RBR50 Worked Flawlessy since Purchase in 2018 - Now experiencing Wifi Disconnects from my devices

[Ultramarine440]

Hello All,

I have have had a flawless WiFi setup with the RBR50 and one RBS50 satellite at my home from the initial setup back in 2018.  Over the past few weeks, I have been experiencing intermittent wireless disconnects on multiple devices(possibly all).

carrier:  Spectrum

modem:  technicolor DPC3216 DOCSIS 3.0 16X4

router:  Orbi RBR50

satellite:  Orbi RBS50

firmware:  V2.7.3.22(latest as of September 2021)

I have experienced disconnects from gaming consoles, smart tv's, computers....just about any wifi device that I have been using for more than a few minutes...long enough to experience a random disconnect.  The obvious cases are netflix streaming or playing an xbox gamepass game that requires a constant internet connection.

What I have tried so far:

- turning off cable modem and wifi, powering on cable modem, waiting for solid connection, and then powering on the Orbi hardware.  Everything comes back online with no issues....but the random wifi disconnects continue to happen.

- adjusting my hardware setup:  The APC power strip had my router, cable modem, a network attached storage appliance, my work laptop power supply, and a lamp connected, so I dropped the power connections down to just the modem/router/laptop.  This did not help, but I just wanted to rule out an overloaded power outlet.

- changing the wifi password:  I like to change that periodically anyway, but that did not help

Interesting Observation for Today:

I decided to connect my work laptop to the RBR50 with ethernet cable this morning, thinking that it would eliminate what I thought was a WiFi issue, but my wired connection to the laptop dropped after an hour or so!  I unplugged the ethernet cable and went back to Wifi, and now I am currently working(and streaming video from an IT conference at the moment).

Summary:  Getting random disconnects from both wired AND wireless connections to my RBR50/RBS50 setup.  This is after about 2.5 years of flawless home network operation with the same orbi hardware and spectrum cable modem.  Very interesting that I just ran into an ethernet disconnect today while trying to work hard-wired on my laptop this morning.

I wanted to try to avoid taking the router completely out of the equation, but maybe that is what I need to do next.  I still have my old router that I can hook up temporarily if necessary.

[FURRYe38 · Accepted solution]

Yes. Something to turn OFF and see if the Orbi system works with out it. 

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@Ultramarine440 wrote:

OK, I decided to rename my WiFi network and temporarily try another router.  I set up the new router with a new WiFi network name.  What surprised me is that I still saw a network showing up in my WifI Analyzer program with the old network name.  I forgot that I had a TP-LINK RE200 range extender plugged into an outlet in my basement.  I was using it as a wireless ethernet adapter while I was working on an extremely old computer in the basement.  Well, that basically replicates your network, and I'm wondering if it was causing problems with the wireless mesh.  Regardless, I am going to keep the current setup in place for a few days and see how things go.  Could that TP-LINK range extender have caused issues with my Wireless Mesh?  It was broadcasting my old network SSID on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.

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[FURRYe38]

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

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS📡 to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.

Is Armor or Circle enabled on the RBR?

What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or may not be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

One User Experience/Configuration:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Most-Stable-Orbi-Configuration/m-p/1941087/highlight/true#M970...

[Ultramarine440]

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

As of my initial post, NO, but I went ahead and ran a full reset and setup from scratch. I downloaded the Orbi app to my smart phone and ran through the setup. I noticed one weird issue with the "routerlogin.net" certificate both on my phone and one of my computers initially, but that problem went away after a couple of minutes.

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?

1920 square feet, not including a large basement...where my RBS50 satellite is set up. It is

What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS📡 to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.

I'm guessing between 60-70 feet.

Is Armor or Circle enabled on the RBR?

No Armor or Circle enabled

What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

currently on channel 48 for 5GHz and channel 8 for 2.4GHz. Router was set to "auto" for 2.4GHz
The "WiFi Analyzer" Microsoft Windows app that I have installed is showing "76-77 available networks
Channel 48 seems like a good choice for 5GHz according to this app.

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or may not be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

I'll hold off on trying the Beamforming for now since I have made several other changes

Quick question: Was performing the configuration reset recommended after the latest firmware was applied?  Also, the Wifi Analyzer app seemed to indicate that channel 8 was one of the least crowded 2.4Ghz channels, so I left the 2.4GHz channel setting to "auto" in my current configuration.  I'll give it a day now that I have done a complete reset and reconfigure on the router.

One more quick question: Is the "backhaul" between the router and the satellite possible what shows up as "HIDDEN" when I run he WiFi analyzer app?  It always shows up as the same signal strength as my network and it shows up on whatever channel that my wifi is on when I was experimenting with changing the channel for 2.4Ghz.

I will follow up in 12-24 hours.  Thanks again!

[FURRYe38]

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@Ultramarine440 wrote:

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

As of my initial post, NO, but I went ahead and ran a full reset and setup from scratch. I downloaded the Orbi app to my smart phone and ran through the setup. I noticed one weird issue with the "routerlogin.net" certificate both on my phone and one of my computers initially, but that problem went away after a couple of minutes.

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?

1920 square feet, not including a large basement...where my RBS50 satellite is set up. It is

What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS📡 to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.

I'm guessing between 60-70 feet. <Maybe a bit too far however keep an eye on it for now. 

Is Armor or Circle enabled on the RBR?

