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Wi-Fi Performance Recently Degraded Severely - Orbi RBR50 V2.5.1.8 (RBK50-100NAR)
In the past week or so, my wi-fi performance has become very unreliable on my Orbi RBR50 system. This includes on my laptop which is on the desk directly next to the main router. My desktop computer ...
Thanks for the quick replies.
The modem is mine and is a Netgear CM500.
The number of neighboring wi-fi networks fluctuates, but is usually about 3 or 4.
The satellite is about 40 feet away.
I pay for 175 Mbps down / 5 Mbps up (Comcast Performance Pro). Speed Tests on the Orbi app are usually in the range of 150-210 Mbps down / 5-6 Mbps up. Right now, head-to-head, I'm seeing:
- Orbi app on iPhone: 209 Mbps down / 5.5 Mbps up
- Ookla site via work wi-fi on laptop: 47 Mbps down / 6.0 Mbps up
- Ookla site via Orbi wi-fi on laptop: 40 Mbps down / 6.0 Mbps up
So it's comparable right now. But there are times when the Orbi wi-fi won't load pages at all, and my work wi-fi performs just fine.
The work wi-fi router is on my desk a few inches from the Orbi, but nothing about this set up has changed in the past year. I have a separate wi-fi for work because I work from home most of the time and it automatically puts me on a secure connection to the company network without needing to run a VPN client (Cisco Meraki).
Nearby channels, per the Mac OS X Wireless Diagnostics Utility Scan, are:
- Orbi network (2.4 GHz) on channel 4
- Orbi network (5 GHz) on channel 48
- Work network 2.4 GHz) on channel 1
- Work network (5 GHz) on channel 149
- Neighbor network 1 (5 GHz) on channel 36
- Neighbor network 2 (5 GHz) on channel 36
I have not yet performed a full factory reset.
Sitting too close to each other isn't recommended. Though it may have worked before, it maybe now starting to to fail. 6-10 feet from each other is recommended. Also try setting your RBR router to channel 11. 4 is kind close to 1 and sitting next to each other is just causing interference and noise for each other.
DogFog wrote:Thanks for the quick replies.
The modem is mine and is a Netgear CM500.
The number of neighboring wi-fi networks fluctuates, but is usually about 3 or 4.
The satellite is about 40 feet away.
I pay for 175 Mbps down / 5 Mbps up (Comcast Performance Pro). Speed Tests on the Orbi app are usually in the range of 150-210 Mbps down / 5-6 Mbps up. Right now, head-to-head, I'm seeing:
- Orbi app on iPhone: 209 Mbps down / 5.5 Mbps up
- Ookla site via work wi-fi on laptop: 47 Mbps down / 6.0 Mbps up
- Ookla site via Orbi wi-fi on laptop: 40 Mbps down / 6.0 Mbps up
So it's comparable right now. But there are times when the Orbi wi-fi won't load pages at all, and my work wi-fi performs just fine.
The work wi-fi router is on my desk a few inches from the Orbi, but nothing about this set up has changed in the past year. I have a separate wi-fi for work because I work from home most of the time and it automatically puts me on a secure connection to the company network without needing to run a VPN client (Cisco Meraki).
Nearby channels, per the Mac OS X Wireless Diagnostics Utility Scan, are:
- Orbi network (2.4 GHz) on channel 4
- Orbi network (5 GHz) on channel 48
- Work network 2.4 GHz) on channel 1
- Work network (5 GHz) on channel 149
- Neighbor network 1 (5 GHz) on channel 36
- Neighbor network 2 (5 GHz) on channel 36
I have not yet performed a full factory reset.
Thanks again. I've adjusted the 2.4 GHz channel to 11 and I'll see how it performs over the next couple of days. If it still has issues, would you recommend a factory reset as the next step?
DogFog wrote:Thanks again. I've adjusted the 2.4 GHz channel to 11 and I'll see how it performs over the next couple of days. If it still has issues, would you recommend a factory reset as the next step?
Generally, the "last resort" is a Factory Reset (because it is so much effort and time-consuming). So, yes, if the situation is unbearable and nothing else has worked, that's what people do. There are two ways to approach the factory reset: (1) save a copy of the Orbi "config" to your desktop, do the "Factory Reset" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMw4ePACgc4 , then tell the Orbi you want to reload a copy of the previous config. This avoids having to do any input and is supposed to restore every setting as it once was. (2) if the problem persists, there is a remote (tiny) chance that the saved config had "something wrong", and the Orbi should be configured from scratch.
Thanks for the information about the work WiFi. Do you have any control over it? My suspicion is that (a) only the laptop connects to the work WiFi, and (b) the laptop probably connects at 5G. Turning off the 2.4G WiFi radio on the work WiFi would thus not impact use, but would eliminate a potential source of interference.
Let us know how it goes. Reset maybe needed. Good troubleshooting step.
DogFog wrote:Thanks again. I've adjusted the 2.4 GHz channel to 11 and I'll see how it performs over the next couple of days. If it still has issues, would you recommend a factory reset as the next step?
Well, the channel adjustment didn't help, so I went ahead with a full reset, and that seems to have fixed it. Thank you again for walking me through this!
