I know the Orbi 6 AX6000 doesn’t support 160mhz currently. Could it ever (is this a hardware limitation or firmware)?I ask because I have gigabit internet and see some routers do 160Mhz and get top speeds closer to or in excess of 1000mbps — on my AX6000 I’m capping around 800mbps sitting near the router, presumably because this is the close to the observed max speed at its 80Mhz band.Are there any mesh devices (not just Netgear) that do 160Mhz, or is this only found in stand-alone single point routers?

Apparently no, max transfer rate on 5 GHz bands should be 2400 Mbps (2x2 ??), both for users and backhaul. 4x4 for 5 GHz AX = 4800 Mbps

WIFI 6 at 80Mhz (Orbi RBK852) for a 4x4 configuration will max at 2400Mb/s for both clients and the Orbi Backhaul.600Mb/s (80MHz, 1 spatial stream) - Max of 2400 Mb/s for a 4x4 Configuration1200Mb/s (160Mhz, 1 spatial stream) - Max of 4800 Mb/s for a 4X4 configuration This review mentions the Orbi RBK852 currently lacking 160Mhz support.https://dongknows.com/netgear-rbk852-orbi-wifi-6-system-ax6000-review/#Triband_WiFi_6_but_no_support_for_160MHz_channel_width Although other mesh systems have 160Mhz support and a higher potential maximum speed, there are numerous reports that these systems still won't connect at 160Mhz due to limited # of channels and regional restrictions on their use, and still connect at 80Mhz. Most Wifi 6 clients are still 2x2 configurations, so will connect at a maximum speed of 1200Mb/s for the Orbi AX.

From duckware.com:Why haven't devices switched to 4×4? Because (1) there is (currently) no compelling need for that speed today (there is no app that 'requires' 300 Mbps to function) and (2) the increased speed is not worth the tradeoff in reduced run time for battery powered devices (4×4 takes more power, and for battery powered devices, runtime is FAR more important).

Okay — so I see another thread where it’s mentioned the 160mhz band is part of the 802.11ax standard. This may be true, but then why do some AX standalone Netgear routers clearly say 160MHz support whereas that’s nowhere to be found for the AX6000 Orbi?I’m assuming since it’s listed as AX6000 there will never be an intention of having a software option to use the 160MHz band. Has this been confirmed?

Because the AX Orbis don't support 160mhz channels on the user available bands. The backhaul channel is 160mhz and it runs at 2400 mbps. There's not many AX clients that currently run on 160mhz channels (some laptops), nothing on iOS.

160Mhz for Mesh? | NETGEAR Communities

22 Replies

Rogelio1
Apprentice
May 15, 2020
Okay — so I see another thread where it’s mentioned the 160mhz band is part of the 802.11ax standard. This may be true, but then why do some AX standalone Netgear routers clearly say 160MHz support whereas that’s nowhere to be found for the AX6000 Orbi?

I’m assuming since it’s listed as AX6000 there will never be an intention of having a software option to use the 160MHz band. Has this been confirmed?
- CallPaul
  Apprentice
  May 15, 2020
  Because the AX Orbis don't support 160mhz channels on the user available bands. The backhaul channel is 160mhz and it runs at 2400 mbps. There's not many AX clients that currently run on 160mhz channels (some laptops), nothing on iOS.
  - Rogelio1
    Apprentice
    May 15, 2020
    Doesn't support it on user available bands (as in, not implemented in firmware... or not supported by hardware)? I would think since the two 5GHz radios are identical in hardware, and since the one dedicated to backhaul is operating at 160MHz channel width, that the other radio dedicated to the actual client-end broadcast would similarly be capable of broadcasting at 160Mhz width.
kildare
Luminary
May 15, 2020

Rogelio1 wrote:

Are there any mesh devices (not just Netgear) that do 160Mhz, or is this only found in stand-alone single point routers?
I know the Asus ZenWifi AX that has two 5 GHz bands, the second has 160 MHz channel bandwith and by default is used for the wireless backhaul up to 4800 Mbps.
But thanks to the configuration settings available, each of the 3 bands (2.4 GHz + 2 x 5 GHz) can be used as the wireless backhaul, so the 2nd 5 GHz band can be devoted to wireless clients.
Moreover, if using a wired backhaul, all the 3 bands can be used by wireless clients.

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160Mhz for Mesh?