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Orbi WiFi 6E performance
(I did look for posts about this, but I couldn't find anything that matched. If I missed it, please point me in the right direction.) I recently upgraded to faster Internet, with GotNetSpeed 1 Gbs...
I'm returning it. Still have the original boxes I got it from Amazon.
I was already frustrated with the fact that it's not getting me 600 Mbps over WiFi 6MHz from 3 feet away or more than 400 Mbps upstairs, and I don't need the second satellite. At this point, I went with an Ethernet backhaul and turned off the spare satellite, so I'm barely using it for its designed features.
That's why I was frustrated. Just now, the satellite stopped working. Rebooting it didn't help. Removing the Ethernet backhaul didn't help. Turning on the spare didn't help. I could have tried rebooting the router itself and then repeating the steps to sync with the satellites and so on, but this would have been pointless.
The Orbi does not do the job I need it to and it's not even reliable for what little I ask of it. So it's gone.Thanks for your attempt to help me, though. I sincerely appreciate the time and effort you took. I am not at all likely to purchase an Orbi product in the future.
What Firmware version is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS🛰️ to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.
https://kb.netgear.com/31029/Where-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite 📡
Are these computers the same or any differences between them?
Same ethernet connection?
Try using the 1Gb ports on the RBS. If your PC doesn't support multi gig speeds, it's recommended to use the 1Gb ports on the RBS.
(Repeated questions, adding answers)
What Firmware version is currently loaded?
V6.0.3.85_3.1.15
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
It's whatever GoNetSpeed provides. I don't think it matters, since it's consistently fast when connected to directly (or even through the Ethernet ports of the router right next to it).
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
1,500 sqft for the first and second floor combined, but not including basement.
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS.
They're one floor apart, although not stacked on top of each other. I haven't measured, but that's usually 9 feet in height, perhaps a little less for the basement. If you think that disabling the middle satellite would help, I could do that, but I'm not sure why it would. I didn't really want a second satellite, but unfortunately that's the only way the 6e model is available.
Are these computers the same or any differences between them?
They're not identical, but they're both late-model desktops that are more than capable of gigabit I/O. The one on the 2nd floor has only 5 Ghz WiFi but a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port, while the one in the basement has 6 GHz WiFi but I think only gigabit Ethernet. If it helps, I could use my laptop, which has 5 GHz WiFi and gigabit Ethernet; it can be easily tested at both the second floor satellite and the basement router. Should I do that?
Same ethernet connection? Try using the 1Gb ports on the RBS. If your PC doesn't support multi gig speeds, it's recommended to use the 1Gb ports on the RBS.
As I mentioned above, the second-floor computer does support 2.5 Gbps Ethernet.
SteveNetSpeed wrote:
(Repeated questions, adding answers)
What Firmware version is currently loaded?
V6.0.3.85_3.1.15
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?It's whatever GoNetSpeed provides. I don't think it matters, since it's consistently fast when connected to directly (or even through the Ethernet ports of the router right next to it).
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
1,500 sqft for the first and second floor combined, but not including basement. <For this size of home, the RBR is only needed. Maybe 1 RBS and you'll need to set the RBRs power to 50% or even 25%.Too much wifi for that size of home.
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS.
They're one floor apart, although not stacked on top of each other. I haven't measured, but that's usually 9 feet in height, perhaps a little less for the basement. If you think that disabling the middle satellite would help, I could do that, but I'm not sure why it would. I didn't really want a second satellite, but unfortunately that's the only way the 6e model is available.Need to measure distances to get a more accurate result. 30 feet is needed in between them to start.
Are these computers the same or any differences between them?
They're not identical, but they're both late-model desktops that are more than capable of gigabit I/O. The one on the 2nd floor has only 5 Ghz WiFi but a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port, while the one in the basement has 6 GHz WiFi but I think only gigabit Ethernet. If it helps, I could use my laptop, which has 5 GHz WiFi and gigabit Ethernet; it can be easily tested at both the second floor satellite and the basement router. Should I do that?
Worth trying.
Same ethernet connection? Try using the 1Gb ports on the RBS. If your PC doesn't support multi gig speeds, it's recommended to use the 1Gb ports on the RBS.
As I mentioned above, the second-floor computer does support 2.5 Gbps Ethernet.As I mentioned in the other thread, I really do need at least one satellite because the signal from the basement isn't very strong once it gets to the second floor. The basement signal is -66dBm upstairs, while the first-floor signal is -51dBm. The second-floor signal, from a few feet away, is -33dBm.
I don't know how to manually lower the power, but I'd think that I need enough to get from the basement to the second floor, since that's the limiting factor in signal speed. I could at least turn off the first-floor satellite for testing purposes. That would quite likely give me about 30' between the two remaining ones.
Since my ISP is gigabit and 5 GHz supports even more than that (at least when close by), there's no good reason why I should be much slower with WiFi in the basement than wired, but that's something I can check. I'm not sure if it's ideal, but my phone supports 6 GHz and it's quite portable. I guess I could use it to get a second WiFi measurement, although I'd need to figure out how to make sure it uses WiFi but not 5G!
So here's my new plan:
- Using the laptop, get benchmark numbers for wired and 5 Ghz wireless connections to the basement router. This will be a baseline. I can also use the phone to get benchmark 6 GHz wireless speeds, again as a baseline.- Turn off the first-floor satellite, since it's not being used by the second-floor satellite anyhow and could possibly be interfering.
- Repeat the tests with the laptop on the second floor, both wired and wireless. Repeat with the phone, too.
- Move the router from the basement to the top of the steps, almost at the level of the first floor, and repeat the second-floor benchmarks.
I can do all this in the next day or so and get back to you all with hard numbers.
SteveNetSpeed wrote:
I don't know how to manually lower the power,
I believe there is no method to lower the power of the backhaul radios. On the Orbi web browser interface,the Advanced Tab, Advanced Settings (bottom menu), WiFi settings there is setting to lower the Transmit Power, but I believe that affects only the user facing radios. One way to verify this is to drop the setting to 25% and use that analyzer program to detect the power level of the hidden backhaul signals (which do not broadcast their SSID).
SteveNetSpeed wrote:
my phone supports 6 GHz and it's quite portable. I guess I could use it to get a second WiFi measurement, although I'd need to figure out how to make sure it uses WiFi but not 5G!
My understanding is that the 6E product allows the 6GHz WiFi SSID to be set to a different value, which would guarantee that the phone is connected at 6G.
SteveNetSpeed wrote:
- Turn off the first-floor satellite, since it's not being used by the second-floor satellite anyhow and could possibly be interfering. It will definitely interfere in the sense that only one WiFi radio may broadcast at a time. When the router backhaul radio broadcasts, both the satellite radios must be quiet. When one satellite broadcasts, the other two devices must be quiet. This is a serious factor in Daisy Chain environments as each data packet makes "two hops"
- Move the router from the basement to the top of the steps, almost at the level of the first floor, and repeat the second-floor benchmarks I like this idea.
