NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Question on RBR960 signal strength
I noticed the 5GHz signal is consistently lower on the RBR960 vs. RBR850. From the same spot on a desk within visual site of a satellite 15 feet away, the RBR850 had a signal strength for 5GHz band of 94%-96%. The RBR960's signal strength is 84%-88%. Performance seems fine, is this some sort of efficiency/design improvement or change? Is it because it has more channels to contend with now, with an added 6GHz channel (and possibly 2 6GHz channels, plus wired/wireless backhaul channels, a Guest and IoT network which the 850 had)?
Just wondering!
4 Replies
I agree that does not seem reasonable. Maximum radio signal levels are set by the FCC (in the US). As long as the Transmit Power setting is the same for both systems, I would expect the WiFi signal levels to be about the same.
(This setting is on the web interface, Advanced Tab, Advanced Settings, WiFi Settings:
The 850 product has 8 antennas in the case (4 combination 2.4G/5G antennas for User connections and 4 5G antennas for backhaul)
The 960 product crams 12 antennas inside the case. Alas, I cannot find the FCC report on the RBRE960 to see how these antennas are mounted.
Notice that the antennas are on both sides of the case. (One would assume the 960 antennas are mounted the same way?) If the orientation of both systems relative to the test device was the same, I would expect the signal levels to be about the same. (And the device measuring the signal strength is oriented the same for both readings.)
Interesting!
The transmit power is the same on both the 850 and 960.
I have the new satellite in the exact same position/orientation as the 850, but you got me thinking - if the antennae are in different positions maybe I can experiment as see if the signal gets stronger...
The FCC publishes the actual radio test results. I found them for the RBR850, but cannot seem to locate the RBRE960 FCC report.
