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Forum Discussion
Orbi satellite dropping connection
Right to the point: my Orbi system has 2 satellites and 1 main tower. The internet drops/slows down (to the point where internet browsing is not possible) 2-3 times per day randomly without warning o...
I ended up downgrading to 2.0.1.4 and it was just more of the same crap. Dropping internet, dropping connections, and also getting horrible internet speeds. I haven't bothered even measuring network throughput because of everything else. I did some testing this morning and ended up connecting my work laptop directly to the modem. It was blazing fast at over 100mbps. My personal laptop (via wireless because it doesn't have a cable connection) was still getting 1/4 the speed I should see.
The speed thing has been so much of an issue lately that I thought it was my ISP. There was an issue some time back where our pool for the area had an issue and internet speeds were crawling. It impacted the entire neighborhood (I checked with others). Anyway, they sent someone out to fix it and it was fine then. I thought that maybe it was that again since I saw someone working on the pool location about a week ago. They sent someone out to look at the pool. They said nothing was wrong so they ended up "resetting my connection". Whatever that means. Per the tests today, I think it was the Orbi.
I ended up rebooting the router again and plugging the modem back into it. I then tested my work laptop wirelessly. I verified it was connected via 5Ghz and it was testing well at over 100mbps (I should mention I had unplugged the RBS50 after the router reboot).
Anyway, fast forward to this evening and the upstairs computer (which is connected via cat 5) is getting over 100mbps and my work laptop is getting at or above 100mbps mostly. My personal laptop is not getting quite there connected at 5Ghz. Not sure why, but I'll assume it's a client side issue. I haven't checked the protocol it runs at. In short, I'm ok with it. I think it tested as high as 75mbps before the router forced it over to the 2.4ghz connection. it's now testing between 50mbps and 65mbps. Ping times are all over the place, but I don't put too much stock into that.
Anyway, this is all with the main satellite unplugged. The garage satellite is still plugged in (RBW30) and, oddly enough, Orbi reports that it is connected to the main router. This surprises me since it's so far away. I'm sure the speed is horrible, but it's cold and wet out so I don't feel like walking across the yard to the shop. lol
I'm not sure when I'll plug the RBS50 back in. Probably not tonight. I want to keep doing some baseline testing before I do that. That was a lot to type and I'm not sure people will read all that. So I'll stop there. :)
Orbi Satellites were working just fine until the recent firmware update. I have one router and two satellites with the AC2200 system. Once every day i have to power off and on and then the satellites work ok. This is very frustrating and no other solution seems to be in the que. When the satellites work it is beautiful with almost the 300mbps coming through which is what i have subscribed for with my provider. It is a shame that Netgear has not come up with anything inspite of a lot of users reporting it.
I finally bought two programmable digital timers and programmed them to go off for a couple of minutes in the night and then come back on. This resets the power to the satellites and they stay connected until the next reset ! I don't know what else to do? Hopefully some firmware update in future will fix this. I bought it Oct 2017 @ Best Buy so out of warranty and had to do something to make it work !
Wow, I've been really struggling for a few days with my 2 sattelites losing connection. Actually even the setup was a struggle. I though for some reason I was being an idiot but after reading through this thread I feel better about myself.
I'm not one for struggling so I'm moving on soon. I live in the UK so we don't get he Eero. Anyone with experience with the Linsksys Velop or the Ubiquity systems? I'm just looking for something that I can setup and forget, I don't want to play around and configure the thing much.
My experience with 2 differents sets of RBK50 in 2 different locations with 2 different providers with the latest firmware of last month was TERRRIBLE! lost connections, etc etc. When it works which is like 20% of the time, it is great. Probably the fastest mesh around. But the other 80% of the time........ Lousy Terrible Crazy.
I have since changed one of the RBK to Velop and it works fantastic. No issues at all for more then a month. a 3 point mesh replacing a 2 point mesh and other then slightly slower speed then a 20% working Orbi, it actually is great. Coverage is actually better as well.
My other RBK was replaced with 2 units of Portal. Coverage is as good as the Orbi, and speeds are about equal. But not loss of connections and no youtube stuttering etc for more then 3 weeks now. I am so glad I got rid of Orbi as all it did was cause me grief and money (mobile and ipad as going to mobile data as the connection was poor) for the past 8 months.
Sell your Orbi away while you can. Its not going to work. After more then 5-6 firmware upgrades, they can promise everything and it has shown that the units will go downhill after that. Factory reset and what not, is not going to help.
Things started going downhill once i upgraded firware to V 2.1.2.18. When it works it is great ! As i said before i am using a programmable timer to disrupt power twice a day for a minute and it is holding up so far. Every once in a while the satellites disconnect at random and i need to power cycle. The more i read about this it is a very wide spread issue and I don't understand why Netgear is not relasing a patch for firmware. These units are not cheap either and I cannot imagine why Netgear is sitting on the fence and not addressing the problem ?
apollo_60wrote:Orbi Satellites were working just fine until the recent firmware update. I have one router and two satellites with the AC2200 system. Once every day i have to power off and on and then the satellites work ok. This is very frustrating and no other solution seems to be in the que. When the satellites work it is beautiful with almost the 300mbps coming through which is what i have subscribed for with my provider. It is a shame that Netgear has not come up with anything inspite of a lot of users reporting it.
@I finally bought two programmable digital timers and programmed them to go off for a couple of minutes in the night and then come back on. This resets the power to the satellites and they stay connected until the next reset ! I don't know what else to do? Hopefully some firmware update in future will fix this. I bought it Oct 2017 @ Best Buy so out of warranty and had to do something to make it work !
That's a pretty decent work around. Do you get pretty good performance out of the system by doing this? Do you only do that to the satellites? Are both of them the RBS40?
Currently my RBS50 satellite is still unplugged. My testing last night seems fairly decent. I'm also leaving my Android phone off of the wifi for the weekend to see how things go. I'll reintroduce the Android phone on Sunday. After a few days I'll reintroduce the satellite...potentially with a timer like you have.
My RBS50 is still unplugged and I'm currently sitting in the shop. The RBW30 is connected to the RBR50 somehow. It's pretty far away, so this is surprising. I'm getting 20mbps from the shop, which is amazing for how far it is to the RBR50.
Anyway...an update. I added my Android phone back into the network yesterday morning even though I said I wasn't going to this weekend. I haven't had one single drop. I haven't tested speeds (until I got out to the shop) since I added the Android phone in, but I will tonight. At this point, I have to put the blame on the RBS50 satellite. It lends creedence to the fact that it may need to be power cycled. Unfortunately the only way to do that is with a timer like apollo_60 is doing. This should be a standard feature in all firmware, IMO. But anyway...I'd settle for firmware that actually worked at this point. They can build up features from there.
I'm going to throw caution to the wind this evening and plug the RBS50 back in. I'm not sure how long it will last before I start seeing issues, but I'm going to keep an eye on it. I also have a timer I'm going to connect to it this week. I want to see how long it goes without causing issues first.
I'm wondering if Netgear has ever considered a recall? Maybe this issue isn't widespread enough. A lot of people are certainly complaining. I'm wondering if others simply aren't noticing?
I wasn't clear from your text --- were you rebooting both the Orbi router and the satellite every night, or just the satellites? Thanks!