MR1100-100EUS: 2018 end of the year expectations

[TeeJay74]

 After succesful 12.04.02.00 firmware update fixed the stability things to top level, it is time to consider LTE performance things.
 At least tech specialists know that MR1100-100EUS has a very good carrier aggregation combination support at the moment.
 It is wide, but there are some gaps in 3CA and more 4CA combo's are needed too. As I know Netgear/QTI are working on these combo's. It is important to support such CA combo's that are common in most of cell operator network environments and future network development perspective is also important.
 Advanced LTE terminal CA combo support makes network upgrade's more attractive and enabling more LTE gigabit class networks will be easier. So I really do hope that major CA combo update for MR1100EU would be released during this year. That update would keep MR1100EU's high performance capability fresh and up to date as 2019 brings a new successor device model for MR1100EU.

[JSchnee21]

Hi TeeJay74,

I was going to reply to one of your original posts on the MR1100 performance in Helsinki, but the thread was closed and I could not reply.  Here in the USA, the MR1100 performance on AT&T pales in comparison to the benchmarks you had posted last fall at well over 500Mbit/sec.

I had a few follow up questions for you:

1) In your experience, how does Wifi (5.8GHz, AC, 40Mhz or 80Mhz presumably 2x2 streams) compare to Ethernet?  What are the max speeds you're seeing on Ethernet versis Wifi?

2) Have you been to the USA and tried your device here?  And/or in other parts of Europe / Scandanavia?  How do speeds compare?

3) The speeds you had shown seemed like they were for the pre-release version of the EU model.  How does the retail model compare?  Have you tried any other versions (AUS or USA)?  Any improvement / decrease in performance with all of the firmware upgrades?

So far, on my AT&T version (Gen1 -- pre-Band14) the fastest I've gotten was 110Mbit over Wifi (5.8Ghz 40Mhz) to my iPhone 6s.  The same iPhone 6s connected via LTE to the same tower gets ~150-160Mbit.  I haven't tried this tower with Ethernet.

Seems the like USA version of the MR1100 is not up to snuff.  Or AT&T is severly curtailing its performance potential.  So far, I haven't seen any benchmarks of the device exceeding ~100Mbit in the USA.

Thank you,

Jonathan

[TeeJay74]

1) 5 GHz Wifi and ethernet, best download speedtest throughput with wifi I have got is 465 Mbps. Over 400 Mbps results are good thru Wifi.
 Best ethernet speed is about 410-420 Mbps, not anymore due to lack of ethernet port hardware acceleration. This cannot be fixed with software.

2) I have not been in USA. Best speeds with MR1100EU in Swedish live network is about 500 Mbps, I have heard.

3) No difference between pre-release model or retail model, they both perform exactly same.
No carrier aggregation combo updates so far(we are still waiting for it). In generally this device's carrier aggregation algorithms do work very well.
Device get's what is available from the spectrum. I have not tried ISP specific models like AT&T, Telstra or EE. I do not see buying these devices very sensible from my side,
because there are band support difference's between device models. It is not completely known what these ISP customizations really are and device's must be unlocked too. Too many uncertain details that could affect performance. Better to stay with generic model MR1100EU. For example that Telstra model is customized and optimized for Ericsson hardware.

 Your slow Wifi throughput issue, please try to disable MR1100's 2.4 GHz radio, leave only 5GHz enabled and then do throughput test. Slow wifi could mean somekind
of interference issue too.

 Hard to say if AT&T does limit MR1100 performance somehow. Usually network based speed limitation can be done with sim card profile. I do not know AT&T's marketing policies, whether they announce their sim card's maximum possible speed. In Finland my main sim card is from cell operator DNA. This sim card operates with LTE network's maximum possible speed which is now 1000 Mbps download and 150 Mbps upload. Having a high performamce sim card is so important.

[JSchnee21]

Thanks TeeJay,

Yes, I have 2.4GHz disabled.  Earlier versions of AT&T firmware were very unstable when both bands were enabled. It might be better now, but all of my devices support 5.8GHz so I just left it turned off.

I have not tested using 80MHz channels versus 40MHz.  But in general I felt the 40MHz would be better as there is likely to be less interference (more channels available for auto selection) and 40MHz (at least for 2x2 clients) should be plenty fast.  I'd actually prefer if I could select 20MHz channels on 5.8GHz (not currently supported as a selection option) -- Anything I could do to improve the MR1100 poor wifi range (already on long).

My MR1100 was ordered directly from AT&T's website and came with their SIM preactivated in the unit on my Unlimited Plus plan.  Unfortunately, US carriers don't make any claims one way or the other about the speeds or capabilities of how their SIM's are providisioned on their networks.

Thank you!

Jonathan

[JimmyB13]

Hey TeeJay,

do you know what bands the 100EUS will bond under CA?

I cant find the information anywhere 😞

[TeeJay74]

LTE bands used with CA(-100EUS):

B1, B3, B7, B8, B20, B28, B40, B41

[JimmyB13]

HI Teejay,

thanks for coming back to me. Will it bond multiple 20MhZ channels inside of 2300-TDD? My carrier has 95mhz of 2300 so it is of interest to me.

Have a great day.

James

[TeeJay74]

Hi,
The bands listed were FDD. No info available about TDD.

[JimmyB13]

Thanks Mate.

Appreciate the effort 🙂

[TeeJay74]

New firmware available:

http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/MR1100-100EUS/MR1100-100EUS_23113509_NTG9x50C_12.06.03.00...