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Orbi satellite super slow connection - backhaul issue?
Having just upgraded my internet connection from 70Mbit to 230Mbit, I was a bit annoyed that I only got mediocre speed when sitting in my garden (~30Mbit) My friend had just bought the 3 units Orbi RBK33, so I ended up getting the Orbi RBK50 with just one satellite, but a bit faster.
Newly installed it was great. Not exactly super speed in the garden, but around 80Mbit. That was ok... for a day or two.
Other units in my house started swapping to the new satellite and often when I used some of them, they just wouldn't work. It took a while to figure out that there was something wrong with the satellite, but that really seems to be the case. The units are placed some 30 feet apart, router upstairs, satellite downstairs.
It doesn't always seem to lose the connection, but it is just very very slow. I tried downloading www.google.com with wget, it took over 50 seconds and when it finally got data through, it was at 13kbit.
I have read a few other people having the same problem, but I still don't get anywhere with this.
I tried changing the settings that people seem to say have an effect:
Enable Daisy-Chain Topology (i have only 1 satellite)
Enable Implicit BEAMFORMING
Enable MU-MIMO
Enable Fast Roaming
And while it seems to work right after or the next day, the result after 2-3 days is always the same: no or very little data coming through. The RBR50 works fine, but it is the backhaul speed that seems to suffer or not work. I can't even connect to my NAS or to the routers setup page, whereas the satellite webpage displays correctly.
I have tried updating the FW version 4 times now, thinking that THIS is the one that will fix it... But no.
The information on the RBR50 is that the RBS50 is either online or not, but even if it is, no or very little data will get through. The only thing that seems to help is a power reset. Then it works really well, until next time.
Right now the units are running the latest FW available at the moment V2.3.1.60.
Right now I have attached a digital timer, which will power down the router once a day. It saves me from wanting to throw this satellite in the trash, but it's just a matter of time before that really happens.
Any good ideas? Any real support from NetGear on this? My old router is standing in a box in my office, just waiting to be reactivated.
I have had great success using a firmware that was released a few weeks ago. V2.3.5.30. I now get the exact same test results on both router and satellite, around 230Mbit.
Enable Daisy-Chain Topology
Enable Implicit BEAMFORMING - Boosts WiFi speed, reliability, & range for all mobile devices
Enable MU-MIMO
Enable Fast Roaming
12 Replies
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This website will not allow me to specify RBK50 as my system, so I selected RBR50, and I also have a RBS50, bought as a pack in RBK50.
This system worked geat for several months. Getting around 200-300Mbps backhaul between router and satellite. Suddenly, I'm seeing between 1Mbps to 20 Mbps between router and satellite. Testing, i'm using iperf3, with the server on ethernet connected to satellite, and ensuring client is connected to router.
Finally, i reset the router to factory settings, and tested everything i could. I put the satellite within 4 feet with no obstructions of my router, ensured my phone was connected to the satellite and did a speed test. My internet is quite slow, but very consistent 25M down, 5M up. positioning my phone on the far side of the router, ensuring it was connected to the satellite (in router web info) speed tests showed like 7M down and 1.5M up. Unplugging the satellite and connecting directly to the router gave me 25M down and 5M up.
My system server is normally connected to the satellite, and when my phone is connected to the satellite, doing an iperf3 to the server is like 200-300M still. When i connect my phone to the router, i'm seeing wild variations, but anywhere from 1M, 20M and randomly (but not often) 200M. This used to work great, but now it sucks. Status in the router config web page shows "good" same as always.
Seriously fustrated with Netgear. This is my third purchase following wirecutter guides. On each purchase I have been happy until it seems to crap out with no info on why. My brother has google wifi and has loved it for several years. I have not gotten a netgear product to be loveable for more than 8 months, and in this case, more like 3.
I finally got slightly better speeds after talking with a netgear rep and changing the channel for 5G. This seemed really fishy to me, but initially worked great. Then started to wane after a while. Since then I have reconfigured my network to get the satellite closer to the router, but it is still unreliable, but usually better than 50M, and often a 150-250M connection for the backhaul. The
It is so strange to me that changing the channel could help, and that there is no setting for "Auto". This thing should know what channel to be on and just use that. Also, the channel i'm selecting is not for the backhaul, it is for the device connections, so this is doubly strange. It is also really weird that after resetting to factory settings, the thing had a bunch of features turned off that make the whole thing work correctly like "fast roaming".
I'm finally done listening to the wirecutter for networking advice. I'm likely done with netgear as well. I do not trust google, but their device will detect problems and shift accordingly. This system may be fast, but it is just a dumb box.
I have had great success using a firmware that was released a few weeks ago. V2.3.5.30. I now get the exact same test results on both router and satellite, around 230Mbit.
Enable Daisy-Chain Topology
Enable Implicit BEAMFORMING - Boosts WiFi speed, reliability, & range for all mobile devices
Enable MU-MIMO
Enable Fast Roaming
Any progress on this?
McSmarte wrote:Having just upgraded my internet connection from 70Mbit to 230Mbit, I was a bit annoyed that I only got mediocre speed when sitting in my garden (~30Mbit) My friend had just bought the 3 units Orbi RBK33, so I ended up getting the Orbi RBK50 with just one satellite, but a bit faster.
