Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
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RBK753S - Much slower wifi speeds after AUTO firmware upgrade to 3.2.18.1! 3.2.17.x was MUCH faster

njweb
Luminary

RBK753S - Much slower wifi speeds after AUTO firmware upgrade to 3.2.18.1! 3.2.17.x was MUCH faster

I had intentionally downgraded my RBK753S from 3.2.18.1 to 3.2.17.x and with 3.2.17.x, everything was great!
But this morning I noticed that my firmware updated automatically to 3.2.18.1, which seems to have happened in the past few hours or so. I thought they might have disabled automatic firmware updates. I now see they have not, so let me block connections to the update site on my RBK753S (like I did with my RBK53).
 
Now on 3.2.18.x:
This morning while watching live TV I did notice a couple of connection losses from that particular TiVO Mini to the main TiVO Roamio DVR  via my MoCA network (i.e hard-wired coaxial link). I have had this occasionally anyway even before upgrading from my RBK53 to RBK753S, so I am not sure where the issue lies.
2 disconnections on a  TiVO Mini in a short period of time are rare, but I suspect it may have nothing to do with the Orbi in general nor with the latest Orbi firmware.
 
Far more troubling:
Now that I am on 3.2.18.1, I see wireless speeds dropped from 465/470 Mbps to 330/340 Mpbs on my Netgear A7000 wifi adpater for the first time since the weekend (when I was still on 3.2.17.x!!!).
I have been checking wifi speeds numerous times daily with 3.2.17.x, since last Friday night, and I consistently got 463 Mbps + (lowest was 450 Mbps).
Now on 3.2.18.1 it dropped as noted above. I tried different speedtest servers and still get the same lower result on 3.2.18.x
 
Frustrating when things had been going great on 3.2.17.x and speed dropped right after auto upgrade to l 3.2.18.1. They really need to have a feature to disable auto updates.
 😞
Message 1 of 13

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njweb
Luminary

Re: RBK753S - Much slower wifi speeds after AUTO firmware upgrade to 3.2.18.1! 3.2.17.x was MUCH fa

Quick update - Since I am / was experiencing the low speeds noted above (330 - 350 Mbps), I just disconnected and reconnected my Netgear A7000 wifi adapater from the network in Win 10 (did NOT unplug it).

After reconnecting to the network, speeds improved to 430 Mbps on first run after reconnecting, then 471 Mbps, 476 Mbps, 468 Mbps, one slower one of 451.7 Mbps but much better than before the disconnect/reconnect, and then 470 Mbps.

 

Will monitor stabilty after a few hours and also after a full day or two / after restarts / hibernates/ shutdowns etc. 

 

 

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Message 3 of 13

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FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBK753S - Much slower wifi speeds after AUTO firmware upgrade to 3.2.18.1! 3.2.17.x was MUCH fa

Did you power OFF the RBR and RBS for 30 seconds after the update or factory reset and setup from scratch? 

Something to contact NG support about and let them know. 

Message 2 of 13
njweb
Luminary

Re: RBK753S - Much slower wifi speeds after AUTO firmware upgrade to 3.2.18.1! 3.2.17.x was MUCH fa

Quick update - Since I am / was experiencing the low speeds noted above (330 - 350 Mbps), I just disconnected and reconnected my Netgear A7000 wifi adapater from the network in Win 10 (did NOT unplug it).

After reconnecting to the network, speeds improved to 430 Mbps on first run after reconnecting, then 471 Mbps, 476 Mbps, 468 Mbps, one slower one of 451.7 Mbps but much better than before the disconnect/reconnect, and then 470 Mbps.

 

Will monitor stabilty after a few hours and also after a full day or two / after restarts / hibernates/ shutdowns etc. 

 

 

Message 3 of 13
njweb
Luminary

Re: RBK753S - Much slower wifi speeds after AUTO firmware upgrade to 3.2.18.1! 3.2.17.x was MUCH fa


@FURRYe38 wrote:

Did you power OFF the RBR and RBS for 30 seconds after the update or factory reset and setup from scratch? 

Something to contact NG support about and let them know. 


Thanks.

Unfortunately, I could not power off and restart the router / satellites yet since that takes too long given I was working and on a call and wife is on a call now. A quick adapter disconnect / reconnect right after my call was less intrusive.

 

I can try when we are both not actively on calls / responding to emails etc.

 

In the meantime, will run some more tests...

 

 

Message 4 of 13
njweb
Luminary

Re: RBK753S - Much slower wifi speeds after AUTO firmware upgrade to 3.2.18.1! 3.2.17.x was MUCH fa

Very happy to report that for now, wireless speeds have stabilized, ever since the 10:24 AM test I referred to above. Also no wifi connection issues (tested using my Netgear A7000 USB wifi adapter).

 

The true test, based on my prior experience, will be seeing how it holds up, in terms of continued stability, over the next day or so...

So long as speeds hold up and I have no disconnects the next day or two, I will consider this 'solved'.

My plan is 400/10, but as you can see, I am getting almost 480 Mbps wirelessly.

 

Date/time......Ping.Download. Upload. 

