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Forum Discussion
Orbi Satellite Slowdown
I continue to have problems with one Orbi satellite that after two-three days of use slows it's throughput dramatically. I can normally connect and get a full 300 Mpbs connection via the satellite, but after it has been running for a couple of days the throughput will drop to about 30-40 Mbps. Simply restarting the satellite restores the full speed connection. It is very consistent.
I have tried some different locations for the satellite and that has no impact to this problem. I have reflashed it, reset to factory defaults, and reconnected it to the router, but nothing makes any difference. After two-three days of running normally, its throughput drops down to about one-tenth of normal. I even replaced this satellite with a new one and it does the exact same thing. I have tried enabling and disabling daisy-chaining, but neither setting makes a difference. My satellites are laid out in a star configuration. Whenever the throughput slowdown kicks in, I check the connection status of the satellite to the router and it reports that it is "Good", whatever that means.
I have an RBK53 system with one router and two satellites. The other satellite works as expected and experiences no slowdowns in throughput. I am at my wits end with this one and cannot think of anything else to try. It shouldn't be this difficult to build a reliable wireless network. I have spent too many hours trying things out and waiting to see if there is an improvement, all to no avail. I have tried several other brands of mesh systems and while they seem to be more stable, they are all considerably slower in throughput, so the Orbi wins out overall with regard to throughput, but reliability is non-existent in my setup.
If anyone has something additional that's rational for me to try, I'm all ears.
46 Replies
As I mentioned, I already replaced the satellite and it made no difference. The new one does the same thing as the original one did. Also, I’m not inclined to pay the support fee as there isn’t anything else that they can do to my knowledge. Netgear promises fixes in future updates and strings you along until your warranty is up and then you’re on your own.
SO if you turn off the the working satellite and use the new one, same thing still happens? What is the setting currently on Daisy Chain?
Try setting it for checked as enabled.
Are you using manual channels on 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz? Try 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4 and 36 thru 48 on 5Ghz.
Seems that if one satellite doesnt' work and a 2nd one doesn't, wondering if the router could be faulty...
Won't be buying another one of these things. Reboot router fast WiFi for a couple of days ~200mbs then straight to ~40mbs, reboot rinse and repeat. Hardly what I would call a joyful experience. Wired connections maintain ~220mbs so looks like memory corruption or some other issue on the WiFi side of things. Netgear please look into this.
- Not to rub salt in your wounds, but I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one suffering from this problem.
I have been working directly with Netgear Engineering on this now for several months, but so far no luck in figuring out the problem and getting it resolved.
To add insult to injury, every few months the router will get confused and stop passing some traffic between WiFi and the hard-wired LAN. This gets really confusing when it occurs because some things behave normally and some on the hard-wired LAN don’t work, but some do. It might be related to DHCP and renewing the connection failing somehow, but a reboot of just the router gets things going again <SIGH>.
I wish someone else would come out with a nice tri-band system that was as fast as the Orbi’s are. Maybe one of the new WiFi 6 systems will be better.Hey bandito, please post here if you (or the support ppl) figured things out. I just spent the whole day trying to figure out what was wrong with my wifi (I was only getting 20Mbps on a 1Gbps connection). Unfortunatelly I've only found your post after I got to reset the sattelite. I like to find the root of the problems so reboots and resets are the last items on my troubleshooting lists (I know, I'm masochistic that way). Anyways, any update on this? Are the NG ppl still trying to find the issue?
I am having this same issue and would love a fix. This has been happening since I set up the system about 10 months ago. If I restart the system everything goes back to normal and I get the full speed of my internet connection (around 250mbps). After a few days the speed on all devices drops to 40mbps or less. The only thing that seems to resolve the issue is to restart the router. This is happening on my laptop even in the same room as the base unit so it isn't a week signal issue. One day it will be full speed and the next with no other changes it drops to 35 - 40mbps.
I have the Orbi Orbi RBK20W (AC2200).
- 1. Can you please check which radio channels the slowed down devices are using during normal operation and when the issue appears. Don’t the devices change from 5 GHz to 2.4 GHz? Do you have fixed radio channels for 5 and 2.4 GHz bands?
2. What wired devices do you have attached to Orbi? Wired devices can cause loops in the system if wrongly configured.
3. What is the model of your ISP modem/router? Is Orbi operating in Router or AP mode?The issue has occurred on all radio channels as one of my early troubleshooting steps was to try different channels. The affected devices are all connected on the 5ghz band. I do have a few devices connecting on the 2.4ghz band but I am less concerned about the speed of those and therefore haven't checked if they are affected in any way.
Currently I have the 5ghz channel set to 36 and the 2.4ghz channel set to 01. In the past I have set 2.4ghz to auto as well as 06 and 11. I have also tried the 5ghz channel 40. When the slowdown occurs I have double checked what the client and what the orbi router report and they both state that the device is connected via 5ghz. So although the speed decline would seem like it is connecting at 2.4ghz that doesn't appear to be the case.
I have one wired device. It is a mac mini. Running speed tests on that computer show that it is getting the full speed that my internet connection allows. I have also unplugged that device and it did not improve the problem for my wireless devices. The computer is set to use DHCP and so does not really have any custom configuration and is operating properly so I don't believe there is any configuration issue or hardware issue with it.
I am using Comcast cable internet for my ISP and the modem is a Motorola MB7621 DOCSIS 3.0. It is not set up as a router so I do not have a double router (nat) situation going.
The orbi is operating in Router mode. A simple restart of the Orbi fixes the issue for days and my wired device never experiences any slowdowns so there shouldn't be any issues with my cable modem.
Ok call me crazy, but hear me out. This happens to me all the time too and lately looking at it in connected devices (iphone 11 pro max)
It seems to me (as of now very anecdotal) but when I experience slowness my device seems to be recognized as connected WIRED to the satellite.
Anyway, curious if anyone else notices this behavior or something similar.
What FW are you using? There is new FW for the RBK and RBR 50 series systems
Is the RBS the only one or do you have more then one RBS?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.
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 enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings
futureAlec wrote:Ok call me crazy, but hear me out. This happens to me all the time too and lately looking at it in connected devices (iphone 11 pro max)
It seems to me (as of now very anecdotal) but when I experience slowness my device seems to be recognized as connected WIRED to the satellite.
Anyway, curious if anyone else notices this behavior or something similar.
FURRYe38 :
I have just updated to the latest firmware *hoping* this would fix it bus alas, it has not. V2.5.0.38
Distance between router and satellite would be irrelevant I would think since it is wired backhaul but about 40 ft.
I am using auto, out of the box config (for the most part. See Below). No Neighbors close at all.
I enabled all of these settings and it did not change anything.
Interestingly enough... When I unplug the satellite in question I still get crappy speeds (~50mbps) until I wait (seems to potentially clear itself up after a while) or restart the main router and then it's fine.
I am very close to just going and buying into the Asus solution of buying whichever routers you like and they all work together.
