Wireless devices disconnect from RBR20

[jonasperman]

Hi, my hardware warranty ran out in late april so this is hopeful attempt of getting my problem solved. Many other similar posts are older so i need to bump the topic, hoping it is picked up by skilled person or Netgear product support and hopefully both. I have a fully functional Orbi network in my main home which i am very happy with and wanted the same good coverage in my second home.

My setup is one RBR20 with two RBS20 satellites. TheRBR20 is connected to a fiber converter with one Ethernet port. I bought the setup, installed it in April 2022 the first time, was prompted to update firmware and did that.

The problem is that all wireless devices disconnect from the network for 15-45 seconds during which the RBR20 SSID is not visible as an available network when checking for wifis on my laptop. It did this after the initial setup and still does it after a lot of troubleshooting and reading threads.

I offer the following:

• RBR20 is in Router mode
• DHCP works fine, the Orbi router gets an IP from my ISP just fine
• SSID is "FBI" so no issues there with similar names in neighbouring networks
• As long as my Android phone is connected to "FBI", it can connect to the Orbi network and i am able to se the network with satellites and connected devices
• Network speeds are fine, what they should be, as long as i am connected to FBI
• When having fw version 2.7.3.22, the app does not recognize that there is a FW update (ie to 2.7.4.24). I did discover the newest version (4.24) on the firmware download page and installed that version, 2.7.4.24 and downgraded to 2.6.2.104 manually. All these fw installs from the web interface accessed over its local IP have ended up with the version successfully running on both Router and 2 satellites. WIth all three versions, the problem persists. I can't say if it is more stable with one version or the other
• I have done multiple factory resests with no apparent change to the disconnect frequency or duration
• Channels for 2.4 and 5GHz are left untouched from standard
• I only use IP v4
• Advanced wireless settings are untouched from standard
• Router log reports many "[DoS Attack: SYN/ACK Scan]". Ips include Microsoft, Amazon etc I suspect the DoS Attack detector is very sensitive. Nothing else is in the logs even if the disconnects occur. I cant find a way do activate more verbose logging
• The behavior is that network drops from a wirelessly connected device (phone, tables, media streamer etc). Network connectivity resumes after 30-45 seconds (which is a long time when in a critical client conversation over Teams). This pattern is repeated. I can see no pattern or activity that would cause this.
• I have not verified that a ethernet cable connected device maintains its network connection during one of the disconnects. Modern laptops need a USB-C adapter for the ethernet cable which i don't have
• I have an Asus wifi router that connects to the same fiber converter. It runs like a clock but not with the same good coverage. No, i don't have them running at the same time.

As the router can successfully establish a connection and sometimes maintain it for up to 20 minutes without a disconnect, i suspect an error in the firmware rather than hardware or cables.

I have not installed the firmware according to the suggestion, with router first and satellites after. However i have managed to get to a state where the web interface reports all Orbis having the same version number so i assume the recommendation is just that and not a hard rule.

The satellites are located in a different floor and a different building from the router and wifi analytics in the app show that i can connect to all three and get decent throughput so i assume the Orbis are not to close to eachother (since i can get all three running with these locations).

Can someone offer me a path to a stable working setup?

J

[steele32701]

If possible, make sure that the different bands on your WiFi network are using the same name.
For example, make sure that you don’t have a network_name-2G network and a network_name-5G network.
On some products, particularly older WiFi extenders, you might not be able to avoid having different names for the different WiFi bands.

[jonasperman]

Hi, thanks for the reply and trying to help out. AFAIK on the Orbi, you just give the SSID one name which is used for the two bands.

[KevinLiT]

Hello jonasperman,

Welcome to the NETGEAR Community!

I understand that you are experiencing intermittent network connectivity. This can be caused by having more than one router on a network processing routing protocol. To fix this please change your RBR20 from router mode to AP mode. 

For instructions on how to change your RBR20 from router mode to AP mode please navigate to the like below:

https://kb.netgear.com/31218/How-do-I-configure-my-Orbi-router-to-act-as-an-access-point

Best,

Kevin

Community Team

[jonasperman]

Ok thanks for chiming in! I will try. I have done this in earlier attempts but can try again. It did not help before and it also meant I lost a lot of the functionality of Orbi. But stable internet is most important.

I do not have multiple routers on my network AFAIK but I am in a bit of a pickle as fiber comes from one provider and the internet connectivity from another. That is the most common setup in Sweden, the physical network is open and multiple service providers can offer me internet, TV, telephony etc. This however means that two providers are involved to get me internet and not easy to get a clear answer...

[jonasperman]

Sorry to report that also in AP mode I did get the disconnect as described in the original post.

[KevinLiT]

Hello jonasperman,

Thank you for your reply!

I am sorry to hear that you are still experiencing this issue.

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

 

[jonasperman]

Hi and thank you so much for this, i will PM you. It is such a pesky problem and i am so very pleased with my home Orbi setup, it is just up, all the time. I am optimistic about a solution to stable wifi/internet but i have not suceeded on my own even as a self proclaimed network just-level-below-expert... J

[jonasperman]

I need to bump this closed topic as the problem persists. There was also a ticket raised with support that was closed without resolving the issue but because I would continue the troubleshooting on my end.
So, last additional info is that I have now installed the router in multiple locations with multiple ISPs and the disconnects keep occurring as explained in the thread above. Behavior is the same, internet connection drops about every five minutes and reconnects back on its own, rinse and repeat. I thought it might have to do with something funky the isp was doing but problem persists with other ISP. I also have installed an RB50-based system in the my second home (where the RB20 system did not work) which works like a charm.

I conclude the router is at fault here and I believe I have exhausted all variations to make it work.

Grateful for any support to resolve this.