thermostat (trane xl850) cannot connect to orbi 960 iot ssid

[linkysys]

My Trane XL850 thermostat cannot connect to Orbi 960 IOT SSID. I specifically purchased this model because it supports legacy IOT devices with a separate SSID. At some point the tstat connected and now it doesn't. It could be due to an Orbi firmware update. The only other change made to our system is that the tstat is connected to an Orbi satellite instead of the primary router. I have tried disabling AX for 2.4ghz and limiting IOT to 2.4ghz only. I've tried changing WPA2 to WPA2/WPA for the IOT devices. I've tried rebooting all devices.

The tstat wireless radio displays nearby networks and can connect to a hotspot on my phone without any issue. I read that for other tstats, the "solution" is to change CTS values to 2347. I can't find that setting in advanced->wireless on the 960. These instructions are for previous gen Orbis and really shouldn't be necessary since the IOT settings are preconfigured for maximum backwards compatibility.

The router logs show the thermostat was previously connected so I'm suspecting an update to the firmware from Netgear may have caused this issue? It is frustrating that Netgear does not provide reasonable support for their flagship device. The point of purchasing a premier device that separates IOT from AX device pool is to avoid this exact situation. 

The tstat for Trane is proprietary and must be Comfortlink II compatible to work. I'd buy a newer thermostat from Trane if one were available. I suspect they will all have this issue. 

Any help would be appreciated. 

[linkysys]

I can't get my Trane XL850 thermostat to connect to my Orbi 960 system (router + 2 satellites). My router log shows it was previously connected but can't connect now. The nearest node is a satellite and not the primary router. This is on the dedicated IOT SSID that is supposed to be backward compatible for legacy devices. I tried rebooting all devices, disabling AX for 2.4ghz, etc., with no joy. I can't find any setting to customize CTS on this model Orbi. I confirmed the wifi radio is working on the tstat by connecting it to a hotspot on my phone. The issue is definitely some sort of compatibility problem with the Orbi. It's frustrating because I bought this model specifically because of the IOT support to avoid this scenario. Any ideas? This is a very common wireless tstat.

[Phyber]

I have the Trane XL824 and the Orbi 750. I've setup the Guest Network with a different SSID/PW and pointed the Trane to that. Connection is solid and reliable. Simple as that.

[linkysys]

After a ton of trial and error I solved this problem. If I unplug the satellites (RBSE960) from power leaving only the router (RBRE960) powered up, the XL850 connects to the IOT SSID of the primary router. I can then reserve an IP in the LAN settings for the XL850 and power up the satellites. Hopefully, I don't need to do this on every power failure. This is not expected behavior for a mesh network advertised to work seamlessly with IOT devices. 

Netgear's failure to provide reasonable product support for the most expensive home wifi system on the market is incredibly disappointing. It means that they will not have any customer feedback to resolve issues like this which arise beyond the very short warranty. This business model imperils product development and leaves customers to attempt self-help for what are essentially engineering issues in the product design. 

[linkysys]

I had attempted to put it on a guest network as well. It failed to connect every time no matter what I did until I simply unplugged all of the satellites except the router. On my 960 running the latest firmware, if the thermostat is physically closer to a satellite than the router, it will fail to connect to any SSID whether it's guest, IOT, or primary. I love the speed and coverage on this Orbi device but it has not been without problems. 

[Nagordr]

Just curious if your solution is still working ? This has been frustrating me for months. For as much money as we spent this should be seamless
Thanks
Ron .

[linkysys]

Agreed that it should be seamless for the cost. It is still working but I haven't power cycled any of the equipment since forcing it to connect to the router by turning off all satellites. I am hoping that by assigning an IP reservation for the Tstat on the router that it will propagate to the satellites and hopefully not fail to connect after the next power outage.