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Forum Discussion
Re: 9.12.5.3 BUG: Everything shows as wired to router
donawalt , the same thing happens on my RBE973 system regularly (and randomly, not consistently) with the Orbi App (not the GUI which I believe your post noted)
I have wired backhaul, and apparently the App (or something in the RBE971 that populates the App values) gets confused (randomly) when I move from the RBE970 satellite WIFi connection to the RBE971 router WIFI connection with my WiFi 6E iPhone 15 Pro Max (the only WiFi device I have that “moves” between nodes).
On the Device list, the app will show a wired connection and my iPhone still being connected to the RBE970 satellite, even though I am physically located only 10’ from the RBE971 Router, and 45’+ with 3-walls away from the satellite.
Running Ookla Speedtest App on WiFi 6E iPhone (my WiFi connections are always on 6Mhz) while the Orbi App shows this “erroneous” connection, I always get my “normal, repeatable, and symmetrical” Up/Down speeds as 1100-1350 Mbps (always measured to a Server located at our natural gas utility located 4-miles away). I think it highly unlikely that my iPhone is still connected to WiFi from the backhaul satellite to obtain these speeds.
Another App issue is “erroneous” (?) link rates. When I’m connected via WiFi 6E to the RBE970 satellite (I’m in the same room, 10’-ish away), the link rate on Orbi App never shows higher than 71. I have 2.4Mhz IOT devices connected to the satellite showing a higher link rate than that! Yet, my Ookla App speed tests show almost the same consistent Up/Down speeds, 1000-1200 Mbps.
The Link rate shown on the App for my WiFi connection to the RBE Router with the 1100-1350 Mbps speeds is always in the 1300-2200 range. I’m not a link rate expert, but I question these Link rate display values on the Orbi App given my Speedtest results.
And finally, the Orbi App internal Ookla speed test is still not displaying download speeds correctly. With my ATT fiber connection and 5Mb Internet plan, the internal App speed test consistently always shows 4200-4500 Mbps Up, while 98% of the numerous speed tests I do show an asymmetrical 400-700 Mbps Down.
Shortly after the last firmware upgrade in Dec 2024, the Down speeds shown on Orbi internal speed test were symmetrical with Up speeds 80% of the time. But during Jan 2025, I’ve only had one (1) Down speed test that jumped up to 4200 Mbps. The other 100-ish or so speed tests show a “hard stop” for the Down speed in the 400-700 Mbps range.
My ATT fiber Gateway (that my Orbi router connects to) also has an internal Ookla Speedtest (same arrangement Orbi has in its App). This ATT speed test app measuring internet connection speeds has always (since I upgraded to 5Gb fiber plan almost 4-years ago) shown my symmetrical Up/Down internet speeds at 4300-5100 Mbps. I don’t think the Orbi App Download speeds of 400-700 are correct.
I’m hopeful NG is still working on the “faulty” Orbi App speed test display results, the “wired vs wireless” device connection representation, and I assume the Link rate display value also needs to be addressed.
While I’m addressing App issues, I also always have to completely close the Orbi App and re-open it numerous times before the Connected Device list, and the “RJ45/5-6Mhz” Connection Type displays correctly (I use this term very loosely!). Apparently my Orbi App doesn’t appear to Update in real-time (defined as 10-mins or less). Maybe I should add Orbi App refresh rate as the 4th item on my anbove Orbi App Wish list.
I have wired backhaul, and apparently the App (or something in the RBE971 that populates the App values) gets confused (randomly) when I move from the RBE970 satellite WIFi connection to the RBE971 router WIFI connection with my WiFi 6E iPhone 15 Pro Max (the only WiFi device I have that “moves” between nodes).
On the Device list, the app will show a wired connection and my iPhone still being connected to the RBE970 satellite, even though I am physically located only 10’ from the RBE971 Router, and 45’+ with 3-walls away from the satellite.
Running Ookla Speedtest App on WiFi 6E iPhone (my WiFi connections are always on 6Mhz) while the Orbi App shows this “erroneous” connection, I always get my “normal, repeatable, and symmetrical” Up/Down speeds as 1100-1350 Mbps (always measured to a Server located at our natural gas utility located 4-miles away). I think it highly unlikely that my iPhone is still connected to WiFi from the backhaul satellite to obtain these speeds.
Another App issue is “erroneous” (?) link rates. When I’m connected via WiFi 6E to the RBE970 satellite (I’m in the same room, 10’-ish away), the link rate on Orbi App never shows higher than 71. I have 2.4Mhz IOT devices connected to the satellite showing a higher link rate than that! Yet, my Ookla App speed tests show almost the same consistent Up/Down speeds, 1000-1200 Mbps.