No Armor or Circle enabled

What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

currently on channel 48 for 5GHz and channel 8 for 2.4GHz. <Use channels 1, 6 or 11. Other channels are sub channels used by the router system. Router was set to "auto" for 2.4GHz
The "WiFi Analyzer" Microsoft Windows app that I have installed is showing "76-77 available networks
Channel 48 seems like a good choice for 5GHz according to this app. 👍 

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or may not be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

I'll hold off on trying the Beamforming for now since I have made several other changes

Quick question: Was performing the configuration reset recommended after the latest firmware was applied?  Yes.

Also, the Wifi Analyzer app seemed to indicate that channel 8 was one of the least crowded 2.4Ghz channels, so I left the 2.4GHz channel setting to "auto" in my current configuration.  I'll give it a day now that I have done a complete reset and reconfigure on the router. <Use channels 1, 6 or 11. Other channels are sub channels used by the router system.

One more quick question: Is the "backhaul" between the router and the satellite possible what shows up as "HIDDEN" when I run he WiFi analyzer app?  Yes. It always shows up as the same signal strength as my network and it shows up on whatever channel that my wifi is on when I was experimenting with changing the channel for 2.4Ghz.

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[Jonathon7699]

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@Ultramarine440 wrote:

Hello All,

I have have had a flawless WiFi setup with the RBR50 and one RBS50 satellite at my home from the initial setup back in 2018.  Over the past few weeks, I have been experiencing intermittent wireless disconnects on multiple devices(possibly all).

carrier:  Spectrum

modem:  technicolor DPC3216 DOCSIS 3.0 16X4

router:  Orbi RBR50

satellite:  Orbi RBS50

firmware:  V2.7.3.22(latest as of September 2021)

I have experienced disconnects from gaming consoles, smart tv's, computers....just about any wifi device that I have been using for more than a few minutes...long enough to experience a random disconnect.  The obvious cases are netflix streaming or playing an xbox gamepass game that requires a constant internet connection.

What I have tried so far:

- turning off cable modem and wifi, powering on cable modem, waiting for solid connection, and then powering on the Orbi hardware.  Everything comes back online with no issues....but the random wifi disconnects continue to happen.

- adjusting my hardware setup:  The APC power strip had my router, cable modem, a network attached storage appliance, my work laptop power supply, and a lamp connected, so I dropped the power connections down to just the modem/router/laptop.  This did not help, but I just wanted to rule out an overloaded power outlet.

- changing the wifi password:  I like to change that periodically anyway, but that did not help

Interesting Observation for Today:

I decided to connect my work laptop to the RBR50 with ethernet cable this morning, thinking that it would eliminate what I thought was a WiFi issue, but my wired connection to the laptop dropped after an hour or so!  I unplugged the ethernet cable and went back to Wifi, and now I am currently working(and streaming video from an IT conference at the moment). Upsers

Summary:  Getting random disconnects from both wired AND wireless connections to my RBR50/RBS50 setup.  This is after about 2.5 years of flawless home network operation with the same orbi hardware and spectrum cable modem.  Very interesting that I just ran into an ethernet disconnect today while trying to work hard-wired on my laptop this morning.

I wanted to try to avoid taking the router completely out of the equation, but maybe that is what I need to do next.  I still have my old router that I can hook up temporarily if necessary.

---

Thanks for the update. I'll be sure to keep an eye on this thread.

[Ultramarine440]

OK, I decided to rename my WiFi network and temporarily try another router.  I set up the new router with a new WiFi network name.  What surprised me is that I still saw a network showing up in my WifI Analyzer program with the old network name.  I forgot that I had a TP-LINK RE200 range extender plugged into an outlet in my basement.  I was using it as a wireless ethernet adapter while I was working on an extremely old computer in the basement.  Well, that basically replicates your network, and I'm wondering if it was causing problems with the wireless mesh.  Regardless, I am going to keep the current setup in place for a few days and see how things go.  Could that TP-LINK range extender have caused issues with my Wireless Mesh?  It was broadcasting my old network SSID on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.

[FURRYe38 · Accepted solution]

Yes. Something to turn OFF and see if the Orbi system works with out it. 

---

@Ultramarine440 wrote:

OK, I decided to rename my WiFi network and temporarily try another router.  I set up the new router with a new WiFi network name.  What surprised me is that I still saw a network showing up in my WifI Analyzer program with the old network name.  I forgot that I had a TP-LINK RE200 range extender plugged into an outlet in my basement.  I was using it as a wireless ethernet adapter while I was working on an extremely old computer in the basement.  Well, that basically replicates your network, and I'm wondering if it was causing problems with the wireless mesh.  Regardless, I am going to keep the current setup in place for a few days and see how things go.  Could that TP-LINK range extender have caused issues with my Wireless Mesh?  It was broadcasting my old network SSID on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.

---

[Ultramarine440]

Thanks for all the help and the suggestions.  I have had zero connection issues since taking the TP-LINK range extender out of the equation.  That was something that was making me scratch my head while I was checking the "connected devices" screeen in the Orbi admin screen as well as the WiFi Analzer app:  I was see devices connected to a router that was displaying my WiFi SSID, but the MAC address of that device did not match up with the MAC address of my ORBI base router or satellite.  The laptop that I was using for testing in the same room as the Orb RBR50 was actually choosing to connect to the TP-Link range extender in the basement instead of the Orbi that was 4 feet away!  So, in summary, I created the problem with that TP-LINK device.  Thanks again, this one is definitely solved.