ORBI RBR50v2 with Virgin Hub 5 1gig, only outputting around 500mbps when wired directly to hub5
I have an Orbi RBR50 v2 Router & 2 RBS50 v2 Satellites, we recently upgraded our Virgin Media package from 500mb down to 1gig Down,
They sent us their new Hub 5 router, which i have wired into my Orbi RBR50.
When i connect directly to the Hub 5, I'm getting the correct speeds, and when i Speedtest through the Orbi app, it shows that its Recieving the correct speeds. However it seems to be being capped around 500mbps when sending out the signal,
I know its very naive of me to assume i will get 1Gig download speeds over Wifi, however i was hoping/expecting that it would be better than it is,
What am i doing wrong?, Is the RBR 50 V2 not capable of 1gig output?, Do i need to change something in the configuration of either Virgin Hub 5 or the Orbi router itself?
Can somebody please help me, as this has been driving me up the wall!
I know its very naive of me to assume i will get 1Gig download speeds over Wifi, however i was hoping/expecting that it would be better than it is,
This is correct. Performance over a WiFi connection will be only a fraction of performance over a wired connection. The key factors are:
The specific WiFi device being measured. As the RBR50 sytem supports WiFi5 (802.11ac), rather than the newer WiFi6 (802.11ax), the maximum theoretical connection rate is 866MB/s when the device is (literally) next to the router. This applies only if the device has a 2x2MIMO radio system (newer phones and laptops).
Distance from the WiFi access point. My tests show that WiFi very clearly follows the "inverse square law" of physics. As the distance increases, speed drops quickly.
Amount of traffic on WiFi. WiFi is inherently "half-duplex". i.e. when one radio transmits, all other radios must "back off" and wait for a chance to transmit. The more devices on the network, the more interruptions. Yes, they are tiny (very short), but there can be a lot of them.
WiFi overhead. WiFi has tremendously more overhead than Ethernet. To start with every WiFi access point (the Virgin Hub, Orbi router, Orbi satellite(s)) sends out a Beacon Frame 5-10 times/sec. Each WiFi data packet is physically larger than Ethernet packets.
The end result is that a WiFi device cannot possibly achieve anything close to gigabit speed when connected to the RBR50 system.
Re: ORBI RBR50v2 with Virgin Hub 5 1gig, only outputting around 500mbps when wired directly to hub5
Thanks for your reply mate,
So i have been doing speed tests right next to the RBR50 with an iPhone 14 Pro Max, and getting 500down, if its capable of sending out up to 800 then how come its capping there?
Also i have my PC wired into one of the Satellites getting similar results, its not possible for me to wire direct into the Orbi Router, otherwise i wouldn’t have the satellites
If the RBR50 isn’t capable what would you recommend to upgrade to?
Also wanted to ask about config, if theres any settings i can change in the admin side to give things a helping hand?
Re: ORBI RBR50v2 with Virgin Hub 5 1gig, only outputting around 500mbps when wired directly to hub5
@AlexHobson wrote: If the RBR50 isn’t capable what would you recommend to upgrade to?
I, personally, would not be able to detect the difference between 500MB/s and 800Mb/s in my own internet use. A web page might load 0.2sec faster. A video cannot possibly stream faster than "full speed", which requires only 25MB/s speed.
One reason I stick with the old RBR50 is that everybody makes a wonderful WiFi6 (and WiFi6E) system and I am not sophisticated enough to figure out which to even look at, much less choose.
Asus, eero, Google, Linksys, Netgear, TP-Link, etc. etc.
p.s. If you keep the Orbi system, it is probably a good idea to disable the WiFi on the Virgin hub.
