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Forum Discussion
New - RAX200 Firmware Version 1.0.6.138 Released
New Features and Enhancements:
Adds support to EU SKU for Router Analytic (RA) opt-in, opt-out feature
Removes support from China SKU for gaming VPN Funjsq
Security Fixes:
Fixes sec...
Did you factory reset the router and setup from scratch after loading v.138?
Hows is the wifi settings and advanced settings configured?
Is Armor, SPC or Traffic Meter enabled?
What channels are you using?
Maike13 wrote:
I don't see any way of reporting firmware bugs so I thought I'd post this here in the hope that someone from Netgear sees it and passes it on to whoever develops the firmware.
My RAX200 router recently automatically updated to Firmware Version 1.0.6.138 and this resulted in a huge drop in wi-fi speed on my laptop. I reverted it to the previous Firmware Version 1.0.5.132 and my speeds instantly went back to where they were before.
The update didn't make any difference if I connected the laptop directly to the RAX200 LAN port, only wi-fi was affected
Speeds with Firmware Version 1.0.6.138 - 53 Mb/s download and 77 Mb/s upload (Ookla Speed Test)
Speeds with Firmware Version 1.0.5.132 - 473 Mb/s download and 669 Mb/s upload.
Speeds hardwired to an RAX200 LAN port - 937 Mb/s download and 943 Mb/s upload.
(We have 1Gb/s asynchronous fiber optic internet)
I have a slightly unusual setup, as I am using a 2019 16" MacBook Pro in dual boot mode, so I can either boot into macOS Monterey or Windows 10. Since Macbooks of this age use Intel hardware, they are really just like any other Windows PC and can run Windows natively given the right hardware drivers. Apple provides these drivers in a package they call Boot Camp. This is not the same as running Windows in a virtual environment like Parallels or VMWare, which slows performance. When booted into Windows it runs just like it would on any other Intel based PC.
The firmware update only affects the wi-fi speed in Windows, wi-fi speed in macOS Monterey is not affected. Both OS's are fully updated.
I experienced this problem previously with two other routers. the RAX120, which I exchanged for the RAX200 for this very reason, and the Amazon eero Pro 6, which our daughter has. At the time I thought this was because both those routers use Qualcomm chip sets, but perhaps it was a similar firmware issue.
I suspect the Apple provided Windows wi-fi driver may be part of the problem too.
Anyway, for now I have turned auto updating off and will stick with Firmware Version 1.0.5.132
Maike13 wrote:
Thanks for the reply to my post in the RE: New - RAX200 Firmware Version 1.0.6.138 Released topic. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but I've posted a reply three times and nothing shows up. I didn't want you to think I was ignoring you after your were kind enough to reply. I didn't try a router factory reset but will give that a shot when i get a chance. Possibly Thursday evening. I really haven't changed anything on the router except the essentials - changed the admin password, changed the network names, added network passwords, added descriptive names for my devices, assigned static IP addresses to my print server and printer - and that's it. No Armor, SPC or Traffic Meter enabled. My wireless configuration is as below. The speeds I posted were using the 5Ghz-1 network, which are slightly faster than I get with the 5GHz-2.
Enable AX - Enabled
Enable OFDMA in 2.4GHz - Not Enabled
Enable OFDMA in 5GHz - Not Enabled
Enable OFDMA in 5GHz high band - Not Enabled
Enable Smart Connect - Not Enabled2.4 Ghz
Enable SSID Brodcast - Enabled
Enable 20/40 MHz Coexistence - Enabled
Channel - Auto
Mode - Up to 1200 Mbps
Transmit Power - 100%
Security Options - WPA2-PSK [AES] Enabled5 Ghz - 1
Enable SSID Brodcast - Enabled
Channel - 44 [36 + 40 +44(P) + 48 + 52 + 56 + 60 + 64]
Mode - Up to 4800 Mbps
Transmit Power - 100%
Security Options - WPA2-PSK [AES] Enabled5 Ghz -2
Enable SSID Brodcast - Enabled
Channel - 153 [149 + 153(P) + 157 + 161]
Mode - Up to 2400 Mbps
Transmit Power - 100%
Security Options - WPA2-PSK [AES] Enabled
.
FURRYe38 wrote:I would enable OFDMA and test after you do a factory reset. Also test with and with out Smart Connect enabled...
What is the connection rate of your wireless device while connected to the 5Ghz-1 radio?
You can see this if you load up wifi sweet spots app on your mobile device.
Thanks. I updated the router to the latest firmware (still much slower uploads and downloads after updating) and then did the factory reset. The result is a bit weird. Initially I still got the same low download speeds but they were much more erratic than previously, anywhere from 50 - 200 Mbps. Upload speeds were back to previous good levels and pretty stable (around 660 Mbps). I then enabled OFDMA and download speeds improved dramatically to pretty stable at around 450 Mbps. I then tried turning OFDMA off again and both download and upload speeds stayed pretty stable but dropped about 10%. The download speeds were still much better than before which is a bit odd. Even stranger, if I reboot the router, it goes back to the original behavior with unstable 50-200 Mbps download speeds and still stable upload speeds around 660 Mbps. Changing OFDMA, either enabling it or disabling it, stabilizes the download speeds at around 450 Mbps (if enabling OFDMA) or around 400 Mbps (if disabling it). Should I try another factory reset to resolve this rather odd behavior on re-boot, or just be thankful it's working well after performing this "adjustment" after re-booting, and leave it alone? I'm pretty happy with the speeds.
I also tried enabling Smart Connect, both with OFDMA enabled and disabled, but it didn't seem to make any difference.
PS: Wi-FiSweetSpots is giving me 620 Mbps on my iPhone XS at the same location on the same network. Speedtest on the phone gives me 500 Mbps download and 600 Mbps upload.
I'd let it run for a bit longer and observe before another FR. Possible that maybe your testing the speeds a bit to soon after the router is fully ready and other things are happening that is taking up some CPU time and after this settles, speeds are normalized...
I liked the theory as it made a lot of sense but unfortunately it didn't work. I rebooted the router and went and did something else for 45 minutes. The extra time did stabilize the download speeds, so I think your theory was partially correct, but they stabilized down the way between 27 and 44 Mbps. Disabling OFDMA (since it happened to be enabled) increased the download speed to between 441 and 459 Mbps. Oddly this time enabling OFDMA again made things worse with download speeds between 366 and 381 Mbps. To check if this was consistent, I disabled it again and download speeds went back up to between 457 and 464 Mbps.
FURRYe38 wrote:I'd let it run for a bit longer and observe before another FR. Possible that maybe your testing the speeds a bit to soon after the router is fully ready and other things are happening that is taking up some CPU time and after this settles, speeds are normalized...
Might give a factory reset another try then.
