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Solved
RBR750 issue: 50% speed slowdown
I've owned several Netgear routers, starting with WNDR3700. I purchased the RBR50 once the firmware began to get some good reviews, and it worked well. To keep up with the introduction of WiFi 6 I pu...
I have a reconditioned/refurbished/refreshed RBR750 on the way, due to arrive tomorrow. Thanks to the three of you who responded. Too bad no one has a solution for lightning strikes. 😉
I will mark this case "Solved," since the more I have thought about it the more I have concluded that lightning is not a scapegoat but the cause.
Two satellites use the 5G wireless backhaul. Those connections are stable and have not varied before or after the slowdown.
The Orbi router has wired connections to the iMac, a Synology Diskstation, and an Apple TV. All but the iMac were OFF for testing.
One satellite has a wired connection to another computer that is OFF for testing and, in fact, ON only occasionally. The other satellite has no wired connections.
Thanks for the questions.
What Firmware version is currently loaded?
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(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?
Try disabling the following and see:
Armor, SPC, Traffic Meter. Have any of these been enabled before?
Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Set CTS to 64. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s). Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings
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.
Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update?
Current firmware 4.6.8.5 with 4.6.9.11 downloaded and ready to be reinstalled. "Reinstalled," because that was the firmware installed sometime after July 4 -- the only change I could isolate between the good Orbi speed test of July 4 and recent testing by various means that showed the 50% slowdown. My testing of the two firmware versions showed no difference in speed between the two firmware versions.
Satellites are within 30 feet. There was no change to the physical configuration between RBR and the two RBSs before the slowdown was noticed.
Home size about 1500 square feet. Router very near the middle and satellites on either end. Again, this configuration and placement are consistent and have worked well historically with both RBR50 and RBR750 ... until sometime after July 4, the date of the last test showing speed slightly over 200 Mbps (download).
Channels are Auto and 48, respectively. I tried 44 -- no change. And again, these and the others you mention have not varied before/after slowdown. About 10 wireless networks visible beyond mine. No change from before, though people do tend to change the names from time to time.
No Armor or Traffic Meter on. I have no idea what you mean by "SPC," which may be a firmware feature for the RBR750 but not the RBR50, which is currently running. I'll set up the 750 and let you know if I find it. The other configuration items are not variable between good and bad testing.
Reboots have been numerous, both modem and router, in proper sequence. I have not reconfigured settings from scratch recently but rather used a configuration saved before the slowdown occurred.
While I appreciate -- no, really! -- your thorough questioning, I want to keep emphasizing that I did not mess with the configuration except to turn off UPnP (security issue). I cannot think of any change in software or physical configuration to blame for the slowdown. I am tempted to say there absolutely had been none, but in fact I did turn off UPnP and at some point about 4 or 5 months ago -- well before the slowdown -- I reconfigured the router from scratch, using notes I had made from the previous setup for LAN address reservation (2 devices that need a permanent IP), email setup, and port forwarding for my external access (SFTP).
Are you hinting that after a firmware update, one should factory reset the router and configure it from scratch?? Or only that I might try that because of this issue? While I performed a factory reset and then logged in and did the initial security questions, I used a saved .cfg file (from well before the slowdown).
Hope I've addressed everything.
conductor wrote:
Current firmware 4.6.8.5 with 4.6.9.11 downloaded and ready to be reinstalled. "Reinstalled," because that was the firmware installed sometime after July 4 -- the only change I could isolate between the good Orbi speed test of July 4 and recent testing by various means that showed the 50% slowdown. My testing of the two firmware versions showed no difference in speed between the two firmware versions.
Satellites are within 30 feet. There was no change to the physical configuration between RBR and the two RBSs before the slowdown was noticed.
RBS should be 30 feet or more. Any closer than 30 feet causes too much wifi over lap and problems.
Home size about 1500 square feet. Router very near the middle and satellites on either end. Again, this configuration and placement are consistent and have worked well historically with both RBR50 and RBR750 ... until sometime after July 4, the date of the last test showing speed slightly over 200 Mbps (download).
