Canon EOS R1 Not Detecting ORBI 970 WIFI SSIDs – Anyone Else?

[UnknowingMind]

Hi everyone,

I’m having an issue with my Canon R1 (firmware 1.0.0) and wanted to see if anyone else is experiencing something similar or has found a solution.

The camera is unable to detect WIFI SSIDs broadcast by my ORBI 970 (WIFI 7 capable, firmware V9.12.4.16_1.3.21). Interestingly, my Canon R3 has no problem finding and connecting to these same SSIDs, so it seems specific to the R1. All other devices in my network can see the SSIDs without issue.

Here are the details of what I’ve tried so far:

• The R1 can see other SSIDs in the area, just not the ones from the ORBI.
• I was able to connect my phone to the camera’s hotspot and use Camera Connect successfully, so the WIFI functionality on the camera isn’t completely broken.
• I’ve toggled various settings on the ORBI router, including disabling/enabling protocols like WPA3, 802.11ax, and others, but no luck.

I’ve already opened a support case with Canon but thought I’d check with the community to see if anyone else has encountered this or found a workaround.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

[CampanellaFoto]

I am having a similar issue with my R1 where it does not see the SSID from my mobile router. I've tried and tried but it will not show up. All my other cameras can see it and connect to it, but not the R1. Not even entering the SSID manually seems to work. 

The R1 sees my home wifi network without problem and it was able to connect to my iPhone's personal hotspot so I know the Wifi is working. 

I have seen on another forum of someone having this same issue with an R5 Mark II. I am hoping maybe it is some type of firmware bug, I figure these two cameras are probably running a very similar firmware. 

Love to hear if you heard anything from Canon. 

[UnknowingMind]

Thank you for confirming that you're also having the issue. I reached out to Canon this morning. They sent me an email which I never received asking to confirm the firmware I'm running on the ORBI 970. I provided this information this morning. There has been no update since. If you haven't already created a case, I encourage you to contact support so that they have multiple reports of the issue and can prioritize a fix. 

[CampanellaFoto]

I spoke with Canon on the phone yesterday. Unfortunately the customer support rep was not well versed in cameras. So she took down everything I said and promised I would be contacted by someone from customer support who dealt with cameras. 

Today they got in touch via email and their answer left a lot to be desired. They told me to check if my router was set for 2.4 Ghz or 5 Ghz claiming the camera is only able to connect ot 2.4 Ghz. This is incorrect, the rep does not know what he is talking about. I tested turning my router to 2.4 Ghz just to be certain and the camera still could not see it. So that did nothing. 

I found it weird he would claim the camera is only able to connect to 2.4 Ghz so I borrowed a colleagues router and the camera saw it and was able to connect to it on both the 2.4 Ghz band and the 5 Ghz band. 

Lastly the rep recommended updating the camera's firmware, which sealed the deal on how much effort he put into his response to me. 

[UnknowingMind]

Thanks for the update CampanellaFoto. I've upgraded to Firmware 1.0.1 and the issue remains. The SSID is not visible.

[Einaranton]

same issue 

can't find my wireless router 

but find all other networks 2.4 and 5hz

[UnknowingMind]

HI Elinaranton,

Canon engineering sent me a loner R1 to further troubleshoot and make sure that it wasn't something specific with my model. I confirmed the issue is was present in the loaner. At the time, it was tested with 1.0.1. They will be purchasing an Orbi 970 to further troubleshoot the issue. Issue is still present in 1.0.2. If I have any more updates, I'll post in this thread. Which wireless router are you using? This information may help further troubleshoot the issue. I suggest you contact support and explain the issue. Feel free to reference this thread.

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

Please temporarily disable "smart connect". This option is proprietary to Netgear where it combines a single SSID for all Network band broadcasts. 

Give each network a unique SSID name.  After doing this, restart the router.  The R1 can connect to a 5G or 2.4Ghz broadcast that uses WPA2 OR 3.  Retest with this configuration and let us know what you find.  

[UnknowingMind]

shadowsports, Smart Connect doesn't exist in the 970 router. This is not visible in the UI, either through basic or advanced settings. If I'm missing something, let me know. The User manual doesn't return results when searching by regexp: "/smart.*connect/i": https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBE973S/RBE971_RBE970_UM.pdf

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

I see they stopped using that term..  Review pages 63, 64 and 65. Consider giving each Network a unique name. The orb970 comes default with WPA3 encryption enabled. Try changing the encryption standard to WPA2-PSK + WPA3-Personal.

You'll see reference to this on page 65.  I'm not a big fan of bandwidth steering as I don't believe consumer-based routers are necessarily capable of making the best choices, which band your device will connect to.  Using unique SSIDs puts you in control and ensures your devices are associating with the network that's going to provide the best performance, whether that be broadcast range or bandwidth/throughput.