Newly installed it was great. Not exactly super speed in the garden, but around 80Mbit. That was ok... for a day or two.
Other units in my house started swapping to the new satellite and often when I used some of them, they just wouldn't work. It took a while to figure out that there was something wrong with the satellite, but that really seems to be the case. The units are placed some 30 feet apart, router upstairs, satellite downstairs.
It doesn't always seem to lose the connection, but it is just very very slow. I tried downloading www.google.com with wget, it took over 50 seconds and when it finally got data through, it was at 13kbit.
I have read a few other people having the same problem, but I still don't get anywhere with this.
I tried changing the settings that people seem to say have an effect:
Enable Daisy-Chain Topology (i have only 1 satellite)
Enable Implicit BEAMFORMING
Enable MU-MIMO
Enable Fast Roaming
And while it seems to work right after or the next day, the result after 2-3 days is always the same: no or very little data coming through. The RBR50 works fine, but it is the backhaul speed that seems to suffer or not work. I can't even connect to my NAS or to the routers setup page, whereas the satellite webpage displays correctly.
I have tried updating the FW version 4 times now, thinking that THIS is the one that will fix it... But no.
The information on the RBR50 is that the RBS50 is either online or not, but even if it is, no or very little data will get through. The only thing that seems to help is a power reset. Then it works really well, until next time.
Right now the units are running the latest FW available at the moment V2.3.1.60.
Right now I have attached a digital timer, which will power down the router once a day. It saves me from wanting to throw this satellite in the trash, but it's just a matter of time before that really happens.
Any good ideas? Any real support from NetGear on this? My old router is standing in a box in my office, just waiting to be reactivated.
When I read reviews of this system, almost all of the negative reviews are because of this exact issue and I have never seen a real resolution. There are many more positive experiences than negative though, but I wonder how many of the positives are when the system is first set up and how many of those are still happy months later? I have seen people claim that many of the happy owners have smaller homes where all their products are connecting directly to the base router. They think they are getting good speed through their satellites, but really they are being bypassed. The people who are unhappy have homes large enough that their phones, etc. can not reach the base unit so use the satellite and it is the satellite to base router connection that is the weak link. I did see one person who claimed they fixed their issue by putting timers on the router and on each satellite. They set them to power each off for 1/2 hour in the middle of every night. This daily "reboot" seemed to help them but I don't like the idea of having all security cameras, etc. off line for a time every night. I ended up purchasing from Costco because of their return policy just in case the poor satellite to base router connection is an issue for us. But the thing is that if you read reviews of any system like this, Google or others, there are lots of complaints. May be that the technology is just not there yet? I took a chance that it will work well but we shall see.
What Firmware is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem the NG router is connected too?What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?
Will_T wrote:When I read reviews of this system, almost all of the negative reviews are because of this exact issue and I have never seen a real resolution. There are many more positive experiences than negative though, but I wonder how many of the positives are when the system is first set up and how many of those are still happy months later? I have seen people claim that many of the happy owners have smaller homes where all their products are connecting directly to the base router. They think they are getting good speed through their satellites, but really they are being bypassed. The people who are unhappy have homes large enough that their phones, etc. can not reach the base unit so use the satellite and it is the satellite to base router connection that is the weak link. I did see one person who claimed they fixed their issue by putting timers on the router and on each satellite. They set them to power each off for 1/2 hour in the middle of every night. This daily "reboot" seemed to help them but I don't like the idea of having all security cameras, etc. off line for a time every night. I ended up purchasing from Costco because of their return policy just in case the poor satellite to base router connection is an issue for us. But the thing is that if you read reviews of any system like this, Google or others, there are lots of complaints. May be that the technology is just not there yet? I took a chance that it will work well but we shall see.
+1 for me
Hardware Version RBR40
Firmware Version V2.3.1.582x RBW30 placed 15-30 ft away from router to support back yard and fringe ranges
Connected to an Xfinity modem:ARRIS TG1682G
I've experimented with settings, trying to be methodical and isolate something that would help. Similarly, after reboot I get good backhaul speeds but then after 12 hours or so it starts to wane.
In a suburban neighborhood so a fair amount of wifi around me, but no excessive.
Any updates on this?
Will_T wrote:When I read reviews of this system, almost all of the negative reviews are because of this exact issue and I have never seen a real resolution. There are many more positive experiences than negative though, but I wonder how many of the positives are when the system is first set up and how many of those are still happy months later? I have seen people claim that many of the happy owners have smaller homes where all their products are connecting directly to the base router. They think they are getting good speed through their satellites, but really they are being bypassed. The people who are unhappy have homes large enough that their phones, etc. can not reach the base unit so use the satellite and it is the satellite to base router connection that is the weak link. I did see one person who claimed they fixed their issue by putting timers on the router and on each satellite. They set them to power each off for 1/2 hour in the middle of every night. This daily "reboot" seemed to help them but I don't like the idea of having all security cameras, etc. off line for a time every night. I ended up purchasing from Costco because of their return policy just in case the poor satellite to base router connection is an issue for us. But the thing is that if you read reviews of any system like this, Google or others, there are lots of complaints. May be that the technology is just not there yet? I took a chance that it will work well but we shall see.
