RBR850 / RBS850 Firmware V7.2.6.21 Unstable (Slow or disconnected connection)

[OrbiOrNot]

My setup:

1 RBR850 Router

3 RBS850 Satellites.

Edgerouter V4 router for the house

CAT6E cabling from router to RBR and to 2 RBS's for wired backhaul. All have a home run connection to my router. 1 RBS connected with WiFi backhaul

AP mode turned on

Connection style (stock picture):

While debugging another issue with the above setup for a problem that turned our to be user error, I updated my RBR and all RBS's to V7.2.6.21 (see this thread).

However, I started to notice very slow WiFi connections and the RBR would sometimes turn magenta, meaning it lost internet connection.  There was no consistency - sometimes it would be ok but most of the time not.  I took the following approach:

• Turned off all satellites so I was just dealing with the one RBR - same problem
• Restarted RBR - same problem
• I use wired backhaul and my set up is in AP mode, so the cable at the back of the RBR is NOT in the yellow slot.  I moved it to the yellow slot.  Now the RBR seemed to be working much faster, but this is not what I wanted.  So, reconnected to one of the other slots.  Back to the same problem.
• Reset device to factory settings (still at V7.2.6.21) - same problem
• Decided to go back to version V4.6.9.11 - worked like a charm!

So, I believe from running this experience that V7.2.6.21 is unstable in my configuration - wired backhaul + AP mode.  I am going to leave it alone for now since it is working.  All the satellites were turned back on and connected fine.  They are at the newer version but I am not going to move them back to V4.6.9.11.

One other thing that I noticed with V7.2.6.21 was that another WiFi network was automatically created with the SSID of my WiFi Network and the word "IoT" after it.  Didn't spend too much time looking into it, but thought I'd put it here.

Hope this helps someone running through the same problem.

[FURRYe38]

If the RBR is loosing connection and has a PINK front LED, means the RBR is not getting good internet from the upstream host router or there is an interruption in service from the host router to the RBR. 

How is the RBR configured or AP mode? Static IP configuration is recommended as seen here:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WIFI-6-AX-AND-Wi-Fi-6E-AXE/Procedure-for-Factory-reset-of-RBS8...

There is no CAT6E cabling, There is CAT5E and CAT6. CAT6A STP is recommended with the RBR if you have a supporting 2.5Gb supporting connection port at the upstream host router. If not, CAT6 UTP would be recommended. 

Yes, v7 adds a new IoT SSID Network feature which users have been asking for, for a long time to help with IoT devices:

https://kb.netgear.com/000064267/How-do-I-enable-or-disable-the-Internet-of-things-IoT-network-on-my...

https://kb.netgear.com/000064269/How-do-I-change-the-Internet-of-things-IoT-network-name-SSID-and-pa...

I'd recheck this configuration again. I along with others tested v7 FW in AP mode last year and it worked well. One of the best FW versions in a long time IMO. There is one bug in the WEB UI not showing IP address information correctly on the WEB page is all. Just a graphical web UI issue is all. 

[CrimpOn]

I see the root of this problem being the router is not connected to the internet through the WAN port.  The first post shows a "stock picture" from Netgear on how to connect satellites to a router using an Ethernet switch.  What is does not show is that the router must also be connected to the internet using the WAN port.

That black box is an Ethernet switch.  It is not the primary router (Edgerouter in this case).

The network may appear to be working, because the Ethernet switches in each unit use Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) to discover which switch port is used to communicate with devices on the network.  But the Orbi router is not designed to have both the internet and satellites appear on the LAN side of the router.

If the WAN port is connected to the Edgerouter, one router LAN port and the satellite LAN ports connected to a simple switch, the network will work correctly.

Users sometimes get into this situation because they do not want to locate the Orbi router next to their primary router (Edgerouter).  With only a single Ethernet cable running from the primary router location to various rooms, they face a problem. (Need two cables. Have one cable. oh, dear.)