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Forum Discussion
Does 2.1.3.4 restrict Satellite performance?
I have been with Firmware 2.0.1.4 since purchase, happy with that, I am using wireless backhaul, speedtest result was about 620Mbps when MacBookPro connected to Satellite,. Upgraded to 2.1.3.4 2 ...
Update.
I spent some hours last weekend, upgraded/downgraded v2.0.1.4 and v2.1.3.4 back and forth multiple times, ran debug capture while testing speed. I couldn't reprocude the same problem any more. v2.1.3.4 firmware, in terms of download speed, is same or slightly better than v2.0.1.4.
However I did notice something during the tests and I think that might be the reason caused performance drop as I noticed at the first place. There are 2 times, when I tried to install firmware, after uploaded firmware image, Web UI said session timedout server busy something... Checked the debug page of Router and Sattlite, I noticed CPU usage were about 100% on both, and stayed at 100% (checked again after 10 mins, still 100%). I had to restart Router and Satellite in order to install firmware.
I can't give the exact scenario which could keep CPU such busy, I think repeating start capture / save debug log / start capture / save debug log / ... could be one of the reason but I am not sure.
100% CPU usage definitely imapcts everything, including performance.
Netgear support suggested factory reset on Satellite, I did but didn't touch Router, so if Router was also 100% CPU, the wireless backhaul between Router and Satellite was probably affected, that may explain why I got lower speeds on Satellite.
After the tests I stayed at v2.1.3.4 and monitored it for 2 days, I did speedtests at different hours and checked CPU usages, so far so good, speedtest results on Wireless AC on Satellite are about 620Mbps - 670Mbps, max CPU usages were about 50-60% during the speedtest, and immediately went back to 10% after download completed.
Very high CPU usage could be the sign of unexpected issues, and it is hard to be drawn the attention even someone is aware of the existence of debug page. I whish Netgear can think of displaying CPU and/or other Router/Satellite stats in the Orbi app.
just a new update.
it is almost reproducable. RBR50 drops speed after 5 days: enountered 2 rounds.
after stayed with firmware 2.1.4.10 for 5 days without any issue, on the 6th day, it started throwing performance issue, speedtest result dropped by 200Mbps (from 660Mbps to 430Mbps) when wireless on Satellite. monitored for 2 days, didn't see any improvement.
CPU load / memory usage / temperature all look pretty good.
Wireless Backhaul status is good too.retarted Orbi Satellite, didn't help.
restarted Orbi Router, speed was back.
Although I always test on Satellite, but the problem seems to be on Router side, looks like a time bomb something in Router, that reduces backhaul performance after 5 days (to remind to reboot?)
I am getting a bit frustrated now.
Provided Netgear support debug logs, don't think they looked it...
Forgot to mention what I have observed.
After speed dropped on the 6th day,
I firstly restarted Router, when Router was back, I noticed the wireless backhaul status is poor and stayed at Poor. I tried speedtest (on Satellite), same poor speed.
I then restarted Satellite too, wireless backhaul status was back to Good, re-tested speedtest, it now gave expected result.
It looks like wireless backhaul somehow became poor after some days, but the status shown in Attached Devices page wasn't correctly refreshed. Only when you restarted Router, it then showed correct status, which may explain where the performance problem came from: it was actually due to poor wireless backhaul but you couldn't see the correct status from Web UI.
So there are 2 problems:1. Why wireless backhaul became poort after some days?
2. Why the status was not correct?
To be honest I like Orbi, it simplifies wireless setup with good coverage, but the performance issue is really annoy, now I have to restart Router and Satellite every week to get it worked properly... When I was using my old Router, I didn't even need to restart it in a year.Possible you have a bad satellite going bad. IF you reboot the satelite after it's Poor condition and it comes back to Good then falls back to poor, I would look into replacing the Satellite.
