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Forum Discussion
Inconsistency with Orbi Speed
Hi I've recently bought the twin Orbi router system and I have mixed feelings about it. I have seen the fastest speed I've ever experienced using it purely by speed testing it on my iPhone 7 i.e. 3...
I'm experiencing the identical issue as everyone else. Gets so slow I can't stream movies sometimes. Other times fast as lightning.
Help?
Wanted to chime in on this as well, as I've done extensive and tedious testing over the past 2 days to try to figure this out. First of all, I'm testing on an iPad Air 2 running iperf connecting to a hardwired computer on the LAN, so internet speed is eliminated as a factor. Secondly, I ensured before each test that I was indeed connected to the 5ghz band of the router or the satellite (whichever I was testing at the time), as the iPad will cling to the current connection even if you get closer to the other unit as long as the signal is good. Lastly, A LAN - LAN test from a different hardwired computer to the one running iperf in server mode was a consistent ~940Mbs (gigabit ethernet). The test as I configured it simply downloads as much data as it can during 2 seconds, and repeats this 5 times.
Now, on to the Orbi. My router and sat are (I think) around 20-25ft apart (hard to tell exactly), router upstairs and sat downstairs (so there are obstructions... floor, walls, cabinets). Standing in a position from the router that yields a signal of about -40, I get a reasonably consistent ~375Mbs (sometimes even reaching in the the lower 400Mbs range), comparable speeds to my Nighthawk R7800.
When positioned near the sat (and, again, confirming that I am indeed connected through it), sometimes I can run several test cycles back to back and get 200-250Mbs. But more often than not, it gets dicey, sometimes showing drastically flucutating speeds within the 10 second test cycle, other times just being solidly bad.
My first reaction was to assume there was a problem with the backhaul link. So, I plugged a laptop (WiFi off) into an ethernet port on the sat, and determined that the backhaul speed was in the neighborhood of 500Mbs, ruling that out... this is a problem between the client and the sat. And bear in mind, it's not a torture test, as I'm sitting only about 12ft. from the sat with no obstructions, and have a solid signal of around -37 to -40.
Now, I originally did these tests on a system running the latest v1.4.0.34 firmware. I exchanged that for another Orbi, and tested with the firmware that came on it, v1.1.0.16 (initial release). It SEEMED to be better with that firmware, as I ran several test cycles and got speeds in the expected 200-250Mbs range, but after updating to v1.4.0.34, I started seeing the poor sat speeds again, which also occurred after downgrading to v1.4.0.16 as was suggested here.
It's possible that maybe the problem existed even with v1.1.0.16, and that I just wasn't patient enough to allow it to be revealed. Have not tried downgrading all the way back to that version yet, but will try to do so this evening.
I'm really considering jumping ship... when I went to exchange the Orbi, I saw that our Best Buy has the Linksys Velop in stock, which has received favorable speed ratings in reviews (then again, so has the Orbi!). I stood there for a while, contemplating whether or not to just go with the Linksys right then instead of trying another Orbi, but what sealed that decision was a quick perusal of the Velop's features in a review, which mentioned that this product has very little configurability, including the inability to even set a DHCP range, and it MUST be configured from the app... no web interface.
So I really want the Orbi to work, but I'm at a loss here.
Just to command on the post above, a brand new product like the Linksys Velop is bound to have tons of bugs, it will be some months before it starts stabilizing (I'd say this is true for almost any wireless router from any manufacturer, i.e. they all rush them out).
Regards
True... biggest roadblock to the Velop for me is the inability to set a DHCP range (and I'm assuming it has no "access point" mode like the Orbi has, so I wouldn't be able to use my existing router with the Velop just handing WiFi). Still, I'm tempted to give it a try, as this is my second Orbi and it's still giving sporadically terrible (but sometimes excellent) performance on the satellite.
Just an update... rolled back to 1.4.0.16 and then 1.1.0.16, had the same speed inconsistency problem with both. However, after I had done these tests I decided to go back to the latest version (1.4.0.34), and was a bit surprised when I opened the Orbi's web page to see that it was already at that version! Tried to roll back a few more times, and apparently the Orbi, no matter what version I roll back to, promptly updates right back to 1.4.0.34, and I can't seem to find a setting to stop it.
So, in other words, I can't say whether or not this problem existed in older versions, because my Orbi immediately updates to the latest. Any way to stop this?
Well, I reluctantly threw in the towel and returned the Orbi for a refund.
In hindsight, I don't know if the problem I was seeing was exactly the same as the starter of this topic, as his speed tests indicated a bad fluctuation in downstream speed, while my initial tests, as it turns out, were actually upstream (from my device TO the test server). However, I reconfigured the test and saw a similar, though not as extreme, fluctuation in downstream speed.
So, just to recap and update, despite having a solid router to satellite connection (stable 500mbs+) tested by hardwiring a computer to an ethernet port, when I was connected through the satellite's client-facing WiFi (in easy conditions, in the same room as the satellite with no obstructions, and a strong signal), my upstream speed would sometimes be the expected ~200-250mbs (and sometimes even better), but often would drop precipitiously to 20-80mbs. Downstream speed was also affected, though to a lesser degree... sometimes 300mbs+, but often dropping to around 100mbs or less. This occurred on an iPad Air 2 and iPhone 6s, and also on a MacBook Air. Curiously, when I tested with my old MacBook Pro, which has 802.11n WiFi, I saw consistent speeds in the 250mbs+ range with no slowdowns (still on the satellite's 5ghz connection), so perhaps this is only related to ac devices?
Tried moving the satellite to other locations (and again confirming a good link speed via ethernet connection to the satellite), with similar bad results on the ac devices. In contrast, with the ac devices directly to the router's WiFi (with a similar signal strength), I saw good speed (300-400mbs) consistently.
A replacement Orbi system did the same thing. I find it unlikely that I got two bad ones in a row. Yet, few (or no) others are reporting this same problem. Something environmental specific to my house, or a coincidentla problem with all 3 ac devices I tested with? Perhaps, though again I'd note that connecting to the router's radio worked fine, only the satellite showed these slowdowns, despite very "easy" conditions.