Night Hawk MR80 Slow WiFi

[bulldog00]

I am experiencing the same issue with my MR80/MS80 setup.  I did not have this issue previous to the current FW push of 1.1.7.xx. 

I have tried all kinds of troubleshooting, factory resets, and even have the MS80's wired backhaul.  I did not have this issue on the satellites previously and after all troubleshooting, i believe the issue is FW related.  Unfortunately, Netgear doesnt allow users to disable "auto updates" for the firmware on the MR80 series. 

[FURRYe38]

What Firmware version is currently loaded?
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. CAT6 is recommended. 

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between MR📡 and MS🛰️ to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.

https://kb.netgear.com/000061709/Where-should-I-place-the-Mesh-WiFi-satellite-of-my-Nighthawk-Mesh-W... 🛰

What channels are you using? Auto? Try Auto and 48 on 5Ghz. Or try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

What speeds do you see at the MR when the MS are turned OFF? 

What wireless devices are you testing with? 
Do wired speeds reporting same results?

[bulldog00]

What Firmware version is currently loaded? 

The Latest available- 1.1.7.12  

Cannot disable automatic updates for the FW. 

What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?

Netgear CM1100; Xfinity

Be sure your using a good quality LAN cable between the modem and router. CAT6 is recommended. 

Quality CAT6 cable is used between Modem and NG.

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?

2300 SQ FT

What is the distance between the router and satelite

30ft. Issue did not occur with previous firmware version.

What channels are you using? Auto? Try Auto and 48 on 5Ghz. Or try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz.

Channel 1 for 2.4

Channel 44 for 5

Have tried alternate channels and scanned for interference.  No interference. 

What speeds do you see at the MR when the MS are turned OFF? 

MR Speeds are consistently around 680-700mbs of wireless; hardwired is around 940mbps.

What wireless devices are you testing with?

I have a plethora of devices being an IT professional,

Do wired speeds reporting same results?

Wired speeds are noticeable faster.

Also worth Noting that through the netgear application, checking the device that is connected to the MS, even though the device is connected to the 5GHz band, the link rate is significantly low.  Currently the link rate of a device connected is 211Mbps.

[FURRYe38]

Can you post screen captures of the MS connection rates and devices connected to the MS. 

Did you do a full factory reset and both MS and MR and setup from scratch? 

[bulldog00]

Full reset was done on both MR and MS.

Here is a screenshot of the MS i am currently connected to.  You can see there are only a handful of devices and you can also see the link rate i was referring to.   

Here is a screenshot of a current speedtest.  It seems that the upload is accurate; only the download speeds are consistently considerably slow. 

The latest (recent firmware) release notes state that a bug fix was in place for:

• Fixes the issue where the satellite fronthaul is down after switching to the 5G channel from the router

Wonder if this "fix" is actually causing issues.

[FURRYe38]

Thank you for posting this. 

Does the prior version of FW not have the disable Auto Updates for the system? 

Anything is possible on this. I've passed this onto NG for review. 

[bulldog00]

No previous FW version gives the option to disable automatic firmware updates. 

[FURRYe38]

Wanna go back to that one and confirm that you don't see this issue? Please post screen capture for this if you do. 
I might as well use what works best for you. 

[bulldog00]

Performed a manual FW Downgrade to the previous version (1.1.6.14).  It is confirmed that the issue is resolved in the previous FW version. You can see from the screenshots that the link rate is correct, the Download speed is corrected, and the FW is previous version. 

Users do not have the ability to turn off auto update on this Router series; so overnight the FW will automatically upgrade and the issue will begin tomorrow. 

[FURRYe38]

Great. Thank you for the info. 

Keep this version of FW loaded for now.

I'll pass this on to NG. 

[bulldog00]

i will do. But it will only be this version for today; unless i manually downgrade every day.

Thank you for escalating this to NG; it seems it effects others (not just the MR80/MS80).

And if you could bring up the issue of users not able to turn off auto updating of the FW, that would be greatly appreciated. 

[FURRYe38]

👍

[FURRYe38]

Would be good to know if newer FW resolves this or not:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-Wi-Fi-6-AX-Mesh/New-MR80-MS80-Firmware-Version-1-1-7-14-R...

[bulldog00]

It doesn’t detail anything in the bug fixes to indicate it resolved that particular issue. And it’s kind of a pain to keep jumping back on FW to test; I’d rather netgear just fix the issue or test themselves rather than me playing scrabble to find a FW that works appropriately.

[FURRYe38]

So NG is recommending you update to newer FW. NG isn't seeing issues in this regards to slow wifi, however mentioned there is improvements with in the FW and a fix in regards to channel width. So this may have been one issue. They also suggest placement and distances between the MR and MS should be looked at. Maybe move the MS a bit closer to the MR? 

Up to you though. 

[bulldog00]

I appreciate the help! It looks like the channel width correction was only in the 2.4 band in regards to 20/40 coexistence. Shouldn’t affect the speeds on 5ghz connections.

I have 1 MR wired and 1 wireless; the wireless one is pretty close to the MR and close enough to connect on the 5ghz band.

I’ll give the update a shot eventually, just tied up right this moment.

[FURRYe38]

What is the distance between the MR and MS? 30 feet should be starting...Depending upon building materials.

[bulldog00]

Right around 30ft. That AP I wasn’t connecting to at all when doing tests though.

[bulldog00]

Download Speed seems to be much better (improved) with the new firmware. Will give it a few days for further testing.