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Orbi RBK50 Speed Problems
Hello-
I just subscribed to Xfinity gigabit service in Norcal.
I use a Netgear CM1000 modem, and I connected it to an Orbi RBK50 system.
My speeds are topping out at 400 mbps for all devices, including 5 ghz ones.
Comcast came yesterday and we verified that: 980 mbs was the speed directly from my CM1000 modem (via ethernet) and 700 mbs was the speed from my Orbi (connected via ethernet) and 400 is the speed of all devices using wifi (even a few feet away from Orbi.)
So I'm losing 200 mbs from the modem to the Orbi, and losing 300 more using wifi.
Any ideas of what could be happening? I initially blamed xfinity, but they re-wired my house and helped troubleshoot. The Netgear modem is getting the speed it needs. And producing / sending the speed to the Orbi.
Help!
plemans wrote:
And how many devices support even 4x4?You could be right that there probably aren't that many 4x4 clients out there today, but people still flock to buy iPhone 11 or WiFi 6 Routers. When comparing xFi vs Orbi WiFi specs, the Orbi fronthaul is the reason why clients will never see Gigabit WiFi speed even if it's 4x4.
9 Replies
2.5.0.38
If you're getting 400-500mbps on the orbi, those are roughly the wifi speeds you're going to get with orbi. Your not losing anything to wifi. Wifi will never be as fast as ethernet. More info on why not can be found here:
https://www.duckware.com/tech/wifi-in-the-us.html
Like Retired_Member said, what firmware are you on? Certain versions aren't the best. Please don't say the latest, a number is much better.
After upgrading your internet, did you reset the orbi back to factory? Its never a bad idea after changing speed settings.
Are you using any traffic monitoring, disney circle, armor, or other traffic monitoring? If so, disable them.
What computer are you using to test with? plug it into the modem and make sure you're computer is capable of supporting gigabit speeds. Even though it might have a gigabit port, it might not be able to reach gigabit speeds.
Another thing to check is website. Some speedtest website's won't max out a gigabit connection. If you're on xfinity try speedtest.xfinity.com
I'm on firmware V2.5.0.38
The orbi was installed out of the box with the 1gig xfinity plan. Not running any monitoring.
Using a 2017 MacBook Pro and 2018 iPad 11" Pro to test. And iPhone 10s. All get the 400 speed. (And was 700 connected to the Orbi, and 980 connected to modem.)
Xfinity says i'd get 800 with their wifi router, and I can't believe Orbi (which says 1 gig) would not do that.
There might be some optimizations to be done with the hardwired part of it. Some are having issues. See the post that FURRYe38 linked to.
in terms of Xfinity saying their device will hit 800mbps, maybe over ethernet. I haven't found an ISP supplied modem that was worth much.
Wireless depends a lot on the device testing with and the environment its in. The orbi front haul is a 866mbps max theoretical connection. I've personally seen devices hit 550mbps on it in perfect conditions. If you read through the smallnetbuilder review/testing (great website for testing as they publish how exactly they're testing), under ideal conditions they hit 600mbps. Keep in mind that these are ideal conditions with no interference. Most home users aren't going to see that.
If you want absolute max wireless speeds, a single router solution is going to be the best. I've used single router solutions and mesh. Mesh has a slower peak speed (not by a lot) but is much higher when you start getting any type of distance involved. I keep going back to mesh evertime for consistent coverage.
We are currently tracking this issue:
This seems to be a RBR50 issue...
tm303 wrote:Hello-
I just subscribed to Xfinity gigabit service in Norcal.
I use a Netgear CM1000 modem, and I connected it to an Orbi RBK50 system.
My speeds are topping out at 400 mbps for all devices, including 5 ghz ones.
Comcast came yesterday and we verified that: 980 mbs was the speed directly from my CM1000 modem (via ethernet) and 700 mbs was the speed from my Orbi (connected via ethernet) and 400 is the speed of all devices using wifi (even a few feet away from Orbi.)
So I'm losing 200 mbs from the modem to the Orbi, and losing 300 more using wifi.
Any ideas of what could be happening? I initially blamed xfinity, but they re-wired my house and helped troubleshoot. The Netgear modem is getting the speed it needs. And producing / sending the speed to the Orbi.
Help!
