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Forum Discussion
No difference w RBR50 vs RBR40 - am I missed something?
I had the RBR40 with 4 satellites (RBW30) and just bought a used RBR50 thinking it would improve speeds since the RBR50 has a much faster backhaul. I can't tell any difference. Am I missing something? Or do I just misunderstand what contributes to speeds in a mesh system? The RBR50 and all the satellites were factory reset before I set everything up. MIMO and beamforming are turned on. The Orbi app says the internet speed is 789mb but the speeds from most satellites are 200-250mb which is similar to the RBR40 setup. House is 4000sq ft across 3 floors (thus 4 satellites) but even close to the router speeds are well below 300mbs.
Many thanks for your input.
1 Reply
Yes, the "50-series" product features a faster backhaul connection (in theory, if the units are literally next to each other with nothing between them). From the product data sheet:
https://www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/orbi/RBR50.pdf
page 4 shows the potential backhaul rate of 1733Mbps. Whereas the "40-series" has a lower potential speed:
https://www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/orbi/RBK40.pdf
page 4 shows the potential backhaul rate of 866Mbps. (about half) This is due to a different signaling mechanism used in the 50 product.
Alas, the RBW30 satellite has the same backhaul link as the RBR40, i.e. 866Mbps.
https://www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/orbi/RBW30.pdf
This means that replacing the RBR40 router with an RBR50 router will not change the backhaul link speed between router and satellites.
Actual backhaul speed is a function of the distance between units and the building materials and furniture that lie in the path. Since the RBS30 is designed to be plugged into a wall outlet, it is often surrounded by furniture which impedes the WiFi backhaul link.
