Orbi RBR860 Speedtest at 3600+ Mbps but devices connected to 5Ghz only got ~900 Mbps

[VeryCB]

I'm on a hyperfiber 4 Gbps plan from my broadband provider and using RBR860 as the router, directly connected to the fibrebox via the 10 Gbps port.

Then I tested the internet speed with Orbi app (the test is from RBR860 to the internet) and got 3656.11Mbp for downloading and 3664.63Mbps for uploading, which is promising.

However, when I tried to use my iPhone 15 Pro (latest model, should support Wi-Fi 6 and 802.11ax) besides the RBR860, the speedtest result is around ~900Mbps for both downloading and uploading.

Then I tried to switch the device from the iPhone 15 Pro to latest Lenovo Legion model (which supports 802.11ax), got a similar result of ~900 Mbps.

I understand that the device could get slower speed comparing to the router -> internet test. But dropping from 3600 Mbps to 900 Mbps is quite unacceptable to me.

Any idea about the cause of the huge difference? Or how should I get a higher speed on my device?

Thanks!

[CrimpOn · Accepted solution]

WiFi speed is a complicated subject. Internet search will provide reasons why a WiFi6 device will have a maximum theoretical Link Rate of 1200Mbps assuming that a two antenna device is using the full 80MHz wide channel.

https://dongknows.com/wi-fi-6-explained/#:~:text=For%20example%2C%20via%20an%2080MHz,1200Mbps%20or%2... 

Real world experience is always lower than the theoretical maximum:

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/114622t/realworld_speeds_from_wifi6_aps/?rdt=35870 

[CrimpOn · Accepted solution]

WiFi speed is a complicated subject. Internet search will provide reasons why a WiFi6 device will have a maximum theoretical Link Rate of 1200Mbps assuming that a two antenna device is using the full 80MHz wide channel.

https://dongknows.com/wi-fi-6-explained/#:~:text=For%20example%2C%20via%20an%2080MHz,1200Mbps%20or%2... 

Real world experience is always lower than the theoretical maximum:

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/114622t/realworld_speeds_from_wifi6_aps/?rdt=35870 

[donawalt]

I have an iPhone 15 Pro and the Orbi 960. I get up to around 1400-1500 Mbps D/L with it.

If your iPhone is getting around 900, that suspiciously looks like the iPhone is using WiFi 5, not 6. I have seen the phone get stuck like that, and sometimes needs WiFi turned off/on, or even a restart.

If you use the Orbi app, run it on your phone, tap Device Manager, find your phone in the list, and tap the name - you will see something like this. Is it on 6 GHz?

Also - how far away from the router are you when you run the WiFi speed test?

And, what version of firmware are you running on the 860?

[CrimpOn]

The Orbi 860 is a WiFi6 product.  Orbi 960 is WiFi6E.

That may explain some of the observed difference in performance.

Cisco had this to say about WiFi6 vs. WiFi6E

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/wireless/what-is-wifi-6-vs-wifi-6e.html 

The attached image shows the device connected to WiFi6E (6GHz).  I would not be surprised for it to have higher performance, although a Link Rate of 6Mbps is the lowest possible Link Rate.

[donawalt]

@CrimpOn yes but Wifi 6 does faster than 1G - that's why I suspected the phone may be connected to 5 GHz - I see it all the time here, and with my Mac also. Whether it's an Apple or NG problem, no idea. But frequently it requires a WiFi toggle off/on or device restart. 900 Mbps looks suspiciously like the ceiling for 5 GHz.

[CrimpOn]

The Orbi 860 specs say it does not include a 6GHz radio.

https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBR860S/RBR860S_TS.pdf 

So, yes.  The iPhone 15 Pro is definitely connected to the user facing 5G WiFi of the Orbi 860.

[donawalt]

@CrimpOn wow! And yet at the top it's called a WiFi 6 Router! Yet I see where the radios are WiFi 5! 

Look here - https://www.netgear.com/home/wifi/mesh/rbr860s/ 

It says  this - what's going on? But if it's truly 5 GHz there's your answer - that's 920Mbps or so max d/l speed.

[CrimpOn]

True.  The numbers in the WiFi Alliance names do not refer to frequencies:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11be 

[VeryCB]

Thanks for your information!

Seems like I need to upgrade the router to Wi-Fi 7?

Maybe RBR970?

[donawalt]

With an iPhone 15 Pro you'll get around 1400 Mbps d/l speed max with the 960 series. that's what I see here. The 970 will have even a little better radio/WiFi range (the 960 is excellent though), the 970 will support the WiFi 7 standard in the chart above, so it will offer a measure of future-proof protection. So either 960 or 970 will improve what you see now - imho your choice is based on budget vs. future-proof.

Note, you will not get above 1400 Mbps d/l or so, nowhere near 3600, on any WiFi - you need direct connections for 3600.

[CrimpOn]

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@VeryCB wrote:

Seems like I need to upgrade the router to Wi-Fi 7?

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"need" implies that a WiFi speed higher than 900 Mbps is essential.  Streaming 4K video requires about 25Mbps.  How much bandwidth is required for the apps run on an iPhone?