Slow speeds/connectivity issues

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ricblue wrote:

I'm having very odd, similar issue

 

My wife's iMac (Latest Mac OS Sierra, all updates, 21.5", Mid-2011, 2.5GHz Intel Core i5)  was until last week connecting at 300 Mbps to the Orbi Satellite sitting 6 feet away.  It only has a 802.11n card so 300 Mbps is the max I can expect but that was enough to deliver full 101 Mbps of our Optimum plan to the iMac.

 

TODAY - the iMac will only ever connect at 144Mbps to the Orbi Satellite, sitting in the same place, 6 feet away.   No changes in location of either device.  

 

I have logged into the Satellite to confirm that the iMac is connecting to the correct near-by Orbi

 

Speedtest (which tested 101+ Mbps last time i tested) is now reporting only reporting 35-50 Mbps downstream to the iMac so the 144 vs 300 Mbps to the Orbi is the new bottleneck.  

 

VERY FRUSTRATING  -- wife reporting that her Mac "feels slow"

 

I've done "forget this network" / re-pair to the wifi on the iMac - doesn't help

 

Orbi and Satellite update recently to v1.8.0.6 -- is there a problem with this firmware version???

 

iMac reports good signal strength so why only 144 Mbps???? --- RSSI = -20dBm,  Noise = -90dBm, MCS Index = 15, BUT Tx rate = 144Mbps (and never higher)

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-20 dBm is a crazy strong signal.  It could be overdriving the receiver on the Mac. Try moving the Orbi farther from the Mac and/or reducing the output power of the Orbi. More power is not necesarily better with WiFi. I'm seeing -48 dBm 8-ft away from Orbi on 5 GHz.