RBR50 randomly dropping signal

[Camzilla5150]

So I am beyond frustrated. I work from home and need a stable connection. I work for the government so each drop, even for a few seconds forces me to do an insanely slow complete reboot of my work system, reconnect to the VPN.......it's basically a 20 minute job start to finish.

We've had the RBR50 for 5 years now and had not one single issue......not one! Until we moved. Now it's dropped the signal randomly. I can go weeks and it's just fine, but days like today it will drop it 4-5 times in a day.

We have Spectrum business. It has the Arris modem and then another modem for the phone portion. I have confirmed, both are needed to get us internet. This does mean there's a splitter which I've red can cause issues, but I don't have a choice.

I have had Spectrum out multiple times to check the lines and all is good there. Modems were tested and even replaced just out of my frustration. Doing a check direct from the modem gives me minimums of 600mbps normally.

Here's what I've tried.

Updated to the latest firmware. Honestly this is the only thing that's changed since we moved. This I feel is when the issues started.

I've tried to do full resets on the ORBI with no luck.

I've tried to fall back to the previous firmware and can update the main router fine but it gives me the error that "incorrect firmware" for the satellites and won't let me manually upload the previous firmware.

I've tried changing channels in the system to see if that helps. I've tried changing from 2.4 to 5ghz. I've read on this forum till I'm blue in the face.

This system was flawwwwwless for year. I never had to touch or restart it. And now it's just a constant pain in my butt. Our house is not huge. 1860sq ft. Both satellites are 1 wall away and less than 20'.

When it does drop signal, there are no colors on the ORBI main router or the satellites. It's not like they go pink or blue.......no lights at all.

Can anyone give me some ideas or something else to try I'm missing?  It's making work extremely difficult and it shouldn't be. I just don't get why taking the system out of one house and moving it to a new house changed so much with it.

Thanks for your help and time. I really appreciate it!

Mike

[plemans]

Seems a little strange that they have 2x modems. 

What 2 is it? 

If you power off the satellite and just use the router, do you still get the drops? (testing if its a backhaul issue)

[KevinLiT]

Hello Camzilla5150,

I understand that you are having interim network issues that you did not originally have with your prior network setup. Your network disconnects could be caused by a double NAT ( Network Address Translation). Double NAT occurs when there is more than one router connected to the network in router mode. Changing your Orbi from router mode to AP mode has been proven to solve network issues similar to yours. 

Please try changing your Orbi to AP mode. Please visit the link below for instructions on how to successfully change your Orbi to AP mode:

How do I configure my Orbi router to act as an access point? | Answer | NETGEAR Support

Best,

Kevin

Community Team

[Camzilla5150]

One router is the Arris TM1602 and the other one is Spectrum E31T2V1. One is for the phone ther other for the internet and I’ve played around trying to get rid of the phone modem since we don’t use their phone and it just won’t work.

[Camzilla5150]

Thank you. I will try to switch it to AP mode and see if that helps!

[plemans]

AP mode won't work. 

Both of those modems are modem only. Its just one has built in voice capability. 

So if you put the orbi in AP mode, nothing will be handling dhcp/nat. 

I'd contact them to see if you can just use the Technicolor as it has voice and modem.  Plus its more capable.  There's no point to have the other one. 

[Camzilla5150]

Good to know on the AP. I was skeptical that it was the solution because I had heard that as well.

I'll give them a call. I'm actually trying to switch to Hunter Communications. Half the cost and twice the speed and much better customer service.

Thanks for the assists.

[Camzilla5150]

AP mode didn’t work.

I’m tired of this crap system. I’m done with netgear and they’ve permanently lost a customer for sure. Too many other good systems out there. Working full time and going to school full time, I don’t have time to research the crap out of how to get my wifi system to do what it’s supposed to.


Thanks to all that helped troubleshoot but I’m throwing in the towel. Hopefully netgear gets things figured out and fixes all the dropped wifi issues. 😕

[plemans]

Its fine to be done. 

I literally said AP mode won't work and gave an explanation why it wouldn't. 

but you proceeded to try it anyway and then complained and said "done with netgear" after trying something that won't work. 

Ok. Good luck with the next system. 

[Camzilla5150]

Plemans,
No you were very correct and I meant no disrespect. I completely appreciate your help. Just so frustrated with it all. I tried the AP out of lack of any other thing to try. But again, I appreciate your help and input. Didn’t mean to sound ungrateful in any way.

[FURRYe38]

One last ditch effort that you might try, take the RBR to a different location, say friend, neighbor or family member to see if you can get it working at a different location, maybe different ISP. See if the problem follows or not. 

You can try Voxels FW for Orbi:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Voxels-FW-available-for-50-series-Orbi-only-available/m-p/1883...

[KevinLiT]

Hello Camzilla5150,

Thank you for providing that information!

@plemans  is correct. If both ISP devices are modem only the AP mode will not work. 

I would like to endorse you to our support team to troubleshoot this issue further. 

Please PM the following information so I can endorse you to our support team:

Name:
Email:
Phone Number:
Device Model:
Firmware:
Serial Number:
Preferred time to be contacted:
App version:

Please provide this information as soon as possible!
I look forward to hearing from you!

Best,
Kevin
Community Team