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RBR40 connection drops and low "max rate"
TL;DR: While trying to fix my signal dropping, I found my max rate (though-put?) seemed incredibly low. Is it me or is it Netgear or is it InSSIDer?
I have had frequent, intermittent signal drops since I got the RBR40 (two RBS40 sattelites). It drops for a few seconds and reconnects. This happens for me (on vpn) and my son online for school and games. My wife seems immune but she is closer to the base unit and the men are on Sattelites. She's also less likely to notice, doing less intensive online work.
Searching for an answer I downloaded InSSIDer and saw some data I'd never seen before: Max Rate. Devoted readers of my other thread (anyone?) on the drops will know that for very good reasons I have 3 wifi networks. Orbi, an old R7000 Nighthawk and an even older Apple Airport Extreme. The Nighthawk is doing the main router duties and the other two are access points off the Nighthawk. Adding the Nighthawk was an effort to fix the drops, since I have read that this might help.
The real questoin here is:
InSSIDer shows me that the max rate on my old, old Airport and the old Nighthawk are both 450 (2.4), but my much newer Orbis are all three of them only 50.
Any thoughts? Is the RBR40s just crap? I did a hard reset after the last firmware update and set everything up fresh. The Orbi admin page says it can handle up to 400 MBS.
Thoughts for deep thinkers. No MUMIMO, Beamforming or fast roaming.
Well, I've had a stable connection now for three straight days so I think this is solved. Between the instrux from FURRYe38 and shutting down the Chromecast, it looks like this is solved.
13 Replies
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 is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet 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-routerWhat channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?
https://kb.netgear.com/19668/Link-Rate-and-Transfer-SpeedTry enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings
Try disabling the following and see:
Armor, Circle, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Set Short preamble instead of Long preamble modes. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).
Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update?What Firmware version is currently loaded?
V2.5.1.16 No new firmware version available
No modem. Fios ONT
Home about 2000 square feet but it is old and the walls are thick so getting wifi everywhere is the challenge. Sats are about 30 feet away, but one of them is on another floor and the walls are lathe and plaster so...
Channels are manual and set to not be on the same as my many, many neighbors. Don't recall which channels at the moment but the apps I use show them as being clear of most interferance, which is why I chose them. The signal is at least twice as strong as any neighbor's network per Wifi Analyzer.
I've seen no difference since disabling MUMIMO and beamforming, etc. It might even be a bit better, frankly. I have re-enabled them to test. I don't see WMM. Will see how it goes tonight.
My original post noted that I did a hard reset and setup after the last firmware updated. I don't have daisy chain or any of the other items you mentioned enabled. I changed the preamble to short (was auto). IPV6 is greyed out in my menu.
So, FURRYe38 I did pretty much everything you mentioned. In addition, I came upon a really easy tool for monitoring the internet connection. It is just a Chrome browser extension called Internet Connection Monitor, which pings Google every three seconds, alerts you when either or both of the wifi and the router's ISP connection goes down, and keeps a log.
Telling the poor CSR I was doing this seemed to be enough to finally get someone to come out and look at it. And apparently only when a tech is onsite will the engineers in the data center pay attention (somewhat). The tech translating the engineer's texts was pretty comical but finally we did get from the engineer that there was a "bad cross cennction" issue. The tech was amused: he knew what a cross connection would be if there were copper involved, but in terms of the software backbone managing the optical, not a clue.
Anyway: it worked for the connection. There have been no drops from the ISP for about 36 hours, a record.
For the Orbi, the story is not quite as positive, but nearly. I only had one drop from the Orbi wifi all day. Another record. Either FURRYe38 suggestions helped or getting a more stable Verizon connection helped or probably both. I'm cautiously optimistic. Thanks for the help.
I spoke too soon.
Four drops on the Orbi overnight, 15-20 seconds each. Then two more just since I started writing this. I wonder if the Eero is still on sale. Only problem there is the need for a switch in the TV room as I like having wired as much as possible.
Biigdaddio wrote:The real questoin here is:
InSSIDer shows me that the max rate on my old, old Airport and the old Nighthawk are both 450 (2.4), but my much newer Orbis are all three of them only 50.
Any thoughts? Is the RBR40s just crap?inSSIDER's display of "Max Rate" is simply the theoretical bandwidth of the type of connection (2.4Ghz vs. 5Ghz), the channel width, etc. It doesn't actually have anything to do with the actual wireless speed you're experiencing. The same is true for the Windows Wi-Fi Status's Speed Quality (e.g., 866.7 Mbps).
For example, inSSIDER tells me my wireless connection's Max Rate is 1733.3 because my laptop is connected at 5Ghz with AX, whereas my guest network shows as 216.7 because I've limited it to just b/g/n modes for legacy compatibility. You can find a table of these theoretical Max Rate values here: https://www.duckware.com/tech/wifi-in-the-us.html#wifispeeds
If you want to measure the actual wireless speeds you're experiencing on your home network, run a speed test using a website or app like https://www.speedtest.net/ . It will report measured results, not just what the wireless link type is capable of.
Thanks, Mikey94025. Yes, absolutely, running speedtest always shows I'm getting what Verizon owes me. I guess I just ignore the max rate, then. I guess I thought the rate at which the router could pass data would related to how much data could go through at any time. So it is great that Verizon is really fast but if the router choked on 4k streaming while my son is doing some heavy gaming, would the router be a bottleneck. But no, huh.
