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jaclhu's avatar
jaclhu
Aspirant
Jul 07, 2023

Orbi App Showing Different Wifi Channel

Any idea why the Orbi app would show a different channel in use than the one I have specified in the router settings? Please see attached image - my router is set to 36, but the app says 40. App and firmware both seem to be updated to the latest versions.

 

Orbi Model: RBR750 with 1 satellite

Firmware Version: 4.6.14.3

App Version: 2.27.1.3003 (on Android 13)

 

If there's any other relevant info that might help, please let me know.

 

5 Replies

  • FURRYe38's avatar
    FURRYe38
    Guru - Experienced User
    Jul 07, 2023

    NG recommends setting manual channel 40 on Orbi AX systems. 36 seems to close to the boarder of channels from what I've been told and has better performances. 

     

    • jaclhu's avatar
      jaclhu
      Aspirant
      Jul 07, 2023

      Seems weird that it would recommend channel 36 then?

  • CrimpOn's avatar
    CrimpOn
    Guru - Experienced User
    Jul 07, 2023

    The picture showing channel usage is from WiFi Analytics.

    Can you please explain where the other screen shot is from?

    (I do not seem to find that on my Orbi 'app'. but then, I am easily confused.)

    • jaclhu's avatar
      jaclhu
      Aspirant
      Jul 07, 2023

      The left picture is showing the router settings as seen from my web browser while logged into the router.

      • CrimpOn's avatar
        CrimpOn
        Guru - Experienced User
        Jul 07, 2023
        jaclhu wrote:

        The left picture is showing the router settings as seen from my web browser while logged into the router.

        Thanks.  That might be the default setting when the user has not chosen specific channels..  (They are both 'drop down' menus.  (I have fooled around with my Orbi for six years, so I have no distinct memory of what the default appearance of the menu was.)

         

        5G WiFi is a bit confusing.  In the US, channels 36-48 are combined into one 80 Mhz wide data channel when possible. which is what results in a maximum theoretical WiFi6 (802.11ax) speed for the 750 system of 1,200 Mbps

        (see page 4 of the Product Data Sheet).  https://www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/orbi/RBK752.pdf 

        Wikipedia has a nice description of WiFi channels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels 

        Both 2.4G WiFi and 5G WiFi have a feature that most customers are unaware of:

        Management information is sent at the lowest supported speed in order to guarantee that every WiFi device on the system can receive it.  For 5G WiFi, that is one single channel of 20Mhz width.

         

        Thus, when the user specifies a 5G WiFi "channel", that tells the router to use that specific channel for management information.  When user data is transmitted, the WiFi access point and the WiFi user device negotiate the maximum speed they can achieve at that moment, taking into consideration everything that is happening on the WiFi network at the time.

         

        You might wonder how Radio 2 (the 5G user radio) can achieve only 1,200 Mbps on the RBR750 while radio 3 can achieve 2,400 Mbps.  That is because radio 3 has four antennas (i.e. 4x4 MIMO) while radio 2 has only two antennas (2x2 MIMO)  There are very close to zero user devices that have 4x4 MIMO. Certainly no cell phones or laptop. So, four antennas would be wasted on the user radio.

         

        There are some fascinating articles on the web about  "how WiFi works".