Orbi RBKE 963B - slow wired connection - running out of ideas.

[changelingo]

Fiber connection (1gbit up/down) -> Cat6 -> 963 router -> Cat6 & Cat7 cables to 2 PC's using the 2.5gbit LAN + LAN 2 

Satellites working just fine, solid 6-700mbit up/down with no issues what so ever.

Wired connection throttles / stalls at 250mbit down and 4-500mbit up both regardless of which LAN port or cable I use. Tried all variations. Sometimes it's also the other way around. Just hit 350 down and only 150 up so it's far from consistent. (No other devices connected during tests).

Connecting either PC (win 10- no option to upgrade to win11) directly to fiber modem provides expected 1gbit speeds up/down - regardless of the three cables I've tried.

Tried with and without satellites connected, tried factory reset and a number of firmware versions.

Running speedtest directly from router GUI provides the 1gbit down/up - so there's good speeds coming TO the router at least...

This tells me it can't be NIC settings or cables. I'm running out of options here...

Hoping for something else to try, or should I just give up and open a ticket ...?

Thanks!

[CrimpOn]

Is it both the 2.5G and 1G Ethernet ports that do this?

Have you tried using two 1G ports and leaving the 2.5G port unused?

As long as the router is running the current firmware, v6.3.7.5, looks like a call to Netgear support is in order.

(If it is not  on the latest firmware, they'll just tell you to update firmware, which will cost you time.)

[FURRYe38]

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

Has Armor or any SPC been enabled by chance on the RBR? 

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@changelingo wrote:

Fiber connection (1gbit up/down) -> Cat6 -> 963 router -> Cat6 & Cat7 cables to 2 PC's using the 2.5gbit LAN + LAN 2 

Satellites working just fine, solid 6-700mbit up/down with no issues what so ever.

Wired connection throttles / stalls at 250mbit down and 4-500mbit up both regardless of which LAN port or cable I use. Tried all variations. Sometimes it's also the other way around. Just hit 350 down and only 150 up so it's far from consistent. (No other devices connected during tests).

Connecting either PC (win 10- no option to upgrade to win11) directly to fiber modem provides expected 1gbit speeds up/down - regardless of the three cables I've tried.

Tried with and without satellites connected, tried factory reset and a number of firmware versions.

Running speedtest directly from router GUI provides the 1gbit down/up - so there's good speeds coming TO the router at least...

This tells me it can't be NIC settings or cables. I'm running out of options here...

Hoping for something else to try, or should I just give up and open a ticket ...?

Thanks!

---

[CrimpOn]

As long as you are enjoying this novel experience, there is one more goofy experiment:

Load up iPerf3 on both PCs. https://iperf.fr/iperf-download.php 

Open iPerf3 on one PC as a server and the other PC as a client and run a test.

When I do this on my ancient RBR50, iPerf3 consistently reports about 940MB/s, which is the maximum possible on 1G Ethernet:

Connecting to host 192.168.1.3, port 5201
[  5] local 192.168.1.2 port 60530 connected to 192.168.1.3 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec   113 MBytes   950 Mbits/sec
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec   113 MBytes   949 Mbits/sec
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec   113 MBytes   949 Mbits/sec
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec   105 MBytes   882 Mbits/sec
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec   113 MBytes   949 Mbits/sec
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec   113 MBytes   949 Mbits/sec
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec   113 MBytes   949 Mbits/sec
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec   113 MBytes   949 Mbits/sec
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec   113 MBytes   948 Mbits/sec
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec   113 MBytes   948 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.10 GBytes   942 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.10 GBytes   942 Mbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.

If two PCs connected to the 960 Ethernet ports do not perform in a similar manner, I would be very disappointed.

[changelingo]

Thanks, I've tried to run wired connections in isolation + combination from all available ports.

No difference unfortunately 😕

[changelingo]

Hi,

Very interesting test indeed.

