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LanceD's avatar
LanceD
Guide
Aug 03, 2025

RBR50/RBS50 system slows every morning

Recently moved and dug out my admittedly aging Orbi to improve the WiFi in my apartment.

 

I've got it so it can work great--up to 550 mbps at my desk (I have Comcast 600MB service). 

 

On the Orbi app and via the Web portal, I'm showing all devices properly configured--i.e; living room items syncing to the router based there, while my iMac, MacBook, and iPhone are linked to the RBS50 satellite located about 35 ft from the router and 15 ft from my desk.

 

BUT ... every morning when I reach my desk and do a speed test, the system has slowed to just 40mbps on my iMac. I have to fire up the Orbi phone app or log into the Web portal and fiddle with a setting or two, and eventually (after a system reboot) I can get the speed back up where it belongs. Notably, all devices are where they belong when the speeds are slow--i.e, the iMac is still linked to the satellite, so it's not "reaching" for the router.

 

I have the router set at 50% power as it's line of sight with the sat and not that far away. At 100% it seemed to step on sat and try to link to devices the sat should handle. (I have also tried 25% but performance suffered.) Other settings:

 

2.4GHz channel 1

5GHz  channel 48 (both of these after a scan showing no others nearby using those channels)

Fast roaming OFF (I have tried this both ways)

MU-MIMO OFF (tried this both ways)

Beamforming ON

WMM ON (tried this both ways)

Preamble SHORT 

20/40 MHz ENABLED (tried this both ways)

Daisy Chain OFF

 

I am using the latest firmware (V2.7.5.6)--have thought about rolling that back to something older.

 

What am I missing here? 

 

 

not listed

5 Replies

  • LanceD's avatar
    LanceD
    Guide
    Aug 04, 2025

    Apartment is small (1000-1100 SF) but angled such that my Comcast/Xfinity router by itself--though it reaches all devices--does not deliver best speeds at my desk because of distance. I have no option to move it as there's only one "tap" in the living room area and I'm not running cable/ethernet across the floor. I put the Xfinity gateway into bridge mode, added the AC3000 Orbi router and sat, and, as noted, AM able to get excellent speeds all around--including 550+ mpbs at my desk. But this morning at my desk ... 40 mpbs. Again. Which makes no sense at all ... the RBS50 is synced to my iMac (an aging one from 2015), so I'm not getting a "distant" signal from the RBR50. 

     

    BTW ... on its own the router (with sat disabled) does not deliver enough signal strength for the speeds I'm looking for. Tried that on initial setup and decided I needed the sat. And the fact that the system CAN work perfectly seems to support that. But then, on its own, it just drops the ball every morning.

     

    Funny ... on my own yesterday I disabled 20/40MHz and re-enabled  MIMO. Just as you suggested. All was working great until ...

     

    None of this making any sense.

     

     

     

  • LanceD's avatar
    LanceD
    Guide
    Aug 05, 2025

    Yesterday I went back into ("de-bridged") the Xfinity gateway, confirmed the WiFi radios were off, then set bridge mode again and did a full reset on the AC3000, router and sat. "Rebuilt" the network from scratch. Once up and running it was blazing along at 557mbps at my desk. Perfect.

     

    This morning ... first after confirming with the phone app that my iMac is properly synced to the sat just 15 ft from my desk ... 42mbps. Ugh. Checked with a network scan and I'm getting a signal of -39 on 5GHz at my iMac. No interference from any other users (mine is the only system using channels 1 and 48). Couldn't be better. The Orbi is synced and working perfectly except ... it seems to go to SLEEP every night and performance drops by a factor of more than 10 without a reboot. 

     

    I realize this is an aging Orbi but I had similar issues that took at least a month of debugging (ridiculous) when I bought it years ago. This should be a very simple and straightforward setup. At this point I am ready to trash it and buy something else. Another brand.