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Forum Discussion
IAmBruceK
Sep 24, 2018Tutor
Orbi recently became very slow.
We have been having ~115M-120M speeds on my Orbi up until the past week or so. Now I am seeing ~20M max and a TON of timed out connections. The speed is poor on both wireless and wired connections....
FURRYe38
Sep 24, 2018Guru - Experienced User
What is the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem the NG router is connected too?
After doing a FW update, was the ISP modem and Orbi system powered OFF for 1 minute, then power on the modem and let it sync, then power on the Orbi router then satellite and try a speed test via wired PC?
Is QoS enabled on the Orbi router?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials.
What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?
Try disabling the following and see:
MIMO, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).
You may need to do a factory reset on the system and setup from scratch as a last resort.
- IAmBruceKSep 24, 2018Tutor
What is the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem the NG router is connected too?
Arris SB6183 Surfboard
After doing a FW update, was the ISP modem and Orbi system powered OFF for 1 minute, then power on the modem and let it sync, then power on the Orbi router then satellite and try a speed test via wired PC?
The cable modem was, the Orbi was not. I only powered the Orbi off when testing with the 2.1.4.10 firmware. I will try this once I finish this reponse.
Is QoS enabled on the Orbi router?
Both "Enable WMM (Wi-Fi multimedia) settings" and "Enable Upstream QoS (Optimized for Gaming)" are enabled.
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials.
All this testing was done on an ethernet wire, not on wireless. I intentionally avoided wireless tests to rule out Wi-Fi related sources like dead spots, materials, etc. When I do the test on my Galaxy S9 sitting 3 feet from the Router (no obstructions of any kind), I get the same poor results.
What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.
As already noted this was all done on a wire (Cat5E), not wirelessly. However to cover all the bases, on 2.4GHz Im using Auto and on 5GHz Im using channel 48 (unused). I will try the changes you suggest later if you think it relevant even though I'm using ethernet.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?
There are 2 with Wi-Fi on. Both of them register signals of ~-85dB vs my Orbi at ~-40dB on 2.4GHz. No neighbors are on 5GHz.
Try disabling the following and see: MIMO, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).
Thanks for the suggestions. I will try them after I redo the power cycle dance for a full minute on both the cable modem and the Orbi (all with Wi-Fi disabled entirely).
- IAmBruceKSep 24, 2018Tutor
After doing a FW update, was the ISP modem and Orbi system powered OFF for 1 minute, then power on the modem and let it sync, then power on the Orbi router then satellite and try a speed test via wired PC?
I powered off both the modem and the Orbi for 5 minutes while I went and got a drink. I then followed your steps and got only a marginal speed improvement. I now measure ~30M instead of ~20M when using ethernet. My ping times jumped from 5-7ms to 28ms.
I also did your other changes to MIMO, etc. I only see a checkbox for 20/40Mhz Coexistence under 2.4GHz which was already checked. I assume thats what you meant by "40Mhz only". IPV6 was already disabled. I also disabled SSID broadcasting on both 2.4 and 5GHz since I could not find the setting to totally disable Wi-Fi.
One new finding to report is that the Upload part of the tests fail now:
A socket error occurred during the Download test. A firewall could be blocking the connection or the server might be having some issues. Please try again later.
I retried 4 times and always get that same error. My earlier tests did not have that problem.
- IAmBruceKSep 24, 2018Tutor
Quick update: The "One new finding to report is that the Upload part of the tests fail now:" went away once I reenabled SSID broadcasting. My ping times have also returned to sub 9ms.
- FURRYe38Sep 24, 2018Guru - Experienced User
Ok, I would do this, turn off all other devices accept for your one wired PC. Factory reset the Orbi router and set it up from scratch. Leave the SSID name and PW as default for now. Skip adding the satellites. Just get thru the wizard or even skip it and go directly to testing speeds with your wired PC using default settings. You should see to spec speeds here.
What browser are you using to take speeds tests?
What speedtests sites are you using? Try your ISPs speed test site if they have one to compare with.
Besure your PC security software is disabled and browser plug-ins are disabled as well before testing.