Check this out. This is consistent with the speeds I'm getting on fast.com + Speedtest (app and web, same results)

Using this argument:

iperf/iperf3 -c remotehost -i 1 -t 20 -r

Run a test from remotehost to localhost

Then I ran iPerf3 with a different argument

iperf/iperf3 -c remotehost -i 1 -t 20 -w 32M -P 4

Run a test with 4 parallel streams, and with a 32M TCP buffer

... and got better results:

Not sure what conclusions to draw, or where to go from here?

[CrimpOn]

Oh, my.  parameters! My test was plain vanilla. Since that maxed out a 1G connection, I stopped there.

The concept was to isolate the problem to:

• The Orbi router processing, or
• The Orbi Ethernet module.

Thinking that a connection between two wired devices would not even enter the router software, but be handled entirely by the Ethernet switch module. This is one obvious difference between my old RBR50 and the RBRE960 product.

• Mine has a traditional four port Ethernet module that has probably been around for a decade and is built into countless products from almost every manufacturer.
• The RBRE960 has that 10G, 2.5G, three 1G ports setup.  I have no idea how that works.  I would be happier if iPerf3 between two of the 1G ports behaved like my router.

It's probably not helpful to mention that with my Spectrum cable plan, Speed Test regularly reports 330MB to a wired PC.  I get more with an ordinary cable plan through an ancient router than you do with a gigabit ISP connection and the latest model.

[openupshop78]

Did you ever fix this issue?  I am having the same problem on Fiber 940/940.  The issue seems to resolve ONLY when I downgrade the firmware.

[changelingo]

Nope, been trying to downgrade a number of times - but both router and satellite update despite having changed this particular setting to avoid just this.

Annoying to say the least. Bought a pretty expensive mesh set up, and it’s just not working the way it should be…

[FURRYe38]

What Firmware version is currently loaded?

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

Has Armor or any SPC been enabled by chance on the RBR? 

What brand and model ethernet adapters are in the test PCs connected to the RBR? 

[openupshop78]

I am using a RBRE960 and using firmware V6.0.3.85_3.1.15 which works perfectly fine.  When I upgrade to 6.3.7.10 that's when my hard wired devices come to a crawl EXCEPT the ones going through the hardwired satellites. I am Century Link Fiber 940/940 and wireless is OK.  All the things you mentioned are disabled.

[openupshop78]

I failed to mention that I even tested going directly into the router and same issue.

[FURRYe38]

After the new FW is loaded, did you factory reset the system and setup from scratch? 

Mines on v.10 now and haven't seen this issue. 

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@openupshop78 wrote:

I am using a RBRE960 and using firmware V6.0.3.85_3.1.15 which works perfectly fine.  When I upgrade to 6.3.7.10 that's when my hard wired devices come to a crawl EXCEPT the ones going through the hardwired satellites. I am Century Link Fiber 940/940 and wireless is OK.  All the things you mentioned are disabled.

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[CrimpOn]

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@openupshop78 wrote:

I failed to mention that I even tested going directly into the router and same issue.

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Does this imply that the wired devices are normally connected to a switch which is then connected to the router?

[changelingo]

Following instructions from NETGEAR.
So far not working.

[FURRYe38]

And what was those instructions? 

Did you factory reset and setup from scratch after loading the newer FW? 

You might reach out to NG support for additional help on this. 

@Blanca_O @KevinLiT 

[openupshop78]

Going into a Netgear POE Switch GS1116PP.  I also removed the switch from the equation and same issue.  Yes, I performed a factory reset and still the same issue.  I called Premium support and was put on hold they never came back to the line.  I am out of ideas.  What I can tell you is that I downgrade back and BOOM it works.  It's definitely a firmware issue at this point.  My brand new house is wired with Cat 6E.  I used different cables and same issue speed comes to a crawl but Wifi is blazing fast. 

[FURRYe38]

Hopefully a forum moderator will reach out to you then.

There is no CAT6E. Do you mean CAT5E? 

[openupshop78]

Sorry Cat 6a cat 5 heck no lol

[changelingo]

To downgrade firmware and “we value your input”.
I will return the products to Netgear. It’s 5-7 days between replies from them and this thread now has someone else asking for help…

It is what it is, I’ll buy something else.




I will unsubscribe to this thread.