Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
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Speeds on my ATT Wireless network SLOWER with Orbi AX600?

Hilgemoon
Aspirant

Speeds on my ATT Wireless network SLOWER with Orbi AX600?

Hi, all, I have a mess of smart home equipment and with the pandemic plus my son being home, my wifi has noticeably slowed down (from getting regularly 2-300 mpbs to around 120-150 usually), plus have had trouble with the router/modem provided by AT&T reaching the back corners of my house. I wanted to solve for these issues - it is ridiculous that I'm paying for a 1GB fiber plan and getting 10% of that. So, I bought the Netgear Orbi AX6000 to be exact. As you guys know, it's supposed to be screaming fast. I have a Pace 5268 Router/Modem combination from AT&T, and the nice gentleman on the AT&T support line helped me put it in "bridge mode" so that it is functioning only as a modem. The wifi light is no longer on, and the old wifi network is no longer functioning. I plugged everything in, and my new wifi network is now SLOWER. Here are the tests I've run. The ATT Smart Home manager says I'm still gettting 900-something mbps coming into my AT&T gateway. When I plug a high-powered desktop system into the ATT Modem via ethernet cable, I get 525 mbps down, and 76 mbps up. I ran this several times, it was consistent. When I plug a high-powered desktop system via ethernet into the Netgear router, my performance goes down to somewhere between 175-350 mbps down and 75 up. When I use a variety of Wifi devices (tried iPhone, iPad and souped up Macbook Pro, same results) right next to the router, I get about 110 mbps down and 60 mbps up. When I use a wifi device next to the mesh satellite, my results go down to about 80 mbps down and 40 mbps up. SO, it appears that the modem is somehow cutting my bandwidth in half before it even passes to the router. Is there some setting I could be missing on the modem that would increase this ratio? Then, you've got the router cutting my bandwidth in half again, which also isn't supposed to happen. And, WiFi cutting bandwidth in half yet again. There's got to be some way to solve for this, because a new AT&T modem/router did not solve it - I got one a few months ago, and my bandwidth still got worse.  I thought about replacing the modem, but AT&T will not allow you to do that. Please note that I am what I like to call, "technical enough to be dangerous" - I'm not in IT, but I've worked with those folks, so I know some of the words, but if you tell me to do something, please explain how, thanks!

Message 1 of 9
kildare
Luminary

Re: Speeds on my ATT Wireless network SLOWER with Orbi AX600?

So you're using the Orbi AX in router mode. Right?

 

Which is the type of connection to your internet provider?

 

  • PPPoE/PPPoA
  • Dynamic IP Address
  • Static IP Address

 

 

 

Message 2 of 9
plemans
Guru

Re: Speeds on my ATT Wireless network SLOWER with Orbi AX600?

ATT devices are notorious for their "modem only" mode not functioning properly. 

What you could try? 

1. put the att device back in router mode.

2. disable the wifi on the att device

3. put the orbi in AP mode (access point)

 

It disables some features of the orbi device but could allow you to hit the speeds you're paying for. 

sadly, att's poor implementation has caused issues before. Some can get bridged mode working properly but others have to resort to using their Orbi's as just AP's. 

 

Message 3 of 9
Hilgemoon
Aspirant

Re: Speeds on my ATT Wireless network SLOWER with Orbi AX600?

It looks like a Static IP.

 

Message 4 of 9
Hilgemoon
Aspirant

Re: Speeds on my ATT Wireless network SLOWER with Orbi AX600?

Someone on the AT&T forum said that AT&T has not yet enabled WiFi 6, so the AX6000 will not even function as an access point.  Getting conflicting advice from a few different places, and I am confused!  I haven't tried yet, because I'm not sure how to make it function as an access point.  Does that mean I turn back on the Wifi function of the AT&T router and basically use both the router and mesh satellite as extenders?  If so, how on earth do you set that up in the settings?  (technical enough to be dangerous!)

 

Message 5 of 9
Hilgemoon
Aspirant

Re: Speeds on my ATT Wireless network SLOWER with Orbi AX600?

P.S. I know how to walk back the cat on the AT&T side, just not how to set up the Netgear side as an AP.

Message 6 of 9
plemans
Guru

Re: Speeds on my ATT Wireless network SLOWER with Orbi AX600?

changing to Ap mode is pretty easy.

https://kb.netgear.com/24104/How-do-I-change-my-Nighthawk-router-to-AP-mode-after-I-ve-already-run-s...

and you don't have to shut off the wifi on the ATT device provided that you make sure you seperate out the wireless channels so they're not on the same ones. 

Message 7 of 9
Hilgemoon
Aspirant

Re: Speeds on my ATT Wireless network SLOWER with Orbi AX600?

Oh and wait, I think I understand what you're suggesting.  Let the ATT device be the router & modem, but the Orbi devices will provide the Wifi signal as APs?  In AP mode, what functionality would the Orbi lose?  I was hoping to take advatage of some of the Armor security SW when that drops and/or install a VPN, I'm guessing that's a non-starter.  What about the actual Wifi 6 function I purchased it for, of being able to route to many devices at once?

Message 8 of 9
plemans
Guru

Re: Speeds on my ATT Wireless network SLOWER with Orbi AX600?

You do lose some features in AP Mode. 

https://kb.netgear.com/000061277/Disabled-Features-on-the-Orbi-when-set-to-AP-Mode

AX and lan routing would all still work fine though. 

Armor wouldn't work because the att device would be running all the routing features. 

Message 9 of 9
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