Hi Everyone, There is in fact a new firmware for AT&T rolling out now. I'm trying to update, but first download attempt failed. I did two factory resets (one soft through the web admin, and then a hard through the reset button). Trying to upgrade again now while plugged into QC2.0 charger.Old version: NTG9X50C_10.20.05.02New TBD Crossing fingers . . . Jonathan

Ok,Got my work laptop fired up with inSSIDer. From the negotiated PHY rates, it appears the MR1100 is in fact MIMO 2x2. With 5.8GHz @ 40Mhz I get a max PHY rate of 360Mbit (aka ~216Mbit usable). At 5.8GHz @ 80MHz I get a max PHY rate of 866.7 Mbit (~520Mbit usable) Signal (dBm) seemed to drop only ~3-5dBm with 80Mhz enabled. But this was by no means a scientific test. In general signal strength and useful range general decreases with wider channels. Which is why I want to use a 20MHz bandwith for 5.8GHz. More info herehttp://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/wp/WP_80211acInDepth.pdf Not sure if the MR1100 does band steering or not. I don't see any settings. I typically run my 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz networks with separate SSID's. -Jonathan

Battery usage seems somewhat higher with the new firmware. After ~10hours of light usage on both bands, not a single crash, reboot, or hang. Battery fells from 100% to roughly 30% in that time. But this is not an apples to apple comparison. I had both bands enabled (long) with the wifi timeout disabled and the Ethernet timeout also disabled. Previously I only had a single channel enabled (5.8GHz) and the Ethernet timeout was likely set the default 2min time out. So far this new firmware seems like a good improvement. Speeds still seem rather slow (slower than my iPhone 6s), but that will take some more testing to prove out.

Thanks Jason, My pleasure. It would be really nice to get release notes so we could actually see what was changed / improved. This way we could actually test and verify that the change had the desired effect like we do for conventional home Wifi routers. In particular, many of us doubt that carrier aggregation is working correctly on the MR1100. This might be an AT&T provisioning issue, but many folks on Howard Forums post 2x, 3x, and 4x CA speed tests of their iPhones and and Samsung Galaxy's with speeds in excess of 200Mbit DL so we know in certain areas that the AT&T network can do it. I've never seen speeds anything close to that on my MR1100. Maybe ~80-100Mbit at best. In fact my lowly iPhone 6s which has a decrepit Cat6 Qualcomm baseband (MDM9635M) usually bests its (MR1100) download speed when tested back to back. So something about the CA or Cellular MIMO is not working right. Unfortunately the diagnostic pages on the Web Admin (or Mobile AP) don't really give us enough information to troubleshoot (or even tell when CA is being used -- if it ever is). Having the ability to control which LTE band(s) are used would also be very helpful for many stationary/broadband users. Thank you!Jonathan

Hi winger13,I'll go ahead and forward this to my internal team also. Thank you :] - Jason N

JSchnee21: I just like to thank you for your detailed and informative posts on this and other topics. You're clearly spending a lot of time doing research into the M1 and are very kindly sharing your findings with us. Keep up the good work - it's much appreciated :smileywink:.

New Firmware -- AT&T USA | NETGEAR Communities

32 Replies

JSchnee21
Virtuoso
Mar 22, 2018
Successfully updated. Going to do another factory reset or two before configuring.

New firmware version is: NTG9X50C_12.02.06.00

Seems to add Arlo support, haven't noticed any other new features yet. I did get two automated, cryptic text messages after updating from AT&T. Not sure why. Perhaps some sort of config code?

My device was unlocked prior to the upgraded, haven't tested my Tmo SIM post upgrade, yet.

Download takes ~2min or so, then you must select install, install took ~3-4min with lots of flashing and reboot cycles.

-Jonathan
- JSchnee21
  Virtuoso
  Mar 22, 2018
  Note, Chrome seems to work better when configuring the web admin than Safari. Under router settings you can now disable the Ethernet power save setting. You can choose between 2min and disable. BUT only when using Chrome. Safari does not seem to support this control correctly (despite working for all of the others -- odd).
  
  Wifi settings seem unchanged. Still the same transmit power, timeout, and bandwidth settings. Still only 40MHz and 80MHz -- No 20MHz for 5.8GHz. I'll have to pull the FCC info to see if it supports MIMO or not (aka 1x1 or 2x2). Later today I'll hook up my newer laptop with 2x2 and see what the negotiated PHY rates are.
  
  Tmo SIM works fine. So firmware update / multiple factory resets did not impact my unlocked status.
  
  Best,
  Jonathan
  - JSchnee21
    Virtuoso
    Mar 22, 2018
    Ok,
    Got my work laptop fired up with inSSIDer. From the negotiated PHY rates, it appears the MR1100 is in fact MIMO 2x2.
    
