Re: RBR750 / RBS750 AP MODE NOT ACHIEVING STABLE WIRELESS BACKHAUL
As a general rule, the closer a satellite is to the router, the better the backhaul connection will be.
In practical terms, it makes no sense to locate WiFi access points very close together, because the total coverage area will be not much greater than the router itself.
What Netgear recommends is moving the satellites to locations that provide coverage to the part of the building where coverage is needed.
There are suggestions that "somewhere around 30ft" is a good place to start. If the ring light is blue, indicating a Good signal, then they can be a bit farther apart. If it is amber, that is too far. Of course, satellites need electrical power, so if 30ft happens to be in the middle of a room, that is impractical.
If not totally impossible, 100ft is very unlikely to work.
The 750 product appears to have 'quirks' that I am unfamiliar with. Also in general, once the router and satellites have established a good backhaul connection, changing the router to access point (AP) mode should not have any effect on the backhaul.
That appears to be the issue. Not the actual distance.
Re: RBR750 / RBS750 AP MODE NOT ACHIEVING STABLE WIRELESS BACKHAUL
Are you using Dynamic or static IP address configuration on the RBR in AP mode?
Did you first turn OFF the RBS, then configure AP mode, wait for the RBR to connect using it's WAN port to the host router, then after the RBR is FULLY online, turn ON one RBS at a time?
My 7 series working in AP Mode with the RBS wireslessly connected.
Re: RBR750 / RBS750 AP MODE NOT ACHIEVING STABLE WIRELESS BACKHAUL
Of course the setup is done correctly.
--Are you using Dynamic or static IP address configuration on the RBR in AP mode?
Either way did not make a difference.
--Did you first turn OFF the RBS, then configure AP mode, wait for the RBR to connect using it's WAN port to the host router, then after the RBR is FULLY online, turn ON one RBS at a time?
Yes. Of course. But aso tried different order and does not make a difference.
--My 7 series working in AP Mode with the RBS wireslessly connected.
Yours would be the only one. You should be happy.
All the reports read on the different forums, is that after V4 firmware AP mode works only on wired Backhaul.
I heve monitored the traffic and on V4 after the backhaul is wirelessly established, the router and satellite break the connection every dozens of seconds.
I am a Network professional.
If I downgrade to firmware V3.2.18.1_1.4.14 (Netgear intends for this to be disabled, but it is possible like mentioned elsewhere) the AP mode works wirelessly correctly.
You should post, that current firmware V4 does not work for AP mode wirelessly. Also, netgear must remove firmware V4 and not make the automatic update until a working firmware is released.
Re: RBR750 / RBS750 AP MODE NOT ACHIEVING STABLE WIRELESS BACKHAUL
Are you syncing the RBS while is same room as the RBR or at the remote location. I usually sync my RBS while in same room first to make sure it syncs fully.
Be sure the RBS is using same version of FW as well.
Does the RBS appear on the host routers connected devices list at all with an IP address?
NG is already aware of problems on v4 FW. It's up to them to get it fixed. Nothing else we can do here in the forums after all troubleshooting has been exhausted. Otherwise, users need to contact NG support and let them know about the problems there having.
Users are in the forums are user experienced helping out other users is all.
Re: RBR750 / RBS750 AP MODE NOT ACHIEVING STABLE WIRELESS BACKHAUL
--Are you syncing the RBS while is same room as the RBR or at the remote location. It makes no difference. Not even a single satellite syncs stable on V4 AP mode. --Be sure the RBS is using same version of FW as well. Yes of course. As said in the OP, tried all published versions of V4 FW. --Does the RBS appear on the host routers connected devices list at all with an IP address? Yes of course. You can ping it ans see how the wireless connection breaks. --What is the brand and model of the host router? Tried several. Made no difference. Netgear RB50, and mikrotik. --There are others with working 7 series in AP mode. Doubt it is with V4 FW and wireless backhaul. Have not read a single instance. They reverted to Router mode or downgraded the FW or used wired backhaul. The first satellite shows as good on attached devices for a few seconds, then the wireless backhaul disconnects and reconnects and disconnects.
Re: RBR750 / RBS750 AP MODE NOT ACHIEVING STABLE WIRELESS BACKHAUL
NG must remove the V4 firmware from production until they have a version that works with AP mode as well as Router mode. At least from the autoupdate. The v3 fw is working very stable so far, although the coverage is reduced compared to the older RBR50 series. Also, the reduced number of ethernet ports (4 to only 2) and the removal of USB ports and hidden ssid makes the RBR750 a downgrade from the RBR50 series.
Re: RBR750 / RBS750 AP MODE NOT ACHIEVING STABLE WIRELESS BACKHAUL
--"But my RBSs do a resync a few times a day..."
lol...
I rest my case. I do not know of a single instance of V4 firmware working correctly and stable in AP mode wirelessly.
I am guessing you probably had to do a special ip range setup for the DHCP or jumped through a few hoops...??
A product must simply worked as advertised, with no compliations or special to follow instructions.
RBR750 simply DOES NOT WORK IN AP MODE on V4 firmware.
But further on my point, it is IRRESPONSIBLE AND NOT PROFESSIONAL to make the product automatically update to a point of no return to a firmware full of bugs.
AP mode is just not the only bug.
Makes you wonder how or who tested the V4 firmware for them....
