Re: Guest WiFi randomly drops Internet connection

XBond · ‎2021-07-19

I have 2 RBS50s and 1 RBR50. My setup has been running flawlessly for years, as in no issues.

Recently (last month), the Guest WiFi randomly drops the Internet connection. The WiFi is there, but there is no connection to the Internet. After a while (several minutes), the Internet connection comes back. Sometimes it drops after a week, sometimes after a few days. There is no pattern to it. If I turn the Guest WiFi off, then on, the connection comes back.

I am wondering if this is related to the V2.7.2.104 upgrade as other posts seem to show similar problems. The strange thing is, that the drop is only for the Guest WiFi whereas the regular WiFi never drops.

The router and satelittes are all running V2.7.2.104.
Time Meter is off.
DST was off, and I just turned it on (per recommendations in other posts). Got an error that the NG NTP server could not be contacted, so I changed it to time.windows.com.
The Guest WiFi Time Period is set to 'Always'.
Checking the log doesn't reveal anything besides some DOS attack comments. Other posts seem to indicate that this is not related. I am also hesitant to turn of the Port Scan and DOS protection.
My ISP modem is running in bridge mode.
Turned off RBSs and RBR. Rebooted RBR and then RBSs. Didn't help.

This is rather annoying, as my wife works from home and her work laptop is connected to the Guest WiFi to keep things nicely separated. She has been working from home well over a year with no issues until recently.

Any ideas?

plemans · ‎2021-07-19

there is a newer 2.7.3.22 firmware out there

Have you tried it?

https://www.netgear.com/support/product/RBk50

View solution in original post

plemans · ‎2021-07-19

there is a newer 2.7.3.22 firmware out there

Have you tried it?

https://www.netgear.com/support/product/RBk50

XBond · ‎2021-07-19

No, hadn't seen that update.

The notes say this -

Fixes the DNS query failure issue that occurs when traffic meter and daylight saving are enabled

But I had both turned off.

plemans · ‎2021-07-19

Always worth a shot.

I'd try updating, then do a factory reset and reinstall.

Sometimes old settings have caused issues as well.

CrimpOn · ‎2021-07-19

@XBond wrote:
Recently (last month), the Guest WiFi randomly drops the Internet connection. The WiFi is there, but there is no connection to the Internet. After a while (several minutes), the Internet connection comes back. Sometimes it drops after a week, sometimes after a few days. There is no pattern to it. If I turn the Guest WiFi off, then on, the connection comes back.

I am wondering if this is related to the V2.7.2.104 upgrade as other posts seem to show similar problems. The strange thing is, that the drop is only for the Guest WiFi whereas the regular WiFi never drops.

. I am also hesitant to turn off the Port Scan and DOS protection.
This is rather annoying, as my wife works from home and her work laptop is connected to the Guest WiFi to keep things nicely separated.

The obvious: Unless the WiFi problems are trivial and only a minor irritation, put the wife's laptop on the primary Orbi network. If taking a bathroom break or getting some coffee fixes things, that's one thing. If WiFi drops in the middle of a Zoom session, that is much more serious.

I would not be concerned about the Port Scan and DoS protection. The check box refers only to the process of analyzing and logging connection attempts. Orbi router do not accept connections from the internet. I enjoy looking at the log entries, so I leave the feature enabled.

On the matter of firmware:

Is there a correlation between updating the Orbi to v2.7.2.104 and this problem?
i.e. If the Orbi was updated 90 days ago and the problem just now began, that doesn't argue for firmware being the cause.
You can choose which direction to go with firmware: backward or forward.
If this all started shortly after going to 2.7.2.104, it might be better to go back to the previous firmware and wait to see how the newest release seems to be going. (I always wait 3-4 weeks to let the early adopters shake out the bugs.)
How much effort have you put into customizing the Orbi configuration?
Assigning IP's to devices. 'Naming' devices. Setting up port forwarding, DDNS, OpenVPN, etc.
If the Orbi configuration is basically a few settings that can be done in 15 minutes, I really like the idea of a Factory Reset.
If it would take hours to re-enter everything (mine takes about two hours), I like the idea of saving the configuration, doing a Factory Reset, then during the setup just load the saved configuration.

XBond · ‎2021-07-19

I don't want to put my wife's laptop on the primary Orbi WiFi, that's the whole point. I need and want to keep it separate. They install some apps that I don't necessarily trust (separate issue over which I don't have control), so I need to keep that device separate from the primary network.

It did happen a while ago (after the FW upgrade), and then again more frequently recently. I am not claiming that it is the fw upgrade, thus the question, but it does smell like it a bit especially when considering other posts with similar issues.

My ORBI config is very simple, so I am going to try and upgrade to the latest FW and if that doesn't fix the issue, I will do the factory reset.

AstroCat · ‎2021-07-21

We've also noticed unstable Guest network issues, like you describe. Main network totally solid. FW: V2.7.2.104

How'd the reset go? Any better?

XBond · ‎2021-07-21

I upgraded to the FW version mentioned above and so far so good. But that does not mean the issue is fixed. Usually I would turn the guest network off/on and it would work fine for some random amount of time. Sometimes a day, sometimes several. Same if I restarted the router/satellites.

So I am not holding my breath here.

AstroCat · ‎2021-07-21

Fair enough, I upgraded as well. Let's see how it goes. Thanks.

AstroCat · ‎2021-08-20

Yeah, Guest network is now pretty much unusable. People can connect but website loads insanely slow or time out. It's just really unstable. The normal network is 100% solid, only the Guest network is a mess. Any way to fix this? It wasn't always like this.

FW: V2.7.3.22

Router	RBR50	RBR50	V2.7.3.22	No new firmware version available.
Satellite	RBS50	ACOrbi Satellite-1	V2.7.3.22	No new firmware version available.
Satellite	RBS50	ACOrbi Satellite-2	V2.7.3.22	No new firmware version available.
Satellite	RBS50	ACOrbi Satellite-3	V2.7.3.22	No new firmware version available.

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-08-21

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update?

@AstroCat wrote:

Yeah, Guest network is now pretty much unusable. People can connect but website loads insanely slow or time out. It's just really unstable. The normal network is 100% solid, only the Guest network is a mess. Any way to fix this? It wasn't always like this.

FW: V2.7.3.22

Router RBR50 RBR50 V2.7.3.22 No new firmware version available.

Satellite RBS50 ACOrbi Satellite-1 V2.7.3.22 No new firmware version available.

Satellite RBS50 ACOrbi Satellite-2 V2.7.3.22 No new firmware version available.

Satellite RBS50 ACOrbi Satellite-3 V2.7.3.22 No new firmware version available.