NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Solved
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 R...
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
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 RoamingAnd is the speed to spec for what you pay from your ISP?
McSmarte wrote: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- Yes, the issue I had was the backhaul being slow and eventually dropping the connecting altogether - my router always ran full speed.
Things seem to be working better for me after the last firmware update. I'm also seeing a huge benefit to having a netgear product I had not previously considered. They properly handle PPoE, and can do VLAN tagging so I was able to edit out a completely worthless centurylink router for my fiber, and still get full speeds from the RBR50. My brother has google wifi, and he cannot drop the box because it will not do VLAN tagging.
Also in the more recent firmware updates netgear updated how the openvpn server works, so that now instead of 4 files that must be transferred to the device via itunes (for iOS) it is using the modern version of a single OVPN file.
This router/mesh system is still a little too much of a "dumb box" and also still trying to hide settings from you regarding the strength and channels used for the back haul. But.... It is working fine for now, and I guesss that is the best I can hope for.
