× Introducing the Orbi 970 Series Mesh System with WiFi 7 technology. For more information visit the NETGEAR Press Room.
Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
Reply

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

NetMan62
Aspirant

Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

Backgroung: have an R7000 AC1900 Nighthawk router - getting about 130 Mbs on wifi on my Samsung S10 devices (wifi6, mu-mimo capable) with an ISP speed of 300 Mbs. We hve a few deadspots, and looking to do some port aggregation on my 24 port Buffalo switch. All my TV';s and cable boxes (TIVO) are hard wired Cat 6

 

Installed AX8 today in default wireless modes. Changed to SmartConnect for single SSID, aded MU-MIMO. NOTE: once you do this, you can go back into the 5ghz setting and select 4800 mbs - no one tells you this!!! 

 

Speeds did not improve over default settings, maxed out around 273 mbs.

 

Removed implicit beaming, dropped down to sub 100 mbs around the house.

 

Was expecting better performance on WiFi 6 with the Samsung Galaxy S10 phones, but must be too early in the tech for things to work correctly and better - expected > 400 mbs on wifi with this. 

 

As an FYI I tested out an Orbi AC3000 in Acess Point (AP) mode with the R7000 and had better wifi performance on ths S10 than with the AX8, and at same price.

Model: RAX80|Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream WiFi Router
Message 1 of 19
schumaku
Guru

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

What test system was used there for the local performance test?

 

I would return the S10, too: This is a Google Pixel 2 on an el-cheepo 80 USD Netgear WAC505 (a basic 802.11ac 867 Mb/s 2x2 MU-MIMO AP), no special test reservation, just pure ad-hoc test in the evening with the all the family members home - Fiber Internet connection, two UltraHD live video streams (different programs, ICMP multicast - on switched Ethernet, ISP 1.25 Gb/s total link rate, 1 Gb/s for Internet), two kids watching YouTube (different APs), and much more what is concurrently going on - and tested against the ISP speed test service.

 

Screenshot_20190415-204748.png

Message 2 of 19
NetMan62
Aspirant

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

That's nice....but not the point. This is about WiFi 6 capability, which the AX8 and Samsung S10 both have - and should provide better bandwidth and range. Appreciate your comments, but not on topic here.

Message 3 of 19
schumaku
Guru

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

You still have not told us on how you run the speed test on the magic Wi-Fi 6 wireless link between mobile and router.

 

Any indications of the PHY link rate of this connection?

Message 4 of 19
NetMan62
Aspirant

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

1) click on WiFi on S10, select the wifi you are connected to, it shows you the speed

2) Netgear WiFi Analytics app

3) WiFi sweetsports app

3) WiFi analyzer app

 

All show about 270-280 Mbs.

 

Now when I used the ORbi, which is just AC3000 and no Wifi6, I was getting 400 - 500 Mbs on the S10 around my house.

 

Basically, not worth waiting for Samsung and Netgear to get WiFi 6 updates and releases our where they are in synch and actually have good performance.

Message 5 of 19
avtella
Prodigy

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

Try turning off MU-MIMO, Galaxy devices still use Broadcom WiFi chipsets I believe. Broadcom client chips kinda are terrible with MU. Sometimes they drop to a 1x1 mode rather than standard 2x2. Some of the previous few MU supporting Galaxy devices had similar issues.

 

Qualcomm and Intel WiFi chipsets are the ones that do MU well. 

