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Forum Discussion
RBR20 slow wifi
I have an Orbi RBR20 and my WIFI download speeds are slower than my upload speeds. I’ve completed a factory reset and still have crazy slow speeds. My hardwired speeds are extremely fast but my WiFi is slow. Can you help?
18 Replies
1. What modem are you using?
2. Firmware on your orbi?
3. What speeds are you getting?
4. What are you testing with?
5. Have you tried a different speedtest site? Which one/ones?
6. you say hardwired is fine, what do you get hardwired?
- I’m using the router that Spectrum provide me that also supports or home phone. I’m using Speedtest by Ookla. The Orbi router is getting 450download but the satellites are much slower. I have one satellite in my living room with my Apple TV hard wired because the WiFi speeds are so slow. The Apple TV gets 450 download because it’s hard wired. Both satellites seems to be slow sometimes and faster other times. When I say slow they are giving me 5-25 download. Does that help?
A little.
1. What firmware is on them?
2. How far apart are they?
3. What is this spectrum box? model number help more.
4. What is your house materials?
5. Are you using any traffic monitoring, qos, parental controls, disney circle, armor, etc?
6. Slow sometimes and fast other doesn't tell me much. The orbi's do band steering so they place your devices on 2.4ghz or 5ghz depending on a series of factors. 2.4ghz is much slower but penetrates better. 5ghz has much higher bandwidth but doesn't transmit as far or through as much. When its slow, what band is that device connected to?
7. Is there much wireless interference in your are? If you do a wireless channel scan, how many networks are in the 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands?
So I have this model with slow wifi speeds and normal speeds when hardwired. So been searching all day and night for solutions. Contacted support couldn't find the solution. They wanted me to ship out a single satellite unit but I didn't want to pay for shipping cause it wasn't going to solve anything cause then they will make me ship out the 2nd satellite, then the main router. What a money pit! This problem is listed everywhere with no solution in sight. Anyways after a long night of trial and error I found a solution for my issue. But I'm not sure if it works for everyone. Worth a shot. So go to the router home page and go to Advance> Advanced setup> wireless setting and enabled everything. But I think the main factor that got mines to work is enable ssid broadcasting for 5ghz and wmm. I even updated to the latest firmware and got the speed I'm suppose to. Good luck and I will never buy orbi again... The lack of understanding there own software and products is just appalling.
What Firmware version is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?What speeds UP and DOWN do you pay for from your ISP?
What are the wired and wireless speeds your seeing?What devices are you using to speed test with?
SOme wifi devices will max out at around 400-500Mbps depending upon design and support. Wired speed results should see near 900Mpbs if you have a 1Gb ISP service. You not see this on any wifi device with Orbi systems.
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. https://kb.netgear.com/000036466/How-far-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite-from-my-Orbi-routerOne User Experience/Configuration:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Most-Stable-Orbi-Configuration/m-p/1941087/highlight/true#M97026
Daopy wrote:So I have this model with slow wifi speeds and normal speeds when hardwired. So been searching all day and night for solutions. Contacted support couldn't find the solution. They wanted me to ship out a single satellite unit but I didn't want to pay for shipping cause it wasn't going to solve anything cause then they will make me ship out the 2nd satellite, then the main router. What a money pit! This problem is listed everywhere with no solution in sight. Anyways after a long night of trial and error I found a solution for my issue. But I'm not sure if it works for everyone. Worth a shot. So go to the router home page and go to Advance> Advanced setup> wireless setting and enabled everything. But I think the main factor that got mines to work is enable ssid broadcasting for 5ghz and wmm. I even updated to the latest firmware and got the speed I'm suppose to. Good luck and I will never buy orbi again... The lack of understanding there own software and products is just appalling.
Thanks for contributing your resolution. The problem most users have is they don't follow recommended settings, and just setup their system. Several reason for bad WIFI are channel and device interference, placement of satellites, and settings, etc..
For optimum WIFI we always check and uncheck as follows for great coverage and fast WIFI speeds:
Under Advanced, Advanced Setup, Wireless settings:
Uncheck Enable 20/40 MHz Coexistence
Check Enable WMM (Wi-Fi multimedia) settings
Check Enable Implicit BEAMFORMING - Boosts WiFi speed, reliability, & range for all mobile devices
Check Enable MU-MIMO
Uncheck Enable Fast Roaming
So since my initial reply I figured out a solution and I've been reliably getting 450-500 Mbps on wifi. I put the Orbi into AP mode and put a Ubiquiti Edgemax Edgerouter X infront of it. Hardwired I'm hitting 900+ Mbps through the Ubiquiti router and when I use wifi it's reliable and always fast and the delay when browsing is gone. The unfortunate thing is I can't use any of the Parental controls through the Orbi anymore as they get disabled when in AP mode but I guess it's a small price to pay. I tried as a test to put the orbi back into router mode even behind the Ubiquiti and wifi instantly went into the toilet, it was painfully slow and unresponsive once again. I guess this goes to show the wifi is good but the router portion of the Orbi since the latest firmware is junk.
Hope this helps someone else out.
Would be helpful to know what is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
I thought the ERX router has a max WAN to LAN speed of around 300Mbps limitation? Your seeing near 900Mpbs thru it on the wire?
miafrate wrote:So since my initial reply I figured out a solution and I've been reliably getting 450-500 Mbps on wifi. I put the Orbi into AP mode and put a Ubiquiti Edgemax Edgerouter X infront of it. Hardwired I'm hitting 900+ Mbps through the Ubiquiti router and when I use wifi it's reliable and always fast and the delay when browsing is gone. The unfortunate thing is I can't use any of the Parental controls through the Orbi anymore as they get disabled when in AP mode but I guess it's a small price to pay. I tried as a test to put the orbi back into router mode even behind the Ubiquiti and wifi instantly went into the toilet, it was painfully slow and unresponsive once again. I guess this goes to show the wifi is good but the router portion of the Orbi since the latest firmware is junk.
Hope this helps someone else out.
For the EdgeRouter X it is capable of Gigabit speeds but without offloading your speeds will be greatly decreased.
Hardwired into my switch I can get 900+ depending on network traffic, right now I just did a speed test and seeing 853Mbps but kids are online gaming, streaming
My Setup is Hitron CODA-4582U ---> Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X ---> TredNet Gigabit Switch ---> ORBI RBR20 in AP Mode (25+ Wifi devices, including ipads, phones, firesticks, smarthome devices), Desktops, Security Cameras
