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RBR850 - Wired LAN connections slow
I thought I'd share my recent experience here with my RBR850 which I upgrade to in May.
Last week I decided to upgrade my internet on Spectrum from the 500mbps plan to the 1gb plan. After set up I did some speed testing and found my main wired Windows 11 PC getting around 500mbps on average .. half the subscribed speed. I tested everything, including cables, different connections, different ports, a wired iMac that I usually run over wifi. No change. I then wired the PC directly into the Spectrum Hitron modem, and got 950+. Also, running the Speedtest directly in the Orbi web interface gives a 950+ speed. So clearly the router is receiving the expected speed from the ISP.
Wifi speeds are great. Holding my wifi 6 phone right next to the router I was getting 800+ on the Speedtest app. Wifi is also strong off a wireless backhaul Satellite, however the speed off my 2nd Satellite which is on wired backhaul is slower. The opposite of what one would expect. Wired speeds are getting throttled somehow, and I can't get much more than 500mbps wired to the LAN ports.
Last night I hooked up my old Orbi RBR50 with the same wiring and my Windows PC got 950+. This was the smoking gun for me. It's either a defective RBR850 or there's something wrong with the firmware.
Two nights ago I spent 2 hours on the phone with tech support, testing everything including downgrading the firmware to the previous version and factory resetting. No change. After sending up all sorts of screenshots and debug logs my ticket is now at Level 3 in Engineering.
I doubt there would be any solutions here that I haven't already tried, but I thought I'd share my experience in case anyone else runs into this problem. Oddly, if I never upgraded my internet speed to 1gb I probably never would have noticed the issue.
UPDATE:
On a whim I decided to stop by a Spectrum store and pick up a replacement modem yesterday. I received the same Hitron modem from them, but this time it was model ET2251 (previous model was EN2251). I have no idea what the differences are between the two, or if there are even any that matter. But I got it hooked up and called Spectrum again to get it provisioned and make sure everything looked good from their end.
I spun up a speed test and got the 900+ download speeds I would expect. Multiple tests since confirmed it wasn't a fluke. The reason I had low hope that swapping the modem would change anything was, as mentioned above, on the previous modem I had already tested connecting my PC directly to the modem's WAN port and got expected speeds, as well as tested from the Orbi software/app and got expected speeds.
I'm not qualified to speculate on what changed, but I CAN say swapping the Spectrum modem resolved my issue. If anything, maybe this will help some Spectrum customer in the future.
6 Replies
So you have two RBR850s?
What Firmware version is currently loaded on the RBRs?
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
Be sure your using a good quality LAN cable between the modem and router. CAT6A STP is recommended.Cat 6 UTP between the RBR and wired PC is recommended as well.
Try disabling the following and see:
Armor, Smart Parental Controls or Circle, Traffic Meter.Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update?
So you have two RBR850s? No, the other router is my older RBR50, which is what got expected speeds when plugged into the LAN port on it.
What Firmware version is currently loaded on the RBRs? 7.2.6.31 With Level 2 support on the phone I also downgraded to 7.2.6.21 with no change. Currently updated back to 7.2.6.31
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too? Hitron EN2251 from Spectrum
Be sure your using a good quality LAN cable between the modem and router. CAT6A STP is recommended. Cat 6 UTP between the RBR and wired PC is recommended as well. Multiple cable configurations were tested, including Cat 6 from PC to router. I haven't tried CAT6a from modem to router, but it's currently CAT6 and is operating fine. I doubt 6a is necessary to get 1gb. As I said, I got 950ish on the older Orbi RBR50 with existing cabling, and that's with Cat 5e between PC and router.Try disabling the following and see:
Armor, Smart Parental Controls or Circle, Traffic Meter. None of those are enabled and never have been.Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update? Yes. Performed factory resets after the downgrade to version x.21, and after the re-upgrade to x.31. No change.
K, sorry I mis read the RBR50.
Big difference in RBR850 is the Multi Gig WAN port. Higher speeds can be more susceptible to interferences on the wire. Why Shielded cable helps here.
You have friend or family member or neighbor that has a different modem to test the RBR850 at? Seen some users post that the Hitron has given odd issues with the newer Orbi systems. If the problem follows then you'll know for sure.
Last time I had my 850 online was last year though connected to CAX30 and CAX80, always got over 900Mpbs on the wire with PCs. v.21 FW. I've not tested v.31 as seen too many users post issues with it and feel v.31 wasn't tested well.
