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Very slow network speeds on 5GHz network on Orbi RBR50 after months of solid performance
Hey All, Hopefully someone can help me with this. I just started noticing some really slow network speeds on my 5GHz connected network devices a couple weeks ago. This is after several months of ...
Thanks to all who pitched in. Your advice was helpful! I just took a backup of the working config in case I need it in the future. Setting this as resolved now!
Please try a factory reset and setup from scratch with the RBR and RBS.
Zablalbaz wrote:Hey All,
Hopefully someone can help me with this. I just started noticing some really slow network speeds on my 5GHz connected network devices a couple weeks ago. This is after several months of fantastic speed and performance with my Orbi routers. When I first set them up, I was seeing up to 700Mbps Internet speed test results on my Fiber Internet while connected to the 5GHz wifi network. Now I am lucky to see 15Mbps to 24Mbps while connected to either the 2.4GHz or the 5GHz wifi networks on my Orbi mesh.
Before I go further, here are my specs:
Orbi Hardware Version: RBR50, and RBS50
Firmware Version V2.5.1.16 on both
Operation Mode: Router and Satellite
Region North America
2.4G Channel Auto ( 8(P) + 4(S) )
2.4G Mode Up to 400 Mbps
5G Channel 36+40+44+48(P)
5G Mode Up to 866.7 MbpsAdvanced settings:
Enable Beamforming
Enable Fast Roaming
Preamble mode: Auto
20/40 coexistence mode on 2.4 GHz is disabled
Daisy Chain Topology is disabled
Today, while I was going around doing my wifi analysis, I noticed that my phone was connecting to the Orbi routers' 5GHz network, but with only with a single, 20MHz wide channel. To be honest, I never looked at that before, so I don't know if this is typical of Netgear routers. But to rule out the phone, I also tried 2 tablets and my FireTV cube - all with the same wifi analysis tools - and they all reported back a 5GHz (5240MHz) connection with the 20MHz wide channel instead of a 40MHz wide channel.
Testing with my Lenovo Thinkpad also shows a similar result with the link to the 5GHz network only having a reported bit rate of 54 MB/s. This is the same laptop that was originally giving me 700 Mbps Internet test speeds and now is only giving me 24Mbps at best while connected to the 5GHz Orbi network.
As a further data point, I connected my laptop to a wired Ethernet port on the RBR50 and ran an Internet speed test and got over 800Mbps down and over 900Mbps up. I also ran the integrated speed test on the RBR50 and got the following results:
Latest test result (16:37 Apr 26, 2020)
DOWNLOAD UPLOAD
860.75Mbps 909.30Mbps
Since I purchased the Orbi Mesh system, I have manually updated the firmware twice. Once to V2.5.1.8 back in December 2019. And the second time to V2.5.1.16 today in hopes it would help. I did not reset the routers to factory state after updating them.
Could something have gotten corrupted during the first firmware update to v2.5.1.8? Has anyone else seen this behavior and know a fix?
I'm working today, but I intend to try a factory reset and see if that helps once I get some downtime. I'll report the results back here when I do that. In the meantime, here are a few summary notes for any other folks who may be watching my progress:
1) Date/Timeline correction: In a previous post I stated that I did the FW update in December. I was wrong there. I actually purchased the system in January, 2020. And I did the FW update in February or March, 2020.
2) To be clear, I am only seeing slow connections on my wireless network. When connected to wired Ethernet, I am getting very close to the top speed of my Internet connection of 1 GBps. My wifi network slowdown issues occured sometime after I did the firmware upgrade to v2.5.1.8. Now I am only getting ~24Mbps Internet speed test results when connected to the 5GHz wifi and in the same rooms as the router or satellite.
3) When I first set up my Orbi Mesh, I definitely was getting 700 - 800 Mbps on the wireless, 5GHz network while in the same rooms as the router and the satellite. I took snapshots of the wifi speed tests and sent them to all my friends to show how amazing it was. :-) The specs for the Orbi indicate that it syncs at a Maximum of 867 Mbps on 5GHz and 400 Mbps on 2.4GHz. And my initial network testing confirmed I was getting very close to those speeds when I got this system back in January, 2020.
4) Upgrading the FW to v2.1.5.16 did not resolve the problem. I am going to try a factory rest of the router and set up from scratch to see if this resolves the issue.
5) I found a similar report in the forum where another user upgraded their RBR50 to version to v2.5.0.38
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/RBR50-performance-degradation-after-2-5-0-38-firmware-update/m-p/1823158#M75553But this person was seeing slowdowns on BOTH wireless and wired networks on their LAN after the update. They tried a v2.5.0.40 hotfix, and I think eventually reverted back to the v2.5.0.30 FW and got their network speeds back.
Only difference in my case is that I am NOT seeing the slow down on wired clients. My wired clients are getting full speed Internet speedtest results.
Regards! I will report my results back here after I have tried a factory reset of the router and satellite.
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-router
Router and Satellite are connected via a Gigabit Ethernet connection. I do not use the wireless backhaul. I haven't measured the distance with a tape measure, but the router is downstairs on one end of the house in the living room, and the satellite is upstairs on the other end in a bonus room. I'd say maybe 90-100 feet apart in a straight line?
Ok just checking this.
What is the Mfr and model # of the switch in between the RBR and RBS if your using one?