For this is size of home, having two or more RBS deployed is too much. The RBR alone can handle this kind of coverage. Maybe one RBS with the transmit power set to 25% would be all that would be needed:
I have a 5000 sq ft home and get away with 1 RBS most of the time. If I run two RBS then power gets set to 50% here.
Channels are Auto and 48, respectively. I tried 44 -- no change. And again, these and the others you mention have not varied before/after slowdown. About 10 wireless networks visible beyond mine. No change from before, though people do tend to change the names from time to time.
No Armor or Traffic Meter on. I have no idea what you mean by "SPC," which may be a firmware feature for the RBR750 but not the RBR50, which is currently running. I'll set up the 750 and let you know if I find it. The other configuration items are not variable between good and bad testing.
Reboots have been numerous, both modem and router, in proper sequence. I have not reconfigured settings from scratch recently but rather used a configuration saved before the slowdown occurred.
While I appreciate -- no, really! -- your thorough questioning, I want to keep emphasizing that I did not mess with the configuration except to turn off UPnP (security issue). I cannot think of any change in software or physical configuration to blame for the slowdown. I am tempted to say there absolutely had been none, but in fact I did turn off UPnP and at some point about 4 or 5 months ago -- well before the slowdown -- I reconfigured the router from scratch, using notes I had made from the previous setup for LAN address reservation (2 devices that need a permanent IP), email setup, and port forwarding for my external access (SFTP).
Are you hinting that after a firmware update, one should factory reset the router and configure it from scratch?? Or only that I might try that because of this issue? While I performed a factory reset and then logged in and did the initial security questions, I used a saved .cfg file (from well before the slowdown).
I would try a factory reset and setup from scratch with out loading any saved configuration from file. Set up the wifi SSID and password and that's its. I would set a different PW temporarily to keep all other wifi devices from connecting. Do nothing else. I would turn OFF the RBS temporarily. Run a speed test from a wired PC connected to the back of the RBR using Ooklas installable speed test app. Try a different wired PC to compare results. Then try your best wifi device to check wireless speeds at the RBR. If you don't see any improvement here, you should contact NG support and ask for additional help and possible RMA.
I ran my 7 series for 6+ days with v.11 loaded and didn't see this issue. Thought I don't have the same model modem.
Both satellites are greater than 30 feet from the router.
I reset the RBR750 router as you suggested and used the default network credentials (no other configuration). Some Apple devices (MacBook Pro, 2 phones, and at least one iPad) connected to it immediately, which I find strange, as I never have used previously the default credentials. With RBS satellites unplugged from power and using the iMac with an ethernet connection to the RBR750, the built-in router (Ookla) speedtest as well as the Ookla Speedtest app on my iPhone 13 Pro yielded the same 50% reduction in download speed as before.
While I take seriously your suggestion that a router with satellites is overkill for the size of my house, such overkill is also present with the RBR50 system with 2 satellites that shows 100% of the expected download speed. There are no satellites, of course, with the Nighthawk X4S (R7800), which provides a fairly strong signal throughout the house and also shows 100% of expected speed.
It has just occurred to me that the cause of the issue may be attributable to a lightning strike to a tree in the woods about 70-80 yards from the house on July 25. It blew all of the bark off the tree, some of it landing in our yard. It was the second nearby strike of the summer, the other probably 200 yards away and in a another direction. All of my sensitive electronics, the RBR750 included, are connected to Uninterruptible Power Supplies in the house. The UPS serving the RBR750 is a CyberPower 1500 PFCLCD. The RBR750 is connected to the "surge and power protection" side, whereas the 27" iMac is connected to the surge only side. This strike did not affect power to the neighborhood, and I noticed nothing unusual about the operation of anything in the house following it. This theory fits the timeline that prior to the date of the strike, July 4, there was a speedtest showing full download speed. Following the date -- many days following -- when I noticed some sluggishness, the speedtests showed reduced download speed.
I imagine that this sudden recollection will be an easy scapegoat.