04/29/2021
9:57 PM
11
475.84
11.97
~ 50
New York, NY
Surfshark Ltd
XFINITY
 
04/29/2021
3:23 PM
12
478.38
11.77
~ 50
New York, NY
Surfshark Ltd
XFINITY
 
04/29/2021
12:45 PM
12
445.95
11.72
~ 50
New York, NY
Surfshark Ltd
XFINITY
 
04/29/2021
10:43 AM
13
466.39
11.91
~ 50
New York, NY
Surfshark Ltd
XFINITY
 
04/29/2021
10:30 AM
12
469.99
11.72
~ 50
New York, NY
Surfshark Ltd
XFINITY
 
04/29/2021
10:29 AM
12
451.69
11.95
~ 50
New York, NY
Surfshark Ltd
XFINITY
 
04/29/2021
10:28 AM
12
468.44
11.94
~ 50
New York, NY
Surfshark Ltd
XFINITY
 
04/29/2021
10:25 AM
12
476.31
11.94
< 50
Matawan, NJ
Vultr
XFINITY
 

The 10:24 AM test got 471.09 Mbps did but not copied / pasted...

Message 5 of 13
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBK753S - Much slower wifi speeds after AUTO firmware upgrade to 3.2.18.1! 3.2.17.x was MUCH fa

Ran a few tests myself on my 8 series with v1 loaded: Armor/TM disabled. DST Enabled. CTS set to 64(default)

Mac Book wireless connected to RBR: 866Mbs Connection Rate

MACBOOKPRO2018WirelessSpeedTestRBR850v1TheaterRoom.png

 

Mac Book Pro Connected near the RBR: 1300Mpbs Connection rate which is max rate for Mac Book Pro 2018

MACBOOKPRO2018WirelessSpeedTestRBR850v1Next2RBR.png

 

Mac Book Pro wire connected to a NG R7800 router in wireless bridge mode connected at 1733Mbps to RBR:

MACBOOKPRO2018Wired2R7800BridgeMode1733_SpeedTestRBR850v1Next2RBR.png

 

 

 

Message 6 of 13
njweb
Luminary

Re: RBK753S - Much slower wifi speeds after AUTO firmware upgrade to 3.2.18.1! 3.2.17.x was MUCH fa

Furry - Nice results (above)!

 

I ran my FIRST Speedtest of the day and immediately got 473.42 Mbps out of ~480 Mbps provisioned, so it looks like I may stick with 3.2.18.1 since it appears to be working well! 🙂

Will wait till Satruday evening or Sunday morning to consider this solved to be safe (i.e. I want to ensure stability over several days).

 

I need to check and monitor my TiVO MoCA connection though.

Message 7 of 13
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBK753S - Much slower wifi speeds after AUTO firmware upgrade to 3.2.18.1! 3.2.17.x was MUCH fa

I may go back and re-test with CTS set to 2347 and see how that does. 

Message 8 of 13
njweb
Luminary

Re: RBK753S - Much slower wifi speeds after AUTO firmware upgrade to 3.2.18.1! 3.2.17.x was MUCH fa


@FURRYe38 wrote:

I may go back and re-test with CTS set to 2347 and see how that does. 


No noticeable adverse effects here with CTS set to 2347, but I have not extensively tested concurrent intensive connections (e.g. downloads, concurrent streaming etc.), but I would have likely noticed by now anyway given typical activity.

Message 9 of 13
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBK753S - Much slower wifi speeds after AUTO firmware upgrade to 3.2.18.1! 3.2.17.x was MUCH fa

Sounds good. Ya, not sure why NG went with 64 instead of 2347 which is on there older systems. Seems to be a mixed bag of it works form some and not others. At least we can change that value. 


@njweb wrote:

@FURRYe38 wrote:

I may go back and re-test with CTS set to 2347 and see how that does. 


No noticeable adverse effects here with CTS set to 2347, but I have not extensively tested concurrent connections but would have likely noticed by now..


 

Message 10 of 13
njweb
Luminary

Re: RBK753S - Much slower wifi speeds after AUTO firmware upgrade to 3.2.18.1! 3.2.17.x was MUCH fa

Correct. However, since 3.2.18.1 is working great, I am going to stick with it and glad to have the latest security fixes again. However, I am going to block connections to the update server, so it can no longer update automatically.

 

It has been written in many places that once you update manually once, the Orbi supposedly no longer updates automatically. However that is not the case anymore / not the case with the RBK753S.

 

Message 11 of 13
njweb
Luminary

Re: RBK753S - Much slower wifi speeds after AUTO firmware upgrade to 3.2.18.1! 3.2.17.x was MUCH fa



Sure. I prefer to play it safe with security though 🙂

 

Interesting that you have not seen any auto updates in so long; which model do you have?

I had also noticed the reference to the ability to turn off auto updates (jn some old threads); they must have removed that option again (assuming it did get implemented at the time), or perhaps it only applied to a specific model.

Message 12 of 13
tak1313
Luminary

Re: RBK753S - Much slower wifi speeds after AUTO firmware upgrade to 3.2.18.1! 3.2.17.x was MUCH fa



Thanks...a couple of thoughts....IMHO the whole thing about security fixes is over blown.  I believe in most cases it's just NG padding the update to get people anxious to try it.  As far as auto updates, I personally haven't seen one in maybe 2 years and for me it's not due to manual updates for I don't do those.  Some say you turn off auto updates, if you can, I've never seen how.


Mine auto updated the other night.  It was about 2am Eastern and my wife woke me up asking why the satellite in the room was blinking blue.  I looked at my tablet and saw it was down, and realized what might be happening.  As soon as it was back up, I looked and lo and behold, it was the .18 firmware (I know for a fact that it was on the .17).

 

Another reason why I'm dumping Netgear/Orbi on my next upgrade and going back to Asus.

Message 13 of 13
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