Here's my setup: My Orbi RBR10 mesh router is connected to the Starlink router and has 6 satellites, distributed around the house, detached garage and greenhouse. I use the system for wifi calling because cellular service is weak, and also for all entertainment. I can't use the starlink wifi because it's signal does not cover enough area, that's why I rely on the Orbi mesh. All was working well until Samsung installed a OneUI update on my Samsung A54 mobile phone. Since then incoming voice on phone calls is so distorted that wifi calling is unusable. Also internet speed on the phone can go as low as 1 - 2 Mbps, while our other mobile phones are seeing speeds of 50Mbps. Likewise with the computers and TV's, no problem with speed. If I switch the phone over to the Starlink wifi, the A54 has no problem, and sees the same speeds as the other phones, sometimes in excess of 150Mbps. So, during phone calls, I have to switch from Orbi to Starlink. Samsung has checked the phone and claims it is OK, and that the problem is being caused by the Mesh wifi. Telling them that there was no problem until there update does not convince them. The A54 phone works fine everywhere else, Starlink, cellular and other wifi connections. I have gone through the Orbi setup multiple times but cannot find any issues. Also, because I have a spare RBR10 router, I switch routers and re-sync'd all satellites and gave the new network a diferent SSID name, but the problem remains. So, for some reason my phone now dislikes Orbi RBR10 mesh networks. As far as the slow speed is concerned, I don't know if it is network speed or internet speed, because, on the A54 phone, when checking the network properties, the phone doesn't show the speed, whereas my other phones will show the network speed, i.e 390Mbps.
Question: Do different wifi networks work on different frequencies or some other differences? Is there something different about the Orbi wifi signal compared to others.
What a crazy situation! It seems so obvious: Samsung changed software in the phone and now it doesn't work. But....
Changing the User Interface (UI) is not necessarily the same thing as changing the mechanics of how the phone functions. The sense I get from the problem description is that voice quality when using internet calling was what led to the investigation of network speed. i.e. the A54 is just "slow" now when it was speedy before.
No, there is nothing different about Orbi WiFi compared to other similar products. IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac is a standard. The "10-series" product is similar to the original Google Mesh in being a Dual Band system, where the same 5G WiFi radios are used for both user devices and communication between router and satellites.
Sad to hear that the A54 does not display the network speed in WiFi settings. (My Samsung tablet does.)
There are two ways that the Orbi network connection and the Starlink connection are 'different':
When connected to Starlink, none of the other devices connected to the Orbi are visible to the A54. (The original post did not mention which 'mode' the Orbi router is using.) If the A54 is consuming resources communicating with some other device on the Orbi network, that usage would stop when the phone connects to Starlink directly. It's a real frustration that Orbi routers do not provide useful information about which devices are using the network.
When connected to the Orbi system, we assume that the phone is correctly implementing IEEE802.11r (often called Fast Roaming - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11r-2008 ) to be connected to the optimal Orbi unit at all times. With six satellites in that layout, there is a good chance that some are "Daisy Chained" and this may affect speed at the farthest satellite. Would it be possible to temporarily power off the satellites and test the phone against only the Orbi router? The Orbi Attached Devices (Device Manager on the Orbi app) display which unit each device is using. The Orbi app also displays the Link Speed which it appears that the A54 does not reveal. It is frustrating that the attachment information takes quite some time to update. (we think of computers as being "instant". The Orbi Attached Devices information can take several minutes to change, and often requires an actual "Refresh" of the screen.)
Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. The Orbi router is in Router mode, as it always has been, and it shows the phone connected with 5G. I have cleared cache, reset all settings, and also done a factory reset, but with no improvement in performance. I suppose I could power down all satellites, then check the wifi speed from the Orbi router. I don't remember which was the 1st symptom, whether speed or voice communication. I think possibly it was speed, because when trying to connect to a page, say FB, the screen would start blank, and the progress bar would freeze at the halfway point. Eventually, if I waited long enough, the page would finally load. Sometimes though (rarely), the phone works relatively normally, with clear voice and speed similar to my other Samsung phones. My Orbi network is set up with fast roaming and daisy chain enabled. I have run tests with the phone in close proximity to several of the satellites, with the fastest connection being obtained when close to the satellite connected to the phone. Moving around the house, the phone does not switch to the closest satellite. Well, maybe it does if I would wait long enough. I have run speed tests with the A54 located next to my old J727 and a Samsung A71. Sometimes, but very rarely the A54 will run slightly faster, but generally the A54 will show less than 5Mbps, while, at the same time, the other phones will be anywhere from 30 - 60Mbps. Recently, I checked the starlink network speed close to the Starling router, it was 167Mbps. I immediately switch networks to the Orbi router, which showed the A54 as the connected device, and ran the test again, but got only 2Mbps. In town, I ran the same test using the Puretalk (AT&T) cellular connection, and got 87Mbps. I have no idea why the phone discriminates against the Orbi network, and it's difficult to argue with Samsung when they have tested the phone and found nothing wrong, instead claiming that the Mesh network is to blame, and asking me if I set up the network, as if to insinuate that I made a setup error. My answer to them is, as you wrote, that the phone connection was fine before the One UI update, but then, after updating, the problems started, so it has to be the update. I've also told them that, to troubleshoot the problem, it would have to be done in my home where the problem exists. But, they will only do that if I pay for the home visit.
I run an app called GSam Battery Monitor Pro on my Android which displays the usage of each application. (Maybe your newer phone does this without an 'app'?)
Yes. Settings, About Phone, Reset, Factory Data Reset.
It has a battery setting which shows battery activity and in each app it includes system resource usage and wireless communication (mobile data in packets, wifi also in packets, GPS and Bluetooth scanning) but I don't know how that helps.
Well, darn. My phone nags me to do a "reset" once a month. Had hoped a restart might make the phone behave better. Or, that the resource usage would reveal some "oh, my" app that was going wild.
I wish I could speak to someone at Netgear/Orbi for a suggestion, but they don't offer advice on products over 90 days old.
.
There has to be a logical reason why my phone, in its current configuration, discriminates against my Orbi RBR10. Certainly, the Orbi is functioning properly because my other phones don't have the same problem.
I don't fully understand the difference between the Router Mode and Access Point Mode. With Starlink, the ethernet cable adapter connects to the cable running from the dish, and then on to the Starlink Router. So, the Orbi router is not connected to the Starlink router. To me, the router mode is, therefore, the correct setting, whereas in AP mode, the Orbi router would have to connect to the Starlink router, which doesn't have an output ethernet socket. I have always used the router setting. I wonder also that maybe the A54 phone, with the latest update gets "confused" by the signal form so many satellites. So, maybe your suggestion to power down all satellites might be a good idea.
I also have questions about the IPV6 setting (mine is disabled), and also the Enable VLAN/Bridge group setting, where mine is set to off.
I also forgot to mention that the problems are only with download, or incoming. Upload speed is generally the same as my other phones. And during an attempted wifi calling phone call, the receiving person can clearly understand me, although the incoming voice is badly distorted.
I don't fully understand the difference between the Router Mode and Access Point Mode. With Starlink, the ethernet cable adapter connects to the cable running from the dish, and then on to the Starlink Router. So, the Orbi router is not connected to the Starlink router.
To get internet, the "Internet" port on the back of the RBR10 must be connected with an Ethernet cable. If the Star Link antenna accepts only a single Ethernet connection, then the normal method is to connect the Star Link router to the antenna and the RBR10 cable to one of the ports on the Star Link router.
The difference between 'router' and 'access point' (AP) mode is a complicated issue. When there are two routers, each of them performs a set of functions, including:
Creating a Local Area Network (LAN) with a private IP space.
Using Network Address Translation (NAT) which makes all devices connected to the router appear to have the same public IP address (the address of the router internet port).
Controlling which devices are allowed on the network and what they can do.
Preventing unwanted access from outside (a Firewall).
Controlling aspects of connections, such as enforcing Parental Controls, watching for risky connections, etc.)
When there are two routers, there are specific applications which are difficult to implement. (Thousands of customers do not need these applications and thus are blissfully unaware that if they tried to use them, they would run into problems.) There are several solutions for people who are affected by multiple routers. One of the solutions is to put the second router into AP mode so that it no longer does any router functions.
I set up a guest network for some friends who are visiting. When I connect my A54 to that network, the speed is fine. I will get 50Mbps, But, when I switch back to my home network, the A54's speed drops back to 2Mbps.
