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Forum Discussion
Retired_Member
Dec 24, 2023why does wifi OFDMA degrade performance so badly?
my concern is with two PCs, filesharing to each other, both on the same wifi channel. I would upload a clear well-composed video illustrating it, but this forum doesn't support it. so I expect n...
Retired_Member
Dec 25, 2023michaelkenward
Dec 25, 2023Guru - Experienced User
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- Retired_MemberDec 25, 2023
it's not urgent.
my Xfinity XB8 gateway is working fine in the meanwhile.
I'd like to replace it with something better.
but I don't think any Netgear equipment exists presently that justifies replacing it.
that would've been my next question.
- schumakuDec 25, 2023Guru - Experienced User
Retired_Member wrote:
my Xfinity XB8 gateway is working fine in the meanwhile.
I'd like to replace it with something better.
but I don't think any Netgear equipment exists presently that justifies replacing it.
These are about the performance numbers you can expect from a modern WiFi 6 router - as simple as that:
Appears there is a bigger problem on the RAX70 installation. Not that I expect some more than 950 Mb/s speed (like the almost symmetrical 2 Gb up and downlink speed), the limit is here on the RAX70 with "just" a GbE WAN port, and GbE LAN ports), something in the range of 950 Mb/s up and down is feasible without massive interferences or concurrent load on the wireless channels.
Completely buffed about the poor performance numbers on the RAX70, including 160 MHz bandwidth and a decent 802.11ax platform... and I have not talked about the odd non-standard user accessible controls for OFDMA (undoubted default for WiFi 6 and up).
A modern high-end router with a MultiGig WAN can provide similar numbers like this XB8. Yes, this makes it questionable if there is a future in middle-class routers - an are where the industry is massively loosing market share.
Difficult to replace a modern carrier CPE nowadays - excellent from what I see here. Nothing in the ~250 USD range for now anyway, worth to pay a monthly rental on it.
Sorry Netgear: A lot of homework for you these Christmas days of 2023.a
- Retired_MemberDec 26, 2023
I assume the atrocious OFDMA performance shown in the two RAX70 video clips
they result from the router thoughtlessly allocating minuscule Resource Units (RUs) to the PCs
which bottlenecks traffic between the two PCs worse than had OFDMA not been enabled at all.
that's completely contrary to the intent of OFDMA
which is to improve performance by granting each device exclusive use of a group of subcarriers.
that is, each gets its own exclusive use of a hunk of the 160MHz or 80MHz channel width.
so it's just poor implementation.
either Netgear firmware, its chipset, or the intel AX210.
THAT was my question. who's to blame?
and, is there any Netgear product that does a better job.
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the XB8 likewise gets poor performance filesharing between two PCs on the same wifi channel.
my XB8 screenshots don't show that degraded performance case.
the high wifi speed shown (1900Mbps) is with one PC on wifi, the other on ethernet.
(so they're not competing for the wifi resource)
but still, when I look at reviews like on amazon, I never see that XB8 kind of performance from Netgear.
(2000/200 Mbps ethernet, 1900 Mbps wifi)
only 5-star subjective hype and marketing misinformation (like OFDMA) to wow consumers.