    With 5.8GHz @ 40Mhz I get a max PHY rate of 360Mbit (aka ~216Mbit usable). At 5.8GHz @ 80MHz I get a max PHY rate of 866.7 Mbit (~520Mbit usable)
    
    Signal (dBm) seemed to drop only ~3-5dBm with 80Mhz enabled. But this was by no means a scientific test. In general signal strength and useful range general decreases with wider channels. Which is why I want to use a 20MHz bandwith for 5.8GHz.
    
    More info here
    http://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/wp/WP_80211acInDepth.pdf
    
    Not sure if the MR1100 does band steering or not. I don't see any settings. I typically run my 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz networks with separate SSID's.
    
    -Jonathan
winger13
Guide
Mar 27, 2018
Since the M1's auto firmware update this morning (once the device auto rebooted for some reason), I have had:
1) devices kicked off the M1's wifi
2) devices cannot log back into the M1 until after manually rebooting the M1

Also, I do not know if this were the same behavior as before this morning's firmware update, but tonight:
3) when I took out the battery and just plugged in a QC 2.0 charger into the M1, with almost no network activity the M1 internal temp reached over 45degreesC. I am thinking this is too hot?
4) with just the battery installed (no charger), the internal temperature also reached over 45 degreesC. Again, with little network activity. Now, I do not recall it got this hot when the M1 was virtually idle.

This afternoon when I had the battery on about one hour, I notice the internal temp also reaching over 40degreesC with minimal network activity, and the battery seemed to discharge rather quickly (again, this is subjective).

Anyone notice the same after the firmware update?
winger13
Guide
Mar 27, 2018
Since the M1's auto firmware update this morning (once the device auto rebooted for some reason), I have had:
1) devices kicked off the M1's wifi
2) devices cannot log back into the M1 unless I manually reboot the M1

Also, I do not know if this were the same behavior as before this morning's firmware update, but tonight:
3) when I took out the battery and just plugged in a QC 2.0 charger into the M1, with almost no network activity the M1 internal temp reached over 45degreesC. I am thinking this is too hot?
4) with just the battery installed (no charger), the internal temperature also reached over 45 degreesC. Again, with little network activity. Now, I do not recall it got this hot when the M1 was virtually idle.

This afternoon when I had the battery on about one hour, I notice the internal temp also reaching over 40degreesC with minimal network activity, and the battery seemed to discharge rather quickly (again, this is subjective).

Anyone notice the same after the firmware update?
- winger13
  Guide
  Mar 27, 2018
  I tested the M1 yesterday for about five hours (after the updated)
  
  It was a very frusturating experience, to say the least. The M1 kept on disconnecting my three devices every 1-25 minutes, and once a device was disconnected, they were unable to log back on to the M1 until I manually rebooted the device.
  
  I ran tests with the battery only, battery + wall charger, on wall charger only - same behavior.
  
  For the last hour, I decided to reset the M1 to Factory (using the Settings|Administration|Factory Reset option when logged into the device from my laptop)
  
  After the Factory Reset, I noticed that the battery temperature came back ! Long story short, I ended up stress testing the M1 for the entire hour and NO DISCONNECTS !!! This morning, I am just wrapping up two more hours on M1, again no disconnects. I guess the Factory Reset did the job.
  
  I will report back if I find anything else out.
  - JSchnee21
    Virtuoso
    Mar 27, 2018
    Hi winger13,
    
    Thanks for the update! That's good news. I used to have other Netgear routers for home Wifi etc. so I was kind of used to the drill -- factory reset often (-: In preparation for my firmware upgrade I actually did 4 factor resets (sorry OCD). Two before (one through software (web admin) and one through hardware(reset button)) and two after the firmware update. I then proceeded to customize the config manually (not using a config file).
    
    So perhaps I avoided the unpleasant experience you had by proactively wiping my device first. I cannot say one way or the other as to whether or not my device runs "hotter" but it does seem to run through the battery faster.
    
    I wasn't able to test my MR1100 on Tmo today as the kids need it after school. But I did test my iPhone in the fastest location I've been able to find location and got roughly the same speeds (90-110MBit) as I've seen on the MR1100. Interesting my lowly iPhone 6s with Cat6 baseband was 10ms better in latency (mid 20ms vs 30-40ms when tethered via 5.8GHz wifi) and managed a faster upload speed of ~10Mbit (iphone got 25-30Mbit up vs. 15-20Mbit on the MR1100).
    
    I haven't had a chance to test out the Ethernet connection on the MR1100.
    
    -Jonathan
- Rcracerg911
  Aspirant
  Mar 29, 2018
  What you mean by manual reboot? Do you mean having to pull the battery to get it started again? Or is the unit on but Wi-Fi isn’t being broadcasted? Because if it’s the former, then there is another thread that explains a similar situation. Thanks.
  - winger13
    Guide
    Mar 29, 2018
    Rcracerg911wrote:
    What you mean by manual reboot? Do you mean having to pull the battery to get it started again? Or is the unit on but Wi-Fi isn’t being broadcasted? Because if it’s the former, then there is another thread that explains a similar situation. Thanks.
    I am unsure what you are talking about when you refer to "former" .
    Can you re-write your message ?

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New Firmware -- AT&T USA