Issues with an RBR850 (router mode) and one single RBS850 connected wirelessly

I forgot to mention:

• All devices connected directly to the RBR850 via ethernet go down at the same time as the wireless devices. It's as if the router or satellite just completely stop responding briefly, then come back to life.

When the Orbi 'app' reports a Speed Test, the actual Test is performed on the router.  It is common for network speed to vary over time.  It would be helpful to see actual numeric values for these Speed Tests.

A complete loss of internet should be reflected in the Hitron modem diagnostics that can be retrieved by the cable provider  Many users have reported that cable technicians examined their cable drop and found issues with cable connectors or actual physical damage to the cable itself.  (Squirrels apparently enjoy chewing on cables.)  It might be appropriate to contact the cable company.

Who is your ISP your connected with? 

Is IPv6 enabled on the RBR? 

Be sure to run speed tests with a wired PC and Ooklas installable speed test app for best speed test results. 

Does this happen with the RBS turned OFF? 

Be sure to disable any MAC Address randomizers on phones and pads while at home:
NETGEAR Mobile Applications and Android/Apple/Windows Devices FAQ | NETGEAR Communities

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch on the Orbi system been performed since last FW update? 

Mine ran for 30 plus days with good operation on this version of FW. 

I think a physical cable drop issue is the most plausible explanation for the randomness I'm experiencing. However, it doesn't explain why I never saw this behavior until I replaced my last router (Nighthawk X10) with the RBR850/RBS850.

I'll contact the cable company and report back here. I suspect they will require an in-person visit, but it has been over a decade since anything has been inspected so this should be interesting.

The app I used is to check connection quality is "Orb": https://orb.net. 

Alright, I just completed my cable ISP service visit. He checked the drop at the access box across the street (OK, no problems), then he checked the connection point at my house (OK, no problems), and finally he checked the cable connection at my cable modem inside (OK, full speed available). 

Now I am seriously confused and leaning toward this being a router issue at this point. I have noticed over the last two weeks that my top download speed is also always 90-100 Mbps no matter how I measure it: via 5Ghz wifi-connected device, via direct ethernet-connected device, etc. I have tried every possible way of measuring the speed, and regardless of which device or connection type it always maxes out at 90-100 Mbps. This wouldn't be a problem necessarily except that I pay for 1Gbps down / 100 Mbps up. Also, I get ~100 Mbps upload everywhere via the same testing methodology, so something is restricting only my max download speed.

I did the following today:

• switched the cable between cable modem and RBR850 to Cat8 - no change in behavior, though I haven't seen a network outage so far
• reset my RBR850 to factory settings, onboarded it, and restored previous settings - still limited to ~90-100 Mbps
• connected an old computer via Cat8 cable directly to modem: dl now >400Mbps (computer ethernet card is likely the bottleneck)

I am out of ideas here. Not only is my connection unstable and prone to going dead randomly, but it appears that my download speed is being throttled even though I have not set a bandwidth limit in the router interface.

Interestingly, the last time I ran speed test within the Orbi interface it returned 1 Gbps download. This was prior to the firmware "upgrade". The cable company confirmed that I am capable of this speed, showing me >900 Mbps at the same endpoint today. The router seems to be the problem.

I'm just going to bite the bullet and buy a different router today to see if all these problems are fixed.

|Who is your ISP your connected with? 

Cox cable internet: 1 Gbps down / 100 Mbps up

|Is IPv6 enabled on the RBR? 

No, I have never enabled IPv6 

|Be sure to run speed tests with a wired PC and Ooklas installable speed test app for best speed test results. 

I installed the local app before next steps.

Today, the RBR850 router had already gone brain dead and lost wifi at least twice in the first half of the day.

I reset the RBR850 once again and onboarded with all the default settings, but did not restore settings or change anything. 

Speed test results

• On router configuration "Speed Test" page: ~90-100 Mbps down / 10 - 15 Mbps up (!)
  • Looks like the upload is even slower today. Unfortunately I didn't check just before the reset, but this is 1/10 my rated speed!
• On windows app using a computer connected directly to router via CAT6: ~90-100 Mbps down / 10 - 15 Mbps up
• On iPhone 16 Pro Max, connected to 5GHz wifi: ~90-100 Mbps down / 10 - 15 Mbps up

Something is clearly wrong with my RBR850 + RBS850 setup.

Next, I restored all my previous settings and got identical results as above.

I also received a TP-Link BE800 WiFi7 router today and onboarded it immediately after the actions above, with all the ethernet cables hooked up similarly. I didn't change anything else in the network, including the modem.

Speed test results for TP-Link BE800

• On windows app using a computer connected directly to router via CAT6: ~950 Mbps down / 115 Mbps up
• On iPhone 16 Pro Max, connected to 5GHz WiFi: 1100 Mbps down / 115 Mbps up
• On iPhone 16 Pro Max, connected to 6GHz WiFi7: 1200 Mbps down / 116 Mbps up

This appears to be the nail in the coffin for these RBR850/RBS850s. I might continue to explore troubleshooting, but I have wasted 10s of hours at this point and I have to assume either the hardware is bad or the latest firmware really screwed something up. I'll keep checking these forums to see if something official happens with the Orbi WiFi6/6E just so I can keep the devices as backup.