both) remains connected No warnings, alerts, or errors From the Orbi mobile app: Satellites show online and healthy No indication of any issue From the satellite’s own web UI (when you log in directly): The page proudly states “Your WiFi Orbi Satellite connection is up and running” However, ALL radios (2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz) are disabled This is incredibly misleading. Yes, the satellite is powered on — but it is not functioning as a WiFi access point. The management interface claims everything is fine while the radios are effectively dead. The only way to discover this is by: Noticing degraded WiFi performance, and Manually logging into the satellite’s local web UI to confirm the radios are disabled There is no notification, no alert, and no exposed log entry that explains why this happens. Impact When this occurs: Clients drop or cling to distant APs Overall network performance degrades The mesh effectively collapses silently The only workaround is rebooting the affected satellite(s). This restores service temporarily, but the issue reoccurs — often once or twice per week. For a system in this price range, that is unacceptable. Why “Interference” Is Not a Valid Answer Even if this were RF-related (which I doubt), the platform provides no visibility and no control: No RSSI / dBm metrics No interference indicators No spectrum analysis No transmit power control No actionable RF diagnostics If satellites were “too close” (they aren’t, they're more than 40 feet away from each other), I still have no way to tune or mitigate overlap. The system simply disables itself and leaves the user guessing. Additional Context Firmware updates have not resolved this Hardware has been RMA’d with no improvement Wired vs wireless backhaul makes no difference My neighbor’s Orbi 970 series exhibits the same behavior All bands fail simultaneously, pointing to a firmware or radio state failure, not roaming behavior Conclusion This appears to be a fundamental firmware defect where the radio subsystem fails while every management interface (router UI, satellite UI, mobile app) continues to report “healthy” and “up and running.” For a premium mesh product, silently disabling radios with no alert, no diagnostics, and no explanation is unacceptable. If Netgear is aware of this issue, it needs to be acknowledged. If logs exist, they need to be exposed. If engineering is investigating, customers deserve transparency. Right now, this product behaves like an expensive beta.This frustrating intermittent issue.
We have observed that Orbi continuously reassigns IP addresses to certain devices, which causes those devices to experience frequent and intermittent Wi-Fi disconnections. This issue has been present for a long period of time and also affects the RBE97X series, indicating that it is not limited to a single model. At this point, we would like to understand when a permanent fix is expected. This issue has already impacted multiple customers, and despite our continued efforts to troubleshoot and explain, the situation has become increasingly difficult to manage. As a distributor, we are under significant pressure, and it is becoming very challenging to maintain customer confidence without a clear resolution timeline or roadmap from NETGEAR. We sincerely request this issue to be prioritized and would appreciate any update, workaround, or estimated timeline for resolution. model：RBE773 FW：v10.5.20.7v9.13.2.1 - I have not seen any improvement
I have not seen any improvement. If I have the WI-FI 6E mode set to Auto on my iPhone, I still get the occasional disconnects. So, I leave that setting off. This is exactly the same behavior I have seen all along. I was hoping the iPhone 17 might have something new inside to work better, but nope - same as iPhone 16 and my two iPads. I have not bothered to try my iPads lately on that band, but I didn't notice that there is no WI-FI 6E mode setting for them, so no workaround other than to use the 2.4G network.6 G to Satellite is slow
I ran a speedtest of my Orbi97 in the interface and it is showing 66mbps download speed. My laptop has a 6G connection to a satellite with a strong signal, and while it normally gets pretty good speed, it will often drop to like 5mpbs download (upload is about 10 which is what my provider gives me). There aren't that many devices demanding the bandwidth. Other devices are using 2.4g and 5 g., but mostly 2.4 Any ideas on why this might happen and what settings I might use to prevent this slowdown?RBE971 Router and 6 RBE970 satellites
I have the same issue with my RBE971 Router and 6 RBE970 satellites. After first time set up all 6 satellites and 35 connected devices were all nicely connected. Then in the middle of the night I lost internet. Comcast 1GB modem is online, but I have no internet. Unplugged modem and router to reboot. After rebooting all satellites show disconnected, but all are online and transmitting Wi-Fi signal to all my devices. Majority of the 35 devices are wireless (Ring Cameras, TV's, iPhone, Roku Sticks, Laptops etc.), all show WIRED connected. (never seen an iPhone wired to internet). Rebooted and reset to factory defaults several times and sometimes all satellites show up, sometimes one or two and only some of my devices show up, but all are connected. Spent three days with Netgear support. Updated the Firmware several times, still same results. Last firmware update result showed all satellites connected, but only 11 devices showed connected (this time all connected via Wi-Fi). Waited overnight to see if system would recognize rest of my devices, but then early in the morning all satellites and router went offline with no internet again. Comcast modem is online. About 15 minutes later they all came back online, still showing all satellites connected and 11 wired devices. This time some of my Ring devices could not reconnect to my network. I waited couple of hours and unplugged the modem and router several times and all satellites were showing disconnected, and 25 devices were showing all WIRED. My home is 4000sq ft, but my network covers 3 buildings and front gate. I have several wired and wireless cameras on my property. The map of my setup is as follows: Orbi Router connected via WAN port to Comcast modem (5' CAT 6 cable). Only three of the 2.5G ports at the back of Orbi Router are being used. First 2.5G Port - 95' CAT 6 cable to First Netgear GS308 switch. From this First switch - 5' CAT 6 cable to Orbi 1 Satellite. From this same First switch 75' CAT 6 to Orbi 2 Satellite. From this First same switch 105' CAT 6 to Orbi 4 Satellite. Now, from Orbi 2 Satellite - 65' CAT 6 to Second GS308 switch. From this Second switch - 80' CAT 6 cable to Orbi 3 Satellite. Then from second 2.5G port on the Orbi Router 70' CAT 6 to Third Netgear GS308 switch, from this Third switch - 20' CAT 6 connecting to Orbi 5 Satellite. From the third 2.5G port on the Orbi Router 90' CAT 6 to Orbi 6 Satellite. All Satellites are approximately 65’ to 75’ apart from each other and the router.