Re: RBR750 / RBS750 AP MODE NOT ACHIEVING STABLE WIRELESS BACKHAUL
You do not have to laugh 🙂 The crazy thing is that my devices, which are connected to the respective satellite during the resynch, do not lose the connection to the satellite and also have an internet connection throughout. I have had this recorded by several programs for 24 hours. So a very strange behavior of the firmware 4.XXX
Sorry, had understood you so that you laugh at me!
Yes, I wanted to list another error of V4, although I can live with my settings with V4. Under V3 everything ran smoothly, there was also no constant resync
Re: RBR750 / RBS750 AP MODE NOT ACHIEVING STABLE WIRELESS BACKHAUL
Just curious, do ALL your RBS resync all at the same time or randomly? I only have 1 RBS and haven't seen this with mine. Would be interesting to know if you turn OFF all but 1 RBS, still happens? Your system been fully factory reset and setup from scratch?
Re: RBR750 / RBS750 AP MODE NOT ACHIEVING STABLE WIRELESS BACKHAUL
@FURRYe38 As you probably read here most of us having satellite disconnect issues it's always random, one of the satellites at a time. Also, what's the point in turning OFF all but 1 satellite?? I need all the satellites for coverage otherwise the system is useless!
If you're trying to troubleshoot the issue, please feel free to buy an additional RBS and help NG troubleshoot the issue. It seems you like them so much anyway.
Another point here: stop asking people to reset their system and reconfigure everything. When you pay this much on a system it should just at a push of a button. What you and NG are doing in equivalent of a car manufacturer asking me to reset a car's system in order to try to make it work properly. Instead you should ask your friends/colleagues at NG to work harder and come up with a firmware that actually works!
Just curious, do ALL your RBS resync all at the same time or randomly? I only have 1 RBS and haven't seen this with mine. Would be interesting to know if you turn OFF all but 1 RBS, still happens? Your system been fully factory reset and setup from scratch?
Re: RBR750 / RBS750 AP MODE NOT ACHIEVING STABLE WIRELESS BACKHAUL
@CrimpOn Appreciate you trying to help, but I was on the phone with one of your NG colleagues and he actually told me that 30ft is probably too far regardless of whether the ring light is blue. In my case the router is on one floor and the satellites on the 2nd floor of the house. He literally told me this is mostly the cause of a poor speed on the satellites and frequent device disconnections as the signal can't penetrate through the ceiling/floor. This is crazy as most of the houses here in North America are standard wood frame and drywall and that's pretty friendly for wifi signal.
Moreover, everything is far more stable with firmware 3.x with satellites in exactly same position. And yes, I've done reset and reconfigure manually after the firmware upgrade/downgrade. So, I can't understand why Netgear is not acknowledging the issues with v4.x firmware and release a fix once and for all!!! This is crazy **bleep**, pardon my French.
As a general rule, the closer a satellite is to the router, the better the backhaul connection will be.
In practical terms, it makes no sense to locate WiFi access points very close together, because the total coverage area will be not much greater than the router itself.
What Netgear recommends is moving the satellites to locations that provide coverage to the part of the building where coverage is needed.
There are suggestions that "somewhere around 30ft" is a good place to start. If the ring light is blue, indicating a Good signal, then they can be a bit farther apart. If it is amber, that is too far. Of course, satellites need electrical power, so if 30ft happens to be in the middle of a room, that is impractical.
If not totally impossible, 100ft is very unlikely to work.
The 750 product appears to have 'quirks' that I am unfamiliar with. Also in general, once the router and satellites have established a good backhaul connection, changing the router to access point (AP) mode should not have any effect on the backhaul.
That appears to be the issue. Not the actual distance.
@CrimpOn Appreciate you trying to help, but I was on the phone with one of your NG colleagues and he actually told me that 30ft is probably too far regardless of whether the ring light is blue.
Interesting. Really wish I was able to speak to Netgear employees. Would love to hear this guy explain how "Good" is really "not Good". That seems to be logically inconsistent. "Oh, sure. Our product says the backhaul connection is 'good', but you can't believe what our engineers programmed the device to report. It's probably 'not good'." So, how does he propose to know when the backhaul link is actually "good"? Even though Netgear labels some of us as "SuperUsers", we are actually just ordinary customers who came to this forum to solve problems with our Netgear equipment and have the time to help others.
In the older Orbi product that I own, there are a couple of ways to display the signal strength and transmit/receive rates between router and satellite. (using telnet - which the AX series does not support, and using an Excel spreadsheet to make SOAP calls to the router)
My three satellites that are all under 30' from the router report the following:
RBS50 RSSI -68 Transmit/Receive rate 975/975
RBS40V RSSI -64 Transmit/Receive rate 866/866
RBS40V RSSI -62 Transmit/Receive rate 866/866
I feel compelled to point out that these values change by the minute. What was -64 five minutes ago, might be -63 right now. The changes are minor. -64 does not suddenly become -80 or -40.
I also agree that the firmware for the AX product line does not give a positive impression of Netgear engineering.
Realizing that there is a footnote in tiny type explaining that this is all marketing hype and "your results may be different ( i.e. be much less).
Also, when access points are placed against walls, as is often the case, much of the coverage are is wasted outside.
Although academically interesting, a discussion about 'distance' and coverage does not appear to have anything to do with the primary issue. A simple change from router mode to access point mode causes satellites to disconnect. Whatever the distance is, they were connected and working. Now they are not. That is unacceptable, leaving the customer with only three options: (a) give up on AP mode and live with the system in router mode until (maybe) there is a firmware update that works, (b) manually install the previous firmware that worked and block Netgear from updating the firmware, or (c) return the product and buy something else.
