I have an issue. I have full 1GB fiber internet (up + down) from my ISP. When I initially reboot ORBI RBR850 and do hard wire speed tests (ookla) I see ~850Mbps download and ~860 Mbps upload. After 20 minutes my download speeds drop to ~600Mbps and my upload drops to ~50Mbps!!!
I have 2 RBS850 satellites connected via hardware Cat5E backhaul. All speed tests are conducted from a hardwire laptop directly connected to the RBR850 router. All devices are running the latest firmware 4.6.7.13 (I've tried downgrading to several past versions, same issue repeats on all).
I have performed full factory reset on all devices with firmware upgrades and reconfigured settings manually (no backup file uploads). The issues still persists.
My ISP claims the issue is between the ORBI router and their ONT Calix Gigapoint 803G fiber device. The Calix device has a small ARP table and clears it every 5 minutes. Per their diagnosis the ORBI device needs to send an ARP request every 5 minutes to stay in sync with the ONT. Netgear does not expose the ARP table timeout request setting so there is no way to do this. As a result the ONT ARP table doesn't know how to route traffic and results in the severely degraded upload speeds...
TBH I am not sure I buy their explanation 100% - don't understand why it only affects the upload so severely but not the download (there is a degradation of download speed, but not nearly as bad as the upload). They are bringing me one of their WiFi Routers to do additional diagnostics later this week - we'll see what that yields. Regardless of their explanation it seems the problem is isolated to the ORBI as I have done speed tests with the ISP line connected directly to my laptop and have seen no performance degradation.
Would like to get attention on this issue as it seems to be unique to the RBR850 line - I had the RBK50 system just a month ago (same hardware backhaul setup, same cables, same router config) and it never had a performance issue with upload or download speeds.
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
How are the RBS connected to the RBR using ethernet? Directly to the back or is there a LAN switch or wall jacks in between them?
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft? What is the distance between the router andsatellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. https://kb.netgear.com/31029/Where-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite
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?
Has a power off for 1 minute then back ON with the ISP modem and router been performed since last update? Be sure to restart your network in this sequence: Turn off and unplug modem. Turn off router and computers. Plug in and turn on modem. Wait 2 minutes for it to connect. Turn on the router and wait 2 minutes for it to connect. Turn on computers and rest of network.
Thank you for your response, let me see if I can answer all the questions.
ISP ONT Device Manufacturer: Calix GigaPoint 803G
Model No: 100-04255 11
RBS are connected to RBR via wired ethernet, Cat5E, going through a 1G unmanaged switches back to RBR. There are a few wall jacks in between as well. [To reiterate, all speed tests have been done directly on the RBR device, nothing in between, with Cat5E cable. Wireless tests show similar degradation of upload speed and slight loss of download speed. I am sure if the root issue is addressed the wireless speeds would reflect the improvement]
Home is ~3200 sq ft
Setup of RBS to RBR is like this: RBS (one end of home) - - - RBR (center of home) - - - RBS (other end of home). There is 25-30 ft approximately between the RBR and RBSs. Again, all RBS are connected via hardwire backhaul, Cat5e, all show wired backhaul in UI.
Wifi channels are set to: Auto for 2.4GHz and 48 for 5GHz.
I have one Wifi neighbor and they are 500+ feet away.
I have power cycled the ISP device and router many times during the firmware upgrades, troubleshooting calls and diagnostic tests. The power-off period is at minimum 1 min, sometimes as long as 10 minutes. I follow the order of reboot as specified below, modem, router then network computers.
Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update? A complete pull of the power adapters for a period of time after the factory reset then walk thru the setup wizard and setup from scratch. I would power OFF the ISP modem for 1 minute. Factory reset the Orbi router and power it off. Power ON the ISP modem and let it sync. Then power ON the Orbi router and walk thru the setup wizard again using a wired PC and a web browser. Press the back reset button for 15 seconds then release.
I performed another full factory reset on all RBR and RBS devices. Did a 10 minute power-off of ONT device, turned it on, let it sync for 2-3 minutes, powered on only RBR (left everything else powered off - switches, servers, RBS etc.). Reconfigured RBR via Wizard (left Armor disabled, left all other settings default - other than turning of UPNP).
I left everything else powered off and did speed tests. Unfortunately same symptoms repeated. Everything worked great for ~5-10 minutes. 890+ Mbps download/upload speeds. After that 5-10 minute period the upload speed tanked to 65 Mpbs and download speed fell to ~630 Mbps
I would not be disabling uPnP and not sure if this would be effecting it.
Seems like there is a problem at the RBR and your ONT. Only way to check this would be to get another RBR online and see if this happens again or not. If it does, then I presume there is a problem between the ONT and the RBR and something on the ONT could be causing the RBR to now work right.
I recommend you contact NG support and ask about RMA options...
ISP came out and installed their WiFi Router - a Calix Gigaspire GS4220E between the RBR and the ONT device. Nothing else has changed in my setup or configuration other than the insertion of the ISP router. Both routers are on different private IP networks, Calix router has had the WiFi disabled. Setup looks like this:
ONT --> ISP Router --> RBR850 --> internal network
I have been doing hardwire speed tests ever since...and every single dang one has been 900 Mbps+ on both upload and download. -_- Just for fun I also did WiFi tests and the Wifi is achieving 500+Mpbs upload/download (as expected).
I cannot believe that the $700+ ORBI system is the cause of this problem (whatever the problem is... who knows). But it is pretty cut-and-dry that the ISP router directly connected to the ONT device, re-routing all traffic through the ORBI can achieve full gigabit speeds but the ORBI by itself cannot.
I honestly don't know what I am going to do, I hate to walk away from a significant investment in my current ORBI setup but I can't accept that the ORBI is reducing upload speeds by 90%.
I would presume there is a problem between the ONT and RBR. What that maybe i don't know. Something NG support would have to take a look at. Seen other users with odd problems with Orbi connected directly to ONTs. I don't see this issue as I don't have and ISP with ONT support. Cable ISP here.
You might open up a support ticked and have NG review this and debug logs with the RBR directly connected to the ONT.
