Orbi MR 2.1 Update 3/23/18

Although mine has been running pretty solid, I will give this a try.  I would concur that they should focus on stablity for those users who are having issues and want a trouble-free experience.  I'd love to see the ability to turn off 2.4g or a few other customization features, but am happy I am lucky to be stable and the product has been working as advertised.

I spent the afternoon yesterday upgrading my RBR50 + 3 Satellites to v2.1.3.4 from 2.1.2.18. I am encouraged to hear others are able to get ethernet backhaul working since I have a large house with poor wireless signal propogation characteristics. When connecting a RBS50 with ethernet after the upgrade/factory reset, my wired workstation would almost immediately be disconnected from the RBR50. When able to reconnect to the RBR50, the RBR50 would either show as not connected or connected via wi-fi backhaul. In either case the network became very unstable with an ethernet connected RBS50.

One thing I may try after reading bbunge's post is to connect the RBS directly to the RBR ethernet port. I am currently trying to connect all my devices through a Netgear GS series network (see below). From previous experience with TiVo Mini's, I was only able to get stable connections between the TiVo Bolt and Mini's when all were directly connected to the RBR50. This leads me to believe (unfortunately without any wireshark evidence) that the RBR50 suffers from spanning tree issues (BPDU broadcast storms and the like) when connecting to their brethren Netgear switches. I'd like to hear from anyone who has had similar issues and especially evidence to share. Read on for my upgrade experence. 

Home Network

GS116v2 - Great Room Main - RBR50
GS108E - Family Room - RBS50
GS108Ev3 - Office 1 
GS105Ev2 - Office 2
GS105Ev2 - Bed Room 2 - RBS50

Bed Room 2 - RBS50

Issues with Orbi:

Auto update breaks my network on a regular basis without notice

No way to disable auto update (had to turn off via CLI)

RBSs fail during auto update requiring manual intervention

RBSs randomly loose wi-fi backhaul connections to RBR (think red, amber, blue in the middle of the night)

Ethernet backhaul works with some firmware versions and not others

Devices randomly disconnected from wi-fi

My users (wife and kids) constant complaints about disconnects and slow speeds

Upgrade to v2.1.3.4 from 2.1.2.18:

Upgraded (3) RBS50s firmware one at a time and then performed factory reset on each

Updated RBS device names on config page. 

RBSs reconnected to RBR and network stable

Turned off RBSs and other devices around home

Upgraded RBR50 firmware

Network stable and no RBS connected

Then gulp factory reset

Ran through RBR setup routine after factory reset:

WAN auto setup good (auto detect etc)

(Used defaults - disable IGMP proxy, MTU, NAT secured) - dont recall seeing Disable SIP ALG option previously

Wi-fi auto setup good (SSID, PW etc)

(Used defaults 2.4Ghz auto, 5Ghz chan 48)

Then RBS discovery setup step: 

(thinking they should have taken you through LAN setup first)

Started up (1) RBS with ethernet. Lost connection to RBR. Network unstable. 

Disconnected RBS and reconnected to RBR. Back in WAN setup mode. Network stable. 

Back in RBS discovery setup mode:

Started up (2) RBSs with wi-fi. Sync complete and setup routine finished. 

(this step took awhile and eventually had to bring a remote RBS into same room as RBR)

Network stable but one RBS is not showing as connected satellite on attached device display

Ran through manual sync process (press button add) and now (2) RBSs showing as connected satellites. Network stable. 

Completed other setups not carried over after factory reset:

LAN - Config DHCP Pool Address Range: 2-100 (Have static IPs in range 101-2xx)

Guest wi-fi (SSID, PW etc) - Backhaul Daisy Chain enabled by default

Did not enable as before - Implicit Beamforming, MU-MIMO, Fast Roaming (want to measure user complaints first) ;p

UPnP enabled by default, IPv6 disabled by default

Connect 3rd RBS50:

Started up 3rd RBS with ethernet. Lost connection to RBR. Network unstable. 

A few careful RBR and RBS reboots and retrys later (this takes alot of time):

RBS did finally show up as connected device (not satellite) but connection type was 5G. Network unstable. 

I give up: Disconnected RBS and reconnected to RBR via wi-fi backhaul. 

Network stable but RBS is not showing as connected satellite on attached device display. 

Ran through manual sync process (press button add) and now (3) RBSs showing as connected satellites. Network stable. 

Attached Devices:

However the RBR did not detect the correct device model and names for the RBSs

One RBR did not show up as a connected satellite but as a connected device. 

Manually updated the device model and names for all the RBSs. 

Eventually after another RBR reboot all the RBS's showed up as connected satellites. Network stable. 

Began bringing all other devices back up on the network. 

Updated device model, name and type (everything is a network device to Orbi)

Noted only one static device shows up on connected device list; GS108Ev3, Firmware Version 2.00.12

I am done for now but will try ethernet again when I have another afternoon to kill. 

JP1!

The ISP modem is an Arris Surfboard SB6141.  

I lost internet today, and couldn't connect either through wifi or wired (wired to Orbi RBR50).  I also have two RBS50 satellites set up in wagon wheel pattern around router.  I can connect to the Orbi router via web interface when I lose internet connectivity.  I didn't check today if the Orbi saw an active internet connection from my modem, but a few days ago when the same thing happened I think Orbi was showing no internet connection on the web interface.  Modem and ISP (Xfinity Comcast) both reported no problems.  I will keep an eye on this next time it happens just to be sure.  

I've been on stock setup for channels...I made no changes to that from initial factory reset and setup.

Two satellites:  One is located on same floor one room over but there is a gas fireplace and a wall of books against that wall between router and satellite.  Other satellite is one floor down from router and about 30-40 feet to the side.  Typical 2x4 wood frame construction.  The one downstairs I use mostly for its wired connections to hook up non-wifi devices, but also to reach the "bottom" of the "L"... It's an L-shaped ~3800 sf house, and the router sits at about the middle of the downstroke of the "L".