I have a setup with RBR850 and two RBS850 satellites with the latest firmware installed. RBR850 is located in the basement and is connected to an unmanaged Netgear switch. The switch is connected to 5 RJ45 sockets across the house plus some devices. On the 1st floor, one RJ45 socket is connected to an unamanged Netgear switch. That switch is connected to a RBS850 satellite and some devices. The other satellite is connected to another RJ45 socket on the 2nd floor.
I have connected approx 45 devices, many via ethernet and 5 ghz. I have Ring devices that use 2.4 and 10 Sonos players plus one hardwired Sonos Boost (which creates a dedicated wifi for the players). Sonos players are listed as wired devices on Orbi.
If devices are connected, they show a good wifi connection. However, devices randomly drop the connection. If I try to reconnect them, I get the connected checkmark next to the wifi name, but the device does not receive an IP (shows 169...). It usually takes 30 - 60 seconds and many wifi turn on / offs before the devices finally receives the IP. It doesn't look like the wifi is down because all the other devices remain connected to the WIFI & Internet.
I did a factory reset, changed the positions, nothing worked. Logfiles do not really provide any useful information.
Switched modem to router and Orbi to AP mode - which did not help. Looks like either the switches or the ethernet-connected devices are the cause.
I separated now my Orbi from the switches by connecting it directly to the modem. Orbi satellites are still connected via ethernet but without switches or any ethernet-connected devices. Those are also connect to the modem. At a first glance, it feels like an improvement.
Two questions:
1) What if it still takes ages here and there to connect to the wifi? Could it be a hardware issue?
2) Is there an efficient way to identify the culprit device that causes the initial problem? Not a big fan of disconnecting everything for days and then slowly connecting items one by one.
but in ap mode, the ISP device managed the IP assignments so that can create the occasional slowdown.
There isn't an easy way to troubleshoot. I usually tell people to start simple. Meaning start at just the modem/router and use those. Then add in a satellite. then power the satellite off and add the other one in. About the only way to tell which device is causing issues is to see when the slowdowns occur.