The Link rate shown on the App for my WiFi connection to the RBE Router with the 1100-1350 Mbps speeds is always in the 1300-2200 range. I’m not a link rate expert, but I question these Link rate display values on the Orbi App given my Speedtest results.
And finally, the Orbi App internal Ookla speed test is still not displaying download speeds correctly. With my ATT fiber connection and 5Mb Internet plan, the internal App speed test consistently always shows 4200-4500 Mbps Up, while 98% of the numerous speed tests I do show an asymmetrical 400-700 Mbps Down.
Shortly after the last firmware upgrade in Dec 2024, the Down speeds shown on Orbi internal speed test were symmetrical with Up speeds 80% of the time. But during Jan 2025, I’ve only had one (1) Down speed test that jumped up to 4200 Mbps. The other 100-ish or so speed tests show a “hard stop” for the Down speed in the 400-700 Mbps range.
My ATT fiber Gateway (that my Orbi router connects to) also has an internal Ookla Speedtest (same arrangement Orbi has in its App). This ATT speed test app measuring internet connection speeds has always (since I upgraded to 5Gb fiber plan almost 4-years ago) shown my symmetrical Up/Down internet speeds at 4300-5100 Mbps. I don’t think the Orbi App Download speeds of 400-700 are correct.
I’m hopeful NG is still working on the “faulty” Orbi App speed test display results, the “wired vs wireless” device connection representation, and I assume the Link rate display value also needs to be addressed.
While I’m addressing App issues, I also always have to completely close the Orbi App and re-open it numerous times before the Connected Device list, and the “RJ45/5-6Mhz” Connection Type displays correctly (I use this term very loosely!). Apparently my Orbi App doesn’t appear to Update in real-time (defined as 10-mins or less). Maybe I should add Orbi App refresh rate as the 4th item on my anbove Orbi App Wish list.
2 Replies
- FURRYe38 donawalt
I think NG did something “behind the scenes” yesterday afternoon. I thought NG might have pushed a firmware update so I checked my firmware yesterday, no change since I updated in December.
My Arlo Keypad, and all of my Shelly smart units dropped off my WiFi network and sent me Notifications (this had never happened before yesterday).
I checked the RBE971, the status light was purple or whatever NG calls it. Noting that color meant I had no internet connection (even though I googled NG site to see what purple meant thinking my iPhone had/would flip to 5G cellular during the “purple”, but my internet worked fine through the RBR WiFi and thru my ATT Gateway, my iphone never did flip to cellular).
The RBR light remained purple, so I power cycled my ATT Gateway. When it came back on line, the RBR remained purple. I went to Orbi app and performed a reboot. The purple status cleared up.
Maybe NG can enlighten us?? - On another thread this morning, donawalt posted an issue he observed related to the web gui interface for the RBE971/970 WiFi 7 Mesh product and how WiFi connected devices would show up the RBE system with an RJ45 icon indicating the device was hardwired to the router. The same thing happens on my RBE973 system regularly (and randomly, not consistently) with the Orbi App (not the GUI which donawalt posted). donawalt suggested these Orbi App/Gui issues be posted on the NG App Community.
So the first Orbi App issue is related to incorrect display of “wired vs WiFi” on the Connected Device list.
My only portable WiFi connected device is my iPhone 15 Pro Max, and there is no physical way my cell phone could be connected via Ethernet. I mention “portable”, this is my only device that moves between WiFi mesh nodes (which I’ve noticed is when the RJ45 icon appears on the Orbi App Device list. As I have no other WiFi connected devices moving between mesh nodes, I can’t illustrate another occurrence of this Orbi App issue with a different mobile device.
I believe the App (and Web GUI) Connected Device issue is somehow related to 1) a WiFi mesh node handoff coming from 2) an RJ45 backhaul connected RBE970 satellite ( donawalt and I both use hardwired backhaul) via 3) a wireless device connected to the satellite using a 6Mhz channel connection ( donawalt and I both use some mobile devices that connect to WiFi via 6Mhz).
Initially after the mesh node handoff should have completed to the router, my iPhone will still show up on the RBE970 router Device list, but it shows connected to the satellite via an RJ45 hardwire connection, and not via a WiFi 6Mhz channel. When I notice the RJ45 icon, I normally close the Orbi App, wait several minutes (I can’t verify exactly how long it takes), reopen the App (sometimes it takes several close/reopen App cycles), and it will (eventually) show correctly as a connected device to the RBE971 router via 6Mhz channel.