Message 6 of 19
schumaku
Guru

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

Already the "R7000 AC1900 Nighthawk router - getting about 130 Mbs on wifi on my Samsung S10 devices" does **** ... that's why I came up with my comparison above @avtella 

Message 7 of 19
Richard1864
Luminary

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

Samsung has confirmed that their Galaxy S10 series phones only have ONE 4G LTE antenna, and the GS10 5G only having one 5G antenna, and 1x1 Wi-Fi with WiFi 6 compatibility on all GS10 devices. Samsung has also said that there are multiple issues with the GS10-series when connecting to Wi-Fi networks, regardless of whether they use Wi-Fi 6 or not, which could be caused by the 1x1 Wi-Fi in the phones. Broadcom in their support pages says Samsung released the phones before they’d finished developing the firmware used in the GS10 Wi-Fi chipset. Hopefully Samsung will send that update out soon, but that’s why the GS10’s are having Wi-Fi issues
Message 8 of 19
avtella
Prodigy

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

It uses a Broadcom BCM4375 WiFi chip which is in-fact a 2x2 (2 Antennas) unit. With MU enabled I suspect it may still have the same issue as previous few galaxies where on 5 GHz it drops to a single antenna mode. Probably to maximize MU clients per AP or maybe just a bug. Granted on a phone it doesn’t really matter as you wouldn’t really ever make use of those speeds I’d be more annoyed if it was a PC/laptop where one would actually make use of such high speeds.
Message 9 of 19
Richard1864
Luminary

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

The chipset is SUPPOSED to have two antennas, but only one is enabled in the Broadcom firmware, for reasons unknown. Basically Samsung screwed up the GS10 in so many ways.
Message 10 of 19
avtella
Prodigy

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

Notebookcheck did tests, the S10 easily does 500+ Mbps so yeah it’s probably some sort of compatibility or firmware issue you are facing and the 1x1 issue as far as I know only occurs with MU being enabled on routers. So with MU disabled and low speeds means still a firmware mess up but not related to the 1x1 issue. You are getting low speeds despite both antennas being active.

As for Samsung reps unless you spoke to L3 rep most have half hazard knowledge of ongoing issues.
Message 11 of 19
avtella
Prodigy

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

Either way Samsung or Broadcom screwed up so you are at the mercy of their timeline for fixes.
Message 12 of 19
xjn
Apprentice
Apprentice

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

The issue you are experiencing is most likely a bug with QoS. I regularly get 625Mbps on my iPhone XS Max on the RAX80, and it is not even an AX device. To fix the issue, you can possibly do a factory reset. The issue came back after update to new firmware. I did not want to reset so I toggled QoS on and off. I left QoS off and I am getting 940Mbs on wired and up to 840Mbs on WiFi on my laptop. The issue has not returned for over three weeks now. I posted this in another thread also and it fixed the issue for those users also.
Message 13 of 19
nd8ter
Aspirant

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

How can you expect >400mbps when you are paying for 300mbps? A question for the gods I guess. The old and the new. SMH
Model: RAX80|Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream WiFi Router
Message 14 of 19
schumaku
Guru

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance


@nd8ter wrote:
How can you expect >400mbps when you are paying for 300mbps? 

Was about to write the similar comment, but decided to ask about mode details. Looks like the @nd8ter does talk about the PHY link rates - not effective throughput measurements. 

Message 15 of 19
schumaku
Guru

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

Correction:

Was about to write the similar comment, but decided to ask about mode details. Looks like @NetMan62  does talk about the PHY link rates - not effective throughput measurements. 

 

@ChristineT  we still don't have the ability to edit posts for a while after posting in this community section!

Message 16 of 19
Christian_R
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

Hello NetMan62, 

 

Thank you for your post. I'd like to check in and see if you were able to to perform the recommendations given by @xjn

 

~Christian 

Message 17 of 19
JoseAndres041
Luminary

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance

@nd8ter and @schumaku I was going to ask that too! How can you expect to get 400Mbps when your subscribed Internet speed is just 300Mbps. I also think he's referring to Link rate and not the actual speed test.

Message 18 of 19
schumaku
Guru

Re: Just bought AX8 yesterday, returning today - no improvement on performance


@JoseAndres041 wrote:

 I also think he's referring to Link rate and not the actual speed test.


Check the test tools referred in post #3 - this confirms it.

Message 19 of 19
Top Contributors
Discussion stats
  • 18 replies
  • 6821 views
  • 1 kudo
  • 8 in conversation
Announcements

Orbi WiFi 7