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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.
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.
Try turning down the power output of the RBRs wifi radios from 100% to 50% and see if this changes anything. This changes ALL radios. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings
I have same system in a 5K sq ft home and run 50% with two RBS. Basement RBS and main level RBS. Thought I have the RBR on 2nd floor. Though I don't probably need both RBS, power set to 50% helps with having too much power. So with yours, having 1 RBS at 50% with the basement RBS should work.
Try your plan as well.
SteveNetSpeed wrote:
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.
Ok, so I did what I said I would and ran those various benchmarks.
After turning off that excessive satellite in the middle floor, I was getting 940 Mbps down with a wire attached directly to the router and 580 Mbps with WiFi at a few feet away. Since 5 GHz is rated for 1300 Mbps, that 580 Mbps figure seems really low. And if I can't get full speed over WiFi right next to the base router, how can I expect the satellite's backhaul to do any better? In fact, it doesn't: I was only getting 426 Mbps upstairs.
So I did what I really, really didn't want to do, what I bought the Orbi to avoid: I strung up an Ethernet backhaul. Now I'm getting 940 Mbps on my main computer, exactly as fast as the one in the basement.
But I'm deeply disappointed because the whole point of 6e is that it's fast enough to provide gigabit throughout the house. It's only providing half that, and now I have a spare satellite that I need to eBay or something, as well as some crude wiring that I need to cover up. If my previous system had been 6e, I'd probably just return the Orbi and give up.As it stands, I'm not a happy camper. Any ideas before I call it a day?
The wifi backhaul connection may support 1300Mpbs or higher, I think 2400Mbps for Orbi AX series. however what will impact this and speeds seen at the RBS will be building materials and distances between the RBR and RBS. Nature of ANY wifi on 5 or 6Ghz is the impact of building materials. Line of sight of course will be near perfect and should see higher speeds however normal environments will always not be ideal. Wired connection will be the one resolving factor on this as it it not impacted by building materials.
The other item is there is some minor performance degradation as well as the data is doing from one point to another then out side.
Last item will be the client device. Most devices are only 2x2 MIMO supporting, so the max out at around 300-700Mpbs, DEPENDING on how they are designed and supported. Even with AX mode support. Devices with 4x4 MIMO support should see near 900Mpbs or some beyond, over wifi, depending on configuration, placement and environment. My iphone can see near 700Mpbs most of the time, however general average speeds are around 500-600m. As long as I'm seeing this I feel that's enough. My Mac Book Pro 2018 usually maxes out at around 500-600 as well on wifi, thought I have seen 700Mpbs back in history. I've connected a ASUS GT-AX1100 5Ghz router and a NG RAXE500 router in bridge mode and have never seen 4800Mpbs connection rate which NG and ASUS both support this 4800Mpbs connection speed. I was told a while go that to see 4800Mpbs speeds, system would need to be in a ideal and noiseless environment and at close range for these speeds to be seen. Why I don't care for marketing of some of these router products boasting 4800Mpbs as we the average home user will never see. I know, it's crazy. Most highest rates I see between the RBR and these routers are around 2800Mpbs to maybe 3200Mpbs.
I have seen 900Mpbs with these two routers connected to the 9 series RBR with a wired PC connected to the bridged routers. So I know that works. I have tested my RBS as well with my iphone and Mac book. However my RBS are always ethernet connected. Since the systems supports 2.5Gb on the LAN side, I wanna take advantage of that feature.
Overall WiFi is varied and can fluctuate some in users home. Wifi will never be as good as wired. Wifi has lots of factors to consider and to take in.
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.