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Forum Discussion
Latest updates nerfed wireless range!!!
No idea why, but the latest update nerfed wireless range! My 2.4GHz devices (doorbell and security cameras) now have horrible, or no, signal. I am in NZ (but they only have Australia country doma...
I went back to 2.2.1.212 "just to be sure".
Bloody rude of them to nerf the power. :(
You can check the transmission power (and change it) in Orbi using the following telnet commands:
root@RBR50:/# iwlist ath0 txpower
ath0 8 available transmit-powers :
0 dBm (1 mW)
6 dBm (3 mW)
8 dBm (6 mW)
10 dBm (10 mW)
12 dBm (15 mW)
14 dBm (25 mW)
16 dBm (39 mW)
18 dBm (63 mW)
Current Tx-Power:18 dBm (63 mW)
Where the interfaces are as follows (in RBR50):
ath0 (Fronthaul 2.4GHz)
ath1 (Fronthaul 5GHz)
ath02 (Guest 2.4GHz)
ath11 (Guest 5 GHz)
ath01 (Backhaul 2.4GHz)
ath2 (Backhaul 5GHz)
I went back to 1.12.0.18 and blocked the auto update a few months ago. The reason was it seemed each new release caused more problems in general and reduced range/throughput specifically.
I asked in these forums which was the "best" firmware and didn't get a very good answer so I picked 1.12.0.18 for two reasons:
This glowing review which was done using 1.12.0.18: https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/33132-wi-fi-system-retest-netgear-ac3000-orbi-and-linksys-velopp
The fact that I don't use/need daisy chain which was introduced in version 2. I am starting to think that adding daisy chain was too much for the Netgear engineering team and that is when this product went South.
I keep trying new releases, but none have the same range/throughput as 1.12.0.18.
I can't ssh to mine, it wont accept connection. But the web gui wireless setup under advanced settings shows both 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios have their TPC set to 100%.
It will be a region thing for sure. I'd say they borked it for ANZ and are getting the EIRP maximum wrong and capping the output to that.
Worked fine when I rolled back (same config, no changes), so I'll just stay on 2.2.1.212 until they get their code worked out. I'll bring home the Ekahau sidekick from work when the new code is released and double check the peaks are the same with the new code.