RBK53 Setup and Issues

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Thalador wrote:

 I disabled radio on my AT&T router (I have Gig internet at the house, up and down).

 

 

If you don't need the AT&T router, get rid of it.

Modem Combo Units:
This would be a double NAT condition which isn't recommended. https://kb.netgear.com/30186/What-is-Double-NAT
Couple of options,
1. Configure the modem for transparent bridge or modem only mode. Then use the Orbi router in router mode. You'll need to contact the ISP for help and information in regards to the modem being bridged correctly.
2. If you can't bridge the modem, disable ALL wifi radios on the modem, configure the modems DMZ/ExposedHost or IP Pass-Through for the IP address the Orbi router gets from the modem. Then you can use the Orbi router in Router mode.
3. Or disable all wifi radios on the modem and connect the Orbi router to the modem, configure AP mode on the Orbi router. https://kb.netgear.com/31218/How-do-I-configure-my-Orbi-router-to-act-as-an-access-point and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7LOcJ8GdDo&app=desktop

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Thalador wrote:

Hey all - I posted this yesterday but it seems to have been removed. Hopefully this sticks and I can get some help

 

I bought the RBK53 3 pack at Costco based on reviews and a lot of research. My house is only about 3k square feet but I have some dead spots plus the Costco return policy. So, anyway.

I am an IT guy with 30 years of systems experience so setting this up was simple. I disabled radio on my AT&T router (I have Gig internet at the house, up and down). Set up the Orbi router and 2 satellites and was on my way. Prior to this I did speed tests on my iPhone connected to my AT&T router. Once I got the Orbi setup I did a speedtest. Results were mixed. Noticed there was a firmware update available so did that and rebooted and retested. Here were the results

 

Location DL-AT&T UL-AT&T DL-Orbi Old FW UL-Orbi Old FW DL-Orbi New FW UL-Orbi New FW

At the router 458Mbps 478Mbps 304Mbps 311Mbps 230Mbps 210Mbps

Office 285Mbps 118Mbps 293Mbps 358Mbps 469Mbps 460Mbps

Living Room 407Mbps 202Mbps 426Mbps 438Mbps 375Mbps 345Mbps

Outside Deck 8.41Mbps 2.42Mbps 2.08Mbps .13Mbps 57.8Mbps 47.4Mbps

 

Sorry about the bad table, formatting is not working well. As you can see, after firmware some things improved while others got worse. I also ran a speedtest via orbilogin.net and it was showing as 500Mbps down and 930Mbps upload. So I called Netgear tech support. They had me factory reset and redo the whole setup. Download speed is still about 1/2 the upload speed, even on speedtest.net I was on the phone with them for 105 minutes and got nowhere. They were willing to "Check to see" if he could get an escalation to level 2 authorized but I wasn't willing to wait anymore. It's my birthday and my kids were making me dinner.

Is there something I am completely missing here that would cause DL speeds to be so bad? I enabled IP Passthrough on my AT&T router and disabled the wifi on it completely.

Any idea would be appreciated. I told the support guy if this is just not going to work then I can bring it back to Costco, but I imagine it is something stupid I can check,or uncheck.

Thanks!

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