Forum Discussion

Aspirant

Jun 07, 2023

Solved

Orbi rbr850 speed test faster in portal, than on PC

I'm stumped. And I'm sure it's something super simple. My RBR850 speed test (wired) through the admin portal is pushing 1500Mbs However, when running a speed test through my browser (also wired) It...

CrimpOn
Jun 07, 2023
Bka315 wrote:
If it's an Orbi issue, and I have to replace equipment-so be it.

And, THAT is indeed a puzzle.

Internet gaming is "not my thing", but it is apparent from posts on the forum that

Raw speed and latency are significant factors to gamers. (Perhaps the reason they invest in gaming computers and greater than gigabit ISP connections).

To make use of the raw speed, the WiFi router will need to have both

A WAN connection capable of greater than gigabit, and

At least one LAN connection capable of greater than gigabit.

The only Orbi system capable of this is the RBRE960. This 'top of the line' product has a price tag to match ($1,500 for a package) and comments on the forum are not entirely positive.

Latency is not one of Orbi's strong suits. There is one Netgear router aimed at the gaming market.
https://www.netgear.com/home/online-gaming/

Where Orbi excels is the tri-band (or even quad-band) seamless mesh. Notice that Netgear's Nighthawk gaming router makes no mention of "mesh". There are Nighthawk routers with mesh capabilities, but not the one squarely aimed at gaming.

Notice also that the Nighthawk gaming router has only gigabit ports, so the higher speed ISP connection cannot be utilized.

Physical appearance matters to some people. Orbi units have a totally different appearance than typical gaming routers with all those ugly antennas poking up.

And..... what about WiFi6E? It is not really a factor in 2023, but in a few years people may begin to own devices that are capable of using the 6GHz frequency band. (How many years?) My guess is that 6E is not a serious issue right now.

My guess is it will not be a trivial exercise to find a WiFi router that will satisfy every requirement:

Raw Speed

Gaming Latency

Mesh

Appearance

TP-Link's Archer AX11000 looks promising and gets top marks from review sites. ($300 at Costco) Asus has more 'gaming routers' than I can count and also does well in reviews.

What do customers say about alternative products?

What kind of support do those companies offer? (We're on the forum because Netgear offers only 90 days of 'complimentary support'. Who knows what other companies provide?

I would for certain purchase only from a retailer with a generous return policy.

CrimpOn

Guru - Experienced User

Jun 07, 2023

Please identify which device is wired to the Orbi LAN port and running the web version of Ookla Speed Test.

The Orbi LAN ports are gigabit.

Thus, it is physically impossible to achieve a throughput of anything over 1 gigabit. Because of overhead inherent in Ethernet, the maximum achievable speed is somewhere between 900Mbps and 950Mbps.

What Ethernet interface does the computer have? Most consumer PCs and Macs are equipped with gigabit Ethernet as well. (although users on the forums report retrofitting higher speed adapters).

The step most often recommended is to temporarily unplug the Orbi 850 from the CM2000 and and connect the computer directly to the CM2000 to perform the speed test.

If the pattern remains the same, the issue is most likely with the PC.

Bka315

Aspirant

Jun 07, 2023

So connecting straight to the CM2000 I was able to get 1424 Mbs

I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to this stuff, so I apologize ahead of time

I could accept the 7-900Mbs it's showing at the start of the test, but the drastic fall off is what I'm not really liking

CrimpOn
Guru - Experienced User
Jun 07, 2023
If the computer achieves 1424 connected directly to the CM2000 and does not drop over time, then

The computer almost certainly has an updated Ethernet adapter (not stock). It would be useful to know exactly which one.

Which operating system is the computer running?

The Orbi LAN ports will still limit performance to under 1 gigabit, but that does not explain the perceived drop over time. (This drop is in the Ookla Speed Test graph itself? or in tests run one after another?)
- Bka315
  Aspirant
  Jun 07, 2023
  If the computer achieves 1424 connected directly to the CM2000 and does not drop over time, then
  The computer almost certainly has an updated Ethernet adapter (not stock). It would be useful to know exactly which one. It's just the Ethernet port that came with my motherboard- Asus ROG Maximus XII Hero
  Which operating system is the computer running? Windows 10
  The Orbi LAN ports will still limit performance to under 1 gigabit, but that does not explain the perceived drop over time. (This drop is in the Ookla Speed Test graph itself? or in tests run one after another?) All Tests are from Speedtest by Ookla
  - CrimpOn
    Guru - Experienced User
    Jun 07, 2023
    Way cool. Marvell^® AQtion AQC111C 5Gb Ethernet. It might be worth browsing the Asus support site to look for updated drivers for this board. There are comments about performance issues with this chip:
    
    https://www.reddit.com/r/ASUS/comments/hce18l/supportrog_maximus_xii_hero_onboard_aquantia/
    
    As long as you are enjoying experimenting, it might be worth comparing the results when using the two different adapters that are included with this motherboard: the Intel^® I219-V 1Gb Ethernet and the Marvell^® AQtion AQC111C 5Gb Ethernet
    
    (I have no clue what Asus LAN Guard could be.)
    
    With the 850 LAN port being only gigabit, then connecting the Intel gigabit adapter should perform as well as the AQtion adapter. But.... do they perform the same? i.e.
    
    Does one show a drop in speed and the other does not?
    
    Does one show a drop in speed but the other remains the same?