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Forum Discussion
Orbi wired backhaul performance
Has anyone that isn’t experiencing issues gotten an idea of the performance gains, if any, with wired backhaul? Also, has netgear mentioned anything about opening up the 3rd high speed band to wireless clients in a future firmware update? I bought a Linksys Velop for the wired backhaul and am looking to find out if Orbi may be the better choice now that it supports wired backhaul.
Thank you in advance
21 Replies
I tried wired backhaul (using Homeplug as my place isn't wired for ethernet) and found it worked fine...but the wireless backhaul was actualy better for me, so i reverted. I have thankfully not had any of the dropouts that others are reporting on his forum - very happy user. And I'm on the 2.1.1.16. I think if I had true ethernet in the home the wirted backhaul would allow some very interesting configurations in my long and narrow home (with the broadband input unfortunately in a remote corner!) but the "original" wireless backhaul actually gives me fine results - between 167-273 Mbps near the satellite and 20-40 Mbps in far corners. My connection is supposedly 1 GB but...given that I don't need to do anything terribly demanding with it - I'm not a gamer, there are only two of us using the connection and this is fine for simultaneous downloading and streaming), I'm going to leave well enough alone!
- Thanks for the response. If you don’t mind, was your homeplug gigabit or one of the 500-600 Mb models? I know even the gigabit model doesn't quite hit full speed, but it’s at least a reference point for me.
- Hi. Gigabit. The long story is that on some plugs I get very good throughout (800 mbps according to the tplink app) but as luck would have it where I wanted to put the orbi it dropped in half - must be a different sub circuit. And of course 400 isn’t 400 - it is shared up and down so it reduced the broadband to an effective 200 max.
- I just recently wired my orbi system using cat5e going from the satellites to the router. The main difference I noticed is much lower ping time (which is great for things like gaming, or in my case, in home streaming from a PC).
I was trying to set up my network for steam's in home streaming, with my desktop plugged into one of the satellites and performance was just terrible and unusable. Even though performance was good for streaming video from Netflix, in home streaming requires low latency and stable connection. I could still stream to a laptop connected wirelessly and it's perfect now. I think it's mostly because of my specific configuration.
As far as using power line adapter, I would recommend against it since the wireless backhaul on the orbi is very good, just not good enough for my needs. So far, the orbi wireless backhaul has surpassed any power line adapter I've tried by a long shot. So, if you can't pass a cat5 cable from the router to the satellite, any other method is a waste of time and effort IMO. Hope that helps.I noticed the same thing... my ping was reduced back to where it was before I implemented Orbi. The D/L and U/L speeds haven't changed but I am much happier to have a lower ping rate for occasional gaming etc...
Over wire using RBS50 i have full speed >950-970mbps,
Wireless is >500 <600mbps old macbook air.
My house was pre wired with Cat6 so I awaited the stable release that enabled Orbi's wired backhaul. I can say, though the Orbi has an excellent wireless backhaul, it still doesnt beat its wired backhaul. After converting my RB50 3 piece system I noticed my maximum wireless speeds increased slightly everywhere. I have gigabit internet service so I can somewhat max out the Orbi and show its flaws (few) better than someone with less speed.
iPhone X with just the router running can hit 641Mbps and 6ms ping speeds to Speedtest.
iPhone X With both of the Orbi satellites in Wireless Backhaul mode, tested at satellite, the top speed drops to 385Mbps and ping rises to 10ms.
iPhone X With Both of the Orbi satellite in Wired Backhaul mode, tested at satellite, the top speed rises back to 425Mbps and ping drops down to 7ms.
Macbook Pro in wireless mode hits slightly faster throughput (maxing out 720Mbps with just the router) and similar ping results to my iPhone X.
My wired connections (windows 10 gaming rig) from the router did not change in performance under any scenerio, they all hit 940Mbps and 6ms ping.
My peak wired from satellite in wireless backhaul mode is somewhat inconsistent, but always hits in the 750-800Mbps range with 9ms ping.
My peak wired from satellite in wired backhaul mode is a consistent 940Mbps with 6ms ping (same as my previously existing netgear switch).
It seems ANY backhaul enabled (as in, any Orbi Satellite turned on) results in peak drop in wireless for my iPhone X, Macbook Pro and Microsoft Surface. I also didnt try to saturate the 1gigabit wired backhaul with additional LAN to LAN traffic competing with my Gig LAN to WAN request, which could happen if you have a media server/office type setup. But that is more for finding the limits of the system than a common at home usage scenerio.
I wonder, with the disabled backhaul radio, could Netgear add it as another stream for the AC wireless? Not sure if they used the same AC tech/chip, but would be interesting if you could also see significantly enhanced wireless with say a 3x3 or 4x4 device vs Orbi's current 2x2 max setup.
If you are using your Satellites, a wired backhaul is definitely superior to wireless, though its not earthshatteringly better. The prime advantages are slightly improved thoughput, consistency, lower jitter and significantly lower ping. Of course it also gets rid of one or two extra wireless streams that could be slower in noisier wireless environments than what I have.
Which version of FW are you using?
Any switches your using in the mix between the Satellite and Router?
epsilonkore wrote:My house was pre wired with Cat6 so I awaited the stable release that enabled Orbi's wired backhaul. I can say, though the Orbi has an excellent wireless backhaul, it still doesnt beat its wired backhaul. After converting my RB50 3 piece system I noticed my maximum wireless speeds increased slightly everywhere. I have gigabit internet service so I can somewhat max out the Orbi and show its flaws (few) better than someone with less speed.
iPhone X with just the router running can hit 641Mbps and 6ms ping speeds to Speedtest.
iPhone X With both of the Orbi satellites in Wireless Backhaul mode, tested at satellite, the top speed drops to 385Mbps and ping rises to 10ms.
iPhone X With Both of the Orbi satellite in Wired Backhaul mode, tested at satellite, the top speed rises back to 425Mbps and ping drops down to 7ms.
Macbook Pro in wireless mode hits slightly faster throughput (maxing out 720Mbps with just the router) and similar ping results to my iPhone X.
My wired connections (windows 10 gaming rig) from the router did not change in performance under any scenerio, they all hit 940Mbps and 6ms ping.
My peak wired from satellite in wireless backhaul mode is somewhat inconsistent, but always hits in the 750-800Mbps range with 9ms ping.
My peak wired from satellite in wired backhaul mode is a consistent 940Mbps with 6ms ping (same as my previously existing netgear switch).
It seems ANY backhaul enabled (as in, any Orbi Satellite turned on) results in peak drop in wireless for my iPhone X, Macbook Pro and Microsoft Surface. I also didnt try to saturate the 1gigabit wired backhaul with additional LAN to LAN traffic competing with my Gig LAN to WAN request, which could happen if you have a media server/office type setup. But that is more for finding the limits of the system than a common at home usage scenerio.
I wonder, with the disabled backhaul radio, could Netgear add it as another stream for the AC wireless? Not sure if they used the same AC tech/chip, but would be interesting if you could also see significantly enhanced wireless with say a 3x3 or 4x4 device vs Orbi's current 2x2 max setup.
If you are using your Satellites, a wired backhaul is definitely superior to wireless, though its not earthshatteringly better. The prime advantages are slightly improved thoughput, consistency, lower jitter and significantly lower ping. Of course it also gets rid of one or two extra wireless streams that could be slower in noisier wireless environments than what I have.
Firmware 2.1.3.4
One netgear GS308 gig switch.
No notable degredation from using the switch. My gaming rig attached directly to the router or directly to the wired satellite (the switch is between the router and satellite) all result in consistent 940Mbps and around 6-7ms pings.