The reason I stated the mesh handoff “should gave completed” is because I am physically then located only 10’ from the RBE971 Router, and 45’+ with 3-walls from the satellite. As provided in the previous paragraph, the App will ultimately show the device correctly connected via 6Mhz WiFi (not RJ45) to the router (and no longer to the satellite).
Additionally supporting my thought that the mesh node hand-off successfully completed from satellite to the router (even though the Device list still shows my iPhone connected to a satellite) relates to an iPhone conducted speed test.
Running a speed test on WiFi 6E (i.e. using 6Mhz) on my iPhone usung an Ookla Speedtest IOS App while the Orbi App shows this “erroneous” RJ45 satellite connection, I always get my “normal, repeatable, and symmetrical” Up/Down speeds of 1100-1350 Mbps (always measured to a Server located at our natural gas utility located 4-miles away). I think it highly unlikely that my iPhone is still connected to WiFi from the backhaul satellite (and not connected to the router located only 10’ away) to obtain these speeds.
A second Orbi App issue is related to “erroneous(?)” link rates.
When I’m connected via WiFi 6E to the RBE970 satellite (I’m in the same room, 10’-ish away), the link rate on the Orbi App never shows my iPhone connected higher than 71.
I have 2.4Mhz IOT devices connected to the same satellite showing a higher link rate than that! Yet, my Ookla App speed tests on an iPhone show almost the same consistent Up/Down speeds from the satellite, (1000-1200 Mbps) as from the Router (1100-1350 Mbps) that the Orbi App shows a link rate of up to 2400.
Let’s see, a link rate of 71 = 1000-1200 Mbps, a link rate of 2400 = 1100-1350 ??
The Link rate shown on the Orbi App for my WiFi connection to the RBE Router with the 1100-1350 Mbps speeds is always in the 1700-2400 range. I’m not a link rate expert, but I question these Link rate display values on the Orbi App given my Speedtest results.
And finally, the ongoing 3rd issue related to Slow download speeds for the Orbi mesh WiFi system issue that have, and still appear multiple times in various NG Community threads.
I’ve conducted numerous tests monthly since last May using Ookla Speedtest applications 1) internal to my ATT Gateway App, 2) internal to the Orbi App Speedtest, and 3) using an Ookla IOS App on my iPhone 15 pro max. Up/Down speeds are always symmetrical for ATT App (4200-4500 Mbps), and iPhone 15 with Ookla IOS App (1100-1350 Mbps) (note: using a WiFi 6E iPhone connection to the Orbi will allow the fastest “real world” Up/down speeds to max out at 1400-1500 Mbps). The internal Orbi speed test has very divergent speed values 98% of the times I’ve tested: Up (4200-4500 Mbps ) / Down (400-700 Mbps). The other 2% of the time that occur randomly: Up/Down 4200-4500 Mbps (so how does the Orbi App accomplish this????). I conduct all 3 tests (ATT App, Orbi App, iPhone Ookla App) mere seconds apart which makes the 400-700 Mbps download speed for the Orbi App even more suspect!)
So, for the ATT Gateway App, Download speeds between the Internet and the Gateway are consistently 4200-4500Mbps
Download speeds from the Internet through the ATT gateway and the Orbi RBE971 via WiFi 6E to the IPhone IOS Ookla App are consistently 1100-1350 Mbps.
Download speeds from the Internet through the ATT Gateway to the Orbi App which is measuring speads to the RBE971, 98% of the time are 400-700 Mbps????
I think it strange that Download speeds that pass THROUGH the RBE971 and then out to the iPhone are consistently 1100-1350 Mbps, but Download speeds measured TO the RBE971 via the Orbi App, 98% of the time are only 400-700 Mbps???
The Orbi App internal Ookla speed test is still not displaying download speeds correctly, even after the December 2024 RBE971/970 firmware upgrade.
I’m hopeful NG is still working on, or will begin working on 1) “incorrect” Orbi App speed test display results, 2) the “wired vs wireless” device connection RJ45 representation issue, and 3) the “strange” Link rate display value.
While I’m addressing App issues, I also have to completely close the Orbi App and re-open it several times before the Connected Device list, and the “RJ45/5-6Mhz” Connection Type displays correctly (I use this term very loosely!). Apparently my Orbi App doesn’t appear to Update in real-time (defined as 10-mins or less).
Similarly, the Link rate values seemingly change with each App open/close cycle, even if the time between each cycle is mere seconds.
Maybe I should add Orbi App refresh rate as the 4th item on the above Orbi App Wish list.