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Forum Discussion
RBR40/RBS20 specs
hi i recently upgraded my spectrum wifi service to a gig. can the RBK40 router and RBS20 satellites handle it? the specs on the box seem to indicate that it can - 866-866-400 mpbs. w...
wifiblues wrote:i recently upgraded my spectrum wifi service to a gig.
can the RBK40 router and RBS20 satellites handle it?
the specs on the box seem to indicate that it can - 866-866-400 mpbs.
when checking speed test though - the results are much less. used Speedtest.net
at the same time, checking the Orbi app speed test, it shows higher numbers.
Those numbers (866-866-400) refer to the maximum theoretical connection rate over the 5G WiFi backhaul channel, the 5G user WiFi channel, and the 2.4G user WiFi channel. As the distance between devices increases, the actual "link rate" will fall. WiFi is not a "full duplex" technology where data can travel in both directions at the same time. WiFi is radio, which allows only one device to broadcast at a time. The others must "back off" and wait for that device to stop broadcasting. Two computers connected with ethernet can transmit nearly a full gigabit/sec of information between themselves, going both ways at the same time. Over WiFi, they must share that bandwidth and also lose capacity to WiFi "overhead".
Running Speedtest.net from user devices is what "counts". Reports from the Orbi itself are always higher. Computer nerds enjoy setting up capacity tests to see how much data they can push over network links. "iPerf3" is a common tool that is available for Windows, Apple, Linux, Android, etc.
The more relevant question (to me) is, "do all my devices work the way I want?" Can I stream the number of 4K video streams to my TV's, computers, etc. that I want to and have no performance problems?" If so, then Yes, this Orbi setup can handle it.
hi Crimpon,
all my devices seem to work but shouldn't the router match the modem speed?
it seems that the RBK40 sits just below the gig speed capacity.
at some point, i think i should increase the router to match the modem.
what do you think?
wifiblues wrote:hi Crimpon,
all my devices seem to work but shouldn't the router match the modem speed?
it seems that the RBK40 sits just below the gig speed capacity.
at some point, i think i should increase the router to match the modem.
what do you think?
The router WAN port is indeed a gigabit port, so in that sense it does "match" the modem. (just my opinion, but...) Devices on the network will only bring down as much data as they need to function. If the WiFi router will process that much data, adding capacity to the router sysem will simply result in it being "more idle" than it is now. Suppose there are 8 TV's in the house live streaming video at 25mb each. That requires 200mb. Add in some web browsing, email, and a hundred smart switches sending two packets an hour and that gigabit link is essentially being less than 25% consumed. What might be noticable is sudden large downloads will complete more quickly. When I download a 60mbyte file over my 200mbit link, it may take 2-3 minutes.
hi Crimpon,
thank you!
for my very basic knowledge - can you confirm what the specs on the RBK40 means?
(866 - 866- 400 mbps) - maybe that is where my confusion lies - what do these numbers mean?
thank you,
wifiblues
wifiblues wrote:for my very basic knowledge - can you confirm what the specs on the RBK40 means?
(866 - 866- 400 mbps) - maybe that is where my confusion lies - what do these numbers mean?
The product data sheet for the RBK40 shows that both the router and satellite have three WiFi radios. Using the IEEE standards for the type of signal encoding (256QAM), each of the 5G radios is supposed to be able to reach a maximum transmission of 866mb/s, and the 2.4G radio a maximum transmission rate of 400mb/s. Like most manufacturers, Netgear adds 866+866+400 and instead of getting 2,132 they call this an AC2200 (rounding UP). The footnote symbol points to the bottom of the page for the disclaimer: "† Maximum wireless signal range derived from IEEE standard 802.11 specifications. Actual data throughput and data over distance will vary. Network conditions and environmental factors, including volume of network traffic, building material and construction, and network overhead, result in lower actual data throughput rate and wireless coverage."
https://www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/orbi/RBK40.pdf
The RBS20 satellite has the same radios:
https://www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/orbi/RBS20.pdf
Google search will turn up dozens of explanations of why these "speeds" are a theoretical maximum that is never realized in practice.
For example, this piece from 2014: